Hey guys, I'm Ron, I'm a producer for IGN eSports. I'm currently on my flight back to SF from IPL3 in Atlantic City.
What a week...I was in Atlantic City since Friday Sep 30th helping setup. To kill time on the plane and while it's fresh in my memory I'm going to write about the experience.
Since I work in production this blog will be geared towards that side of things. Overall I was happy with the event - even though we had our fair share of rough spots. First off, we really pushed to plan this event in under 2 months. Alex Conn (ROOTSunDevil) our Senior Operations Manager made sure we went with 4 booths on stage so that players could setup for their games while the current games are being played. This really helped and the players were never rushed to setup. As far as production/presentation - we looked at the how it was done by GSL/Dreamhack/MLG/NASL/IEM/WCG and tried to take the best aspects from each and improve upon them. We experimented a lot this event and definitely have learned a ton about how to make an event like this go smoothly. One thing we had was filler content - which included Top 10's, Interviews and Assorted Promos. These were OK to kill 4-5 minutes here and there but they quickly became repetitive and were not really relevant to what was going on in the event. Still, we didn't want any downtime on our stream (that we could control) so this was the solution we came up with. In my perfect world with infinite budget I'd like to do little player packages about the pro's who are about to play - but this would require flying to them or having them fly to SF - for a 3-5 minutes block of content that isn't re-usable.
That brings me to the picture in picture int he bottom right. We originally were going to only show the casters here - however I think this is an extremely boring shot that no one is interested in seeing. Neha decided to take one of our static cameras and set him up as a roaming camera on stage - giving us a total of 2 stage cameras and one for each player. This gave us a lot more options. We did things like set up split screen shots of the players, get action shots of mouse/keyboard of the players and just get nice shots of the players in their booths. By Day 3 we had the Caesars lighting crew setting the booth lights to the players in- game color and taking the players themselves to full screen during the early game introductions. It was starting to feel like a show.
Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player? I think if this is done correctly and not overused it can add a lot to a broadcast. While I'm on this point let me admit that we definitely messed up (twice) by showing a full screen caster/player during an important part of gameplay - this was not intentional. We had given our primary TD a break and had our AD filling in for him. Something else we tried and eventually decided didn't work was setting up mics inside the player booths to get audio from the mouse/keyboard. The response was not great and people thought a PA had left his mic on backstage. Also in regards to the explosion transitions - our director was getting a little frisky and was just having fun with the tricaster presets - we won't be repeating those LoL.
One thing we want to learn from/improve on is the booths themselves - the heat generated from the PC's cause the booths to get quite hot - we setup fans in there and left them open when they were not in use. For the future we might build an exhaust fan into the booth itself. As far as players hearing the casters - players were required to wear headphones with white noise playing from an ipod shuffle.
Our two main ops guys on stage - Ryan Mitchell (Syckness) and Adrian Harris did an awesome job wrangling the players and keeping things running smoothly. Jeff ran the observer computers and everyone was working really well together. Our two translators Susie (LiLSusie) and Sue were amazing - always ready to go and providing the best translations I've heard from Korean pro players. Also a huge thanks to the PA's back there that worked nonstop to keep us running - Ken, Kevin, Mike, Mark, Steve, Clayton, and Matt - apologies if I'm forgetting you.
In fact after the 2nd day we setup a "player practice room/lounge" in the back of CMAX with about 5-6 computers, couches, and a big screen TV streaming the event from up front.
On Thursday, the first day, everyone was ready to go and excited for the opening ceremony. Literally 2 minutes before our countdown clock was at 0 we get word from Ops (Alex Conn) that we are blacklisted on Battle.net and can't play any games. This delayed us about 2 and a half hours. After we got through that delay the rest of the day went smoothly.
Day 2 (Friday) would be a tought day. After a truck crashed into a comcast fiber line in South New Jersey our internet was knocked out and we couldn't stream the show OR play the games. Everyone was scrambling to find a solution - Comcast to their credit sent out a team immediately to the crash site to try to fix the problem. The LiveU units that I actually though were going to do poorly prior to the event ended up saving the day and exposing the world to a very promising eSports personality - Lani Villanueva. Lani and her cameraman Buddy got great interviews and footage from all over the venue - with the type of freedom you could only get from a LiveU backpack type setup. The LiveU backpacks also lead to the impromptu broodwar games with Huk Boxer and a few others. I was completely sold on LiveU after this.
So back to us having no interenet, our interim solution was to setup a satellite receiver on the roof of Caesars and get our internet through that. It worked, we had internet! Unfortunately though it turned out that we had the bandwith to stream but serious latency issues to battle.net east made the game unplayable. After trying a few games with the lag players complained and AConn made the call to not play the games under those conditions. So we had internet that was capable of streaming but we couldn't play games. The solution was to cast some replays from the previous days Open Bracket Qualifier that hadn't been broadcasted but looked promising until our comcast internet was back up and running. Once our internet was back - we had to start playing two games at once on the main stage to catch up to our schedule and a few times we would finish up a series and go into a game 2/3 of a series in progress. This was no ideal but necessary given we had to start the RO32 on Saturday.
Day 4 (Sunday) was our best day yet. We realized pretty quickly that taking the main SC2 stream into the LoL finals was a mistake, we will not repeat that. However we found ourselves with 30 minutes to fill before the LoL finals began and that's when one of our AD's Matt Ryan (coolnazgul) had an idea for a player panel. I quickly ran backstage to see who we could find - I asked the guys in the players lounge who would be willing to do an impromptu panel. MC/Stephano agreed by Select wasn't sure about the whole thing - the original idea was to have Rachel Quirico (who incidentally is a badass and able to handle anything we threw at her) moderate the panel of MC/Stephano but then I saw InControl talking to Anna who has just finished her shift backstage. I asked Jeff if he was willing to moderate an impromptu panel with MC/Stephano and he agreed! At that moment Select decided that he would participate which was great news for us. Within 5 minutes of the idea we had the 4 of them mic'd up on the caster desk with Select translating for MC and Rachel in the audience taking questions. The segment ended up being one of our most successful bits of filler content, MC for President 2050! Having the players interact wtih the fans in a somewhat structures but still laid back environment was great and something we will try to refine and build upon for future events.
On the topic of panels, The LiveOn3 panels we held at Ballys on Thursday night and at CMAX on Saturday night were amazing and really engaged the audiences at the venue and online. djWHEAT Scoots and Slasher hosted guests including David Ting/MC/IdrA/2GD made for some entertaining banter and discussions. The player panel with Idra/White-Ra/Stephano and Huk was also very entertaining to me personally and I'm wondering if the community also enjoyed these?
I'm going to take another second to thank/shout out all the great people I met/worked with this week. Neha Tiwari who directed the show at CMAX killed it from Master Control and was calling it like a boss. All of the IPL staff obviously worked insanely hard, everyone from Errol/AConn/Bennett to Frank/Joshy/Colin. Our shooter/editors Rudy and Paul also were on their feet most of the day getting footage for our future promos and broll. Our shooters at CMAX Alex/Amanda/Pete and Clark did great work. Anna our hostess/MC was a total professional - it was so easy working with her and I'd love to do so again for future events. Derek Brinkman from IGN Prime did an awesome job calling some last second audibles to make the event the best it could be.
