It has been some time now since this whole audio-commentary hype started and the amount of comments a new commentator receives is distinctively less now than it was when there were only a few commentaries available. It is however still very important for commentators to not only get feedback to determine whether or not his commentaries are even wanted, but also to be able to improve so we can all enjoy his commentaries more the next time around. Remember, even very talented commentators require a lot of practice in order to get to a decent level.

Now I realise we are all very busy people who don’t have the time nor the desire to babysit every new commentator. Therefore I added a poll for each commentator in their own section in the original post. I will follow this up soon with a poll regarding the areas most suited for improvement, when I have the time that is.

Klaz

Ireland334 Posts

June 05 2007 23:57 GMT

#49

great idea sr18. i'm really impressed by your non-competitive attitude and genuine drive to create something for the community.

The truth is we do need a team of commentators, even if tasteless was here, no one person can cover everything by themselves and if they try to they'll just get burnt out.

Feedback and support is important. So ppl on teamliquid.net need to decide whether or not they want audio commentaries and if they do they need to encourage the commentators with feedback and constructive advice. Because the commentators are doing it simply because they enjoy it and encouragement is a great motivator.

I do not say this for myself, because I have gotten a lot of feedback and encouragement and it's motivated me to do more and more. But as an example I can say that despite the feedback I ended up chosing to post my vids on youtube rather than google video (obviously I link it to this thread once they are uploaded) because I get more comments there and also I can see how many views I've had and as egotistical as that sounds, it is very gratifying and encouraging.

To the other commentators, I would like to point out that u guys should enter the contest, only two days left till the dead line, so make sure you enter the commentary contest. I'm very excited to see what teamliquid will come up with after it is finished.

Lastly I'll share my philosophy on commentaries with you. It's just my opinion, nothing more. Take from it whatever you want.

My philosophy on commentating is simple. Most people watch starcraft for entertainment, not education. They enjoy watching hteir fav players and love an exciting game. With that in mind consider the following. When someone watches your commentary they are going to ask themselves a single question. "Does this commentary make the game MORE or LESS fun for me to watch?" It's not an exact mathematical equation, but subconsciously ppl will come to one of the above two conclusions.

So think of your comentaries in that context, and try to make sure that they ADD something to the watching of the game.

best of luck and keep at it!

Klaz

Ireland334 Posts

June 06 2007 00:06 GMT

#50

Nada vs Midas Proleague - Geometry

Fenneth

Australia354 Posts

June 06 2007 00:36 GMT

#51

Klaz: For a semi-educated learner like me, your commentaries are like manna from heaven. Thanks very much, I am enjoying them immensely.

Klaz

Ireland334 Posts

June 06 2007 02:01 GMT

#52

Nada vs Gorush Python Part 1/2 June6 Proleague
Nada vs GoRush Python Part 2/2 June6 Proleague

Sr18

Netherlands1141 Posts

June 06 2007 02:02 GMT

#53

As promised, I will follow the rating polls up with polls regarding the areas of improvement. When using these polls, please take the following into account.

A good commentary in my book consists of four things.

1. General speaking behaviour
Very important yet often forgotten by commentators is their general speaking behaviour and their voice. No matter how interesting the things you have to say, if your voice is irritating your audience you will never become a popular (good) commentator. The same goes for the speaking behaviour. A good commentator has the right pace, doesn’t speak too fast nor too slow, has a solid understanding of the language he speaks in, doesn’t stutter, doesn’t use “uh” and “erm” and has good articulation. A commentator with a nice speaking voice and good general speaking behaviour is halfway in becoming a good commentator.

2. Play by Play
For Starcraft, a good commentator is a commentator that can make mundane things exciting. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to up the speed of your commentary when a battle occurs - though it may help -, it simply means that you have to make every moment of the game appear exciting. Give the audience an incentive to watch for the things you point it, for instance by pointing out what the effect could be of what’s currently happening. However, have some trust in your audience. Don’t point out things that are clear to the most novice of viewers.

3. Gameplay analysis
A good commentator is able to read the situation. If you see a lot of SCVs leaving a Terran base early in a Terran vs Zerg game, you should immediately think about a bunker rush occurring. In an ideal situation a commentator always has something to say about a strategy, tactic or build that the audience didn’t already know.

4. Background information
Last but not least, a commentator should do his homework. The audience will expect the commentator to know more about the players, the event, the map, past results etc. etc. than they do. Obviously, a commentator is not a walking library who knows everything about everybody, so a good commentator prepares his commentaries so he has something interesting to say about the game. The least a commentator should tell his audience is what’s at stake (elimination round, group stage, proleague match, survivor, showmatch etc. etc.), who the players are and what their recent results were. If you for instance commentate on the savior game in the OSL next Friday, you should know that he played in the MSL against Stork only the day before and you should know how he faired.

Obviously, all the teamliquid commentators can and must improve in all of these areas. So the purpose of the poll is for the commentator to find out where the audience thinks he should improve the most.

Happy voting

.

edit
Updated the thread with the most recent commentaries from Klaz.

GoOdJo

United States205 Posts

June 06 2007 03:54 GMT

#54

responding to Klaz's post, me and him have been PM'ing eachother and working together to make sure that him + me and conaanaa arent overlapping eachothers work and doing the same games twice. That way, we have a wider range of games being commentated on. I think this kind of teamwork that me and Klaz have is good for the community and i encourage other commentators to do the same.

Sr18

Netherlands1141 Posts

June 06 2007 04:00 GMT

#55

I agree. Maybe we should put the agreements in this thread so the all commentators will be aware of them?

GoOdJo

United States205 Posts

June 06 2007 04:04 GMT

#56

well just small things, like letting some commentators know what games your doing ahead of time. Like Klaz did the Stork vs SaviOr commentary, so me and conaanaa decided to do the Post-Game analysis of that game. Little things like that keep things from getting complicated and keeps work from overlapping.

Chef

10810 Posts

June 06 2007 05:04 GMT

#57

Eep, but it makes them SO much harder to download, Klaz! =( I guess it's a lot to ask you to upload to both, but it certainly would be nice (._. You could always explore the possibility of a podcast too :o

Anyway, they're great to listen to, keep it up

GTR

51574 Posts

June 06 2007 05:13 GMT

#58

Klaz and I are going to try and see if we can broadcast the OSL english cast live (us and him).
We're in talks at the moment though.

Klaz

Ireland334 Posts

June 06 2007 05:44 GMT

#59

Actually to be honest, I do feel that Dual commentaries are currently GoodJo and Superiorwolf's area. I don't mind the concept of doing them in the future provided the technical details can be worked out, but I think that it would work best if at some stage all the commentators could get together and work out a schedule that fits well.

Obviously this has to take into consideration what the community wants and ideally if one of hte TL staffers have control of the process it would probably be easiest in the long run.

I think that's what the original intention was by yubee and though I have jumped the gun a little by doing a couple of live casts, I'll be happy with whatever plan he comes up with and it might be better to wait for that rather than to overcomplicate things right now.

Sr18

Netherlands1141 Posts

June 06 2007 06:12 GMT

#60

Personally I think dual commentaries are much better than single ones, especially once the commentators get used to eachother. Getting a working schedule is what is going to be hard though.