It's been so long since I blogged here! Today's one is just going to be real short, and more of a request for feedback than a fully-fledged blog.
The other week I had the pleasure of attending the WCS ro32 Premier in Cologne as an Expert and Analyst. It was an amazing experience for me to experience the show from the other side of the table! Getting to see these players up close and talk to them when not being focused on my own play for once was really cool I was able to observe them as they put so much effort into this moment which they've been working so long for. Also really watching all their games closely and actually having my job be to analyse them was awesome as I felt I got to absorb so much more information about the players and their builds than I ever would otherwise.
The show was absolutely amazing and was full of new experiences for me. Flying to an event where I wasn't playing was very alien at first, and felt much less stressful at first.However soon enough my relative lack of experience made me realise how much I had to learn...
This is where you come in SC community! Please give me critical, no-holds-barred feedback on what you think I can improve upon and anything you didn't like or prefer I'd change in my presentation. Shoot!
Some points I already noticed in my commentary:
Tendency to talk for too long - jumping between different points, and swapping between play-by-play and analysis. Instead passing off to my co-caster would create a smoother flow. This was especially evident in the game 2 of the series between GungfuBanda and Jaedong,
Sometimes speaking too softly or in too smooth a voice - perhaps I should work on speaking from the diaphragm and projecting my voice more to get more energy and excitement into the cast. There are times a bit more intonation and forcefulness in my voice may create a better viewer experience.
Some points in my Interview questions and analysis:
I need to work on memorising questions and having better notes for a smoother transition into the next question
I can take the pressure off the player (trying to remember specific moments from each game) and get more personal expression and emotion by alternating hardcore questions with those about the match-ups in general. For instance asking about their styles in broad strokes: "Why is this aggressive zergling ZvP so effective?", "So many terrans are struggling with Protoss right now, but you look so confident out there, what makes you different?"
There were times where I re-introduced the interview to an extent by congratulating the player and talking about their style, when doing a 2-man interview hosted by Apollo I should have dived straight into the questions I feel and been looking to extract more information from the player with open-ended questions - not filling the air with my own thoughts
VoD links:
JD vs Gungfubanda:
TLO vs Elazer:
Interview with Iaguz after beating Mana:
Interview with Elazer after beating Major:
Massive thanks to Blizzard and ESL for the opportunity! As well as Apollo, Rottie, ToD and Kaelaris for showing me the ropes!
Oh yeah and shoutout to my team Exile5 for supporting me even when I run off to talk about the game when I should be playing/practicing !
Great job so far, giving the viewers great zerg insight and an in depoth look at strategy between all races at the highest level of play. I would just recommend yelling more. Perhaps look at a maynarde cast, literally go crazy! :D
You did a great job. Personally, I noticed the tendency to talk for too long. This would be my feedback, but you already knows that. I have no much to say other than keep the good work really.
The speaking too softly or too smooth was not a problem for me.
There was a moment after JD vs GunGFu game 3 where you compared a personal game of yours to JD's hold. I know it's nit-picking but my feedback would be to keep it about the players.
I thought you did a really great job though and my feedback is trivial, it's just something I noticed and stood out to me. All in all I thought you articulated your thoughts very well.
On June 10 2015 00:37 Ctone23 wrote: There was a moment after JD vs GunGFu game 3 where you compared a personal game of yours to JD's hold. I know it's nit-picking but my feedback would be to keep it about the players.
I think this is fine to draw parallels to your own play when casting however. This is only bad if the caster is at a low playing calibre (which pig is not)
On June 10 2015 00:37 Ctone23 wrote: There was a moment after JD vs GunGFu game 3 where you compared a personal game of yours to JD's hold. I know it's nit-picking but my feedback would be to keep it about the players.
I think this is fine to draw parallels to your own play when casting however. This is only bad if the caster is at a low playing calibre (which pig is not)
Yeah I didn't have a problem with it either. I think the timing could have been better but you're right he is high enough caliber.
I love your stream, sucks that I live on the complete opposite side of the planet. My feedback: Don't whisper as much, it sounds like your explaining the situation to children . But otherwise great!
Didn't catch all your analysis, but really loved your optimism and passion for all races and strategies, despite being a Zerg player (even when they were used against Zerg!) Great job, hope to see you at more events!
I saw most of all the broadcasts and thought you did a fine job. Your analysis and hosting was great and i didn't notice anythign I was annoyed by. Good job and hope to see you out more!
Live report threads here on TL are a bit of an evil affair (though great fun, and would strongly encourage those who don't post to them live, who could, do so!!), merciless piss taking of people you've hung out with for years, player mistakes swooped on and highlighted, pointing out the weird shit casters often say, interspersed with smart discussion on build orders and the like. Anyhoo! Have to say that I didn't see one negative comment regarding your casting, in fact the opposite, we all moaned when you were doing the analysis rather than casting the games!
So yeah, very positive. Pro level players make the best casters as you can spot the things the regular casters don't see. You highlighting what an extra creep tumor meant springs to mind (I forget which game this was though..). I really hope that whoever took over redeye's job at ESL realises what a great benefit it is to have you guys casting.
I'd take a Huk, Pig, qxc, Kane or Ret over the regulars any day of the week, hands down - no question.
On June 09 2015 23:23 PiGStarcraft wrote: [*]I can take the pressure off the player (trying to remember specific moments from each game) and get more personal expression and emotion by alternating hardcore questions with those about the match-ups in general. For instance asking about their styles in broad strokes: "Why is this aggressive zergling ZvP so effective?", "So many terrans are struggling with Protoss right now, but you look so confident out there, what makes you different?"
Please for the love of God no! We do not need more general questions, the thing I loved the absolute most about your presence was really specific, educated questions. I swear to god if I have to watch Smix ask "what does this mean to you!?" in 3 different ways and call it an interview ONE...MORE...TIME.... I will blow a gasket. Please leave the general questions to the non-premier casters/interviewers and give us masters players something to latch on to that we didn't already know. Brilliant work in that department so far. Just enough high level comments and questions for me to think to myself interesting I hadn't considered that while still letting the cast remain accessible to lower league and non-player viewers.
On June 09 2015 23:23 PiGStarcraft wrote:
There were times where I re-introduced the interview to an extent by congratulating the player and talking about their style, when doing a 2-man interview hosted by Apollo I should have dived straight into the questions I feel and been looking to extract more information from the player with open-ended questions - not filling the air with my own thoughts
This is true but I did not find it overly distracting. Keep doing it and it will be smoother.
Not sure how much I'll be able to watch (hopefully at least some vods). Unfortunate because I think it's awesome that you're able to do this and I hope to see as much of it as possible! Do keep playing though!! Always learning from your streaming.
EPT
!![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1rDuCLH.png)
. But otherwise great!
