看電影就是要坐第一排

With award season upon us， movie-lovers are rushing to the theaters to see the big contenders. And if you’re like most people， you sit fairly far back， maybe even in the very last row.

As for the movies， when we were little， most of us didn’t mind sitting up by the screen. But as we age， we seem to gravitate toward the rear. We’re even told that we should sit a prescribed distance back， usually the dead center of the auditorium. A distance of two to three times the screen height is a common recommendation.

With the rise of 3D─there are now over 22，000 3D screens world-wide─the debate about where to sit has been rekindled. Some say the sweet spot remains the same， but others prefer to sit further back. A more distant view， they think， lessens the eyestrain of constantly refocusing on the changing depth.

Movie fans have never understood the impulse to flee from the action. For them， the very first row is perfect. Sitting there is hard-core movie-going. Nobody’s head looms in front of you. You’re less disturbed by latecomers. You have more leg room， and should you wish to leave， the front row is the only one that lets you sneak out easily from any seat. More than that， front row let people scan the frame in great sweeps and even sometimes turning my head to follow the action. The early wide-screen technologies used huge screens to immerse the audience， and even with today’s smaller multiplex screens， people can recover something like that sense of being snugly wrapped in the movie’s world.

When the picture first comes looming up， you do feel a little disconcerted and overwhelmed. But you’ll find yourself adapting in a minute or two. Even the extreme angle isn’t a problem， partly because of perceptual constancy─the brain’s tendency to see familiar objects as having a standard shape and size， despite changes in perspective.

Most people find this sheer madness， but sitting close is the preference of many devoted movie fans.

隨著電影頒獎季的到來，影迷們紛紛前往影院觀看競爭獎項的熱門大片。如果你和大多數(shù)人一樣，那你肯定會坐在比較靠后的位置，甚至有可能在最后一排。

小時候看電影，大多數(shù)人都不介意坐在屏幕前。但隨著年齡越來越大，我們似乎在慢慢往后靠。我們甚至被告知應(yīng)該坐在特定距離的后排位置，通常是影廳的正中。一般建議是距離應(yīng)為屏幕高度的兩到三倍。

隨著3D的崛起，人們重新對觀影位置展開了爭論。目前全球共有2.2萬多家3D影院。有人說最佳位置依然是影廳正中，但有人則喜歡更靠后的位置。他們認為，眼部需要不斷根據(jù)變化的景深來調(diào)整焦距，靠后的位置能降低眼部疲勞。

影迷們搞不懂人們?yōu)楹螘羞@種逃避的念頭。對他們來說，第一排就是完美的位置。坐在第一排就是鐵桿影迷。前面沒有人頭攢動的影子，也不會經(jīng)常被遲到者打擾。腿的活動空間較大，而且如果你想離開，只有在第一排才能輕松地悄悄溜走。還有，第一排可以讓人仔細觀察影片的每一幀畫面，有時甚至隨著畫面的節(jié)奏搖頭晃腦。早期寬屏技術(shù)用巨型銀幕讓觀眾身臨其境，即便是現(xiàn)在更小的多廳影院，人們也能找回完全沉浸在電影世界里的那種感覺。

當(dāng)?shù)谝粋€鏡頭慢慢浮現(xiàn)，確實會讓人感到有點不安，有壓迫感。但一到兩分鐘你就會適應(yīng)了。最偏的角度也不是問題，這是因為人有知覺恒常性：盡管角度發(fā)生變化，但大腦往往會對熟悉物體的形狀和大小保持恒定映象。

大多數(shù)人會覺得這瘋狂至極，但前排座位確實受到忠實影迷的歡迎。