Colin and the 01 production shooters were also badass, as was Peter Palm. Obviously the man who had the vision and put all of these events in motion is David Ting.
Our photographers Hugo and Oliver were everywhere and got some really great reaction shots with a ton of emotion. I'm really enjoyed woking with those two and am looking forward to the pictures they put up from IPL3.
I didn't spend much time at Ballys since I was at CMAX all day but I met and got a chance to talk with Mike Zemrose our director over there as well as our 2 TD's and our AD Brian. Those guys picked it up so quickly and ran a fantastic show - Zemrose is one of the few people with Starcraft 2 knowledge and production experience. It was a pleasure working with them.
There were some backstage personell on staff with Caesars that were helping us out throughout the week with audio, lighting and stage direction. These guys were awesome and by Sunday they were intrigued by starcraft and asking me questions about the units/races/players. I overheard one of the guys mention that "the roaches are my favorite...because they spit out acid". These are 35-50 year old stage hands that have never seen the game before this week.
All of the players were great - The SlayerS guys and specifically Boxer just has an aura about him that even the stage hands could sense even without knowing anything about who he was. We tried our best to accomodate the koreans - Adrian ran out and picked up some hand warmers after huk mentioned his hands were cold on our first day. We had drinks/food available for them in the player lounge, and they had plenty of time to get setup and practice in their booth before their games started. As far as the pre-game handshake and the post-game interview - did you guys enjoy that or was that something we could potentially skip? I like that element of the show but I'm not sure if the community shares the same opinions.
I played a (losing) poker session with White-Ra and IdrA (briefly) the last night of the event and I got the chance to hang out with Mr Chae from GomTV who was there checking our the first IGN event. He's extremely smart and I pretty much a true nerd baller. The casters were amazing, djWHEAT and D'apollo worked extremely well together - as did DOA and CatsPajamas. HD and PainUser already know each other very well and can always be counted on for an entertaining cast.
Wow, I wrote way more than I expected to, and I still have ~3 hours left on this flight. We saw Stephano getting on his flight to Orlando this morning at the Philly airport and wished him luck at MLG. Well my laptop has about 40 minutes of juice left, so If you actually got through that thanks for reading!
I'll post some more pictures I took in this thead when I get home in SF later tonight.
Playing some poker with White-Ra
Special Tactics were engaged
first iteration of the Live-U Cave later redubbed the LiveU Palace
AConn and Adrian backstage
Player Lounge/Practice area backstage at CMAX, Alive/ThorZain/SeleCT
these were plastered all over the hotel and they were playing our promos on the TV's
there were a good amount of confused casino patrons
Getting that good close up of EG PuMa
EGHuK in his booth
LiquidHero and our awesome camera op Alex
SlayerSRyung
Interview with the Emperor!
CMAX stage
Production master control
Future president of Korea the Boss Toss himself
Ken getting down on some Karaoke at the Twitch.TV wrap party. There were some epic performances by David Ting/SeleCT/Anna/Temp0/CatZ and a few more
Hey man, great read, I was over working in the player lounge in Ballys so its cool to get to read more about backstage at CMax.
On October 11 2011 10:15 darkrabbi wrote: Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player?
Check out the WCG Korea that OGN has done for SC2, or just BW casts, they do a really good job at cutting to a player in tense situations during the "oh shit I might be dead" moments etc.
One thing we want to learn from/improve on is the booths themselves - the heat generated from the PC's cause the booths to get quite hot - we setup fans in there and left them open when they were not in use. For the future we might build an exhaust fan into the booth itself. As far as players hearing the casters - players were required to wear headphones with white noise playing from an ipod shuffle.
MLG has the PCs outside the booth, seems to be the best setup to me. Definitely heat a problem.
The impromptu panel was great, I was on break then so got to watch it, iNcontrol really did a sick job and deserves some props for that, the panels in general are great.
Lucky! Congratulations on the great event! I also enjoyed the panels a lot more than I expected I would. In response to the questions: I think cutting away to look at the players is good but only once or twice during the match, and not so much later into the game. Interviews after games are good, MLG does them really well. Pregame handshakes are probably a matter of the organiser's preference, it's the kind of thing soccer players would do but GSL doesn't. Again, thanks for the great tournament!
Great event, please do experiment with player shots after dramatic moments in the game, it really adds a layer of personality to StarCraft. I could think of nothing better to demonstrate the importance to someone who doesn't play the game when lets say a player miscontrols his mutas into some thors and you get a shot of his face in that "OH MY GOOOOOOOD" moment. Also props for the great event, and if it was you who organized the impromptu showmatch between Lani and David Ting, good work it was a great way to fill time!
First, great work. I was very impressed and greatly enjoyed watching the IPL.
On October 11 2011 10:15 darkrabbi wrote: That brings me to the picture in picture int he bottom right. We originally were going to only show the casters here - however I think this is an extremely boring shot that no one is interested in seeing. Neha decided to take one of our static cameras and set him up as a roaming camera on stage - giving us a total of 2 stage cameras and one for each player...
Some shots of the crowd at certain times could fit too.
Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player?
As someone else stated, the WCG in Korea do a fantastic job of it. I recommend caution with experimenting on this feature. Not much is worse when watching Starcraft than missing in-game action. Missing a good opportunity for a head shot is no big deal. Aim for less and slowly incorporate it more.
The casters were amazing, djWHEAT and D'apollo worked extremely well together - as did DOA and CatsPajamas. HD and PainUser already know each other very well and can always be counted on for an entertaining cast.
I greatly enjoyed all the casters and I think they all brought excitement to the game. I think some, perhaps all, of these casting duos would benefit greatly from a dedicated observer. In some of the games the casters simply could not keep up with the action while trying to talk. At other times, I think the casting could have been improved if the casters could simply sit back and talk while another worked the camera. I like the GSL setup of two casters and one observer. One caster's screen is on the observers view and the other is setup to let the casters freely look around. The only negative with the GSL setup is the observer doesn't appear to speak the same language as the casters.
I think the casters did a good job. I think they'd do a better job with a dedicated observer.
Once again... awesome work. The whole setup seemed already to have a good plan from the start. Plus, the production learned and adapted fast. I was very impressed and enjoyed the IPL greatly.
Never heard of the LiveU streaming before until IPL3 event, was super cool! running around and talking to people, random interviews, and some crazy drunk women lol! <3 BEAST CREW
Thanks so much for your work, I still can't believe what you managed to do in 6 weeks, and with the worst luck possible ( truck hitting the fiber line, really?). I was not here in person, but this was by far the most enjoyable stream experience I ever had from a sc2 tournament. I have a couple of friends who play sc2 casually, but don't really follow the tournament scene. I tried to tell them to tune in to MLG, but the downtime makes it very hard for a newcomer to enjoy the show whereas you did a great job at limiting this downtime.I feel like it is something that will make it much easier to bring new people to the scene. The amount of great people that you gathered for this tournament is amazing seriously... you took the best of the starcraft community .
I hope I will be able to attend an IPL in person one of these days .
haha thx for the blog! the whole IPL Staff did an excellent job! I like the shots at the player while playing but as you said you may not miss any important moves while doing that :D
And the handshake + interview was okay i guess. Those hardcore Gamer nerds (specially from Korea) need to socialize some more to break the ice :D (except MC )
Edit: I forgot: the WhiteRa pic is really good. i spat some bread on my desk when i saw it :D
Excellent blog, really cool getting a production perspective on the event as a whole ^^
Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player? I think if this is done correctly and not overused it can add a lot to a broadcast.
