A moviegoer's worst nightmare or the coolest wave of the future?

它是观影者最可怕的噩梦还是未来最酷的潮流？

The new "bullet screen," or danmu, model of movie-watching that has recently been introduced in select theaters in China can perhaps be most pithily¹ summed up with the title of the 2010 Chinese action comedy "Let the Bullets Fly."

最近中国的一些剧院引进了新的观影模式——“弹幕”，它也许可以用2010年中国动作喜剧电影《让子弹飞》的标题来简洁地概括。

In this case, the bullets don't refer to actual bullets, but to text messages that audience members send via their mobile phones while watching the film. The messages are then projected onto the screen, so that at any given time the scene may be overlaid with multiple "bullets," or comments, scrolling² across the screen.

在这里，子弹指的不是真的子弹，而是观众在观影时用手机发送的短信。这些短信投射到银幕上，所以银幕随时可能被好多滚动的“子弹”或者评论所覆盖。

What might seem like a hellish scenario³ for those still keen on the solitary⁴ escapism associated with a traditional movie-going experience is meant to appeal to younger audiences for whom mobile phones have become lifelines and sharing one's every thought — even about something as banal⁵ as the air-conditioning in the cinema — has become a way of life. Over the past month, several theaters around China have been experimenting with "bullet screen" showings of films like the 3-D animated⁶ film "The Legend of Qin" and the third installment⁷ of the blockbuster young-adult franchise⁸ "Tiny Times."

有些人仍然热衷于传统观影体验带来的孤独遁世感，对于他们来说，“弹幕”可能是地狱般的场景；不过它是为了吸引更年轻的观众，对他们来说手机已经成了生命线，分享每一个想法已经成了一种生活方式——哪怕是关于影院空调这样的琐事。在过去一个月中，中国的几家影院试着用“弹幕”放映了3-D动画电影《秦时明月》和轰动一时的青春电影系列《小时代》的第三部。

Since the release of "Tiny Times 3" in July, its distributor, Le Vision Pictures, has organized several "bullet screen" showings in Beijing as part of a post-release marketing⁹ strategy.

自从《小时代3》7月份上映以来，它的发行公司乐视影业在北京组织了几场“弹幕”放映，作为上映后市场推广策略的一部分。

"We wanted to create a social experience and promote it among young people," said Enya Sun, a public relations manager at Le Vision Pictures. "If it was a Zhang Yimou film," she said, referring to the celebrated¹⁰ Chinese film director, "we probably wouldn't do it, because it would be less focused on young people. But if it's a movie oriented to very young people, we could potentially do it on a national scale."

“我们想创造一种社会体验，在年轻人中推广它，”乐视影业的公关经理孙亚雄说，“如果是张艺谋的电影，我们很可能就不会这么做，因为他的电影不是以年轻人为主要对象。但是如果一部电影就是针对年轻人的，那我们可能在全国范围内采用这种放映方式。”

The idea behind "bullet screens" originated in Japan, where they were first popularized by a Japanese ACG (animation, comics, games) video portal called Nicodou, which later became the inspiration for similar Chinese ACG video sites such as Bilibili.

“弹幕”发源于日本，首先被日本ACG（动画、漫画、游戏）视频门户网站Nicodou推广，后来在中国催生了类似的ACG视频网站，比如哔哩哔哩(Bilibili)。

While comments can be so numerous that they obscure the entire screen, many "bullet screen" proponents¹¹ say the point is often not to watch the actual video in any case, but to get together and "tucao," Chinese for "spit and joke around," about the silliness of the video.

虽然有时评论多得遮住了整个银幕，但是“弹幕”的很多支持者说关键不是看电影，而是聚在一起“吐槽”，谈论这部电影的荒谬。

"Even when the videos are boring, the viewers are getting together and entertaining each other," Hiroyuki Nishimura, the Japanese founder¹² of Nicodou, said in a 2008 interview with Wired magazine.

“即使视频很无聊，观看者也可以聚在一起，彼此娱乐，”Nicodou的创始人西村博之2008年接受《连线》(Wired)杂志采访时说。

The feedback from viewers appears so far to have been positive.

到目前为止，观众的反馈似乎是正面的。

"Implementing¹³ a ‘bullet screen' doesn't require that much technological¹⁴ capability¹⁵ and it is a good strategy for attracting audiences to somewhat controversial films," said a user called Wuyun Zhuangban Zhe, writing on his Tencent WeChat public account about his experience at a "bullet screen" showing of "Tiny Times 3."

“实现弹幕或许不需要太高的技术含量，但是对很多比较有争议的电影而言，这是一种吸引更多观众进入影院的绝佳方式，”一个名为“乌云装扮者”的用户在他的腾讯微信公号上谈论观看用“弹幕”放映的《小时代3》的体验时说。

In a photo posted in his description, audience members can be seen hunched¹⁶ over bright mobile phone screens as the film is projected on the screen before them. The user also noted¹⁷ that audience members could send text messages noting their seat number to the screen when their mobile phone batteries were running low, whereupon a theater worker would come around and provide them with a portable battery to recharge their phones.

在他发布的照片中，我们能看到观众们弯着背看着闪亮的手机屏幕，而电影投放在他们前方的银幕上。这位用户还提到，手机快没电时，观众可以向银幕发短信说明自己的座位号，影院工作人员会给他们送来充电宝。

A theater manager surnamed Zhang at the Luxin Cinema in Shandong Province told the China Youth Daily newspaper that for an Aug. 6 "bullet screen" showing of "The Legend of Qin," 90 percent of the seats were filled, mostly by young people who texted in their thoughts at about 0.1 renminbi, or 10 cents, per message.

山东鲁信影城的一位姓张的经理对《中国青年报》说，8月6日用弹幕放映《秦时明月》时，上座率达90%，观众大多是年轻人，弹幕信息每条收费0.1元。

"Right now everyone thinks this is pretty novel and pretty cool," Mr. Zhang told the newspaper. "But in the long run this might have an impact on people's attention spans during movies."

“目前大家都觉得比较新鲜，感觉不错，”张经理对《中国青年报》说，“但如果长期下来，也许会影响大家对电影的专注度和观影秩序。”

Others remain wary¹⁸ of where "bullet screens" might take the viewing experience, expressing concern about a possible barrage¹⁹ of commercial advertisements, hate texts or other sensitive content in real-time messages on the screen.

也有人为弹幕会把观影体验带向何方而感到担忧，对银幕上可能实时出现大量商业广告、仇恨短信或其他敏感内容表示担忧。

He Ping, a Chinese film director and former secretary general of the China Film Directors Association, voiced concern that the popularization of "bullet screens" may subvert²⁰ the aesthetic²¹ intentions of the filmmakers.

中国电影导演、中国电影导演协会前秘书长何平表示“弹幕”的普及可能破坏电影制作人的审美意图。

"If these ‘bullet screens' become widespread in the future, they should first be authorized²² by the writers and directors of the film," Mr. He told China Youth Daily.

“如果此放映泛滥，建议导演及著作权法规定的影片作者们在与制片人签约时明款规定弹幕放映必须经过作者许可的条款，”何平对《中国青年报》说。