EPTI Want to be a Commentator - Page 2
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Mastermind
Canada7096 Posts
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fusionsdf
Canada15390 Posts
the deeper your knowledge of the game is - what means what, what maps favor what - combined with your knowledge of the player and their playstyle will make you a better commentator so try as much as you can to learn the subtleties and DO YOUR HOMEWORK I can not think of a commentator yet who deeply knows and explains the matchup, the map, the players, the rivalry etc... so really make sure you study | ||
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Cham
797 Posts
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Not_Computer
Canada2277 Posts
For example, rather than giving insightful and strategic information to my viewers, I'd be constantly making lame and cheesy jokes along with making fun of the players and their abilities knowing quite well and stating that my skill is incomparable to theirs. Also things like what would a noob say in a situation or what would a noob think or strategize for a certain scenario. ie. "idra should have some turrets up already, he's going to get torn apart by mutalisk harass... oh, there are the mutalisks building and not a single turret has been built ... WTF, HOW'D GET BUILD SO MANY TURRETS SO FAST?!?!" (reference to a certain game *cough*) ie2. "wtf is flash doing sending so many scvs out.. he's going to get 1 base carriered by bisu and .. why is he building that there, he's gonna get scouted and get owned." (but he doesn't) ie3. "that scouting probe woulda lived longer if it built a shield battery to recharge with" yup! everyone would hate me. fantastic! | ||
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CommanderFluffy
Taiwan1059 Posts
Casting requires an excellent understanding of the game: each races' builds, responses to those builds, timing, map strategy, and finally the players' mentalities. "Fundamentals" will only result in shit like: "Player A is attacking Player B". But really as a caster, you have to be able to expand on that and provide much more insight. | ||
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thunk
United States6233 Posts
And SC2gg does have a pretty good commentary market. It's an interesting niche. Once GOMCAST is released for them it will be a huge asset to that community. Getting better at commentating is like getting better at starcraft. There's really no easy ways. | ||
p4NDemik
United States13896 Posts
On September 30 2008 11:00 Mastermind wrote: This guy doesnt sound like he is anywhere near qualified to be commentating on starcraft. Learn the game inside and out, then consider casting. Qualified? This isn't a job interview here - it's his hobby, let him learn by doing. | ||
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Superiorwolf
United States5509 Posts
Now I've improved my knowledge of the game by a bit and instead of being a D commentator I have gotten my rank much higher... but no longer am I serious about commentating. I commentate for fun and whenever I feel like it, or when I see some of my favorite players playing. It's actually much better this way. I used to believe that "mnm vs zerg, metal vs protoss" was 'fundamentals' but those are just the very basics that anyone would know. It's almost a given! Really game knowledge has to be improved, or people will have trouble listening to commentaries that say wrong stuff all the time. After I began to stop commentating and Klazart began, I was a huge fan. Now whenever I listen to him/Diggity/moletrap/Cholera or anyone else from SC2GG, yes they may say some things right and have excitement and maybe good cohesion, but it's almost impossible for me to listen to them and not go.... "What?!" At some point it's just too hard to listen to blatant mistakes. I advise you to read the thread Chill posted and start casual commentating. Now it's more of a hobby than a serious activity for me, and I find it's a lot more fun and people enjoy my commentating a lot more now. I know I kind of derailed my own post with random experiences and stuff but here's the thing. You want to commentate for fun, not for other people really. People enjoying your commentaries is just a bonus. Then you'll see where it can take you. It takes a perfect mixture to make a "Tasteless", he had luck, humor and was insightful. But if there's anything that you can take out of this, just follow your heart! Good luck! | ||
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Ahzz
Finland780 Posts
Maybe I'll do dual commentaries with superiorwolf and make him scream and shout and I'll just talk as if my dog died like I always do and provide the necessary information lol. Anyway its important to accept what talents you have at the moment. Me, personally I think I only have sc skill that makes me stick out of the bunch. I dont think I have any special commentating skill | ||
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-orb-
United States5770 Posts
On September 30 2008 10:18 Sp1ralArch1tect wrote: Hmmm I dont know where most of you are getting your Tasteless commentary from but I think he is very well strategically versed. I mean of course it is not all he concentrates on since he has to do all if by himself, but he understands the basic BO and flow of every matchup for every race. I see what your saying here, but I myself find "over analyzing" is often worse than not knowing everything about everything. To the OP: I would try and do one if I were you, post it here and see what everyone thinks. From what you have posted it doesnt sound like your bag, but it can never hurt right? I agree. It seems to me tasteless often has interesting things to say about each matchup and he always predicts what's going to happen very well. He obviously understands every matchup very well, which I guess is bound to happen after you've commentated on as many matches as he has. | ||
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GHETTo_oVERLORD
1 Post
On September 30 2008 07:38 Chill wrote: You know, as much as I hate to do this, SC2GG is better than us at this, so I'll recommend you read a few threads over there. This one is particularly good: http://sc2gg.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1834 And this has a little bit of information: http://sc2gg.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2477 I still believe teamliquid has a better community which is why I'm hesitant to turn you loose, but SC2GG is really much better at proliferating commentaries. Proliferating is easy. Quality on the other hand? | ||
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Moletrap
United States1297 Posts