This is something that's great to do but can be hard to execute well. It really helps convey the gravity of a situation if you tie the players emotional response to what just happened, but it's paramount that the shot doesn't get in the way of something even more important happening so you need a decent sense of when it's safe to cut.
You could skim a couple of OGN vods for reference since they do this a lot:
The player panel with Idra/White-Ra/Stephano and Huk was also very entertaining to me personally and I'm wondering if the community also enjoyed these?
All the panels were great, it's very nice to hear people just firing a bunch of questions at a few pros and the pros answering back. I'd love to see more of them. By a similar token the live shows were fantastic in the evening.
As far as the pre-game handshake and the post-game interview - did you guys enjoy that or was that something we could potentially skip? I like that element of the show but I'm not sure if the community shares the same opinions.
The post-game interviews were fantastic, really loved that there was more than the cursory questions you might often expect. Much love to the knowledgable hosts for that!
The pre-game handshakes were a nice idea but sometimes felt a little awkward with the rush up on stage, quick handshake, and being back off instantly before the host had really got a chance to say anything. A little more controlled and I think it would be great =)
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I'm not sure how much it comes under your purview since this seems mostly to be about general event production, but some of the graphic elements of the IPL overlays bothered me a bit when compared to the awesome quality of almost everything else. Mostly the scoreboard overlay which felt a little out of place when compared to everything else on display.
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Mind blowing event regardless though, thanks to yourself and everyone else involved in bringing such a quality product to us fans ^^
Thanks for such a great experience with this event! Wonderful team you managed to assemble Crisis management was quite stellar, also maddest props to Matt Ryan for his idea. Keep up the good work!
On October 11 2011 11:10 SeltzerPlease wrote: It was great working with you, Ron! Thanks for all the great direction! :D
You too Rachel, hope to see you at future events
On October 11 2011 16:37 lilsusie wrote: It was super working with you, Ron! Hope to see you again
On October 11 2011 16:43 Smix wrote: Ron thank you for everything!! You were such a boss handling two ear pieces and just being amazing <3 <3 <3 (This is Sue hehe)
You two absolutely killed it and really made the korean players feel more comfortable. I think it was MMA backstage who said all they had to do is make eye contact and staff would be asking them if they need anything. It was a pleasure and I hope to see you at future IPL's
Something I'd really like to mention: Please replace the player "First person" feeds with an actual direct video feed from their computer. In my opinion that's nicer to watch / cut to than a screen with an observer following the player's camera.
Something I'd really like to mention: Please replace the player "First person" feeds with an actual direct video feed from their computer. In my opinion that's nicer to watch / cut to than a screen with an observer following the player's camera.
this would be better imo, however idk if this would lag the game or anything. i wouldn't assume it to, but just something to look into.
Fantastic post. I'm loving all these great stories from all the people who worked on it. Interestingly, not seeing as much from attendees. Oh well. The behind-the-scenes stuff is more interesting anyway. :-)
Something I'd really like to mention: Please replace the player "First person" feeds with an actual direct video feed from their computer. In my opinion that's nicer to watch / cut to than a screen with an observer following the player's camera.
this would be better imo, however idk if this would lag the game or anything. i wouldn't assume it to, but just something to look into.
It's definitely possible to do without lagging the games, though typically not on the random online-tournament-cast-from-home-and/or-replays streams/events you see.
Anyway, I enjoyed most of the stuff I was awake for. One thing I heard mentioned several times was that IGN should try to get Tylenol as a sponsor, but I don't think you have anything to do with that.
Stream quality was superb. One question though since i am not sure about it: was that streamed with 60fps? Once you get faster games like Quake it really matters.
When that truck hit I thought "oh man... poor guys". I've worked on huge events like this and the deflated feeling that can sneak up on you in such situations, safe to say I sympathized a lot.
But you got through it and made a fantastic event, you have every reason to be proud. Thank you for wonderful entertainment, I've followed as much as I could (time difference and work prevented me following some of the live feed, but that's unavoidable unfortunately).
As for the question on the panels, I found them extremely enjoyable. Great entertainment and it's always fun for fans (speaking for myself here, but I doubt I am alone in this) to see more sides of the players than just the actual playing.
The camera angle question... I am unsure. For my part I would like to see it tried and then make a decision if I think it's wort it or not. Might be cool, I like the idea ^^
I loved this event, the production value definitely took a big step forward from our current standard of sc2 live events (i.e MLG). I loved all the filler content you had available on the regular + prime streams, had me entertained all weekend!
Going on to the critique, I think these 2 things are probably the most easily fixed, and would provide big improvements to the presentation of the main streams.
On October 11 2011 18:12 Asha` wrote:
The pre-game handshakes were a nice idea but sometimes felt a little awkward with the rush up on stage, quick handshake, and being back off instantly before the host had really got a chance to say anything. A little more controlled and I think it would be great =)
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I'm not sure how much it comes under your purview since this seems mostly to be about general event production, but some of the graphic elements of the IPL overlays bothered me a bit when compared to the awesome quality of almost everything else. Mostly the scoreboard overlay which felt a little out of place when compared to everything else on display.
For the handshake, maybe have the host bring each player out with an introductory title, like "The Kratos Protoss" for MC.
Ron is an absolute baller and without him our event would have been significantly worse. Props to Ron and to all of the backstage crew, you were all awesome!
I have a lot to say about this event because I loved it so much and I want to make it better!
Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player?
YES YES YES THIS.
After watching Brood War for so long, the Korean cameramen use this tactic a lot, especially when:
- Showing the player after a very successful engagement - Showing a player after a very negative engagement - Showing a player that's getting pummeled and will likely GG soon so we can see his reaction to the loss. - Showing either player just after a loss.
Regarding the player cameras, I noticed that a lot of the time after the game was over the camera would remain on the Starcraft 2 screen for at least 10 - 15 seconds before switching back to the caster desk. That time would be better spent showing either the winning player or the losing player after the match to see how he feels about the game.
Let me show you a game where being able to see the player's expressions made watching the game so much better. Jump to 6:17 to see the start of the game. The video may be 27 minutes, but the game is only 7 - 10 minutes long.
You'll notice watching through that game just how much they jump between game --> player --> game, even for a fleeting 1 - 2 seconds. It really helps to build tension, serves to connect the audience with the player of the game, and it shows us the player emotions. Also, you can see the actual disappointment the defending player, Flash, feels when he can't break out of the contain and has to GG. Also you'll notice at the beginning of the game, they do this:
Introduce Player 1 on the map --> show player 1 in booth --> Introduce Player 2 on the map --> show player 2 in booth
Another example of showing a booth cam in a game is when there is a stalemate, like in Stephano vs Kiwikaki Game 2, where neither side really wants to attack. This leads to a lull in the game where booth shots are great. Here's a Brood War game where there's a stalemate and the booth cams are hilarious because of it:
Jump to about 42:00 and watch the rest. It's hilarious.
