Hey guys, I’m new to the forums and a semi-intermediate KI player. A while ago I decided to try and focus on commentary more than playing since I’m booty at the game as a player but I feel that I would do way better at commentary.
As a aspiring commentator, I need more tips as to what I should focus on when it comes to getting the job done. I’ve had my fair share of gameplay with this (and many other fighters as well) so I know plenty but I’m always looking to better myself. if all goes well, I want to fight for a position to commentate at TFC2k16! All help is appreciated.
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Nice. Good luck with it. Here are my tips as a spectator as to what I like and dislike about commentators.
I like it when commentators:
- have sufficient knowledge of all characters, and know the priority of their most commonly used moves
- can deduct and explain to the audience what happened on screen when it happens or give a logical/plausible explanation for it
- are able to call a character’s moves by name
- recognize situations and relative strength of characters in those situations
- strike a good balance between silence and talking
- have a pleasant tone/voice to listen to
- remain respectful if players are playing poorly or lack certain skills
Dislike
- bias for a character or a player
- no open mind to different play styles (not every person is going to play the same or do the most efficient thing)
- lying, for example, creating hype when there is clearly nothing interesting going on.
I hope my personal opinion and experience can help you in your pursuit.
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The best way to get good is to just do it. As for what you should be looking to provide with commentary, this going to sound extremely general, be yourself. Find out what you’re good at and focus on improving that. If you’re good at being analytical, I’d say make sure you don’t go too deep. Being too analytical can be boring. Be sure to keep your analysis of the action light to help new players understand easier, while tossing in a few deep mechanics, and learn how to use your analysis to generate excitement.
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Take sets off Youtube and record yourself commenting over them, live, as if they were a tournament match. Upload these self-commented sets to youtube regularly so you can a) get feedback and b) check back on yourself after you’ve done it for a while and see how much you’ve improved over your first video. Just practice, practice, practice. Do it a lot. Do it for sets containing every character in the game.
As hard as it is to do, you’ll also have to listen to your own commentary a lot and try to put yourself in a listener’s position and think about what is good and bad about your delivery and content.
My personal preference for commentary is someone who knows what’s happening on the screen. It’s really irritating to me when a commentator has no idea what’s happening, or says something blatantly incorrect about a move property. Nobody’s perfect of course, so sometimes stuff gets said that isn’t true, but it’s tough when it happens often. Some commentators will just default to “oh, nice combo breaker! oh, lands a hit!” when they don’t know what’s going on… try to practice so this happens extremely rarely. Explain why it’s a nice combo breaker. Explain how he landed a hit. Explain what the person was thinking when he tried to guess throw for the 3rd time in a row. These insights are hard unless you’ve done a lot of studying and you’ve been put in those situations yourself.
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