jjl Profile Blog Joined October 2006 United States 85 Posts #1



So, I've set out to try to better understand one thing: what makes the Korean BW casts so exciting?



Some disclaimers:

+ Show Spoiler +

This post is:

- some observations I had while watching Korean BW casts

- my opinion on why I find it fun to watch





This post is not:

- comprehensive by any means

- any sort of guide to casting









A translated video

As a starter, I took one of the more well-known games (of "ee han timing" fame) and translated the commentary. A lot of this may be wrong or incomplete, but I've done the best I could.



I've been watching professional Korean BW for the past 7 years or so, and it has never gotten dull. The commentary is definitely the thing that keeps me coming back. I can understand Korean, but I always wondered if non-Koreans feel the same way about the casts, and sure enough-- many people I've talked to loved watching the OGN/MBC casts even if they couldn't understand what they were saying.So, I've set out to try to better understand one thing:Some disclaimers:As a starter, I took one of the more well-known games (of "ee han timing" fame) and translated the commentary. A lot of this may be wrong or incomplete, but I've done the best I could. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGm2mWgQY1k

If you don't see the English captions, please make sure to turn on annotations.



The annotations are placed on the screen according to who said what. Going from left-to-right, this game's casting team consists of:



(Left) Kim Tae Hyung: also known as Kim Carrier, there's a long backstory

(Middle) Jun Yong Joon: also known as MC Yong Joon

(Right) Um Jae Kyung: also known as 식신 or "god of food" (probably cuz he's fat)



This team is one of my favorites, and this trio is usually the one that casts the high-profile OGN games (such as OSL playoffs or Proleague finals on OGN).







What I'm about to write here really only scratches the surface of why I think I'm so drawn to Korean commentating. I'd love to go into more detail in later posts, but for now, this is an overview of some of my first thoughts. Some of these points will be more obvious than others, and are listed in no particular order.



They can talk really loud and really fast. Everyone knows this. They don't talk fast all the time (such as at the start of the game), but they have the ability to really crank up the speed when there's a lot going on so they don't step on each others toes when commentating on the action. But the fact that they do get pretty excited easily makes the game, well, a lot more fun to watch. Just look at this (it's a joke, but I would totally watch a chess game like this):



The annotations are placed on the screen according to who said what. Going from left-to-right, this game's casting team consists of:(Left): also known as Kim Carrier, there's a long backstory(Middle): also known as MC Yong Joon(Right): also known as 식신 or "god of food" (probably cuz he's fat)This team is one of my favorites, and this trio is usually the one that casts the high-profile OGN games (such as OSL playoffs or Proleague finals on OGN).What I'm about to write here really only scratches the surface of why I think I'm so drawn to Korean commentating. I'd love to go into more detail in later posts, but for now, this is an overview of some of my first thoughts. Some of these points will be more obvious than others, and are listed in no particular order.Everyone knows this. They don't talk fast all the time (such as at the start of the game), but they have the ability to really crank up the speed when there's a lot going on so they don't step on each others toes when commentating on the action. But the fact that they do get pretty excited easily makes the game, well, a lot more fun to watch. Just look at this (it's a joke, but I would totally watch a chess game like this): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O06Zp3gCT3c



It's probably good that they don't scream the entire time -- it just makes the exciting moments that much more exciting. This is one of those things where knowledge of Korean isn't really required.



Korean is just more verbose. There isn't always a lot to say, but one of the reasons I think the Korean commentators speak so quickly is simply because they have to. Take, for example, this quote from the game referenced above, and my best-effort translation of it:



It's probably good that they don't scream the entire time -- it just makes the exciting moments that much more exciting. This is one of those things where knowledge of Korean isn't really required.There isn't always a lot to say, but one of the reasons I think the Korean commentators speak so quickly is simply because they have to. Take, for example, this quote from the game referenced above, and my best-effort translation of it: Archon 나올때까지 송병구선수는 제2멀티 안 가지가거든요 (24 syllables)

Stork will not take his 2nd expansion until he gets Archons. (16 syllables)





Of course, this is really only 1 data point and is not always valid, but I find this to generally be the case. There are all kinds of extra syllables due to the particles (bound morphemes) attached to most nouns indicating whether it's the subject or object, and conjugating a verb always involves adding a few more syllables. (Caution: I am not a linguist)



If any linguists are reading this, could you chime in? One other idea I have is that sentences, when screamed, sound more "natural" (whatever that means) when the verb is at the end, like all Korean sentences. Reading the 2 sentences above, I don't know where I could place an emphasis on the English sentence to make it sound exciting when I scream it. On the other hand, the emphasis in the Korean sentence can clearly go on the last 7 syllables. This could all be BS though.