Another idea to take from the Korean Brood War scene is what the winner does after a game. In some Brood War events, the winning player gets to sign a shirt and throw it out to the audience. So don't let Randy Anderson throw the shirts out there with no signatures on them. Give the shirt some value to the audience! Also, make sure to let a Ro4 winner sign two shirts and the Champion Winner sign 3 shirts. That's fun for the player and gives added value to live attendees. After the player signs the shirt, he then gets his picture taken which will be used in a press announcement.
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For the pre-game handshake, I still feel that it's an integral part of the game. However, I think a good idea would be to take a page out of MLG's book. Both players are ushered on stage and a person does a very quick interview - similar to what was done with the David Ting + Bronze Toss Girl (forgot her name!). An interview allows players to say what they want to do in the match and builds tension. It also doesn't make the long walk to the center of the stage to shake hands so awkward. It also allows you to fill up the time that you might have used to show pre-taped interviews.
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Another suggestion is to make sure your casters are Referees and not Observers every single game. There was one point where Sheth paused the game and the Casters couldn't do anything to unpause the game for the audience. I think this happened again later in the tournament.
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Another way to fill up time is instead of using pre-taped interviews, why not go into the player lounge and live interview a progamer? Ask him about how he's doing in the tournament, what he thinks, etc.. Or an impromptu live interview with Boxer - I think a lot of fans would like that.
I posted some input in the feedback thread before, but I'll address other things here.
About the filler content: As you noted, the filler content was great, but it did get repetitive. Have you considered cutting to the LiveU stream, or maybe some recorded content from the LiveU stream for interviews with spectators or staff or players during the down time? I think this would be a great way to promote those IGN Prime streams as well while filling extra time. Granted, there's quite a delay between the main stream and the LiveU stream... maybe there's a way you guys could sync them up? Maybe you can find a way to do "instant replay" like you see in boxing or MMA between rounds!
Pre-game handshake is a good thing, but I think it could be refined a little bit. It seems like Rachel and Anna were a little under-prepared every time, and were trying to be a tad witty, which ultimately led to some stumbled intros. How cool would it be to mention some of the developing storylines before introducing each player? "To my right is the only remaining foreigner hope, Stephano! Can he take on Korea single-handedly, or will he be struck down like the rest?" or "To my left is a man who is always a fan favorite. After showing some of the most exciting games we've seen this weekend, can he continue his romp through the bracket all the way to the finals?" That sort of stuff really helps with hype and I think it's better than making witty comments and such.
The PiP is great. As someone mentioned before, having shots of the crowd added in would be excellent. I love watching people react to super-tense moments in the game. Can we have PiP of the player on the first-person view streams, also? Maybe a stationary camera in the booth?
Computers outside of the booth, definitely. This should help computer performance as well.
LO3 Panels were sick. But perhaps it's a good idea to show a brief "questionable content" screen before they start, because we all know those guys are no fluff! Hah. Loved the player panels also. The second one hosted by iNcontroL felt a lot more informal and was more entertaining to watch. I didn't watch the entire first panel, but did you guys take any questions from chat/twitter? I love it when live events interact with the communities on the internet as well.
Bring Lani back for IPL4, please.
Thanks for the blog, Ron! Love this kind of insider stuff!
Something I'd really like to mention: Please replace the player "First person" feeds with an actual direct video feed from their computer. In my opinion that's nicer to watch / cut to than a screen with an observer following the player's camera.
this would be better imo, however idk if this would lag the game or anything. i wouldn't assume it to, but just something to look into.
Ooooh, I see you have moved up to arbiter! Well played, Mr.CA!
On October 12 2011 10:38 Fkyx wrote: About the filler content: As you noted, the filler content was great, but it did get repetitive. Have you considered cutting to the LiveU stream, or maybe some recorded content from the LiveU stream for interviews with spectators or staff or players during the down time? I think this would be a great way to promote those IGN Prime streams as well while filling extra time. Granted, there's quite a delay between the main stream and the LiveU stream... maybe there's a way you guys could sync them up? Maybe you can find a way to do "instant replay" like you see in boxing or MMA between rounds!
This is something we wanted to do but unfortunately due to budget/technical aspects were not able to achieve. We had the LiveU units streaming directly to JTV without any filtering or the ability to switch to them on our main stream. This would have been especially useful on Day2.
On October 12 2011 10:38 Fkyx wrote: The PiP is great. As someone mentioned before, having shots of the crowd added in would be excellent. I love watching people react to super-tense moments in the game. Can we have PiP of the player on the first-person view streams, also? Maybe a stationary camera in the booth?
That's an good call, we did sprinkle in a few crowd reaction shots. Whenever a baneling bomb or huge engagement was imminent I let the director know that the crowd would be going nuts soon. Only issue is we only had 2 roaming cameras so we would have to sacrifice one of the players to get the crowd shots, but that's fine for a couple seconds.
Computers outside the booths is something we will be experimenting with before the next event.
On October 12 2011 10:38 Fkyx wrote: LO3 Panels were sick. But perhaps it's a good idea to show a brief "questionable content" screen before they start, because we all know those guys are no fluff! Hah. Loved the player panels also. The second one hosted by iNcontroL felt a lot more informal and was more entertaining to watch. I didn't watch the entire first panel, but did you guys take any questions from chat/twitter? I love it when live events interact with the communities on the internet as well.
That's another great idea, we had audience questions but it would be fun to open it up to the online audience as well. Thanks for the input man these are great suggestions and points. Don't be surprised to see some of these worked into the next IPL!
818 represent. You were really clutch during mainstage production, I think you were one of the only dudes on the production mics that was good at foreseeing the outcomes. Was a pleasure to work with you sir.
On October 11 2011 10:15 darkrabbi wrote: Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player? I think if this is done correctly and not overused it can add a lot to a broadcast.
I approve this 1000x. Seeing someone drop their jaw when they realise they have made a big mistake etc is just priceless. OGN does it in their production and it's amazing. If you want tips on direction go check out their production. GOMtv has OGN VODs from their WCG qualifiers on their site. Show more crowd reactions too!
On another note, while the bottom right corner PIP camera is cool and all, I don't find it all that functional to be honest. The picture is too tiny to actually see anything. Just cut away from the gameplay for a moment when there's downtime.
The handshakes ended up being kinda awkward. I think they'd be fine if done properly though. Rachel and Anna invited both players to the stage with the same sentence which felt kinda rushed and turned out somewhat awkward. I think the announcers should have invited the players just one at a time and hype them thoroughly. Bruce Buffer does amazing job at this in the UFC and while we don't necessarily have to be that cheesy in e-sports, I think we can learn from him how awesome proper hype can be. A charismatic master of ceremony would be something to consider. Maybe someone like Temp0? Maybe let the players choose an entrance music? Even pyrotechnics? Because, why not?
That's my thoughts. Anyway, the production was very nice already and I had a great weekend watching SC2. Thanks!
Our photographers Hugo and XX were everywhere and got some really great reaction shots with a ton of emotion. I'm really enjoyed woking with those two and am looking forward to the pictures they put up from IPL3.
Thanks for the great show! I was starting to get worried when I couldn't watch anything by day 2, but the last 2 days really made up for it. Stayed up till 4am every day to watch!
Good hostesses!
Love the handshake beforehand and interview with winner after.
Awesome roving camera inset bottom right, best I've seen so far.
Player panels are an excellent idea, and will increase the fanbase of the participants also I'm sure.
