Foil Commentary: 2008 Olympics, Round of 16, Kleibrink vs. Chida

[eac]

If this is well-received, it will be the first of many, or at least several.
Despite what it looks like at certain points, all three periods are worth watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzmioVwSRaQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nArVb5aR4cQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzdY_9yNlqQ

Feedback extremely welcome. I might edit it based on the feedback.

Edit: I fixed the links so they aren't the editing links. Stupid.

[formerfencer]

That was great! I really enjoyed it. I personally would like to see a bit more commentary on the set-up actions. You worked some in there, but a few more would be appreciated.
Thanks for doing this for foil!

[epeelion]

MAN, that flank touch by Chida was nice...

Anyhoo, I would say a little more commentary on the preparatory actions of the fencers and maybe the "psychology" (for instance, the effect the two touches at the end of the first period might have on Chida), but overall very solid commentary. I liked it.

I've only watched the first period, but MAN, Kleibrink is just f***ing with Chida's distance all over the place.

[Mihail]

I'm really jealous that you two losers get to talk about what's going on in the touch... in the middle of the touch.

Bastards.

eac, you can change the annotation to "type" to contain a URL, so viewers can click it to go to the next part, etc.

[erooMynohtnA]

A couple things to note. First of all, it appears as thought these videos are open to anyone to annotate. I don't know if that was planned or not.

The commentary in this one seemed more like a play-by-play than an analysis. If I were watching this live, it would be very helpful. Since I'm able to rewind, I'm not as interested in what happened as what the fencers wanted to happen. For instance, on Chida's comeback, I want to know not just that he was successful, but why. He was feinting flank and hitting chest but what set that up or why wasn't he doing it earlier?

That being said, you have a really keen eye for fine bladework and minute tempo breaks. I never would have picked up on the feint-flick riposte in the first period or the counter-riposte in the third. It all just looked like bladewaggling to me to me until you said what it was. I would cut out a lot of the action calling, but those two really pop out at me as brilliant commentary.

I like the vocabulary you use. I think it's a good balance between technical fencing terms and ease of comprehension. Also, whatever size text, size window, and window placement you're using, don't change that at all. It's optimal.

I like the explanations of what's going on with the ref, rules, challenges, etc.

If I had to sum up your commentary in one word it would be conservative. It seems like you want to keep it straight forward to make sure it's 100% correct. That's admirable, but I'd much rather hear 85% correct commentary that really went out on a limb. Make some stuff up. Get in their heads.

[eac]

The editability is me being stupid and posting the wrong links.

About being conservative, that is completely true. Since I am not nearly as good as they are, I am afraid I'll get it wrong. But, I fully see your point that going out on a limb is much of the entertainment and education, so I may edit this one or just fix the problem in the next one, which will be Dupree vs. Shaito.

[antoinette]

Watching these and reading the commentary is incredibly fun and informative for me, being a newbie fencer and not having the chance to see top-level action (and have it explained!). Thanks for posting and the work that obviously goes into them.

[aside - how in the heck does Chida flick to the back like that. Seems like an impossible angle!]

[flick n' roll]

Your comment about Kleibrink's 'wiggle wiggle wiggle go' attack was thoroughly amusing. Overall, the commentary was very good, I would agree that it would be even better if there was more analysis over general trends of the bout, why certain actions work at specific moments in the bout, etc.

haha anyone realize that kleibrink only fenced chinese/japanese fencers? (Chida, Lei -- who he demolishes, Zhu -- who he also runs over, and Ota).

I enjoyed the commentary eac, looking forward to dupree-shaito.

[NGV]

That's great stuff - both the fencing, and the commentary. I'm going to contradict some other posters and say that I think the balance of analysis vs. description is pretty good (of course, that's a matter of personal taste).

It's interesting how one move can set the tone for so much of the bout - in this case, Kleibrink's close-out counterattack.

On the behind-the-head riposte - it's true that Kleibrink didn't score much with it, but it also seemed pretty low risk. There's a decent chance he'll hit something (even if it's off target), it's a tricky position for an opponent's counter-riposte or remise, and if things go wrong the halt may bail him out. So even if Kleibrink only scores with it occasionally, it might still make sense to keep going back to that move.

I definitely got a lot more from watching this than I would have from just watching the video alone. Thanks again.

[eac]

Okay, here's an idea. I could do what I currently do for the actual in-bout running commentary, and then write some paragraphs of analysis, and you could read the analysis and then watch the bout or vice-versa. The paragraphs would go here on the forums. Analysis often takes the form of multiple paragraphs, which is unsuitable for video comments anyway.

As for the behind-the-head riposte, the criticism that I have heard of it is that if you do it, your hand is stuck behind your head, and an alert opponent can run away and hit you while you're stuck there. Obviously this bout contradicts that to some degree, as Chida is fairly with it and doesn't get that. It could be that Kleibrink is careful only to do it while he's passing, so that can't happen.

[CyrusofChaos]

Okay, here's an idea. I could do what I currently do for the actual in-bout running commentary, and then write some paragraphs of analysis, and you could read the analysis and then watch the bout or vice-versa. The paragraphs would go here on the forums. Analysis often takes the form of multiple paragraphs, which is unsuitable for video comments anyway.

Sounds like an interesting idea but if that is what you want to do, give me the analysis paragraphs that you are writing and I will put them directly in the video information section. Then you can just make a note in your commentary to check the video information for more analysis on the bout. I would prefer that all of the analysis/descriptions of the bout are all generally in the same place as a majority of the fencers who watch my youtube videos are not fencing.net users, as shocking as that may be. I only got my account recently too.

[Displacement]

Kl doesn’t show any target and contorts himself like a Cirque de soleil dancer.

He’s got nice flick action (he could hit me anywhere, at any time), and he’s a tad faster than most of his opponent. Blade and Feet. Most touches in the bout posted are counter attacks or something involving parry one (Apparently he didn’t notice Chida was a lefty).

I saw KI yell in Chida’s face after a touch, not really appropriate considering he was leading.

Great commentary, good mix between observations and play by play. I agree the Text was perfectly placed and sized.

[fatfencer]

If this is well-received, it will be the first of many, or at least several.
Despite what it looks like at certain points, all three periods are worth watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzmioVwSRaQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nArVb5aR4cQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzdY_9yNlqQ

Feedback extremely welcome. I might edit it based on the feedback.

Edit: I fixed the links so they aren't the editing links. Stupid.

Please keep doing this.

FF

[Kettch]

Awesome. More more more