eSC: Interview With Videographer David "DchozN" Cho
By Staff Writer - CEVO|DeShong

Ever wonder who made those Team3D movies, or how about C9:Enemy Down? Allow me to take you into a behind the scenes look as I got the privilege to sit down and ask the legendary DchozN a few questions!

Through the past few months, your name "DchozN" has been in the "online media" a fair amount. With your successful releases of World Cyber Games 2005 featuring Team3D, and previous movies such as C9:Enemy Down, you seem to be shocking the community each time!

But let's stick to the basics first, could you please introduce yourself for those who may not be familiar with you?

My name is David Cho otherwise known as DchozN, an alias combining my name and heritage as one. I am 18 years of age, and currently attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale as a Cinematography major. During my spare time, I currently work as a salaried staff member for the Team 3D organization as a video editor, and now a videographer.

With your primary business involvement with Team3D, and with being a college-student, how do you find so much time to work on these digital masterpieces?

It all boils down to effective time management. Obviously, academics are first priority, but this doesn't consume my entire time schedule. Coupled with how I do not hold a part-time job at the moment, there is enough time that I can schedule time dedicated solely for Team 3D. You can say that my true job is being a video editor for Team 3D currently.

When did you first say to yourself, "I want to start making movies!" And how did the DchozN we know now, first come to be?

For as long as I can remember, art and cinema intrigued me to no end. While I haven't developed any revolutionary art or filmmaking skills or such, I remember viewing a gaming video production by Soheill "sozou" Deriss, and simply being blown away along with numerous other viewers of any of his works. While that moment did not entirely inspire me to begin video editing, it certainly helped me look more into it. After viewing more and more of these videos, scouring for any available resources (guides and knowledgeable editors were few and far between during that time), I edited my first gaming video, C9: Enemy Down, after speaking with the Texas based team, who are now members of the Terroarized Gaming Syndicate, and gave me the great opportunity in showcasing their team in video form. Said production went on to receive 2nd place honors in the compLexity Syndicate Amateur Gaming Movie contest. From there, I was hooked and continued to edit as it slowly developed into a passion of mine as it combined aspects of art, film, and the hobby of gaming while making a name for myself. Unfortunately, I considered shelving the hobby, along with writing and graphic design positions in various eSports organizations, temporarily as college was on the horizon, but then out of the blue I was contacted by Craig "Torbull" Levine, directing manager of Team 3D and owner of ESEA, and the rest is history.

As I'm sure people are curious, on an average, how long does it take to create one of your stunning visuals?

Team 3D Week In Reviews, video series highlighting Team 3D's performance on a weekly basis, requires an average of 48 hours including capturing, editing, and rendering time per video each week. Thus, it takes an estimated 8 days to produce 4 videos a month. I should mention that while the Team 3D Week In Review series may have taken a hiatus of sorts, it will resume its usual Sunday release each and every week at Team3D.net from now on.

As for full length movies covering tournament victories, the timeframe generally varies. For example, Team 3D World Cyber Games 2004, the most popular and well received production, took a total of 3 weeks worth of production time. It should be noted that this specific project took the most amount of time to produce, and to contrast, Team 3D World Cyber Games 2005 USA required a total editing time of 1 week.

Many players have seen you playing in servers such as the ESportsEA pugs, and CS Deathmatches. With that being said, did the thought of possibly becoming a professional gamer ever come to mind before becoming involved in film?

I began playing Counter-Strike for pure entertainment value with my friends during the Summer of 2002, and will forever stay that way. Honestly, the professional gamer route was never considered as it is such a risky venture. In other words, gaming is a hobby of mine, and not something that I consider as a full time profession. Art and film are lifelong passions of mine, and thanks to Craig "Torbull" Levine, I'm able to combine those two along with gaming, a hobby, as a video editor and also as a means of an income. However, it was not my intention of entering the gaming movie field as an editor just for some money. It began as a passion, is a passion, and will forever be a passion.

Well, thanks for your time, is there anyone you'd like to shoutout to, or possibly thank?

Thank you to my family, friends, the entire Team 3D organization, its players of all divisions that are great individuals, the fans (especially the ones found at the #DchozN channel), and of course, Craig "Torbull" Levine, a significant pillar of eSports, and one who is always advancing this fledgling field on almost a daily basis. Thank you for the interview!