Hopefully, by this point, your broadcast team has come up with a brainstormed list of things to include in your event broadcast. This list could be as specific as a list of scenes, or as simple as some general ideas and themes you want to get across.
Once you have this list, the next step is to decompose those items into a “Run of Show”. A Run of Show is a simplified schedule of what will be shown on a broadcast at what time and can serve as a great way to organize your thoughts into an actionable format. Most Run of Shows are created and organized using a spreadsheet, with each row containing the important information associated with a specific scene, like:
Name of Scene
Assets Required
Estimated Duration
On-Screen Talent
On-Mic Talent
Audio Sources
Additional Notes
Expect the Run of Show to evolve over time as you get closer and closer to the show, but add as much information as you can, when you can, for the sake of getting ideas written down. Another important tool for preparing your broadcast is a Punch Down List. A Punch Down List is essentially a to-do list for any broadcast assets left to be created. Once you have a preliminary Run of Show, you should be able to better visualize what assets will need to be created before the show is ready. Make sure you start this document early and check in often with what’s been completed and what needs to be focused on.
Open Broadcast Software is a free broadcast software that is widely used by gamers around the world to broadcast themselves on the internet. For your tournament, OBS is a great way to run your broadcast, provided you understand how to use the program.
When your broadcasting team is figuring out who’s doing what, your team will need at least one or two people to learn about OBS and act as Broadcast Engineers. One of the engineers might also work as a Broadcast Producer, who is essentially the shot-caller of the broadcasting crew.
The broadcast engineers should get as familiar with OBS as possible, and work with the publicity team to create stream assets like branded overlays. You can find tutorials for general OBS use and more specific needs in the Materials/Links tab below, and online.
Students can use OBS to record or live-stream themselves online. The most common site for doing so is Twitch.tv, one of the most popular live-streaming platforms anywhere on the internet. Although the site is mainly gaming-focused, lots of people stream their hobbies to Twitch. For your Esports team and for tournaments, students may want to stream their games online for remote viewers. When planning to stream for a tournament, ensure that your Broadcast Engineers have set up and tested the best audio and video options. You can enhance the viewing experience of your broadcasts by adding stream elements, like an overlay, and by practicing streaming on your own time.
Professional Shoutcasters aren’t born with a microphone in their hands; they are people who refine their skills through hundreds or even thousands of broadcasts. There are many different styles, formats, and types of commentary but, for now, the most important thing is to get started developing your own style. When it comes to casting types, there are two main choices that should be made before showtime: “How many casters should we have?” and “What role should each caster play?”
Solo Cast: a broadcast consisting of only one commentator. Typically the simplest type to run but can lack the engagement of back and forth conversation.
Duo Cast: a broadcast consisting of two commentators. The most commonly used casting format. Each caster plays a different role to progress the narrative of the match.
Tri-Cast: a broadcast consisting of three or more casters. Typically used for the most important matches, when additional voices are required to deepen discussions. Can be tricky to organize and execute with new shoutcasters.
Once you’ve considered the type of cast to use, it’s time to think about what role we want our casters to play.
Play-By-Play: the “Hype Caster”. PBPs typically are the lead caster during the game, setting the overall direction of the broadcast, leading during high-intensity moments of the game, and setting up their color caster for more in-depth conversations.
Color Commentator: the “Analytical Caster”. Colors typically are the secondary caster during the game, focusing more on providing greater depth and strategic knowledge to supplement the hype of the PBP caster.
Hybrid: in some games, especially those that can quickly switch between moments of high and low intensity, hybrid casting leverages casters who are comfortable in both a PBP and Color role, with whoever is speaking at the moment leading the fight commentary.
Host: the broadcast leader. This can either be a supplemental role for an existing caster or can be an additional person. The host will typically handle transitioning between segments, facilitating conversation, and other hosting duties.
Analyst: the “Super Analytical Caster”. Analysts typically provide a color caster’s style of in-depth commentary but applied to post-match segments where they can deep dive into topics that the game casters weren’t able to do justice.
There are a lot of options for how you want to put together your team of shoutcasters, and it can be overwhelming at times. If this is your first time running this type of show, we recommend utilizing a Duo Cast, with one Play-By-Play and one Color Commentator.
Once you have your assignments, it’s time to practice. Any game from casual play to professional competition can be used to practice your casting craft. Get your commentators into the rhythm of prepping for matches, preforming the commentary, and self reviewing to get them ready for the event.
Once the show starts to come together, it’s time again to practice. Nowhere is the phrase “practice makes perfect” more applicable than in broadcast production. Set up the scenes in OBS, get the casters on the mic, and get a game to practice your production over. It’s important to run the rehearsal show as close to how you will run the live show as possible.
The goal here isn’t just to get your production team familiar with the equipment and show but also to find the problems before the big event. Be sure to hold meetings with the entire broadcast team after your rehearsals and put together a list of all the issues you’ve encountered and how you can solve them for next time. Each issue you catch here is an issue you won’t have to deal with during the stress of the full broadcast. Your team’s regular-season matches are a great resource for rehearsing your production setup.