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厄尔·贝隆采访
My Interview with Earl Baylon!
Ladies and gentlemen I have recently had the pleasure of interviewing the talented and kind actor (Earl Baylon) who brought Jonah to life in the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider and again in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Earl has brought Jonah into our hearts and shown him to be a strong, loyal friend to Lara, who would follow her anywhere. I would say he is the epitome of a faithful soul. As fans, we see the game as a dazzling spectacle that takes us through its ancient beauty and puts Lara to the test. We have become familiar with Lara and some feel she is an old friend. The same feelings emerged with other recent characters that found their way into our hearts. One such character is Jonah. He has a gentle, genuine quality about him that you feel you can trust. You can feel his concern for his adventurous friend Lara. His “Little Bird”
有想象过这个角色背后的男人吗？让我们有请厄尔·贝隆。
However, ever wonder who the man behind the character is? Let’s find out and meet Earl Baylon.
在我们开始之前，我必须感谢水晶动力授权这次采访，也必须感谢厄尔愿意出境。我是你忠实的朋友和粉丝。让我们开始吧！
Before we begin, I must thank the kind folks over at Crystal Dynamics for authorising this interview and to Earl for agreeing to give it! I am your grateful friend and fan! Now on with the interview!
艾玛：作为古墓丽影的超级粉丝，我经历了2013年古墓丽影9和今年《古墓丽影：崛起》里演员选角的过程。在崛起中你是如何融入角色并把他鲜活地展示出来的？
Emma: as a huge Tomb Raider fan, I have watched the development of the cast of Tomb Raider 2013 and the recent Rise of the Tomb Raider. How did you get into the character to flesh him out the way you did for Rise?
我想其中一个原因是我出演过古墓丽影9的经历，再加上我一直在追莱恩娜·普莱契和盖尔·西蒙画的漫画吧。当我们开始拍摄崛起时，他俩就开始发布漫画了。你能明显看到劳拉和剧组在古墓丽影9和崛起中创造出来的效果，然后再把这种效果反推到拍摄中。我基本上靠想象约拿的情感内核，如忠诚、勇敢面对所有的批判、在漫画中的磨难、以及上一部游戏的表演经验来扮演《古墓丽影：崛起》中的约拿。
I had the benefit of having all the back story from the first game, as well as the comics penned by Rhianna Pratchett and Gail Simone, which I definitely followed along with as they came out. They started releasing the comics soon after we started working on ROTTR, so it was fun to look at the exploits of Lara and the crew between TR2013 and ROTTR and work some of that back story in. I basically took what I felt to be Jonah’s emotional core: Loyalty, and threw it up against all the trials and tribulations that you see in the comics, as well the previous game – and that’s the headspace I tried to live in while working on Rise.
艾玛：在参演古墓丽影2013之前你是这部系列游戏的粉丝吗？如果是的话，你是更喜欢经典游戏系列还是重启？
Emma: Were you a fan of the gaming series before you worked on TR 2013? If so, do you like the classic game series more or less than the reboot?
我必须承认，在参演古墓丽影2013之前，我并不完全是一个狂热的粉丝。我一直在玩游戏，但是大多数时候我玩的是角色扮演、冒险和策略游戏（都是回合制和即时战略游戏）。我也偶尔玩过第三人称动作游戏，但不是特别喜欢。当然，我对单机游戏也有所涉猎，比如合金装备、战神、旺达与巨像、以及原创古墓丽影。我特别欣赏劳拉·克劳馥，她在很长一段时间内引领了视频游戏和流行文化。尽管劳拉以性感的形象示人，她仍然是视频游戏行业中极少的坚强女性代表，这样的代表人物还有萨姆斯·阿兰，我很尊崇她们。当然，我都是在电影院中看过这两部电影的。
I have to admit, I wasn’t a total die-hard fan before working on TR2013. I’ve been a gamer all my life, but I play mostly RPGs, Adventure, and Strategy games (both turn-based and RTS). I played third-person action stuff here and there, but it’s not my usual poison. Of course, I touched a lot of the landmark titles, like Metal Gear Solid, God of War, Shadows of the Colossus, and the original Tomb Raider. I definitely had an appreciation for Lara Croft though. She’s been a part of video game and popular culture for a long time. And even though the classical interpretation of Lara was a very sexualized one, she was still one of the few strong female video game protagonists back in the day… like her, and Samus Aran – and I respected the heck out of that. Hell, I watched both of the movies – in the theatre!
我必须得承认，即使我没有参演古墓丽影2013，我也是一个铁粉。我太喜欢那游戏了。我几乎从来不会把动作游戏玩通关，但是这次我妥协了。
And I have to say, even if I hadn’t worked on TR2013, I’d be a fan. I enjoyed that game a lot. I played it to 100%, and I almost never do that with action titles.
艾玛：我喜欢玩古墓丽影是因为贯穿整个游戏的古代史。你是被什么吸引的？
Emma: I for one enjoy playing Tomb Raider because of the element of ancient history throughout. What attracts you to the game series?
