假作真時真亦假

每當(dāng)又一出新的真人秀節(jié)目上檔時，總會想起那部著名的《楚門的世界》。電影中，主人公楚門從出生的那一天起，其日常生活的分分秒秒就都被攝像機(jī)如實記錄下來，向全世界播映。楚門在不知不覺間成為了家喻戶曉的明星，而他自己卻并不知情。楚門的生活就如同是一幅活色生香的個人成長景觀圖，這在當(dāng)時是好萊塢生產(chǎn)出來的銀色夢幻。

現(xiàn)如今，一場又一場種類繁多的真人秀將他們自己真實的生活赤裸裸地放到所有電視觀眾面前，來滿足凡人都有的窺探欲望，看的人倒也都樂此不疲、津津樂道。真人的世界也許就是一場真人秀，而真人秀作為一種“真實生活節(jié)目”，也就是一種娛樂形式。演的人出了名、賺了錢，看客消磨了時間，這似乎也是一場合理的交易。

——Eva

The Kress， an Asian-inspired L.A. club， has barely been open one week， but tonight it’s hosting the equivalent of a meeting with the Pope—that is， a visit from the cast and crew of MTV’s reality 1)hit The Hills. With stars Lauren Conrad and Audrina Patridge due to arrive at 8:30 p.m. for their standard videotaped girl talk over cocktails， the crew is busy 2)prepping the space for the cameras. Two seats at the corner of the bar are reserved， and a production assistant

3)laps around the room handing out forms asking bystanders to agree to appear on camera. If they don’t， production will ask them to move， or shoot around them. Most 4)comply easily，

unimpressed by the fact that MTV’s highest-rated series will be shooting a scene mere feet from their plates of lobster 5)sashimi and beef 6)carpaccio. Clearly， they don’t know that roommates Lauren and Audrina are having major tension at home， and this could be a totally important conversation.

Finally， Lauren and Audrina 7)coast into the club and take their seats at the bar. No direction. No rehearsals. They just start talking. Upstairs， the director and four producers， including creator and executive producer Adam， huddle around three portable monitors. Lauren and Audrina 8)segue into a conversation about tomorrow’s barbecue at the house of Lauren’s ex-boyfriend Doug. Will it be awkward， Audrina wonders， since Doug recently went on a date with Lauren’s friend Stephanie? Lauren admits， “Tomorrow， I’m gonna need to drink.” Adam， catching a shot of Lauren laughing that he thinks will work well for this season’s updated 9)opening credits montage， runs over to the editor to have him jot down the time code. When the girls prepare to depart， the director sends one of the cameras across the street to capture them leaving. Strolling down the boulevard， Lauren， who has been living her life on television for four years and knows how to end a scene， turns to Audrina and smiles. “Tomorrow，” she says， “is gonna be a crazy， fun day.”

As with most scenes on The Hills， the cast knew ahead of time that cameras would be present at the scene. Almost everything is planned in advance， which is why production of The Hills has always faced tremendous skepticism—Is it fake? The answer is...10)to a point. The Hills is， essentially， scheduled reality. A typical week begins with producers calling the core cast members on Sunday and getting 11)intel on what’s happened to them over the weekend. An e-mail update is sent to the staff that night so everyone can prepare for Monday’s “story meeting，” in which the producers and story editors sit around and 12)dissect the Hills girls’ personal and social lives. From that， they determine whom to film during the week.

Plotting out the shooting schedule is an elaborate process: Depending on where the girls are going and whom they’ll be with， production will call ahead and clear the locations—restaurants， cafés， retail 13)outlet—for the crews to come in. Once everything is set up， Lauren gets her shooting

schedule e-mailed to her， usually the night before. If the idea of coordinating your real life with a film crew sounds surreal， it’s even more so now that Lauren—thanks to The Hills— is too famous to have anything resembling a real life. Her schedule is packed with photo shoots， fashion shows， and red-carpet events like the 14)Dark Knight premiere. All that 15)glitz seems perfect 16)fodder for reality TV， but producers insist on keeping the celebrity side off camera. The series’ original 17)premise is all about the relatable aspects of Lauren’s life， like dating， heartbreak， and friendship.

The phenomenon of The Hills has gone beyond the weekly tabloid covers， the endless 18)spoofs or even its place in the presidential campaign. (After Heidi endorsed John McCain， he joked that he never “misses an episode of The Hills”; Barack Obama promised 19)David Letterman， “My first act as president will be to stop the fighting between Lauren and Heidi.”) “With Lauren Conrad， a whole generation of women see themselves in her.” Says Tony DiSanto， MTV’s exec VP of series programming and development， “It’s almost becoming like a novel at this point， like this

generation’s A Tale of Two Cities or Oliver Twist.”

Whether or not you equate drunken nights at hot clubs in L.A. to the classic literary works of Dickens， the show’s success is undeniable. And no one has 20)reaped more benefits than Lauren. She’s already launched her own 21)eponymous clothing line， which is sold in 500 22)boutiques across the country. Forbes estimated her 2007-08 income to be $1.5 million.

If it were up to MTV， The Hills would keep rolling indefinitely， but Lauren is ready for a break. “Every season， I think it’s the last，” she admits. “Right now， I think this is the last

season.” “I go through a 23)phase when I’ve been filming where I wake up in the middle of the night and I think I’m being filmed，” says Lauren. “That’s when I have to take a vacation.” DiVello says he can see the show going at least one more season， but ideally， “I’d love to stay with it until Lauren gets married.”

克雷斯是洛杉磯一家亞洲風(fēng)格的夜店，開業(yè)還不到一個星期，今晚卻已經(jīng)有一場相當(dāng)于羅馬教皇到訪的盛事要在這里舉行——那就是，MTV臺熱門真人秀節(jié)目《好萊塢女孩》劇組人員的來訪。劇中的明星勞倫·康拉德和奧德利娜·帕特里奇定于晚上八點半到達(dá)，女孩倆喝著雞尾酒聊天的場景照常要拍下來。劇組人員正忙著為晚上的拍攝布置場地。位于吧臺角落的兩個位置已預(yù)留好，一名制片助理在店內(nèi)滿場跑，分發(fā)表格征詢其他在場的人是否同意出鏡。如果不愿意，制片方會讓他們挪一下位置，或者拍攝的時候避開他們。大多數(shù)人很爽快地就答應(yīng)了，盡管是MTV臺收視率最高的劇集要在他們身旁取景拍攝，鏡頭距離他們盛滿龍蝦生魚片和生牛肉片的盤子僅僅幾英尺，他們還是滿不在乎的。……