Screaming nouns and incomplete sentences is "normal". I don't know why, but in English you can't really do stuff like scream "SCV!!!!!" with no verb or no article ("the SCV" maybe?). I simply haven't seen it, and frankly I think it would just be awkward (and so I'm glad no English commentator tries to do that). I'm sure you've all seen this before:



Of course, this is really only 1 data point and is not always valid, but I find this to generally be the case. There are all kinds of extra syllables due to the particles (bound morphemes) attached to most nouns indicating whether it's the subject or object, and conjugating a verb always involves adding a few more syllables. (Caution: I am not a linguist)If any linguists are reading this, could you chime in? One other idea I have is that sentences, when screamed, sound more "natural" (whatever that means) when the verb is at the end, like all Korean sentences. Reading the 2 sentences above, I don't know where I could place an emphasis on the English sentence to make it sound exciting when I scream it. On the other hand, the emphasis in the Korean sentence can clearly go on the last 7 syllables. This could all be BS though.I don't know why, but in English you can't really do stuff like scream "SCV!!!!!" with no verb or no article ("the SCV" maybe?). I simply haven't seen it, and frankly I think it would just be awkward (and so I'm glad no English commentator tries to do that). I'm sure you've all seen this before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpuv7VPb2rA



In this video, Kim Chul-Min and Lee Seung-Won (from MBC, part of my other favorite casting team) take turns saying "plague". The last utterance, by Kim Chul-Min, even includes "plague ga" (the "ga" indicates that it's the subject of a sentence), but he has no intention of completing this sentence.



I think it also helps that many many words in Korean end with vowels, so you can hang onto them (e.g., "playguuuuuu" sounds easier to hang onto than "plaaaaaaaaague" because at least the listener will know what word you're saying).



Yaaaaaaaa. It's the generic sound to express astonishment. I don't really know of an equivalent in English. It's kinda like saying "whoa", but it's weird to hang on to "whoaaaaaaaaaaa" for long periods of time (one too many vowels maybe).



Everything in moderation, of course. If you remember the old CJ Superfights, you might remember GARIMTO's response to Nada slipping some M&M past Savior's sunkens (he was probably not too experienced at commentating then). It starts at 5:29, and over the next 70 seconds he says "YAAAA" 14 times. I did find this to be weird. But still exciting.



In this video, Kim Chul-Min and Lee Seung-Won (from MBC, part of my other favorite casting team) take turns saying "plague". The last utterance, by Kim Chul-Min, even includes "plague ga" (the "ga" indicates that it's the subject of a sentence), but he has no intention of completing this sentence.I think it also helps that many many words in Korean end with vowels, so you can hang onto them (e.g., "playguuuuuu" sounds easier to hang onto than "plaaaaaaaaague" because at least the listener will know what word you're saying).It's the generic sound to express astonishment. I don't really know of an equivalent in English. It's kinda like saying "whoa", but it's weird to hang on to "whoaaaaaaaaaaa" for long periods of time (one too many vowels maybe).Everything in moderation, of course. If you remember the old CJ Superfights, you might remember GARIMTO's response to Nada slipping some M&M past Savior's sunkens (he was probably not too experienced at commentating then). It starts at, and over the next 70 seconds he says "YAAAA" 14 times. Ifind this to be weird. But still exciting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6gE6Encirs

"Yaaaaa" starts at 5:29 until 6:37











Interlude: The Summer Olympics.



Unfortunately there are no YouTube videos of this since NBC is pretty aggressive with their takedowns. But during the last Olympics, I had the chance to watch the Koreans compete in archery (one of the world's most boring sports). There was English coverage on some NBC-owned channel, and Korean coverage at the same time on one of the Korean channels. I was flipping between the two.



