Tara Babcock Casting Practice #1! - Page 10

TaraBabcock

United States391 Posts

August 14 2012 02:16 GMT

#181

On August 14 2012 08:03 Apollo_Shards wrote:
edit: Sorry for the very harshly wordered post (that you can see which was quoted right below me) and I didn't mean to be such an asshole about it. I think a better way of saying what I would like to say is, "Hey, it's ok if you dress like that, and it's your choice, and I will not judge you for it. However, not being honest (in my opinion) about why you dress that way strikes me as a cheap way out of a valid discussion about what is appropriate for casters or people in this profession to wear"

It is much easier to say you dress that way because you are more comfortable (which you could very well be), and that you don't care what other people think, instead of saying "Yea well sex sells, and exposing my breasts gets me a lot of views". (again, that is just my opinion).

I really hope you are able to improve your casting and I really wish you the best.
Again I am very sorry about what I said earlier and you shouldn't let people who say stuff like that make you want to quit. There are a lot of people out there who want you to succeed. Dont give up!

As for that post (and others that I made), I asked for a self imposed ban because that really isnt acceptable to say to someone who is genuinely trying to improve. Good luck in the future!

Dude... no problem. No need to apologize. I don't take anything said to heart, and I really just tire of explaining myself... in the end, it only matters that I PROVE myself and that I am happy. There will still be people who don't like me, and they can just GTFO.

Anyway, I am not denying that the extra views are nice, and that I love that sex sells, I am just stating that my primary reasoning for dressing and looking this way has absolutely nothing to do with anyone else, nor should it dilute the passion I have for gaming.

Kiarip

United States1835 Posts

August 15 2012 06:12 GMT

#182

I think there was quite a bit of stream of consciousness going on. Which personally I enjoy because it shows that the caster is thinking, but most people dislike. You need to separate your speech into points/clauses/sentences/phrases better, so that when you switch topic it's obvious (I think this would be a major consensus amongst most people, but like I said for me personally it's unnecessary.)

I'm kind of on the fence here about what to say. If it was up to me all casters would talk really fast, without much structure, and non-stop to get as much information out there as soon as possible, which would of course require quite a bit of game knowledge, understanding and strategic foresight. On the other hand I think the majority of the community enjoys a more "selective" way of casting where you are still supposed to keep track of most things, but you only point out the most important aspects of the game, and just focus on improving the presentation of the cast both in terms of the audio and camera control. But then at the same time those same people end up raging at casters for missing drops and etc. So I dunno...

One thing you should probably keep in mind is that the general audience is quite fickle about what it likes, so it's probably best to first be content with the product yourself.

Escuche

60 Posts

August 15 2012 08:43 GMT

#183

10 pages in with 180+ replies and only a very small percentage are useful to you, Tara. I didn't scour the thread but I'm pretty sure no one has looked at your casting in this context: Starcraft is currently incredibly oversaturated with content. I'm sure almost everyone has wanted to cast games at one point or another - Husky, Day[9], and others make it look very fun. There are a lot of no-name casters out there who can't build up an audience for a number of reasons. They don't bring enough energy to the table, they have insufficient knowledge of the game, and/or they lack personality during their casts. If you've seen any of their videos, it should be pretty apparent that from a purely Starcraft perspective that nothing really separates their casting from yours.

On August 09 2012 23:54 TaraBabcock wrote:
I agree that I need the knowledge and skill to back up that personality and look. I believe both are very important in standing out in a crowd of people who play at a higher level and know a lot more about it than you.

So clearly you were already aware of most of what I just said, and I only bring it up to give you some specific advice and feedback. From the intro to the video it's pretty clear you have the personality to create a persona for casting. What I mean is, no one can really just throw themselves out into the public and hold their attention for a long period of time without amping certain things up. You could probably relate to this, and maybe something will click if it's explained this way: personality is to casting as looks are to modeling. During a photo shoot, you'll have to prepare certain things to grab someone's attention when they see the photos; a certain pose, what you're wearing, any makeup you have on, etc. But all those things amplify some unique feature of yours that was already attractive and no one else could replicate. The same thing applies to personality in a cast. Find something people generally like about you, and subtly (in a way that doesn't overshadow the content) bring it to the forefront of your public image.

While a persona is great for filling time (such as at an MLG while a game is paused or someone has hardware issues), it's really the last little icing you should add to your casting cake. Energy and knowledge are the real push and pull of a cast that your success hinges on. I would advise against trying to become the Artosis/d.Apollo type of knowledgeable caster until you've gotten to a level of play at which you can actually pull it off, because you REALLY have to know what you're talking about to hold the attention of an SC2 audience in that way. But a cool trick that Husky uses pretty often involves going into brief tangents about the particular uses of a unit or merits of a common strategy - for example, something along the lines of "Blink stalkers are very mobile and can be very successful in harassing a Terran, but their lack of firepower makes a straight up engagement impossible against bio with medivacs." This kills dead air time and for anyone splitting their attention between the game and the casting (especially casual observers and newer players), it seems like you really know your shit. As for energy and color commentary, I think a lot of people have covered that pretty well already, but you might want to watch some Tasteless or TotalBiscuit casts in addition to Mr Bitter's suggestion of Husky to improve on that.

Hopefully that was more of the constructive feedback you were looking for.

TaraBabcock

United States391 Posts

August 16 2012 12:26 GMT

#184

Last two advice postings are extremely helpful as well. I love that you both added something new to the table. I like to take all angles into considerations and opinions from all sides of the board.

Thanks a heap!

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