On that point, well done to Incontrol/EG in general, think their players added alot to the event in various ways.
Can't really say about the short shots away from gameplay...but I think it should be tried at least once.
Waiting for the next events in anticipation guys, well done!
Do you guys talk to IGN head honcho's a lot or are you fairly autonomous in how things go? I heard they were initially not totally convinced when IPL first was suggested, how is their response now considering IPL3 was one of the most well received in terms of public opinion (don't know anything about the numbers). Each season it seems like the slab of ad space on the main page of IGN for IPL gets just a little bit bigger. Good Luck in the future!
5/5, thanks for sharing your experience! This kind of transparency makes all the hiccups so understandable. I had a great time watching (mostly Saturday/Sunday), and good luck with future events!
You guys literally just need to watch OGN broadcasts of SC1 (or even their recent broadcasts of SC2) and study how they use the player reaction shots; if done correctly they really enhance the emotions around the match and it's totally awesome to see that level of production in a broadcast. I could see that that was what you guys were going for and it could potentially be really great, and the way you did it just needs some work. Jaedong's face when he sees Firebathero's battlecruisers comes to mind.
I didn't mind the explosion transitions.
Why were your IPs blacklisted from Battle.net? That part I never understood.
On October 11 2011 10:15 darkrabbi wrote: Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player?
Yes, absolutely. As others have said, when it's done right it really enhances the viewing experience. It's done all the time with Brood War broadcasts. The best example of this is probably from GGaemo vs Upmagic + Show Spoiler [vod] +
On October 11 2011 10:15 darkrabbi wrote: Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player?
Here's how I feel -- GSL does this occasionally, and a sudden full-screen on a player is usually very sudden and surprising -- it doesn't feel right. Here's what I suggest -- shots of each player simultaneously on screen with the game still present. If you're going for prominent shots, maybe some sort of split-screen would be in order -- think of how you play Halo 3 on a widescreen TV with 3 players -- The game view on top, centered, but with the correct aspect ratio (so I guess this would have some black bars on the sides) and side-by-side player shots lining the bottom.
I took the liberty of sending a thank you letter address to Caesars' CEO and got a response from them:
Thank you for taking the time to write.
We appreciate your positive comments regarding the IPL3 event and have taken the liberty of sharing your email with the appropriate members of our management team. Your kind words will encourage all of us to continue to strive to ensure that every guest visit is a memorable one.
We appreciate your loyalty and look forward to having the pleasure of welcoming you back in the near future.
Yvonne Aviles Customer Service Coordinator Atlantic City Operations Your Question 10/10/2011 09:48 PM Dear Mr. Gary W. Loveman, Chairman and CEO of Caesars Entertainment Group, INC
Thank you for sponsoring the IPL3 event on October 6~9 in Caesars & Bally's Atlantic City. Thank you for supporting E-Sports.
On October 11 2011 10:15 darkrabbi wrote: Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player?
I'll play devils advocate on this, OGN and GSL have years of experience doing this and nobody is going to remember a bad cut from them because they play and film daily. IPL just doesn't get to do that. When you cut from the game you're always going to risk missing something, if you cut early you miss out on part of the battle and if you cut late you miss the player's reaction. I would suggest instead that the next few events you just try and get things locked down like clockwork before worrying about the small embellishments.
You did a damn good job and it was people like you that made the event so much fun to work.
Seriously though, awesome job with the whole production. I really enjoyed the player panels, and the 4 player booths were awesome! Never much downtime between games. Coming from someone who wasn't there live, it was run really well. It's great to see the improvements with every live event and I can't wait to see what IPL4 has in store for us fans!
It was a great tournament, happy to see you've identified all those little mistakes that made things a bit awkward. For me there would still be the "problem" of the "funny" moment with that guy with glasses. Please, please, please... never again. It went from lame to extremely lame to almost insulting.
The production of this event just blew me away, very skilled and sharp especially considering how much had to be done on the fly due to internet issues. Really impressed!
I love the photos. Please keep up the good work. For IPL 4 maybe hire some pro-photographers who runs around and make photos. I looked at all the photos from all the blogs about ipl3 and i still want to see more :-)
Greate event, the things you had planned for the event were amazing, but even moreso were the things you came up with on the fly.
The casters were amazing, djWHEAT and D'apollo worked extremely well together - as did DOA and CatsPajamas. HD and PainUser already know each other very well and can always be counted on for an entertaining cast.
I greatly enjoyed all the casters and I think they all brought excitement to the game. I think some, perhaps all, of these casting duos would benefit greatly from a dedicated observer. In some of the games the casters simply could not keep up with the action while trying to talk. At other times, I think the casting could have been improved if the casters could simply sit back and talk while another worked the camera. I like the GSL setup of two casters and one observer. One caster's screen is on the observers view and the other is setup to let the casters freely look around. The only negative with the GSL setup is the observer doesn't appear to speak the same language as the casters.
I second that, having a dedicated observer is really the only thing that kept me from fully enjoying the IPL3. It was a very fun event, but i just kept watching the mini-map during every single match because the caster always missed important stuff. GSL setup is fine but the observer is not as good as the BW observers. I don't really know what is required to find good observers but I'd really like you to try to find a way to make this happen.
I'd like to have my head not hurt after two hours watching a mini-map on 480p because my Internet connections sucks
The only other negative thing was the finals time, living in France I was able to watch almost the whole tournament except the second semis and the finals, mostly because I was working on Monday but it's very frustrating for me . From what I've heard the viewers count decreased because most of europeans stopped watching too.
Great event, idk much about producing stuff, nice to be able to read about this part of the show as well.
One thing you really lacked though was a celebration at then end. The winner hops out of his booth and onto the stage, and there's nothing there for him to do but grin at the audience. You seriously need an OSL kind of setup: Coaches/team mates rushing the stage, champagne, people tossing the new champion in the air (and catching him after), the anouncer booming in a deep dark voice something like "ALL HAIL THE IPL SEASON 3 CHAMPION, MA - JAE - YOON NAMIDA!!!" all the while an epic tune is playing, confetti, stargirls, pyro stuff, the lot. For example:
Yes, cut to the players after "oh shit" moments but make sure it's done right. Don't miss crucual action in the game (maybe do a WWE style splitscreen instant replay thing where you show the player on one part of the screen but keep the game up in a pip).
On October 12 2011 05:32 alphaQ wrote: I loved this event, the production value definitely took a big step forward from our current standard of sc2 live events (i.e MLG). I loved all the filler content you had available on the regular + prime streams, had me entertained all weekend!
Going on to the critique, I think these 2 things are probably the most easily fixed, and would provide big improvements to the presentation of the main streams.
The pre-game handshakes were a nice idea but sometimes felt a little awkward with the rush up on stage, quick handshake, and being back off instantly before the host had really got a chance to say anything. A little more controlled and I think it would be great =)
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I'm not sure how much it comes under your purview since this seems mostly to be about general event production, but some of the graphic elements of the IPL overlays bothered me a bit when compared to the awesome quality of almost everything else. Mostly the scoreboard overlay which felt a little out of place when compared to everything else on display.
For the handshake, maybe have the host bring each player out with an introductory title, like "The Kratos Protoss" for MC.
The handshakes were definitely a little awkward most of the time.
