Video content from fighting game tournaments

Current Fighting Games Fighting Game Discussion
1

I generally place these kind of inquiries in FGD, since GD can be a madhouse and it doesn’t pertain to any particular game like the subforums.

As some of the EC people here know I do photography for a number of east coast tournaments, and to make a long story short I bought some new equipment recently and the person I got it from threw in some video equipment as well, which re-sparked my interest in doing video at events. Photography at an event can take up the entire event as it is, and if I’m taking time away from that to experiment with video I wanted to ask people what they do and don’t like about the current video content coming out of tournaments, in order to maximize the effect of the time I do divert to video.

I originally wanted to start doing interviews when I began upgrading my equipment, but now I feel like there are already enough people doing interviews in what is still a pretty a small community in a certain sense.
Is there a certain type of video content from FGC events that you wish there was more of, or that could be done better?

2

I’d be interested to see something from the coaching angle. For example, after a match record the coaching, then when we the viewers watch the set we could see the prior matches, see the coaching and see what effect it has on the rest of the matches.

3

Its a good idea for a dedicated project, probably more than I’ll end up doing in the before next year. Who is coaching can get fairly random at times and you’d probably need sound on the coaches for the best results and from my end you would have to stay in one place longer than I like to at an event.
I always feel like I’m missing moments when I’m in the same place for too long at an event.

4

How about themed mini-interviews? Go ask as many people as possible 1-3 questions (same questions).

That way you wouldn’t be stuck in one place and as far as I know, no one else does that.

5

More video content regarding what it actually feels like to go to a tournament. I know we have hype compilations and trailers, but I don’t really feel like it does justice to what the regular tournament-attending experience is like at a major.

Also, more interviews with players. I feel like we need to move away from just content purely about the game and focus more about the people. People are drawn in by personal stories, personalities, interpersonal conflict, the drama, etc… all of that is what’s going to keep people’s eyes focused on the scene, and not just cool moments that only people who understand fighting games can appreciate.

6

this isnt a thing there needs to be a lot of, but there is not a lot of it in general, and its kinda weird, but i enjoy seeing a players hands. how they play. as i play many different games, and ive seen my execution make vast jumps the past 6 years almost in those varied games, ive always been intrigued how people hold their stick, how they move the joystick to execute specific commands, how they press the buttons. the videos i have seen on players hands has ALWAYS been helpful, especially the tekken ones.

maybe even a small segment of videos dedicated to the execution monsters in the community, where you interview people noted for their execution, how they do it, how long it took them, hurdles that where hard to overcome that they felt may be impossible, how it felt when they finally became beast at executing, opinions on why many american players lack good execution, etc…

every player interview i have ever seen is underwhelming. its the same old same old questions, that do not entertain veteran players, or provide any help to noobs. id like to hear more dream projects players would like to see (i might start a thread on that for fun today). id like to know more of why they do not like something, beyond the 140 character tweets of opinions we see now. there so much to really be had with the fgc shockingly. for 5 years since sf4, i sometimes still feel like i know nothing of some of the known players, and they have had a grip of interviews done on them.

i think of my own stories coming up in the fgc, specifically tekken at the time, my life journies in general, that in some cases brought me back to my passion for fighting games, when i had stopped giving a shit, and those stories could go on for 5 hours easily. from drunk tekken, and spilling beer on the host’s carpet all the time (lol), to the friends i made, to the games i played, the games i hated then loved, behind the scenes stories, goals, balancing out love, work, and fg’s, etc…

like i know new york players have a grip of stories beyond the little stuff i know, and no one has really tried to get that out of them in interviews. i also hate when people are like, okay, what do you do for fun outside of gaming, as if theyre gonna get an answer akin to, well i do a little coke on the weekends, then go clubbing, fucking random girls if i can. lol. i dont mind that question as much if you lead them a little, try to get more out of i hang with friends. where do you hang, what do you drink, do you drink, do you dance, is a club, bar, what kind of beer do you like. gimme something. lol

the bull pit in the front always has a lot of hype and random shit going on, but its whatever, and you will have to do a shit ton of editing for that to be worthwhile imo.

oh, id like to see more side matches. room matches. hype shit is always going on at majors, and sometimes it seems like arturo is the only one getting a ton of this stuff, but i could be wrong in that assesment.

you could always try your hand at more female player interviews too, but freshen up the questions and shit. bring some life to it. which comes to my last thing, its no shocker we dont always have the best personalities behind the mic (like 90 percent of the time), a nerd problem you could say, so getting someone who isnt a dork, dare i say maybe even attractive, that has a personality, can improvise on the fly, charm, make good jokes, etc… would be heaven sent for a project dedicated to more video content about the fgc. i think of someone like dogface when i say that. good looking dude, fun, charming, good jokes, could fucking improv shit on the fly no problem, and asked pretty interesting questions.

i would like to see interviews blend something like howard stern with a little ryan seacrest. everyone hates ryan seacrest, but a nice blend of the good ole boy, witht he charm, looks, etc…, mixed with howard sterns hard questions, interesting personal questions, jokes, etc…

please dont give us more content thats basically goobertecks and boooo mike ross all over again (shit is square as fuck, and hella wack. dudes be looking and acting like hella virgins behind the mic. they better then that), and dont go over the top like the, why we hate you shit.

7

That actually was the format for my original interview idea.

That is a very good idea.
And it may just be that I have a difference of perspective, because I am around so many people who are already doing it, that I think there is more of that content overall that there actually is, Like when I look around a ballroom and see three people who I know are already shooting interviews I tend to thin k the last thing this room needs is another person doing interviews.

and you just hit on the other half of my original interview idea.
My original idea was for a set of series of smaller interviews with the same set of questions for each series covering a number of those topics that you just mentioned, but asked to multiple players, not just to get the stories but the different perspectives and answers to the same questions from players from various locations, play different games and that have been in the community for different amounts of time. My other issue with interviews when I decided that I wanted to do them is that I feel like they are very top player centered and don’t show the entire range of the tournament experience; although I am definitely not going to argue with anyone that an interviews people at their first event are going to get more view that in interview with the tournament winner, but its still something that I think there should be more of.

In the venue it is mostly Arturo roaming with his camera out, Although I did go room to room at NEC 13 doing room photos, if anyone remembers that thread/article, and I’ve been wanting to do something like that again, actually MonoTekETeA was going to going to go through the hotel with me at Winter Brawl this year and shoot video, which didn’t go down due to an equipment issue, but more of that is definitely on the way from future events.