nadakaineko · @nadakaineko
2nd Jul 2014 from TwitLonger
Commentary And You - How to be an Effective Commentator
"Okay -- he gets the hit! Ay ay ay ay ay ay! Gamen haji! The mix-up! OH HE DIDN'T BLOCK! Now he's getting combo'd..."
For years, this is how commentary was handled in a lot of anime games. We were all guilty of it at some point and there's no problem with that -- we didn't know any better. But now a days, when we look to other larger games, we see a very clear divide in the level of commentary. Even within our own community, we have a ton of people that are doing it right -- my primary example is always James Chen and Ultra David. Their style of commentary incorporates a few key techniques which allow them to speak to the viewers in a manner that both educates and immerses them in the experience.
So I'm going to list some of the things that make commentary good below, in no particular order. Even improving on one of the points below will make the stream experience better for both you and your viewers.
1.) Commentating on expectations and analysis instead of commentating on what's happening. This is a fairly straight forward point which I seem to encounter a lot - people just parroting back what's happening on the screen to the viewer. Why is this bad? Because just saying what's happening doesn't add any clarity to the situation - the viewer has two eyes and can gather most of this information themselves. So then what does a commentator do?
Your job starts before the match. Realistically, you should assume that your viewers don't have a strong grasp of whatever game you're commentating. This point is especially true of anime games, since the mainstream really doesn't have much knowledge of these games. Every match should start out with the commentator examining the characters being played, the strengths and weaknesses of those characters, and a match up evaluation. But you're not done there -- you should also list some expectations for the match. Tell the viewer which moves or strategies they might expect to see, so they know what to look out for. Again, I know there isn't always a huge amount of time before a match starts, but you should always prioritize getting that information out there. For example, in Arcana Heart 3, I may start out a match with a Kira vs. Scharl as such:
"Okay, now we have Kira versus Scharl. Kira, a very strong grappler character, and Scharl, a zoning/mix-up character. This match up is generally pretty bad for Kira, because Kira is so large and Scharl can take advantage of that, but also because Kira can't use any of her offensive and defensive clash options because Scharl's long range chain normals invalidate clash. The Kira player will have to make the best of her spacing and try not to get caught up in Scharls momentum - you'll probably see Kira trying to stay close to the ground to open up Scharl. Conversely, Scharl wants to keep Kira out, since her defensive options are so bad and Kira's high damage and mix-up will eat her alive."
In the above, I identified the characters, their strengths, the match up, and some expectations. All of the above information is for the viewer - it's not for you. At this point, the next level of this would be to make analysis about player playstyles and quirks:
"Player A really likes to force reset situations with Kira, and he has some very creative ones up his sleeves. However, Player B plays very reserved and his defense is good, so I'm not sure how well Player A will be able to open his defenses up."
Again, providing more information for the viewer. This isn't as important as evaluating the match up, but it still helps and gives the viewers a better idea of what to expect.
So the match has started - what do you do now? Now is the point where you can do a mix of commentating on some of the more esoteric things happening on screen (like spacing or what a player is attempting to do) and when you commentate on how the actual match is living up to or not living up to your expectations. For example:
"Ah, like I thought, the Scharl player is doing a very good job of keeping the Kira player locked down. I can tell he's scared of having to deal with Kira's mix-up and he wants to make sure he doesn't get put in that position at all."
There will always be times where you need to explain something that just happened on screen. If it's a verbose explanation, it may be better to say that for in between matches, but for the most part, you should be explaining things that are not evident to the viewers.
If you commentate in this style, your commentary will have more of a cohesive feel to it, which ultimately helps your viewers.
2.) Commentary should be a personable experience. I know I listed above that we should prioritize giving the viewers the information they need, but we should strive to do it in a way that's entertaining to both yourself and your viewers. Remember, you are also technically a viewer, and it's your job to not only convey what is happening in the match, but also the excitement that is going on around you. If something exciting happens, feel free to show it! A good commentator should have a personality that is palatable to his viewers. There are certain commentators I love listening to, and if I know they're commentating something, I'm way more likely to sit in on a stream they're doing, even if it's a game I'm not as interested in.
The other thing that helps in commentary is if there is a co-commentator. Not only does having two people commentating reduce the burden on the main commentator, but it allows for the viewers to get a second, trusted opinion on whatever is happening on screen. The commentators can also joke and have fun, which, again, adds more flavor and personality to the broadcast.
The one caveat of this is that we should always strive to keep the content family friendly. Again, this doesn't mean we can't have fun, but as more eyes are put on the FGC as a whole, we really shouldn't have any streams that include excessive vulgar language or talk. Again, use your best judgement, you should be able to tell what should and should not be said over a stream at any FGC event.
Additionally, commentators should avoid using too many in-jokes. I know that we have a lot of those in this community, but in the long run, if it confuses more people than people that get the reference, you shouldn't bring it up.
3.) On a smaller scale, commentary should reach out to their viewers. If you're running a stream with more than 1,000 viewers, this section can't really apply to you, due to the logistics of it, but if you are running a stream with anywhere from 10 to 500 viewers, you should open the floor up to questions through a service like ask.fm. One of the best experiences I had commentating was with Tigre when we commentated the Examu Cup earlier this year. We opened up the floor to questions through our ask.fm account and received a lot of good questions about the games we were commentating on which allowed us to talk more about them.
Again, for anything that's higher than 1,000 viewers, this becomes less and less viable just due to sheer volume, but if it's less than that, and especially if you have two commentators, you should consider having one of the commentators watch for questions and answer them as they come up, when the time is appropriate. Viewers love being able to interact with the event, especially since they aren't there to experience it in person. It's one of the reasons why Games Done Quick makes a big deal of reading their donation comments (there are various reasons, but a big one is giving the donors an active role in the event other than just having their donation go into the ether).
Again, your job is to engage and educate the viewer. Anything you can do to further that goal is a win in my book.
There are a lot of points to be made on this, but I think this covers the basic failings I see in most commentary. Don't let the above scare you either -- commentary should be a fun experience for both the people commentating and the viewers, but when you pick up the stream headset, you now have a responsibility to engage and inform your viewers. There's no shame if you can't do that or aren't good at it -- I know everyone wants the chance to get up on the mic, but you should be mature enough to realize if you can't handle the responsibility properly. This goes double for those people who manage streams - you should always be aware of who is getting on to commentate and you should always question if you think the person is qualified or not. Again, for smaller events, it's not as big of a deal, so it's fine to coach beginners if they are interested in commentating with you.
The long and the short of it that we have improved quite a bit from the old days, but we still have a ways to go in terms of how we handle commentary in the anime FGC.
Please let me know your thoughts and opinions on this! If you agree with me, feel free to RT this and spread the word! If you don't, no worries! I'd like to hear why if you do have feedback - feel free to hit me up on twitter (http://www.twitter.com/nadakaineko). Have questions about this or anything else? Hit me up on ask.fm (http://www.ask.fm/nadakaineko).
Thanks for your time and consideration!