I think it would be less awkward if they said something to each other when they shake hands, like "I will 2:0 you" or "My lings will eat the ankles of your stalkers" or something like that, just to get more emotion into the handshake and make it less of a mechanical act. Of course there should be a microphone so everyone can hear it (and in case of the koreans, the casters should be notified of the translation so they can mention it).
On October 12 2011 18:47 nepeta wrote: Great event, idk much about producing stuff, nice to be able to read about this part of the show as well.
One thing you really lacked though was a celebration at then end. The winner hops out of his booth and onto the stage, and there's nothing there for him to do but grin at the audience. You seriously need an OSL kind of setup: Coaches/team mates rushing the stage, champagne, people tossing the new champion in the air (and catching him after), the anouncer booming in a deep dark voice something like "ALL HAIL THE IPL SEASON 3 CHAMPION, MA - JAE - YOON NAMIDA!!!" all the while an epic tune is playing, confetti, stargirls, pyro stuff, the lot. For example:
I agree with this. The celebration lacked a lot, there was nothing that really made it special and it went a little awkward at the end.
Maybe get some girls to lead the winners on stage and off stage at the right time. Stephano looked a little confused(/sad?) when he left the stage as if he didn't know what he was supposed to do now.
I would have to say less player introduction and more of just a hand shake. (for the early rounds) finals should have a pregameinterview. Need more Special FX intros for the players.
I thought IPL 3 was a great production. I really liked the interview with boxer, and the matches were great. Only think I disliked was the time (for me, since I live in europe, I had to stay up to 5:00). That is fine on saterday, but not on sunday since I need to work the day after. Therefore, it would be highly appreciated if the finals could be a little earlier, as MLG does on championship sunday. Ofcourse, the accident with the truck crashing everyones internet is really unfortunate, but I think it's not really a fault of the organisation. Anyway, I'm looking forward to IPL 4
On October 11 2011 10:15 darkrabbi wrote:Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player?
Yes! We really do want this. Especially the "doom zooms". Learn from korean Brood War.
The player panels are the best ever. so much fun to hear some of the guys talking like huk/stephano/incontrol/MC they really have such a fun personality. More of those !!!. (hope MLG reads this aswell)
Ron, thanks for all the hard work you put into planning the event. It really paid off. Everyone had an amazing time.
On October 11 2011 10:15 darkrabbi wrote: Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player? I think if this is done correctly and not overused it can add a lot to a broadcast.
I think it would be a very good idea to show a larger camera shot of a player's reaction during key game moments. However, there is always the risk that something might be missed during that moment. And even if there wasn't something that gets "missed," it's possible that the spectators might not be well receptive to the camera change because they may feel like they are no longer a part of the game (although GSL has shown it can be done effectively).
A safer method of accomplishing this may be to show two, or even more, camera shots simultaneously. Not in a picture within a picture format, but more along the lines of two pictures side by side. One shot would be of the game, the others of the player that is being focused on. The size of the shots would probably be acceptable to the viewers, and it would not shut them out from the game, making them feel as if they were blind to what was happening in the match.
P.S. - You caught me in your crowd shot picture ^^
However I have a question. [quoteAs far as players hearing the casters - players were required to wear headphones with white noise playing from an ipod shuffle. ][/quote]
What exactly does "white noise" mean? So the players won't hear ingame sounds with the earbuds but the headphones or both?
On October 12 2011 22:14 obsKura wrote: Fantastic write-up, thanks so much for this
However I have a question. [quoteAs far as players hearing the casters - players were required to wear headphones with white noise playing from an ipod shuffle. ]
What exactly does "white noise" mean? So the players won't hear ingame sounds with the earbuds but the headphones or both?[/QUOTE]
exactly, it is used to mask noise since it has a constant density in all frequencies. check wiki or google for it
I wouldn't mind an occasional full screen shot of a player right after something crucial happened. The key here (as with most of these things) is moderation though. To much and it becomes annoying.
Although putting the computer outside the booth might help a bit with the heat problem, my guess would be that the most heat is being generated by the stagelights that are aimed at the booth. These things give of a lot of heat and I saw them standing right next to the booth. If that is indeed the case an AC installed in the booth might work better as putting the computer outside it. Technically it shouldn't be to difficult to have one installed in the booth I think.
I can't believe the panel with Stephano, Select, MC and Incontrol was a coincidence, it just seemed so perfectly set up... :o Especially having Select there, he translated so much for MC which Rachel would have never been able to - without the extra Korean+English person up there (Select) the panel would have been a lot worse and MC would probably have been able to answer only half the questions! So yes, I think these player panels (live on three as well) were a great idea and should be done again at future events, but please make sure always to have someone able to translate audience questions for the koreans, even if their English might be good enough to understand, it's hard to hear the crowd and catch the exact meaning. Also, only do it not pressuring the players into it...some might not be comfortable doing something like that in between matches. It obviously didnt hurt Stephano's performance, but I dont think everyone can handle it that well.
I attended as a spectator from Friday through the championships. Speaking as an attendee:
I had a great time man. Overall a very professional production, the Circus Maximus was a totally awesome theatre (with the bar outside no less! Kickass!), and whatever staff I interacted with were very cool and helpful.
I actually walked up during the 'net outage (just after the Truck that Killed the Internet Incident) -- and they had the whole thing up and running after a very short time, it was handled very well I thought.
Only complaint (and this is a fairly large one, would / will make a huge difference):
The resolution on the screens - both at Bally's and Ceasar's -- was pretty low guys. The action was fuzzy, the menus for score / resources / etc were unreadable.
Watching the matches live in the venue was like watching the stream or a VOD on YouTube @ 360p. The projectors were low rez and this detracted from the overall experience alot.
Not being up on the cost of pro-theater hi-def screens -- I do think this is one of the factors that can help make or break live eSports.
Seeing a nice, huge image at at least 480 if not full 720p is going to be essential for the full enjoyment of the genre.
Not having a sharp view of the actual games didn't destroy the experience -- but I do feel strongly that this is something that absolutely has to be addressed as time goes by.
Is the screen resolution at that size mainly a tech issue, a budget issue, or both?
Great write up! I really enjoyed IPL3 tremendously (when 18-wheelers weren't ruining e-sports!). One thing I noted from your post was that you decided that the mics in the booths to pick up the keyboard sounds was a bad idea, and I must say I COMPLETELY disagree! I thought that hearing the keyboards click-clacking away when there was a shot of the players' hands was EXCELLENT! Obviously you don't want that going at all times, but when there is a shot of that in the picture-in-picture then it makes perfect sense to have those sounds playing. It gives it such a more real/live feel.
Anyways, again great post, and good luck with the next live IPL event!
The only thing that you did rly bad was to have the LoL-finals before the 2nd sc2 semi-final and the grandfinal. You basicly lost 99% of the European viewers...
This was a great read, thanks for putting this down on paper. Can't wait for IPL4.
And to answer your questions... 1. Loved the panels to soak up downtime. Both player panels and Lo3 were great 2. The pre-game handshake was kind of awkward. Probably skippable. 3. More use of that LiveU, that was cool stuff being so up close
For the Player shots, why not instead of cutting away with the whole picture, just make the small portrait video on the botton right slightly larger in those key moments while keeping the in game footage, at least that way you still get the player reaction to the situation while still having all the starcraft action being viewable. And then when the "intense moment" is over make the player shot smaller again. ... at least that way you get the best of both worlds. On top of getting both the reaction and action at the same time it will also queue in the fact that that is a key moment in the game to more casual viewers or even viewers that are not all that familliar with starcraft.