But I listened more to the encouragement and less to the stfu and kept doing it, and as with almost anything in this world, you get better with practice. I mean better at the mechanics of commentating but also better at analysis. I agree it's best to do it for fun and not for the attention. You will have haters no matter how good you are (so take what advice you can get from it but don't pay too much attention to them), and you will always make mistakes. I have mad respect for Tasteless and mean no insult when I say that even Tasteless makes mistakes. But not doing something because you might make mistakes is a horrible way to live your life. Yes, playing the game more will help you get a better understanding of the game. But you also need to commentate (I still find that an awkward word) to get better at commentating. If you don't start cooking until you have memorized your cookbook and grown your own vegetables, you won't really be any better at cooking than you were before. So do both, and have fun. | ||
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VorcePA
United States1102 Posts
Honestly, I could probably manage to write a dissertation on one map with one race with one strategy. That being said, I'm not really here to defend myself. I was looking for a place to start, and chill provided that, and I thank him. Only problem is I can't be loud and excited and have the passion for this game that I so long to have, like many of you, because of my current living conditions. That just means I have to move somewhere more desirable before I can start commentating. I do think the lot of you are right, though -- to an extent -- about my level of play. I'm not a good player. I would love to be, but I've never pursued anyone to help train me beyond "the basics". It is no doubt an asset to commentating to be an above average, if not former professional player. However, I do not see that as a requirement. It just means I have the same 10,000 meter ladder to climb as everyone else, except my legs are weaker. It's not that I can't do it, it's just going to be tougher. | ||
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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
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Divinek
Canada4045 Posts
On September 30 2008 09:52 Nintu wrote: Tasteless misses a lot of what's going on strategically with the other races, almost to the point where it's hard to watch. But, He has a great personality, passion for SC, and experience/reputation. In my opinion, strategically, for the Foreign scene to expand and grow, we need more commentators like Artosis and Chill, who actually understand what's happening, and can articulate it properly. To be honest, you sound like a D- or D. And that's not me insulting you in anyway, but to gain an audience with experienced and passionate SC players, you need a higher rank so you can understand what's going on. As chill said, you can learn the ABSOLUTE basics, go to sc2gg and start commentating for all the people who are totally new to SC. But to match-up with Tasteless, Chill, Artosis, etc.. You need a great understanding of all the matchups, a lot of personal experience in SC, and an interesting personality. I don't mean to break any dreams though.. =o You say that like tasteless isnt a good player outside of casting Oh and if you ever want to become a great caster you need to have a likeable voice. It doesn't matter how good you are, how amazing about anything you are - if your voice sucks you're doomed to fail. | ||
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dream-_-
United States1857 Posts
Tasteless had years and years of starcraft experience, then years and years of casting experience. He also had a lot of talent, a lot of drive, and a LOT of luck to get where he is now. Not trying to kill your dream here, if you enjoy casting, do it anyways. Although dont expect a paycheck for it. Ever. | ||
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MyLostTemple
United States2921 Posts
Here's my whole take on the commentary thing: you need to decide who your audience will be. If i know i'll be casting to a bunch of people who have literally never seen a starcraft game before i'm not going to go over their heads and use words they don't understand. if i'm casting to a bunch of diehard sc fans then i need to explain as many technicalities as possible. there will always be people who will complain and want you to tailor your casts to their preference, be careful not to overcompensate. also, get used to reading tons of comments people will make about you. Your bound to fuck up during a cast eventually, no mater how much you do it, so get used to that too. There was once a TvT i casted where i had both players names swaped for about 20 minutes. i felt like shit when i realized i had made a mistake like that, but i had to focus and continue to cast since we were only half way done that day. you have to focus on what style the broadcast will be. will you be casting a replay or a live game? will you be in front of an audience? will you be controlling the observer screen? all of those should be approached differently. if you are not good at starcraft you shouldn't be a caster. this is the biggest mistake i see with esports casting. i'm not saying im the best player in the world, but i've definitely competed in a lot of starcraft tournaments in my life time. i've also reached A- with protoss on iccup a few seasons ago (i got to B this season but i stopped playing because i left korea to visit my family). I've been a USA A member and captain of RSGaming during it's prime when we won WGT division 1. I also play bet games against rekrul, elky, grrr, spunky, smuft and other former progamers. if i wasn't doing stuff like this i wouldn't be able to ramble on for hours about SC. A lot of people don't know this but i was not the 1st SC caster. There was someone before me called Wacksteven. He brought a lot of passion and had a great voice but he honestly knew nothing about the metagame in Starccraft. at times it would be insulted by his lack of insight when i would watch him cast the earlier WCG Starcraft matches. If you can't get to at least B on iccup your probably not ready to be casting. there's way too much that will be going over your head. I think getting a cocaster is critical. If Artosis was casting with me at GomTV for instance, my job would be a lot easier. You have to focus incredibly hard on what both players are trying to do in order to predict what will happen. having someone to bounce ideas off of will help a lot. | ||
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MyLostTemple
United States2921 Posts
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Liquid`Ret
Netherlands4513 Posts
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Retsukage
United States1002 Posts
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