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The Silent Film Returns - on Social Media
The summer’s hottest destination for video entertainment is a U.K.-based social media brand called LADbible. In July alone, the viral clips that churn out of its Facebook page were viewed more than 3 billion times.
Although the site is nominally branded around young British men, its offerings hold an oddly universal appeal. On a recent afternoon, it served up videos of a guy accidentally hitting himself in the head with a baseball bat; a pizza being made out of french fries; a dog bathing in a Jacuzzi; a woodworker crafting a salad bowl; a tourist riding a slide down the Great Wall of China and a manatee kissing a snorkeler.
今夏最受歡迎的影片娛樂目的網站，是總部設於英國的社群媒體品牌LADbible。光是7月，從它臉書頁面流出的網路爆紅短片瀏覽量就超過了30億次。
雖然該網站名義上是個英國年輕男性品牌，提供的內容卻有著奇特的普世吸引力。不久前的某個下午，該網站播放的影片包括：某人不小心用棒球棒打到了自己的頭，用薯條製作一塊披薩，一隻狗在按摩浴缸洗澡，一名木匠製作沙拉碗，一名遊客沿著中國長城滑下來，以及一隻海牛親吻一名浮潛者。
The videos are curated from disparate sources, filmed on smartphones and GoPros around the world, but they all have one thing in common: They’re best watched silently. If they even have sound, it’s completely beside the point.
We are living in the golden age of the silent video. Although we may still pop headphones in to watch a YouTube rant, social media has台南網頁設計 cultivated its own mute visual culture. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are designed to encourage endless scrolling, and that boosts videos that are made to catch the viewer’s eye without offending her ear with grating bursts of noise.
這些影片取自各種不同來源，以智慧手機跟GoPro攝影機在全球各地進行拍攝，但它們都有個共同點，就是最好默默地觀賞這些影片。若它們有聲音，就完全偏離了網站主題。
我們正活在靜音影片的黃金時代，即便我們可能還會戴著耳機在YouTube上觀看大聲播放的影片，社群媒體卻已發展出自己的無聲視覺文化。臉書、推特與Instagram在設計上就是要鼓勵無限滾動，而無限滾動助長了能吸引觀看者目光，卻不會讓刺耳聲音冒犯耳朵的影片。
The clips that spread the furthest online are the ones that can be consumed anywhere without disruption: on the subway, the sidewalk or in the doctor’s office; next to a partner in bed, behind the counter at work or under the desk in class. They’re the ones that allow for private experiences in the most public of places. And in the internet’s global marketplace, they’re the ones that transcend language barriers, instantly legible to viewers in Peoria or Paris.
Tubular Labs, the online video analytics company that placed LADbible at the top of its rankings, has found that of videos posted to Facebook by media companies, 46 percent of views go to videos that are completely silent or just accompanied by music. And in practice, an even higher proportion of social videos are watched silently. Advertising agency BBDO Worldwide says that more than 85 percent of its clients’ Facebook videos are viewed with the sound off.
在網路上被傳播最多的短片，正是那些在任何地方都可不受干擾地享用的影片，例如地鐵上，人行道上，醫生辦公室裡，抑或是床伴旁邊，工作場所櫃台後面，或是教室課桌底下。它們是讓你能在最公開的地方私下體驗（觀賞）的東西。而在網路的全球市場中，它們是那些能超越語言障礙，讓你不論人在皮奧利亞或是巴黎都能立馬一目了然的東西。
將LADbible列為自家排行榜首位的網路影片分析公司Tubular Labs發現，各媒體公司張貼於臉台南網頁設計書的影片，完全無聲或只伴隨音樂者占了46％的瀏覽量，且實際上，靜音觀賞社群影片的比率則又更高。廣告機構天聯表示，逾85%客戶在觀賞臉書影片時會關掉聲音。
All of that has given rise to a particular kind of video spectacle on social media, one that is able to convey its charms without dialogue, narrative or much additional context. To entertain soundlessly, viral video makers are reanimating some of the same techniques that ruled silent film more than 100 years ago.
以上種種使得社群媒體上出現一種特殊的影片現象，一種在沒有對話、敘述或許多額外背景情況下就能傳達其魅力的景象。網路爆紅影片製作者為了做出無聲娛樂，正重拾100多年前主宰默片的一些相同技術。
文／Amanda Hess譯／陳韋廷7CE8A0CA1BE789AF
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