Firstly, the matchup was Korea vs China so obviously there was some bias amongst the Korean commentators. Still, it was amazingly fun to listen to them. Here's how the English commentary generally goes:



The Summer Olympics.Unfortunately there are no YouTube videos of this since NBC is pretty aggressive with their takedowns. But during the last Olympics, I had the chance to watch the Koreans compete in archery (one of the world's most boring sports). There was English coverage on some NBC-owned channel, and Korean coverage at the same time on one of the Korean channels. I was flipping between the two.Firstly, the matchup was Korea vs China so obviously there was some bias amongst the Korean commentators. Still, it was amazingly fun to listen to them. Here's how the English commentary generally goes: Okay, and the next athlete is up. She readies the shot...

... it's a 10!

Now for the next shot...

... it's a 9!

It is drizzling a bit, and that may be affecting everyone's aim today.





Booooring. The Korean cast, on the other hand, was ridiculous, and the match hadn't even started yet:



Booooring. The Korean cast, on the other hand, was ridiculous, and the match hadn't even started yet: TODAY WE HAVE AN EPIC REMATCH OF KOREA VS CHINA! ALL UNDER THE COVER OF BAD WEATHER, THIS WILL TEST HOW WELL THEY CAN ADAPT TO THESE SITUATIONS! OHHHH AND LOOK AT THE KOREAN ATHLETES AS THEY ENTER THE FIELD, THEY CAME PREPARED WITH THEIR RAIN JACKETS!! THIS TEAM IS SO EXPERIENCED AND CONFIDENT, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE UNDER-PREPARED OPPONENTS!





(Note: this is all paraphrased from what I remember. It could be a grossly inaccurate, but that's how I remembered it.)



Of course, it's an important match for Korea (it was the gold medal match, and they lost unfortunately) so the commentators really brought their A-game.







A live audience helps a lot. This one is pretty obvious, and you can tell from the translated video that a big crowd that watches the finals is great because you can hear them all cheering. It makes the commentators more excited and in turn makes the whole viewing experience more fun.



At the start of the game when not much is going on, the cameras also turn to the audience and show signs that people hold up, often giving commentators some new material to talk about if there's nothing to say. You all probably remember this guy (skip to 2:54):



(Note: this is all paraphrased from what I remember. It could be a grossly inaccurate, but that's how I remembered it.)Of course, it's an important match for Korea (it was the gold medal match, and they lost unfortunately) so the commentators really brought their A-game.This one is pretty obvious, and you can tell from the translated video that a big crowd that watches the finals is great because you can hear them all cheering. It makes the commentators more excited and in turn makes the whole viewing experience more fun.At the start of the game when not much is going on, the cameras also turn to the audience and show signs that people hold up, often giving commentators some new material to talk about if there's nothing to say. You all probably remember this guy (): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5kYZUGLN3k&t=2m54s

Our friend Daniel is shown at 2:54





+ Show Spoiler + Translation:

God of Food: Ahhh. It says that he is Stork's #1 western fan. Could that be true?

MC Yong Joon: He's saying Song Byung Goo. Song Byung Goo.

(laughter)

MC Yong Joon: Song Byung Goo. Song Byung Goo.

(audience cheers)

MC Yong Joon: Song Byung Goo.

God of Food: Yeah, but including Eastern fans, he can't be the #1. Because there's a guy that blows a vuvuzela at Stork's games.





The commentators know EVERYTHING (except for the middle guy). Knowing the mechanics of BW is important, of course, but they also have notes on map statistics, win/loss rates per player, broken down by race and map, career stats, stats over just the regular season, all sorts of stuff. So there's always something to talk about. The season takes a few months, with a lot of games being played.



It's not even just statistics. They talk to the players and their teammates, they talk to the coaches, they talk to the players' parents. They know what's going through the player's head before the game starts.



I think the latter is particularly interesting because the casters often tell us what the players are thinking at any moment during the game, even though obviously no one knows what the players are actually thinking except the players themselves. Still, it gives the audience a chance to feel like they're playing the game vicariously through that player. I think this is the reason I find FPVODs interesting to watch, even though I'm not actually playing and can't control anything.



Accessible to everyone. I'm a noob. I have pretty bad game sense. But even I know by the time the Finals come around that Katrina is a heavily Protoss-favored map, that the natural expo is behind the main, and a Gateway-first build instead of Forge/Nexus means early aggression for the toss. The commentators do say this "obvious" stuff, and I do not find that to be weird. Maybe because it's only limited to the beginning of the game, or maybe it spares me the effort of having to think for myself. I don't know. But certainly they have all their bases covered, as people who are just watching for the first time still get great explanations.



