TL Commentary Contest 2007

On May 31 2007 08:08 Klaz wrote:
Here are my first set of commentaries! I've decided to pick the OSL Season 3 Semi-final matchup between Savior and Iris, because I think it was a great match. Obviously I'm not a gosu who knows all the indepth strategy so bear that in mind please. The style does tend to vary a bit between some of them so let me know which one you like.

Also please note, I tried to do these in 'live,' style in that I haven't seen these vods in a while, so I tried to not watch them b4 doing the commentary to add to the freshness/excitement of it. Which also means mistakes are more likely.

Savior vs Iris OSL Season 3 Semi - game 1 - Neo Araknoid

This is my first attempt and it's pretty noob. The commentary starts about 1 minute into the video. Again this one is just a basic play by play with some analysis and is not that good so you might wanna skip it entirely.

Savior vs Iris OSL Season 3 Game 2 - Reverse Temple

This one is more decent and the game is pretty exciting too.

Savior vs Iris OSL Season 3 Game 3 - Longinus II

Longish game but fun nevertheless. Commentary a little less focussed here also.

Savior vs Iris OSL Season 3 Game 4 - Hitch Hiker

A good fast game. I'd prolly pick this or game 2 as the 'best,' quick ones.

Savior vs Iris OSL S3 Semi Game 5 - Neo Araknoid

A great game and since this is my fifth commentary hopefully the quality is better than earlier tries also.

I really had fun doing these and if anyone is intersted i'd be happy to do more. I'd appreciate any advice/comments about style/content etc. but would prefer positive criticism that will help me to improve!

Hope you guys have fun watching em.

Klaz

On May 31 2007 15:31 Superiorwolf wrote:
Klaz I really like your commentaries and the insight you go into: just make sure you take out a little bit or lower the background sound, and and and and and and and and I think that you're doing great

edit: Wow, the last one was really good. I think you are good in incorporating midlevel strategy and enthusiasm as well. If anyone was to win this, I would say it is you, and I'm not joking.

edit edit: this is the only thing I have to offer Sea.Leta vs StOrk

edit edit edit: + Show Spoiler +

On May 29 2007 15:01 Excalibur_Z wrote:
I'm in support of this. Some advice I learned from AfterBurn (who used to be a commentator for TSN and was training me to do the same):

- Always keep talking. You never want dead air, ever. Dead air is bad. It's okay to have dramatic pauses which you can use to collect your thoughts, though. If there's nothing really happening, you can talk about the players, the league format, previous games on the same map, what's at stake, there's really no end to what you can talk about.
- Some babbling is okay but be careful about repeating yourself. One common mistake casters make is they'll say "the zealots of Kim Dong Soo" "the dragoons of Kim Dong Soo" "the probes of Kim Dong Soo" etc.
- Don't constantly mention units by their full names. While it's somewhat okay to say "Ultralisk" when you could shorten it to "Ultra", don't say "Zerg Ultralisk" please. This is my own personal input because AfterBurn used to do this and it drove me nuts. "And there goes the Protoss Probe of Kim Dong Soo!"
- Another hard part is commenting on what is actually happening during a battle. You have to be able to notice and react to little things the players are doing. "You can see how Kim Dong Soo is targeting the center of those Zealots with his Reaver for maximum splash damage, great play!" is a good thing to say.
- When battles heat up, intensify your voice. Part of the magic of commentators is they have the ability to amplify the effect of what's happening on the screen. If a huge battle is happening and you're not enthused, most of that magic is lost.
- Periodically take the time to identify strategic changes and adaptations the players are making. Something like "Kim Dong Soo's Dragoon numbers are slipping, it seems he's saving up resources to switch to Carriers".
- Excitement is top priority. You can provide insightful commentary but it must never replace the excitement factor. I don't know if I personally agree with this but for the average person it's better to have Um Jae Kyung talking than Kim Dong Soo.