∷宋云峰

2013年2月1日，美國著名的在線流媒體（streaming media）服務商奈飛（Net flix）公司投拍的美國政治連續(xù)劇《紙牌屋》（House of Cards）第一季（共13集）在奈飛網(wǎng)站上連續(xù)播出，受到包括美國總統(tǒng)奧巴馬在內(nèi)的在線流媒體網(wǎng)民的廣泛好評，動搖了傳統(tǒng)電視劇制作和播映的根基，開辟了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)電視劇的新時代。接著，2014年2月14日，奈飛公司又將拍攝完成的《紙牌屋》第二季全部13集在自己的網(wǎng)站上連續(xù)播出，再一次引起觀眾熱議。同時，奈飛公司宣布已投拍第三季。

House of Cardsis an American political drama television series, developed and produced by Beau Willimon. It is an adaptation of a previous BBC miniseries of the same name and is based on the novel by Michael Dobbs. The entire first season, thirteen episodes,premiered（首映）on February 1, 2013, on the streaming service Net flix. A second season of thirteen episodes premiered on February 14, 2014. On February 4, 2014, ten days prior to the first available streaming release of the second season, Net flix announced that the show had been renewed for a third season.

《紙牌屋》人物形象的塑造

在《紙牌屋》里不僅完全沒有道德層面的“好人”，連遵紀守法、照章辦事的人都幾乎銷聲匿跡。男主角弗朗西斯·安德伍德（Francis Underwood，由奧斯卡影帝凱文·斯派西Kevin Spacey飾演）是個老奸巨猾的政客，第一季里他從黨鞭（國會多數(shù)黨督導）爬到了副總統(tǒng)的位置，第二季里繼續(xù)黨同伐異，向權力巔峰沖刺。而他周圍全是同類，為了獲取權力，每個人都可以采取包括誹謗、賄賂、謀殺在內(nèi)的一切手段擊倒對手。這里當然有為了增強戲劇效果的夸張手法，但做到了細節(jié)真實?！都埮莆荨肥菍⒚绹幇得娣糯蟮綐O致的演繹，是各種整人手段的教科書。

Set in present-day Washington, D.C.,House of Cardsis the story of Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey),a Democrat from South Carolina’s 5th congressional district and House majority whip（黨鞭，國會中主要政黨的黨內(nèi)督導）who, after being passed over for appointment as Secretary of State, initiates an elaborate plan to get himself into a position of power. The series is primarily about ruthless（無情的）pragmatism（實用主義）, manipulation, power and doing bad things for the greater good.

《紙牌屋》第一季導演大衛(wèi)·芬奇

《紙牌屋》制片人鮑爾·威利蒙

奈飛公司

《紙牌屋》的投資公司奈飛（Net flix）對該劇成功所給出的解釋是大數(shù)據(jù)的勝利。奈飛公司是世界上最大的在線影片租賃服務商，它不像一般的電視臺，想知道觀眾對節(jié)目的反應，需要聘用專門的收視調(diào)查公司進行抽樣統(tǒng)計才行。奈飛在公司的技術平臺上就可以了解到每一位觀眾的收視動作，包括在哪里停頓、回放或者快進，看哪個節(jié)目最多等等。用戶每天在奈飛上產(chǎn)生三千多萬個這樣的行為，訂閱用戶每天還會給出400萬個評分，還有300萬次搜索請求，詢問劇集播放時間和設備。通過對公司在美國的2,700萬訂閱用戶以及在全世界的3,300萬用戶形成的大數(shù)據(jù)分析，奈飛試圖尋找保證票房的規(guī)律。

Net flix, Inc. is an American provider of on-demand Internet streaming media available to viewers in North and South America, the Caribbean, and parts of Europe(Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway,Sweden, and the United Kingdom), and of flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States, where mailed DVDs are sent via Permit Reply Mail. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos,California. It started its subscription-based digital distribution service in 1999, and by 2009 it was offering a collection of 100,000 titles on DVD and had surpassed 10 million subscribers. As of mid-March 2013, Net flix had 33 million subscribers.

《紙牌屋》制作模式的創(chuàng)新

決定投拍《紙牌屋》之前，奈飛公司就從海量用戶數(shù)據(jù)的分析中得出結(jié)論：人們對政治劇集、導演大衛(wèi)·芬奇和奧斯卡影帝凱文·史派西的期待值出現(xiàn)了高度重合。他們找到了大衛(wèi)·芬奇（David Fincher，導演過《社交網(wǎng)絡》、《七宗罪》等）和凱文·史派西（Kevin Spacey，出演過《美國麗人》、《七宗罪》等），決定花1億美元改編十分受歡迎的英劇《紙牌屋》。芬奇認為觀眾在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)時代的口味也逼著電視劇的制作和播放采取一次過癮的方法，制片威利蒙則斷言五年后在線流媒體將取代傳統(tǒng)電視節(jié)目，而斯派西也感覺多集電視劇對人物的塑造會比電影更加豐滿、復雜和有趣。

“The captive（被迷住的）audience is gone. If you give people this opportunity to mainline（沉溺于）all in one day, there’s reason to believe they will do it.”（導演David Fincher）

“This is the future, streaming is the future. TV will not be TV in five years from now... everyone will be streaming.”（制片人Beau Willimon）