Or even make the main picture the player shot while putting the starcraft action in a smaller box or even split screen the 2 .... I think all are viable solutions to getting player reaction without disrupting the starcraft footage.
Player panels are a must in my opinion for a few reasons. The main being that it adds personality / likeability to some of the players as it showcases thier personality and not just their play. And secondly it actually helps explain a few things about the game for the newer people trying to get into and understand the game more.
With these casts you should not only cater to the already regular spectators but maybe draw in interest from people who really aren't aware of the competitive aspect of starcraft and e-sports in general. As you said in your blog a few of the backstage crew at ceasars who previously knew nothing about the game were getting interested in it. If you can bring in more new fans like that your not only expanding your brand but interest in esports in general. And thats something that you were able to pull off more than a other tournaments.
With that being said being able to host the tourney at a venue like Ceasars in my opinion was brilliant. I was unaware that some of the matches and previews were being shown throughout the casino. Having that ability to broadcast to people not familiar with it within the venue is a great way to bring in new fans and interest young and old.
Also maybe an idea for your future events is to get ahold of some local and national news stations and agencies to maybe do a little story on your event. That way again you'll bring in some interest from people who know nothing about esports and it will also put a positive spin on it. A big part of the reason why e-sports hasn't exploded here in north america as much as it has elsewhere in the world is that it hasn't had that exposure to people other that the casual gamer. Lets be real here, gaming is still tabood as being dorky and not necesarily something that can be done professionally and have a positive affect on society. But if you can get the additional exposure out there showing that yes esports is something positive and more than just kids wasting their time away in front of their computers you could bring in more fans and like i said before, more brand exposure.
And if you like that idea i could always use a second job ^^ :D
Great blog. I have to say this was one of the best live events yet. The production was quite amazing for something that was built in a few weeks. I'll try and note a few things that could use some tweaking.
First about the handshake/interview. The handshake moment seemed awkward in most of the times I've seen it. I got the feeling that the players weren't expecting it and when they got on stage they were taken by surprise or something. They also didn't know when to actually enter, was it when they called their names or when they were asked to shake hands. This can be solved simply by explaining the introduction process and following that process throughout the event. As for the interview, I didn't like the questions so much, and the translating was a bit awkward as well. Have all of the conversation mic'ed up for the Korean fans to understand everything in their native language. We do that here in Quebec and it isn't weird, just takes some getting used to.
Next, the setup/delays. I have absolutely nothing negative to say here, we got so many matches with little to no interruption that I barely had time to go eat/toilet. I don't know if the normal delay can allow it, but a small break for lunch would be great for everyone I would think.
Now for the camera crew. I applaud the effort to adapt as the event went on. As you pointed out, a few situations were a bit fail but overall it was great. If you really want live player reactions, you will need a camera director that is well experienced in SC2 to know when to do those dramatic closeups like we see in the BW casts. Edit: Sometimes the player only notices much later what we see now. That's why a camera play (aka dramatic closeup) is mandatory to 'create' the reaction if the player has none. And since the way we cast SC2 is significantly different from the BW cast style, that camera director person would also need to keep an ear out over what the casters are saying since they will give the queue compared to BW where the director shows what the casters and spectators see which leads me to my next point: Casters commenting on the crowd. It was a bit weird that the casters would comment on signs or crowd actions and we would see nothing of it. Again, have a very good cameraman on stage to spot the sign and the director to switch camera to show the crowd what the casters are talking about. The explosion transition was great in the Lo3 part which made it 100% more hilarious of an event, but in the actual games I think it was a bit too much. Keep flashy transitions when changing subjects and simple transitions to camera switches. But again, overall it was great and I can only anticipate it getting better in the next event.
Again, big congratulations at running an almost flawless event that was action packed from start to finish. You definitely raised the bar for any future live events. A big thanks to the players for helping you guys produce content when there was downtime, I do hope they keep being this helpful in the future as long as it doesn't hinder their game.
Can't wait for next event and to see how MLG will respond to this badassery :p
Great event, IGN. Handled the internet issues with class, I thought.
The lighting in the booths matching the ingame color was so subtle yet badass, I loved it. I noticed it immediately. Just shows the thought going into the production.
The handshake thing/interviews were so awkward. The girls would be like "shake hands" and the players would walk all the way across the stage to shake hands, many didn't look like they wanted to. Full body shots during interviews are also awkward, even if you were trying to show hot those babes lol. Also the girls would introduce the casters and we'd watch them walk up and put their headsets on, wait 90 seconds while the girls stood there uncomfortably; awkward. These are all pretty minor observations, however.
Finally, player profiles and more interviews are a must. esports definitely needs something to make matches more personable to viewers and these are the key.
In true IGN fashion, I rate the event an arbitrary 8.3/10
One thing you really lacked though was a celebration at then end. The winner hops out of his booth and onto the stage, and there's nothing there for him to do but grin at the audience. You seriously need an OSL kind of setup: Coaches/team mates rushing the stage, champagne, people tossing the new champion in the air (and catching him after), the anouncer booming in a deep dark voice something like "ALL HAIL THE IPL SEASON 3 CHAMPION, MA - JAE - YOON NAMIDA!!!" all the while an epic tune is playing, confetti, stargirls, pyro stuff, the lot.
On October 11 2011 10:15 darkrabbi wrote: Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player?
"Check out the WCG Korea that OGN has done for SC2, or just BW casts, they do a really good job at cutting to a player in tense situations during the "oh shit I might be dead" moments etc."
Edit: Missed the [ /quote ] boxes for the above.
Firstly nice blog and great effort and overall good job. Some unfortunate things happened but you guys adapted pretty well, in future perhaps can try and prepare for such contingencies.
On the BW casts, I truly second this. It boils down to the players reaction so this 'depends'. An awesome example is the WCG (2009 semis?) game between JaeDong and Flash and whenever the camera pans to JaeDong you see him literally sweating from intense concentration over the 30min game. The serious eyes and sweat dripping from his brow... I could feel the intensity watching from the comforts of my couch.
Flash not as intense but just cold, calm and collected heh. Also their reactions when they win, lose, cry, etc. is important in making the competition and players more personable so good camerawork is important there. Love the background and a lot of the new features you guys brought, personally don't like the text 'font' though.
Panels are a good way of connecting fans and the players, but do not over-kill it as not all viewers are fans of all players so there are bound to be some uninterested viewers as well. The handshake I say leave it to players, rivalries make interesting stories (lol @ Idra not shaking Cruncher's hand) so long as does not go get overly ugly.
Very nice event, thanks a lot ! Best streamed tournament I've seen so far
You still have room for improvement, for example with the awards ceremony or that LoL stuff, but overall I enjoyed it a lot, and Stephano made it even more enjoyable <3
I wanted to say that I think you guys did an incredible job for your first live event. Guys at MLG need to take note and NASL should see that they need to step their game up hardcore.
I didn't think about or realize until the credits rolled how many people are involved in putting the whole thing together, but you guys did awesome and I think if you grow from here you could be producing content on par with GOM even.