我其实对古代史也挺感兴趣的。在中学的时候，古代史是除了生物课外我最喜欢的课目。我对希腊神话、亚瑟王传奇史实和寻找民俗文物很着迷。之前古墓丽影的场景好多都来自例如《夺宝奇兵》电影中的桥段。实际上有一段时间，我在长大以后成为考古学家还是古生物学家上伤透了脑筋，哈哈。现在，这部游戏吸引我的地方在于它的趣味性。我没有玩过古墓丽影9，但就像我刚才提到的，古墓丽影2013很棒，精心打磨的一部游戏。我特别喜欢躲避射击、开放世界的穿梭以及环境和关卡设计。
I’m actually really into that stuff as well. Besides biology, ancient history was my favorite subject in high school. I was obsessed with things like Greek mythology, the historicity of Arthurian Legend, and the search for artifacts in folklore. Pre-Tomb Raider, much of that came from things like the Indiana Jones films. In fact, for a time, I flip-flopped between wanting to be an archaeologist and a paleontologist as a child, haha. What really draws me now, though, is that the games are just plain fun. I haven’t had a chance to play ROTTR yet, but like I mentioned earlier, TR2013 was awesome. I thought it was a beautifully polished game. In particular, I loved the cover/shooting and traversal mechanics, as well as the environment and level design.
艾玛：劳拉的冒险旅程对你有没有什么启发，比如说你有没有想过自己也去远方旅行？
Emma: Do you find Lara’s adventures inspiring and make you wish to travel to faraway lands yourself?
我认为她的旅程让人很有冲动！我的意思是，她探索我从未踏足的土地，挖掘我从未知晓的世界，收集那么多我无法企及的勋章，同时，这部游戏也在向世人揭示自然界的许多美景。虽然电影中的环境只存在于数码世界中，但是却也有着现实镜像。
I definitely think her adventures are inspiring! I mean, she explores places I have never been, unearths things I never even knew existed, and beats up baddies that would probably wipe the floor with me. Also, the games are a great reminder that there’s a lot of natural beauty in the world around us. Although the environments in the game only exist in the digital world, they do have real-life analogs.
艾玛：这些年来，我听说一些粉丝因为古墓丽影激发了他们内在的兴趣而把考古作为追求的事业。游戏中对古墓和古老地方的探索有没有点燃你心中去探索未知世界的火焰呢？
Emma: Over the years I have heard that some fans pursue archaeology as a career because of the interest Tomb Raider generated in them. Does the exploratory element of Tombs and ancient places ignite an interest in you to explore a remote place?
我想说有。除了见证劳拉的征程外，我还有幸和古墓丽影社区中的一些真正的考古学家通过推特进行互动。他们绝对重新点燃了我心中的火焰。我自然不可能像劳拉一样以忍者的方式遍历古墓。你得用一部吊机来吊我。
Yes, I’d say so. I think that in addition to witnessing Lara’s exploits, I’ve had the chance to interact with a few of the for reals archaeologists in the TR community via twitter and seeing what they do definitely re-sparks that interest in me. I would definitely be unable to traverse tomb walls Ninja Warrior style like Lara, though. You would have to hoist me around in a crane.
艾玛：如果你可以选择远方的异域去旅行和探索，你会去哪里？
Emma: If you could pick an exotic far away land to travel to and explore where would you go?
这个问题不好回答。我一直想要环游世界，首先去尝遍世界上所有的美食。如果要具体的话，我想我会从亚洲开始，可能是蒙古国。你知道成吉思汗之墓一直是个迷。有的传言说他为了隐藏他的墓穴颇费周折，包括在墓穴周围开辟了一条河流并在墓穴上方种了一片森林。所以没人知道他的墓穴的确切地址，因为所有参与墓穴建设的人都被他处决了。但是如果能去一些可能的场所探险的话也不错。在回来的路上我会在基特城停留，喝一杯或者两杯圣泉水。
Tough question. I’ve always wanted to travel the world, primarily to sample all the world’s delicious and diverse cuisines. If it came down to it, think I’d start somewhere in Asia – Mongolia perhaps. You know, the burial place of Genghis Khan has always been a mystery. Some say he went to great lengths to hide it, including diverting a river over the tomb and planting a forest over it. So one knows where it is really, because he had everyone involved in his burial executed. But… would be cool to explore some of the possible sites. Then I’d totally stop by Kitezh on the way home and pick up a Divine Source or two.
艾玛：我知道拍摄游戏的场景很沉闷。一般来说每天拍摄古墓丽影会花多长时间？
Emma: I know making the scenes used in the game must be tedious at best. How long does it take for a typical filming day for Rise of the Tomb Raider?