Ridiculous predictions. I don't just mean Kim Carrier's always-wrong predictions about who will win OSL. Often in games, for example, I'll hear Lee Seung Won say stuff like "Yeah, this is the sort of game where Flash might go for a 2-fac timing push. We'll see if Stork's dragoon micro fares well when he FEs" -- all before anyone builds a supply depot. When he's right, Lee Seung Won is a genius. When he's wrong... well, who cares? No one remembers that he said that -- I'm too busy listening to him analyzing what actually did happen.



This also sets them up for a great situation where the player does something completely off-the-wall, and it gives the commentators and audience something to really get excited about!



Flow. It's no secret that these guys work really well together, and I never hear any of them stopping mid-sentence to say "sorry, you were saying?" or "go ahead". They just scream it. Often when someone wants to say something they start with 예 or 네 (sorta like saying "yeah"), and whoever's talking at that moment might take that as some cue to finish what they're saying so the next guy can talk. I don't know if that's actually a system, or if it just works out that way.



When things get really crazy though, all 3 commentators might babble at the same time. But when something crazy is going on, that's acceptable. You don't need to know what anyone's saying. Just take in the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.



No meta-commentary (at least in high profile games). There's usually too much to talk about to even waste time with meta-commentary (dwelling over occasional speech mistakes, correcting other commentators, stuff like that). The commentators' voices crack all the time, they occasionally make errors, they stumble over words sometimes, but nobody cares and no one dwells over it. Here's a video of Kim Carrier messing up pretty seriously, trying to correct himself, but then accidentally saying "vagina" on live TV while trying to stuttering to recover from his previous mistake:



(except for the middle guy). Knowing the mechanics of BW is important, of course, but they also have notes on map statistics, win/loss rates per player, broken down by race and map, career stats, stats over just the regular season, all sorts of stuff. So there's always something to talk about. The season takes a few months, with a lot of games being played.It's not even just statistics. They talk to the players and their teammates, they talk to the coaches, they talk to the players' parents. They know what's going through the player's head before the game starts.I think the latter is particularly interesting because the casters often tell us what the players are thinking at any moment during the game, even though obviously no one knows what the players are actually thinking except the players themselves. Still, it gives the audience a chance to feel like they're playing the game vicariously through that player. I think this is the reason I find FPVODs interesting to watch, even though I'm not actually playing and can't control anything.I'm a noob. I have pretty bad game sense. But even I know by the time the Finals come around that Katrina is a heavily Protoss-favored map, that the natural expo is behind the main, and a Gateway-first build instead of Forge/Nexus means early aggression for the toss. The commentators do say this "obvious" stuff, and I do not find that to be weird. Maybe because it's only limited to the beginning of the game, or maybe it spares me the effort of having to think for myself. I don't know. But certainly they have all their bases covered, as people who are just watching for the first time still get great explanations.I don't just mean Kim Carrier's always-wrong predictions about who will win OSL. Often in games, for example, I'll hear Lee Seung Won say stuff like "Yeah, this is the sort of game where Flash might go for a 2-fac timing push. We'll see if Stork's dragoon micro fares well when he FEs" -- all before anyone builds a supply depot. When he's right, Lee Seung Won is a genius. When he's wrong... well, who cares? No one remembers that he said that -- I'm too busy listening to him analyzing what actually did happen.This also sets them up for a great situation where the player does something completely off-the-wall, and it gives the commentators and audience something to really get excited about!It's no secret that these guys work really well together, and I never hear any of them stopping mid-sentence to say "sorry, you were saying?" or "go ahead". They just scream it. Often when someone wants to say something they start with 예 or 네 (sorta like saying "yeah"), and whoever's talking at that moment might take that as some cue to finish what they're saying so the next guy can talk. I don't know if that's actually a system, or if it just works out that way.When things get really crazy though, all 3 commentators might babble at the same time. But when something crazy is going on, that's acceptable. You don't need to know what anyone's saying. Just take in the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.(at least in high profile games). There's usually too much to talk about to even waste time with meta-commentary (dwelling over occasional speech mistakes, correcting other commentators, stuff like that). The commentators' voices crack all the time, they occasionally make errors, they stumble over words sometimes, but nobody cares and no one dwells over it. Here's a video of Kim Carrier messing up pretty seriously, trying to correct himself, but then accidentally saying "vagina" on live TV while trying to stuttering to recover from his previous mistake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMh5mNzIzmY



It draws a suppressed chuckle, and then they compose themselves and move on.



