Celtic Throwdown and #Content

 I've finally recovered from the complete exhaustion I've experienced after finishing off with CT. As I was sorting through all my thoughts and experiences regarding the weekend, I realized it'll be too long for Twitter, so I just decided I'll create a long-form post here. 

I want to share some more or less structured thoughts on  my experiences at CT and the role content and specifically content creation will play in the upcoming months (because that's also been with me for a while and it was convenient to pack it in here too).

Celtic Throwdown

First off: CT was an incredible experience. It was the first international Major I've done commentary for, and I will never forget the respect and trust that AJ extended towards me not just by letting me commentate one of the bigger top 8s, but also allowing me to completely produce the MBTL stream presence. The love I've received from the community at large and all the individuals I've interacted with was absolutely incredible and really helped me qualm the anxieties  that were wracking my brain the week leading up to the event. 

Dancing on currents of excitement (Commentary and doing it offline)

Doing commentary for a big crowd has been a dream for me since I saw MarineKing tear through MLG Winter back in 2012. The energy in those rooms felt electric, and Day9 and Artosis told me EXACTLY why this was incredible. Being able to not only sit there, but also feel good about my performance in the end is an incredible feat.

 I spent a lot of time since I got confirmed to be at the mic for CT commentating at every opportunity, studying my replays, obsessing over flow, ledgebility, anything that could be relevant. I see commentary as a storytelling medium. It's my job to not only make you excited about what's happening on the screen, but grasp and weave narratives into existence, make viewers feel smart and most importantly make the players look larger than life. I get a lot of my inspiration from older SC2 and Dota2 broadcasts, both NA and J-Wrestling as well as traditional sports like Rugby, Boxing and MMA (I think most commentators do). It's a thing I have spent countless hours overanalyzing, so being able to please myself with a set as important as CT Pools and Top 8 is a huge accomplishment to me. 

Moving from online to offline was not without hitches. There is a physical person next to you, you don't have control over your mic so I specifically had to cut down on a lot of my mumbling due to not being able to mute and unmute at my own whims (I like to externalize thoughts to keep them coherent and not get caught up), and you have to put full trust into the producer to mix you properly. I am incredibly impressed by the work done by the ppl at FightHouse, and they are definitely an inspiration for future productions that I'll be heading. Talking about production...

Sharing the vision (Production at a major)

CT MBTL was not the first Stream I've produced, but it definitely felt like it was the best one. Pools was relatively unremarkable, since it's a similar setup to what we have at our locals: 1 PC, 1 Screen for me, 1 Screen for the players. Audio routing was annoying as always, especially since I was working with an HDMI Audio extractor which I'm not too used to yet (the only other time I've worked with it was at The Reset), but I strongly believe that using it made the production overall smoother. 

Sundays setup was a different story. Not only was it an output split I wasn't used to (specifically having commentary be completely separate from Production while still being shown on an overhead projector), but it was the first time I've created a setup for somebody else to use. I'm incredibly happy I was able to share my setup with the Soul Calibur UK guys! I put special care into not just general cable management , but also took the time to label things not just for usage, but for the case of fundamental troubleshooting (which cable comes from where to where etc). I also just taped down anything that wasn't firmly in its socket or had the possibility to fall down and maybe unplug something. I am convinced that if I hadn't taken all those steps, something would've gone awry for sure lmao. 

Running Melty Top 8 felt incredibly special to me. Having multiple cameras to work with, considering when to put up the sponsors in a way that they aren't just annoyingly omnipresent but still visible enough to not be upset and the fact that my setup did not allow me a pair of monitor headsets for production made it all very intense. I tried to put a majority of the focus on the players, since their experience is something I feel is missing in some other broadcasts. The way I did that was by giving the playercam as much air time as I could, especially between rounds and during button checks. I felt like this decision was definitely rewarded by some great reactions, especially by expressive players like Eleos and Tumbleweed. 

This whole experience honestly left me hungry for more. I already know what I'd change for the next setup, and I would absolutely love to have access to maybe 1-2 more angles on the players to create a really dynamic experience during the games. I will probably just use our locals to experiment more, since it's a relatively low stakes proving ground.

A community effort (Actually being at CT)

My friends are a blessing. Even though I think I would've enjoyed myself just the same if I didn't know anyone, being able to spend time with people like roooc, Laz, Luna, Gura and especially Bowli really enhanced the feeling manyfold. Wolfman was the loveliest host and a great roommate. Being able to have somebody you can just DM for a burger run during your commentary set is so incredibly valuable. The last person that was integral to me feeling not only included, but well, was, of course, AJ. He was an absolute rock of confidence, he was always looking for a solution and treated me with an incredible amount of respect and trust. 