“I was lucky to get into film at a time that was very interesting for drama. But if you look now, the focus is not on the same kind of films that were made in the 90s. When I look now, the most interesting plots, the most interesting characters, they are on TV.”（主演Kevin Spacey）

該劇獲得成功后，主演和監(jiān)制斯派西對奈飛一次讓觀眾過足癮并承諾至少連拍兩季的全新模式贊賞有加，并與傳統(tǒng)電視劇制作的試拍（一集或一季）模式和放映時吊觀眾胃口（通常是每周播一集）的模式進行了優(yōu)劣對比。

Spacey called Net flix’s model of publishing all episodes at once a“new perspective.”He added that Net flix’s commitment to two full seasons gave the series greater continuity.“We know exactly where we are going,”he said.In a speech at the Edinburgh International Television Festival,he also noted that while other networks were interested in the show, they all wanted a pilot（試播）, whereas Net flix—relying solely on their statistics—ordered the series directly.

《紙牌屋》主演和監(jiān)制凱文·斯派西

《紙牌屋》英國版（1990）

《紙牌屋》火了，這部劇集還引起了亞馬遜、微軟等公司對投拍互聯(lián)網(wǎng)劇集、消除正規(guī)電視劇與在線電視劇差異的興趣。亞馬遜正在制作至少11部試播劇集，這些劇集僅可通過互聯(lián)網(wǎng)觀看，原因是這家公司正在與奈飛展開“競爭”，利用人們對于在智能手機、平板電腦和互聯(lián)網(wǎng)電視上觀看電視節(jié)目的興趣，以擴大自身在流媒體播放服務這一領域中的占有率。與此同時，微軟也正在制作自己的電視連續(xù)劇，而且有報道稱，谷歌、蘋果、英特爾和推特（Twitter）也正在考慮開發(fā)自己的類似產(chǎn)品。由此可見，奈飛的《紙牌屋》實際上開辟了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)電視劇的新時代。

附：《紙牌屋》第一季故事情節(jié)

The series opens with a congressman Francis Underwood displaying his ruthless practicality by killing a suffering pet dog with his bare hands while explaining to the audience how there are times when we require someone to do the unpleasant thing yet the necessary thing. Along this theme we follow Francis“Frank”Underwood, a power hungry Democratic congressman from South Carolina and House majority whip.After securing the election of President Garrett Walker to gain himself appointment to Secretary of State, Underwood is devastated to learn that he is being passed over（被頂替）. Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez tells Underwood that the president wants him to promote his agenda in Congress and will not honor their agreement. Seething（怒火中燒）inside, Underwood must quickly gain control of his anger and hide his disappointment to present himself as a helpful lieutenant（助手，副手）to the president and his agenda.In reality Underwood begins an elaborate plan behind the president’s back, with the ultimate goal of gaining power for himself.

His wife Claire runs a charity, but her intentions are not explicit（明確的）. She seems to use her charity for power and in fluence and yet the ultimate purpose for its need is unknown. In the opening episode, she deems the successful charity organization that she has put together to have too limited a footprint（足跡，影響）. Keen to be on the international stage, she decides to change her organization to one that supports international well digging to provide clean water. This is met with great misgivings（疑慮，不安）by her of fice manager. Claire directs her to fire eighteen of her employees, cutting the staff in half. At the end of the day she checks in to ask how the process went, and then informs the manager she is being let go as well. It is clear from the outset（開始）that Claire is as cold-hearted, ruthlessly pragmatic and has a deep desire for power like her husband.

Underwood begins a highly intricate（錯綜復雜的）plan to obtain a cabinet position, acquiring pawns（走卒，棋子）he can manipulate in his power play. He begins an extramarital（私通的，婚外的） relationship with Zoe Barnes, a young political reporter, and then makes a deal with her in exchange for the leak（泄密）of damaging stories about his rivals in the House（國會眾議院）.Meanwhile, he manipulates Peter Russo, a troubled congressman from Pennsylvania, into helping him undermine（暗中破壞）Walker’s pick for Secretary of State, Senator Michael Kern. Underwood eventually has him replaced with his own choice, Senator Catherine Durant. Underwood also uses Russo in a plot to end a teacher’s strike and pass an education bill, which improves Underwood’s standing（地位）with Walker.

Because the new vice president is the former governor（州長）of Pennsylvania, a special election is to be held for governor. Underwood helps Russo get clean and props up（資助，支持）his candidacy, but later uses call girl（應召女郎）Rachel Posner to break his sobriety（清醒，節(jié)制）and trigger his downfall shortly before the election. Distraught（心煩意亂的）, Russo decides to make amends for（補償）his failure by coming clean（坦白交待）to the press about his role in Underwood’s schemes（陰謀）. As a result, Underwood stages（籌劃，策劃）his suicide and leaves him in a closed garage with his car running. With the Pennsylvania special election in chaos, Underwood convinces the vice president to step down and run for his old position of governor—leaving the vice presidency open to Underwood, as was his plan all along.

Walker appears to have other plans. Underwood ends up vetting（審查，調(diào)查）a surprising choice for Vice President, billionaire Raymond Tusk. Tusk later reveals that he is actually appraising Underwood for the position.Meanwhile, after Underwood brings their affair to an end,Zoe begins piecing together clues（線索）about Underwood’s scheming. The season ends when Underwood receives and accepts the nomination for vice president.