There definitely are exceptions to this, especially in the lower-profile games, and especially if one of the commentators is new at commentating. Notably, during Nal_rA's stint as an MBC commentator, the other 2 guys often gave him a lot of crap because he messed up so much, and even Nal_rA himself would meta-commentate and talk about how he spent all of last night preparing for today's cast. I found this acceptable... if only because it was hilarious.



The observers are really good. I think this is the most common complaint amongst the recent SC2 casts. In Korean BW, I almost never see the commentators trying to tell the observer to do something. The observer hears the cast and knows what's relevant, and they also never miss anything. Casting and observing at the same time is very hard to do, and the Korean commentating teams don't attempt to do that. The early GSL English casts had a lot of these problems, mostly because Tasteless and Artosis really had no control over the observing, so it was impossible to get good flow between what they were saying and what was on the camera (nowadays I think they've addressed that issue).



+ Show Spoiler + This part is really just my opinion:

This also leads me to some level of trust in the observer. Yeah, I noticed there's a blip on the minimap, and the observer isn't bothering to show it. Maybe I missed something... or maybe it just really isn't important because the commentators aren't talking about it either. Eventually I realize it's a spider mine and it really didn't matter. I've let the observer decide for me what's important and what's not, and it lets me just release my paranoia that I'll miss something crucial and instead just turn off my brain and enjoy the entertainment.









In closing, I'll leave you with 2 casts of the same goal in the USA's epic World Cup game vs. Algeria where Landon Donovan scored the goal they needed to avoid elimination during the last few seconds of the game.



Ian Darke (the English commentator) did an amazing job. The incident was already so emotionally charged (at least for the Americans) that you didn't actually really need to say much. To compare, I've also included Andres Cantor's Spanish commentary of the same incident.













I don't really have a point to make here. These are 2 pieces of great commentating. But I still wonder: the words "goal" in English and "gol" in Spanish are pronounced the same way. But why do I find it weird to hear English commentators to hang onto "gooooooooooal" and not for the Spanish ones? (Linguists?)



Regardless, you clearly don't need stuff like that (or "yaaaaaaaaaa") for great commentating, and a lot of it just might be language-dependent or cultural.



It draws a suppressed chuckle, and then they compose themselves and move on.There definitelyexceptions to this, especially in the lower-profile games, andif one of the commentators is new at commentating. Notably, during Nal_rA's stint as an MBC commentator, the other 2 guys often gave him a lot of crap because he messed up so much, and even Nal_rA himself would meta-commentate and talk about how he spent all of last night preparing for today's cast. I found this acceptable... if only because it was hilarious.I think this is the most common complaint amongst the recent SC2 casts. In Korean BW, I almost never see the commentators trying to tell the observer to do something. The observer hears the cast and knows what's relevant, and they also never miss anything. Casting and observing at the same time is very hard to do, and the Korean commentating teams don't attempt to do that. The early GSL English casts had a lot of these problems, mostly because Tasteless and Artosis really had no control over the observing, so it was impossible to get good flow between what they were saying and what was on the camera (nowadays I think they've addressed that issue).In closing, I'll leave you with 2 casts of the same goal in the USA's epic World Cup game vs. Algeria where Landon Donovan scored the goal they needed to avoid elimination during the last few seconds of the game.Ian Darke (the English commentator) did an amazing job. The incident was already so emotionally charged (at least for the Americans) that you didn't actually really need to say much. To compare, I've also included Andres Cantor's Spanish commentary of the same incident.I don't really have a point to make here. These are 2 pieces of great commentating. But I still wonder: the words "goal" in English and "gol" in Spanish are pronounced the same way. But why do I find it weird to hear English commentators to hang onto "gooooooooooal" and not for the Spanish ones? (Linguists?)Regardless, you clearly don't need stuff like that (or "yaaaaaaaaaa") for great commentating, and a lot of it just might be language-dependent or cultural.