Another thing that was a standout for me was the queer presence at CT. There are a lot of queer people in the FGC, but at most Events I feel like they either chose to stay invisible or exist with a lot of caution. At CT, I did not get that feeling at all. Everyone felt like they were very much at ease, and I've been told that's due to a lot of queer and queer-friendly community heads. I've had doubts about my ability to create long term safe spaces for both myself and the other people I care about in an environment like the FGC, but seeing the irish scene specifically has really reinforced me in my conviction to commit to these spaces. 

Apart from that it was just incredible to interact with all these people I've written with or interacted with in digital spaces. The whole french delegation were a pleasure to chat with, all the Melty people were incredibly lovely, it was just so good <3 Being allowed to read out final top 8 for Melty Blood was so overwhelming I had to hold back my tears until after I was done. Another dream come true. 

In conclusion

I loved CT. The event was everything I hoped for, and more. The experiences I've gathered will make me an even better commentator and producer in the long run, and it's all thanks to AJ taking a risk on a new face. I will forever be grateful for that <3

Content and content creation

While I was at CT, and especially on my way home, I was thinking a lot about my next steps as a commentator and of course community member. This isn't a new line of thought, I've been thinking about what to do with myself and my "brand" since I've returned from my mental health break. I've already decided that being a competitor is not for me, but that I would like to expand my creative endeavours. Media creation has always been an interest of mine, and something I feel I have improved at over the time. 

JustWho?

The original plan I had after coming back was to start creating a proper "brand". The entire purpose was to build up a portfolio to make myself attractive to a potential esports-org and work towards a sponsorship. 

This included a stream schedule, a pipeline to Youtube, increased social media activity and increased exposure. I've been able to step up my social media (or specifically Twitter) game and have become much more comfortable selling myself, but I was not happy with the way I did Streaming and Youtube. Which is why I stopped it. 

The idea for Twitch back then was to create content from the perspective of a commentator. We'd play games, we play ladder, we make notes, we break down situations. The whole idea of Gold-Warrior (me getting to gold in every game I've stared in the last however many years) was built to create a baseline for that. I chose twitch because it's a format that lends itself to unscripted but vocalized trains of thought, while still having an overarching theme for each specific stream you can return to. I tested the waters with Runeterra, and then later assorted fighting games, but found that I am not made for live competition. The most fun I've had were the DNF bracket runs, and that was mostly due to it being very shitposty and casual in nature. 

For Youtube I had big aspirations. I wanted to not only create weekly bits from my streams, but also wanted to do long form scripted content where I would either break down things I found interesting or share information I felt was interesting about commentary or production. This was a lot, and put me up for failure. The second a bump appeared in the road the entire pipeline crumbled, and I just never picked it back up. 

JustEnjoy

This puts me to where I currently am. I've changed my stance towards the idea of getting sponsored, I don't think that's something that's for me right now. I do however really enjoy making content, especially in video-format, be it live (Streams) or edited (Youtube). I still think I'd like to tie it into my identity as a commentator, as that is a big part of me and imo one of the more interesting ones, but definitely not exclusively. 

With my new job now settled in, I feel like I have the space for 1, maximum 2 streams a week. I will stick with the 2 hour afternoon window, since that's the most convenient to me. I mostly want to move towards the stream being a reflection of my current interests, which have a tendency to strongly fluctuate. I am mostly taking inspiration from people like JoleneCoda, LeapfrogPotcho and Milpy who are all big role-models for me, as they are doing their own thing while still being able to take care of themselves. 

I do want to do Youtube as well, but change what I'll actually put out. I will probably just start uploading VODs as a link to twitch, and make the shortform "#content" videos only if I feel I have a good concept. Instead, I want to put the focus on more creative projects, not just informative / longform, but maybe even shortfilms or something like a scripted show / event, but specifically for the platform of Youtube. In general, I just want to start exploring my artistic side with the medium of film, which I've grown closer and closer to throughout the years. For inspirations I can definitely quote ThorHighHeels, Jerma Supercuts and Pianta (not piantwo, but specifically what he does on the Pianta Channel). 

All of these are just thoughts and whims that can (and probably will) change within a month or two. But I felt like sorting through all my thoughts and putting them in writing would be a good check-up. 

The End

Don't expect these blogpost to become a regular thing, I will probably just use this whenever I have a very complex or sizeable topic I want to talk about. Make sure to enjoy yourselves, and see you soon <3