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[dragonbretheren]

I'm putting a skit together for this year and I have a question before I dedicate too much time into writing a script and recording audio.

How long should skits be this year? I recall it used to be as much as 4 minutes a few years ago, but dwindled down to ~3 minutes a couple of years ago and down further to 2:30 last year. Will it get shorter yet again this year? Will it remain the same at 2:30? Or will we get more time this year?

Personally, I would appreciate making it longer as it is really hard to write any sort of appreciably good skit in under 3 minutes (not impossible as recent years have shown, but really hard).

[Dany]

I'm putting a skit together for this year and I have a question before I dedicate too much time into writing a script and recording audio.

How long should skits be this year? I recall it used to be as much as 4 minutes a few years ago, but dwindled down to ~3 minutes a couple of years ago and down further to 2:30 last year. Will it get shorter yet again this year? Will it remain the same at 2:30? Or will we get more time this year?

Personally, I would appreciate making it longer as it is really hard to write any sort of appreciably good skit in under 3 minutes (not impossible as recent years have shown, but really hard).

I think it's going to stay at 2:30. There doesn't seem to be any reason to cut it down lower, especially when we tend to have some big groups that get involved.

As for bringing it back up to 3 minutes or longer... There is another thread here that you may want to review about the good and bad of that.

Regarding your concern of doing a good skit, I agree that 2:30 can be a challenging time frame, but it -can- be done, as anyone who competed last year at Fanime can tell you. It's all about keeping things streamlined and cutting the fat from the meat to keep the audience interested. Trust me, I'll be doing a LOT of thinking in that regard for this year, because I know that's the challenge we face..costumes? No big deal. General concept for a skit? No big deal. Refining it to a short time frame and making it make sense to everyone? That's gonna put a few white hairs in my head.

[dragonbretheren]

ok, thanks. I just wanted to know how much I need to cut out of my currently 3-minute skit.

[Dany]

ok, thanks. I just wanted to know how much I need to cut out of my currently 3-minute skit.

You can do it..I have faith! And you are working on audio now..that is way better than me XD

[dragonbretheren]

Another question:

Can I sign up for two skit slots and use the second one as a "delayed punchline" which would just be a ~10-20 seconds, requiring no setup/takedown and minimal introduction?

EDIT: Nevermind, we rewrote our ending just now... but if possible, I'm still sort of curious about the judgment on this.

[Fi-Fi]

Another question:

Can I sign up for two skit slots and use the second one as a "delayed punchline" which would just be a ~10-20 seconds, requiring no setup/takedown and minimal introduction?

EDIT: Nevermind, we rewrote our ending just now... but if possible, I'm still sort of curious about the judgment on this.

I would think that would be incredibly unfair and rude to take up a second skit spot when there is a VERY limited number of them, and a wait list.  If you can't fit your skit in the time limit, then you need to change your skit. (which it sounds like you did)

[Dany]

Another question:

Can I sign up for two skit slots and use the second one as a "delayed punchline" which would just be a ~10-20 seconds, requiring no setup/takedown and minimal introduction?

EDIT: Nevermind, we rewrote our ending just now... but if possible, I'm still sort of curious about the judgment on this.

I'm glad you got it squared away, and definitely think it's for the better. Fairness over entry-straddling aside (and I can think of several reasons why they would not want to start that trend), if you got your request, I don't know if your "second part" would be included in your judging, which could actually hurt you if you're looking for an award. Two separate entry slots are two separate entries, and in awards, the second entry won't even be noted.

[dragonbretheren]

Yea, I understand the whole fairness thing. I may have phrased it wrong, but the idea was that instead of doing a 2.5 minute sketch, do a 1.5 minute sketch and a second .5 minute sketch with a super delayed punchline. The way our original ending was written, it would have been funny with the punchline delayed after one or two intermediate skits.


The question was asking if it would just be possible with masquerade staff's permission to either add the extra signup slot (i.e. if it's normally 60 slots of 2.5 minutes, make a "61st" slot that's only 10 seconds) knowing that the two skits together would be the same time as a normal slot or otherwise, to be able to take one 2.5 minute skit slot, but be able to divide it and "wrap" it around other slots. But fortunately it doesn't matter now.

EDIT: To answer comments I missed:
We weren't really caring about judging or awards, we were just trying to make a fun comedy sketch.
Our skit still has a similar ending and can still attempt to do the postponed punchline if allowed, but we understand your concern in setting this as a precedent for bad things to happen in future Masquerades, so we'll let it go.

[Dany]

EDIT: To answer comments I missed:
We weren't really caring about judging or awards, we were just trying to make a fun comedy sketch.
Our skit still has a similar ending and can still attempt to do the postponed punchline if allowed, but we understand your concern in setting this as a precedent for bad things to happen in future Masquerades, so we'll let it go.

Well, I -think- you could probably put what you want to do together, you would just need to contain it in the 2:30 allowed to all of the other entries, which it sounds like you have done, from what I'm reading.  It's not uncommon to make an entry seem "ended" and then put a zinger in to surprise the audience, and you could do it multiple times if you wanted to. That 2:30 can be molded in a variety of ways, so I think it's less about letting the idea go but working the idea into what you are given as a singular entry...and you have a lot of time for it too Good luck!

[MPLe]

Locked. Please go here for the official thread -> http://forums.fanime.com/index.php/topic,16938.msg432611.html#msg432611