Congratulations and thank you so much for all of your hard work to everyone at IPL, Caesars, and anyone else involved in making IPL3 so successful.
You know what would be cool? If, after a big battle, when there's usually a short downtime, you could show us a short replay of the battle !but! from the perspective of the victor by catching the video signal of his computer. This would also work in the early game when the players micro less units, for example, PvP 3 stalkers 1 zealot vs 3 stalkers 1 zealot. It would be a a short picture in picture so you don't lose track of the match.
On October 11 2011 10:15 darkrabbi wrote: That brings me to the picture in picture int he bottom right. We originally were going to only show the casters here - however I think this is an extremely boring shot that no one is interested in seeing. Neha decided to take one of our static cameras and set him up as a roaming camera on stage - giving us a total of 2 stage cameras and one for each player. This gave us a lot more options. We did things like set up split screen shots of the players, get action shots of mouse/keyboard of the players and just get nice shots of the players in their booths. By Day 3 we had the Caesars lighting crew setting the booth lights to the players in- game color and taking the players themselves to full screen during the early game introductions. It was starting to feel like a show.
Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player? I think if this is done correctly and not overused it can add a lot to a broadcast. While I'm on this point let me admit that we definitely messed up (twice) by showing a full screen caster/player during an important part of gameplay - this was not intentional. We had given our primary TD a break and had our AD filling in for him. Something else we tried and eventually decided didn't work was setting up mics inside the player booths to get audio from the mouse/keyboard. The response was not great and people thought a PA had left his mic on backstage. Also in regards to the explosion transitions - our director was getting a little frisky and was just having fun with the tricaster presets - we won't be repeating those LoL.
I loved the way you guys did the PinP, and the action shots including players hands were awesome. I wish more live events incorporated that, because it's fun to see. The booth lights were a fantastic effect and I definitely noticed them. I think your idea of cutting to head shots for reactions is great too, but I agree with the advice in this thread to use it sparingly
Our two translators Susie (LiLSusie) and Sue were amazing - always ready to go and providing the best translations I've heard from Korean pro players.
The interpreters were obviously quite knowledgeable and skilled. One criticism I'd offer for next time would be to try and standardize the style of translation. One of the interpreters spoke directly on behalf of the player she was interpreting for "I've been practicing very hard, thank you for your support", and the other was more indirect "He said that's something he practiced, and he wants to thank his fans for supporting him". I preferred the direct method, personally, but a uniform approach would lead to an overall more polished effect.
Overall, this has been a great season, and the live coverage was the best I've seen yet! Thank you so much for all your hard work, it really shows!
Speaking from behind the scenes as the guy running the "player vision" cameras and generally doing everything in my power to help make this event work like clockwork, Ron it was an absolute pleasure working with you and your team. Thanks for the brief mention as well in your initial post, greatly appreciated.
I know that EVERY member of this team has a great passion for ensuring that eSports is successful and perhaps the best decision that IGN made was hiring people straight from the TL.net community. It was an absolute pleasure working with other StarCraft fanatics from all over because we all had a vested interest in ensuring that this event was a success because we all want even bigger events in the future.
For those that were asking about why we didn't have a direct feed for the "player vision" cameras, the reason for that was mostly technical in my understanding. The "player vision" computers, for the purposes of delivering a stream and live viewing experience that was up the level of quality that IPL was desiring required very specific in-game settings to deliver the quality that was received. Now as we all know, players have their own individual resolution, graphics, and other settings that they choose to play at, and as such it was the decision of IPL to go with this setup to ensure that players could setup their computers with whatever settings they desired. Having run Justin.tv Invitational 1 and 2, I couldn't have agreed more with this decision because first and foremost, the concerns of players should be of the highest priority for any event, because without them there is NO event and none of these great things would be possible.
Thanks to all the IPL3 staff for making this the best experience in eSports I've had to date, looking forward to working with you all in the future and perhaps, if all goes according to plan, coming through on some of the things we discussed while I was on site for future events! Regardless, keep giving us all feedback, these guys will take it and use it for the future!
Ron, thanks for the shout out. It was a pleasure working for you and I almost felt cheated that you worked the night shift on the final day. Sam turned out to be a good replacement but hes no DarkRabbi...
- explosion transitions, as stupid as they ended up being, have great potential, but some better "hype" transitions need to be made I guess - talking about hype, feed anna some sugar or something, when she was calling in the players for handshakes... she needs to get a crowd going or somthng, right? - about handshakes, I like the element, makes the games seem a lot more official and professional. reminds me of footbal players exchangig team flags - post game interviews are nice, just keep them short imo - downtime content can be repetitive (as from one event to another). Ex: make a video of who is a player and where he comes from, it's quite generic. - I LOVED hearing the keyboard clicks during the first minutes of the game, it just got me going :D
i think there's more, but this is all that comes to mind at this time hope you read this and best of luck, i believe IPL has great potential to make it HUGE
On October 12 2011 18:47 nepeta wrote: Great event, idk much about producing stuff, nice to be able to read about this part of the show as well.
One thing you really lacked though was a celebration at then end. The winner hops out of his booth and onto the stage, and there's nothing there for him to do but grin at the audience. You seriously need an OSL kind of setup: Coaches/team mates rushing the stage, champagne, people tossing the new champion in the air (and catching him after), the anouncer booming in a deep dark voice something like "ALL HAIL THE IPL SEASON 3 CHAMPION, MA - JAE - YOON NAMIDA!!!" all the while an epic tune is playing, confetti, stargirls, pyro stuff, the lot. For example:
Awesome to read, IPL's production, even after being hit with a series of tech disasters made MLG look very amateurish. I don't think many held being screwed over by battlenet or careless truck drivers against you. The girls as MC's were excellent, the post match interviews were a great touch but often were a little too long and some of the questions a bit too vauge and confusing or overlapping previous questions. The player panel was excellent, it would be great to get more of that sort of thing going in downtime if possible. The extra backstage streams were great too to give something to watch between games/during matches I wasn't interested in. Again the presenters made that though, bring in orange guy from MLG into that role and that quickly becomes terrible. Filler content interviews etc were generally excellent, but it always pays to have more of it if possible.
Something I'd like to get community opinions on is this - after a big epic battle or a player is surprsied by something how would you guys feel about cutting away from gameplay for a 2-3 second full screen camera shot of the player?
I think enlarging the player to ~quarter screen may be better as even 2-3 seconds can feel like a long time and make you anxious as a spectator if you can't see that nothing importants happening. But take a look at what they did with the korean WCG stuff, most liked that (its on GomTV). I guess its something you have to try out and practice to get right in real time.
The LoL thing however was a truly horrible thing to do to 30k starcraft fans, though it is great to see it acknowledged as a mistake. I can only assume Riot paid handsomely to have that happen but it wasn't good for either Riot or IPL, a lot of starcraft fans opinion of LoL has gone from indifferent to hatred as a consequence. It was like forcing a grandmaster chess tournemant audience to watch a really really long game of snakes and ladders, because hey, they're all board games right? A lot of people in the LR thread discovered devastations SFIV coverage though which in contrast to LoL was a suprisingly entertaining watch (there was actual tension, lots of action it looked cool and there were dancing hippos in the background!). Not that you should put anything but starcraft on the SC2 stream if you want to keep your audience.
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