哈哈，我可不会说很沉闷，特别是与电影和电视剧比起来。我们拍摄动作捕捉，过程实际上会快很多。我们通常有8个小时待在摄影棚里。摄影棚很大很空，里面布满了灯光和摄像头，这些摄像头通过跟踪装在动作捕捉装备上的反射球来捕捉我们身体的动作。因为是从三维的角度来捕捉我们的动作和表演的，所以理论上所有的场景从各个可能的角度都能一次搞定。这样避免了像电影或者电视剧那样拍摄备用镜头。而且，灯光基本保持不变。和电影不同，动作捕捉通常不需要根据场景变化灯光。所以对于我们演员来讲我们不会觉得沉闷。
Haha, I wouldn’t call it tedious, especially in comparison to film/TV. Because we do Motion Capture, the process is actually a lot quicker. We’ll usually do about 8 hour days in the Volume, which is the large empty space filled with lights and cameras all along the walls that capture our body movements by tracking all those little reflective balls on the MoCap suits. And, because they’re capturing the motion and performance in 3 dimensions, they’re literally capturing a scene from every possible angle at one time. That eliminates the need to do coverage shots like in Film or TV. Also, lighting tends to stay the same. MoCap studios don’t have to light each scene differently, unlike Film. So, for us actors I wouldn’t really say it’s tedious.
但是对于后期制作的那些很棒的小伙伴来讲，要把原生数据转变为在后期游戏中那种令人血脉喷张的画面，可能会特别的沉闷。
For all the awesome folks in post-production that have to take that raw data and turn it into the beautiful cinematics you see in the game’s final release, that’s probably way tedious-er. More tedious.
艾玛：我知道我经常会想起这个问题。你是如何拿到古墓丽影这个角色的？这是你计划之中的，还是天上掉下来的馅饼？
Emma: I know this is a question I often think of. How did you end up playing a character from Tomb Raider? Was it something you planned to do, or a happy accident?
你知道，我现在对天上掉馅饼这事儿看得更全面了。像在娱乐行业发生的很多事儿一样，出演这部游戏就像是在正确的时间，在正确的地点，正确地利用了自己的经验。这是运气、技能和工作的结合。
You know, I’m going to lean more towards the side of “happy accident.” Like a lot of things in the entertainment industry, booking this game was a lot of being in the right place at the right time and having the experience to capitalize on that. It’s a mixture of luck, skill, and work.
在我接到试镜的时候，我已经从事演艺事业3年了，整个3年期间我都忙得飞了起来。我不是最有天赋的那一个，但我是最勤奋的那一个。我做过即兴表演秀，我为短小系列喜剧写剧本也在其中演出过，同时也为学生/独立制片项目中试过镜并演出过。有一个经纪人恰好有看过我演出的短小系列喜剧，他后来联系我并说愿意做我的经纪人。我当时就答应下来了。一年后，他给我介绍了这个项目，当时是用代号来表示的，所以我并不知道具体是什么项目。我试过镜也接到了复试通知，不过我仍然不知道是什么项目。当我收到他们发过来的保密协议，发现文件抬头是“水晶动力——一家史克威尔艾尼克斯公司”时，整个事情发生了转变。我竟然感到有点慌张，因为作为资深游戏迷，我知道这肯定是个大制作。
I had been acting professionally for 3 years when I got a chance to audition for the role, and that entire time I was hustling. I’m not the most talented or organized, but I was really driven. I was doing improv shows, and writing and performing in sketch shows, as well as auditioning and working on student/indie projects. An agent happened to be at one of my sketch comedy shows. They contacted me afterwards and offered me representation. I said, “Hell yeah.” After being with them about a year, they submitted me for this project, which had a codename at the time, so I didn’t know what it was. I went in to audition, went to a callback, still didn’t have any idea what it was. That changed when they sent over the non-disclosure agreement and saw I the words “Crystal Dynamics,” and “Square-Enix” in the letterhead. Being a lifelong gamer, I had a mild panic attack because I knew it had to be something big.
我是在一次即兴表演的后台收到我经纪人的邮件通知我已经被剧组选上的消息的。当我看到游戏名称“古墓丽影”的时候，我差点喊出来了，因为快乐，因为激动，因为紧张、感激、怀疑…等等。但是因为我还在后台，我必须保持安静，所以我只能偷偷地乐着。不过讲真，脑袋一片空白。
When I actually got the news from my agent, I was backstage at an improv show. I remember reading the email seeing the title of the project: “Tomb Raider.” I seriously wanted to scream. Scream for joy, scream in excitement, in nervousness, in apprehension, in disbelief… all that. But I had to keep it bottled up because I couldn’t tell anyone, and I was backstage at a show so I had to be quiet. But seriously, mind blown.
时间真快，转眼就过了4年。有趣吧？
Fast forward 4 years, and here we are. Fun, huh?
非常带感！我很高兴能够对厄尔·贝隆有了进一步了解，希望你们也能对可爱的泰迪熊一样的约拿背后的男人有了更多的了解。我很感谢能有这样的机会。做了这么长时间古墓丽影迷，特别是玩到最新的《古墓丽影：崛起》，让我感到很自豪。
Well, absolutely fun! I am very happy to have gotten to know Earl Baylon and I hope you all are more informed about the real man behind that lovable teddy bear Jonah. This experience has been a blast and I appreciated the grand opportunity. It also makes being a long time fan of Tomb Raider and especially playing the recent Rise of the Tomb Raider all the more special to me.
艾玛·奎尔为您报道。下次报道再见！
This is Emma’s Quill signing off. Until we meet again!
