20200426a

They don’t make television opening sequences like they used to

电视剧片头，你变了

The opening sequences of television shows do several jobs at once. They must pay tribute to the stars and set the tone for the episode to follow. Above all, they must entice the viewer to commit to the show for the next 30 minutes or more. For decades, networks thought the best way to do this was to create complex and costly sequences.

电视剧的片头同时承担了几项任务。它们必须向剧中的明星致敬，并为本集的情节定下基调。最重要的是，它们必须说服观众，让他们愿意花接下来的 30 分钟或更长时间持续观看节目。数十年来，各大电视网一直认为，做到这一点的绝招就是制作结构复杂且成本高昂的片头。

No one watching the ornate map unfolding at the start of each episode of “Game of Thrones” in 2011, for example, would have doubted that it was a lavish production.***

例如，《权力的游戏》在 2011 年开播时，我们每一个人看到每集开始的那幅徐徐展开的华丽地图，都不会怀疑这是一部“大制作”。

It was “Girls”, which had its premiere on HBO in April 2012, which took a radically different approach. Lena Dunham’s comedy of millennial manners thumbed its nose at the industry’s pretensions with a sequence that consisted of a single title card on screen for precisely seven seconds.***

而 2012 年 4 月在 HBO 上首映的《衰姐们》，则走出了一条截然不同的路线。莉娜·邓纳姆的这部千禧一代生活喜剧不屑于影视行业的矫揉造作，只在屏幕上呈现一张标题卡，这一画面正好七秒钟。

With the rise of streaming services, viewers started consuming several episodes back-to-back, and the brevity of those seven seconds gained additional cachet. In 2017 Netflix launched its “skip intro” function, enabling viewers to dispense with opening credits and get straight to the drama.

随着流媒体服务的兴起，观众开始“背靠背”收看剧集，让这短短的七秒钟显得格外具有说服力。奈飞更在 2017 年推出了“跳过片头”功能，允许观众甩掉片头的演职人员字幕，直接进入剧情中。

The move was controversial. Purists saw it as an affront to the art and appreciation of television; others were happy they no longer had to press fast-forward.

这一举动引起了争议。纯粹主义者认为这是对电视艺术和鉴赏的冒犯，而其他人只是庆幸他们不用一直按“快进”了。

Indeed, it may be that opening credits are no longer necessary. But if elaborate sequences go for good, the desire for something more luxurious and mysterious may reappear. When they are done well, they can be as compelling as short films.

确实，片头可能已经不再那么重要了。不过，如果精心制作的片头成为历史，人们对于制作更精良、悬念感更强的内容的需求可能会再度出现。只要做得好，它们可以像短片一样扣人心弦。