美国国家公共电台 NPR Voice Actors Strike Against Video Game Companies

Voice Actors Strike Against Video Game Companies

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0004:38repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

The actors who are the voices for characters in video games have gone on strike. They want to change contracts they say were devised decades ago, when video games were much smaller productions. By the way, the actors are represented by the SAG-AFTRA union. They are also the union that represents NPR's reporters and hosts.

Jennifer Hale voiced Ivy² in the 1990s video game and TV series "Carmen Sandiego."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARMEN SANDIEGO?")

JENNIFER HALE: (As Ivy) Player, C5 us to the Sewer³ Museum in Paris, France.

SIMON: More recently, she voiced the role of Sarah Palmer in a "Halo."

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO GAME, "HALO")

HALE: (As Sarah Palmer) Some of the old hands here know what you're in for. The rest of you - you're due an education.

SIMON: And she may be best known for her role as Commander Shepard in "Mass Effect."

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO GAME, "MASS EFFECT"

HALE: (As Commander Shepard) Tell your friends we're coming for them.

SIMON: Jennifer Hale, thanks so much for being with us.

HALE: Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

SIMON: Do I get this right - no residuals⁴?

HALE: Yes, we get $825 for a four-hour session. There are a few of us who've been in for a very long time, and we have the privilege of negotiating a little more. But that's a tiny fraction. Yes, 825 for four hours for these games that may go on - not all of them - but some go on to make, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars and more.

SIMON: A lot of people will wonder, it's inside work, no heavy lifting.

HALE: (Laughter) Scott, let me hear the sound you'd make if you were slashed⁵ in half by a sword.

SIMON: (Laughter) All right, I'm going to try. All right.

HALE: OK.

SIMON: (Screaming).

HALE: OK, how about you're struck in the heart by a bullet.

SIMON: (Screaming).

HALE: Yes. Now, how's your throat feel right now?

SIMON: I see what you mean. OK - or I feel what you mean, yes.

HALE: You feel it? I have friends who have had to have surgery because of the vocal⁶ stress they incurred⁷ in the session. And they've been out of work for months. We're asking for basic safety parameters⁸ around what we call vocal stress. The second safety issue we have really impacts us and our stunt⁹ brothers and sisters - were asking for a stunt coordinator¹⁰ on set. Every other...

SIMON: Well, now explain the stunt coordinator part because nowadays with technology you have to wear these funny suits with the little balls on them, right?

HALE: Right. We are in a vocal booth doing just the voice acting¹¹. And sometimes, they capture our face with a camera and use that. The second way is called motion capture. It's the way they shot "Avatar." We put on the lovely black, you know, long johns with the silver dots all over them, and then they capture our movement. And the motion capture stage - it's a big empty room, and we run around and do all kinds of crazy stuff. Every single other aspect of the entertainment industry understands that they need a stunt coordinator for that.

SIMON: Do you have any concern you go on strike and you won't work for $800-some for four hours. There are people - not union members - who will work for $400 an hour.

HALE: That's always a concern. The truth is this isn't actually as bleak¹² is it looks. We're only striking against somewhere around a half a dozen companies. We've worked very hard to craft an interim¹³ agreement that any developer can sign on, and it has really friendly terms. It's actually got friendlier terms than the existing contract to new, sort of, middle and smaller game makers¹⁴. It is a phenomenal contract, and we're kind of excited about that half of it because we get to go out and court a whole bunch of new business.

These half a dozen giant corporations will have to do what they have to do. And the concern about other actors coming in is, honestly, relatively¹⁵ minor¹⁶. I have personally hosted three meetings in my home with the nonunion community. And there's a lot of solidarity¹⁷ there because they recognize that what's at stake is their own ability to buy a home in the future, put their kids through school. This is a war on the middle class.

SIMON: Jennifer Hale spoke¹⁸ to us from our studios at NPR West. We spoke to a lawyer who represents the video game companies. Scott Witlin said that the companies want to help actors find ways to avoid voice injuries rather than to pay them more. And he says, quote, "voice actors represent less than one tenth of 1 percent of the work that goes into making a video game," and adds, "if video game companies were to change the way they pay voice actors, that would create far more problems for the companies."

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO GAME, "HALO")

HALE: (As Sarah Palmer) Hang on, we're going inside.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As DeMarco) Here we go, Majestic¹⁹.

HALE: (As Sarah Palmer) What the hell are we flying into?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Watch out for the debris²⁰.

HALE: (As Sarah Palmer) Lots of turbulence²¹.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Good job, people - almost there.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

3 sewer   

n.排水沟，下水道

参考例句：

• They are tearing up the street to repair a sewer. 他们正挖开马路修下水道。
• The boy kicked a stone into the sewer. 那个男孩把一石子踢进了下水道。

4 residuals   

剩余误差

参考例句：

• In some cases residuals from these arrivals will stack up to give nearly horizontal alignments. 在某些情况下，这些波至的残余会叠加在一起给出近于水平的同相轴。
• Strong oscillations can occur in the residuals as the number of terms is increased. 随着次数的增加，剩余时差会发生强烈的摆动。

5 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

7 incurred   

[医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式

参考例句：

• She had incurred the wrath of her father by marrying without his consent 她未经父亲同意就结婚，使父亲震怒。
• We will reimburse any expenses incurred. 我们将付还所有相关费用。

8 parameters   

因素，特征； 界限； （限定性的）因素( parameter的名词复数 )； 参量； 参项； 决定因素

参考例句：

• We have to work within the parameters of time. 我们的工作受时间所限。
• See parameters.cpp for a compilable example. This is part of the Spirit distribution. 可编译例子见parameters.cpp.这是Spirit分发包的组成部分。

9 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

10 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

11 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

12 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

13 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

14 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

16 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

17 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

18 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

19 majestic   

adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的

参考例句：

• In the distance rose the majestic Alps.远处耸立着雄伟的阿尔卑斯山。
• He looks majestic in uniform.他穿上军装显得很威风。

20 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

21 turbulence   

n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流

参考例句：

• The turbulence caused the plane to turn over.空气的激流导致飞机翻转。
• The world advances amidst turbulence.世界在动荡中前进。