Making an “impossible film”

江蘇泗洪縣洪翔中學 陳 偉

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難詞探意

obscurity /?b'skj??r?ti/ n. 默默無聞；無名

Is there anything more heart-warming than a story of someone who chased an impossible dream and managed to catch it? Here, film-maker Martin Villeneuve is one of those impossible dream chasers.

Martin wanted to make a futuristic sci-fi film set in Montréal, but he didn't have the funding to get it done. This is why he calls it an “impossible film” to make. His talk explains the ways he worked around the restrictions of having a tiny budget without compromising his vision or the quality of his film.

With a little inventive thinking, Martin realized the best way to get something you can't afford is to get someone else to pay for it. So he approached Cirque du Soleil and showed them his plans for custom, futuristic musical instruments. It didn't take much time before Cirque du Soleil were sold.They jumped on board Martin's impossible film train and bankrolled the prop （道具） building.

Martin also wasn't afraid of going right to the top to ask for help. He wanted to choose one of the top actors/directors in the world, and he did. He wanted to hire his childhood hero—a talented comic book artist—as the film's production designer, and he did. He even talked his VFX artist out of working with Spielberg to do his film instead. Martin went straight to these top-tier people and asked them to work on his film. And that was all it took. He appealed to their imaginations and they all said yes.Sometimes, all you have to do is ask.

If you have some crazy ideas in your mind, and people tell you that it's impossible to make, well,that's an even better reason for you to do it, because people have a tendency to see the problems rather than the final result, whereas if you start to deal with problems as being your allies rather than your opponents, life will start to dance with you in the most amazing way.

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1. What makes Martin's film an impossible one?

A. The tiny budget.

B. Environment restriction.

1.1.1 動物:SD大鼠,180~200 g,由北京維通利華實驗動物技術有限公司提供。動物飼養于SPF級動物房,室溫(20~26)℃,日溫差≤3℃,換氣次數15~20次/h,濕度40~70%,壓強梯度10 Pa以上,晝夜明暗交替時間12 h/12 h。實驗動物使用許可證號:SYXK(粵)2015-0108。

C. A lack of technique support.

D. A lack of famous actors.

2. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “bankrolled” in paragraph 4?

A. Canceled. B. Financed.

C. Produced. D. Protected.

3. What does the fifth paragraph try to convey?

A. The importance of a top director in making a film.

B. The importance of musical instruments in making a film.

C. The importance of asking for help in making a film.

D. The importance of imaginations in making a film.

4. Why is Spielberg mentioned in the text?

A. To show his popularity as a director.

B. To show his great influence on Martin.

C. To show his good relationship with Martin.

D. To show Martin's ability to find talented partners to join him.