I'm a bit critical on the liberty taken with the zooming out feature in pro games. I would like to see the team fights better when they happen, but it's only in replays when the zoom goes back to a normal amount.
I don't think observers should be scared of moving the camera around to follow the action, instead of zooming out to where the camera doesn't have to move for 30 seconds.
External link →I appreciate the feedback! :D It's nice when people are passionate about how they experience the game.
I was the one observing here and the one zooming out. I believe a lot of what goes into who wins a fight, is the position and movements of the players during objective control plays!
It may not look as pretty depending on the angle, but it helps everyone get an overall idea of what went right and wrong in a teamfight (vision, position and flanks). Since we work on a 1.5-2 second delay only, we gotta get all the information we can!
For example, if i had been zoomed in on the fight and a wild Gragas suddenly entered the frame out of nowhere, some people might wonder "How did he get there?" or "When did he get there?". It's so everyone knows, including ourselves, who or what to focus on when we pull up the replay based on what popped off the most in the teamfight ^
I hope this makes sense :)
I understands why zooming out and in is good, but what I wanted to point out with this image, is that in this case (and others like it), we see more than even where players might come from. A big fight is about to take place, and it wasn't until the replay that I could watch it without squinting. Please realize, this might be just a hot take from me, but people trying to watch on a laptop, or even on their phone, might just be left out.
This was just an extreme example that I noticed in this game. In places where the zoom out just barely clips players on the edges of the screen, I can see why it has to go out so much. But, here it felt more like... well, every player was accounted for at a zoom level much closer than what was used. I just don't want it to feel like the zoom is being used as a substitute for moving the camera to follow the action, which is how it felt here.
Thank you so much for the reply, and I hope I didn't come off as a bit too entitled.
And, if it helps to know, I also watch a lot of pro dota games as well. There, in games where there's a lucky two observers, they tend to use picture in picture to catch flanks / far off screen action to the main body of the team fight. I realize that's not always possible for league content though, so I appreciate the attempt at getting things into view.
I completely understand and it is something i'm actively trying to keep in mind when i think about people on laptops! I notice it myself when i watch vods on laptop and such. Appreciate your input though and just know i'll keep that in mind at least! :)
It's definitely not to just do it the lazy way, i promise haha.
On another note is being observer for big events like casters cast for big event a milestone/achievement for you ?
It is 100%! Of course, observing LEC is great and all! But since it's never guaranteed that we observe international events, it's a big milestone! I think this was my fourth MSI and I've done 4 worlds? But of those events, i've only done maybe 2 finals of each event.
It's something most observers strive to be part of one day ^
I somehow never thought about how the camera work in live games works.
Well now I have so many questions... Is it a full time job? What do you do when there are no games? How did you become an official observer? Is there only one observer in a game? Or are there multiple observers and the director chooses which one to show?
I'll answer the best i can :D
It's full-time for me, but other regions might handle it differently!
I work 5 days a week, so when there's no show, i spend the time making replays and cinematics for "match of the week" content or similar!
I joined about 7 years ago as a freelance observer at EU LCS and gradually just got put on a proper Riot contract :)
We're 3 observers in LEC, one for live (me), one for live replays / base race / PiPs, and finally one for analyst desk replays and the cinematic brolls for end of day! We don't go through a director in LEC but instead have our own little box to jump between any kind of observer feature we have! (Base race, double lane, replays etc)
Haha looks like a fun thing. On the other Hand you don’t have many colleague that have the same job to help each others
There used to be way fewer than nowaday! I think more and more people have become interested now to become observers and it's great to see :D
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