Cosplay Masquerade 2014 Competition Rules

[Alex Of Hyrule]

Would Alice Madness Returns fit within the requirements of the costumes? I'm kinda scared about this because I'm almost finished with the dress... :-\

[UsakoMinako]

The feedback out there from the audience is "Not a fan of the new judging system." "If you were not practically naked you did not get awarded." "There were some really great people that gave it their all and didn't even get an honorable mention. "

Personally, I don't think that there are too many chances for performers to get awarded. It was hard to see their heart sink when clearly they worked very hard. The current winners of corse deserve their awards - I totally called best in show ^_^
The industry awards are great, but they don't really have much depth and could be given more meaning with some clarification. A lot of questioning about qualification to "judge" was flying around, so if they clarified before that their prize was not part of the masq judging it would have made more sense and eased a lot of tension. A lot of people were not aware of these loose ended categories and so it seemed sort of off hand.

The ribbons were cute! I would suggest the top 3 to get some hard core trophies to show for their earnings though. People wanna display their earnings and be proud of it. The conclusion by many were that there needed to be 2nd 3rd and 4th in all 3 categories and then best in show.

Also did the judges know that a ton of us got cut off from any stage rehearsal? Its VERY important because a skit can have boundaries and if you aren't allowed to know your surroundings it can very much effect performance. We don't spend a year making a skit for fanime to be thrown to the sharks do we? Waited for FIVE HOURS to get a rehearsal on stage and told no. Well lets hope that some things can be worked on for next year.

I can appreciate all the changes and striving to make things better and right, new ideas and kind gestures this year from masq staff. Growing pains are hard, but just keep going and the combination will be right eventually! So, thank you for trying hard for all the cosplayers :)

[Erik_anderson]

Hi UsakoMinako

First off I want to thank you for providing some feedback and I will have a specify thread for feedback.  Let me address some of your concerns here and my intention is to make this a constructive dialog with the goal of making next years show better.

"Not a fan of the new judging system."

This is understandable, not all change is welcomed.  I have received some feedback about not wanting to lessen the role Skits have in the performance and next year we will have top prizes specifically for skits like 'most dramatic', 'best comedy'; in an effort to make the competition for skits high.  That said I felt the 'old' system short shifted the walk-on performers and the progress we have made this year in pushing their art forward needs to be maintained.

"If you were not practically naked you did not get awarded."

its an interesting criticism since only one of the acts that won awards would qualify, Satski of Kill La Kill for best journeyman.  I suppose you could lump 'Yasuo the Unforgiven' because he had an exposed mid drift. However I suspect the person saying this was intending it to me more demeaning to women.  As the director for the competition I have no control over the awarding of prizes other then the fixed categories.  Interesting enough there was only one male judge though.

"There were some really great people that gave it their all and didn't even get an honorable mention. "

Now this is a good point, you are correct there was not a whole lot of honorable mentions this year.  Again, As the director for the competition I have no control over the awarding of prizes other then the fixed categories.  However I have to say that I am not a fan of the 'everyone deserves a prize mentality, but thats my personal take on it and has no basis on how the judges felt and did their work.

The industry awards are great, but they don't really have much depth and could be given more meaning with some clarification. A lot of questioning about qualification to "judge" was flying around, so if they clarified before that their prize was not part of the masq judging it would have made more sense and eased a lot of tension.

This is great feedback and I am going to set up a panel next year called 'Meet the judges' in which people can talk to and ask questions about how they judge.  In addition it allows the judges to talk a little bit about their impressive background in cosplay.

I do want to say that the masquerade will always be judged by people who have done and are part of the cosplay community.  I personally never enjoyed having someone who did not sew or perform judging me. That is a promise.

A lot of people were not aware of these loose ended categories and so it seemed sort of off hand.

It will take time to get used to them and I do allow the judges a great deal of flexibility to award a deserving contestant with an award then being constrained to one of a preset few.

The ribbons were cute! I would suggest the top 3 to get some hard core trophies to show for their earnings though.

When I was first given the honor of running the masquerade I went out and set up many surveys on various cosplay sites and to groups.  The feedback was that, while trophies are nice in some aspects, they are a bitch to store, its hard to have enough for an entire group, so someone always felt left out and you did not have anything to run around the convention wearing.   In my on experience I agree with this view point, however next year the top awards will have even bigger and more elaborate ribbons to show with the printed title of the award in gold on them.

I would invite others to give their opinion on the type of award they would like to see.

Also did the judges know that a ton of us got cut off from any stage rehearsal? Its VERY important because a skit can have boundaries and if you aren't allowed to know your surroundings it can very much effect performance. We don't spend a year making a skit for fanime to be thrown to the sharks do we? Waited for FIVE HOURS to get a rehearsal on stage and told no. Well lets hope that some things can be worked on for next year.

Yes, we made them very much aware of the issues and how this would negatively affect the performances at no fault of the acts.   This is one of my top priorities to fix. I've decided to have rehearsals start as early as 9am on sunday, these are by appointment, so no one has to wait around hungry (I again my apologies for this).  Also we will be having a fully digital system for registration that would allow groups to choose an optimal time for their rehearsal.  At 3pm we will do the final run through in order of all the acts for a prompt star at 5pm.

Also we are going to promote the rehearsal room more.  We have a whole ballroom that groups can use to work through kinks and issues ahead of time.  Its open very late and we plan to have more things there from a tea and hot chocolate party for contestants, to work and construction tables, to videos from other competitions to generate ideas for future shows.

Keep the feedback coming, I can only make it better when I have information to work with.

[UsakoMinako]

Yah Thank you for replying!
I hope that this helps a lot of you out there with these concerns who needed to have answered. I do support the masq and its growth and it does start with understanding its direction and change.
Many will need to be open to change and adjust, but as long as we have this event available to us, we should be sure to remember to have fun with what you've got ;) Even when things are uneven, the staff works hard to fix it- I saw a lot of hard work this year for us cosplayers and long hours- you gotta give Masq Staff some credit ;)

[SquishyK]

From an audience member's perspective: I noticed that there seemed to be fewer skits this year. There were certainly some stand out performances and I think all of the performers did very well but to be honest I left feeling like "oh, it's over?". I think this may be a reflection on the lack of performance oriented awards compounded with registration going up so late this year. Walk on's look great and all but you loose most of the really cool costume details in a huge set up like that so most of the audience is there for the performances. The half time show was really great and technical difficulties seemed to be at a minimum and well handled.

[Erik_anderson]

Hi pitin

Thank you for the feedback.  I am hoping for many more performances next year and to increase the prize values.  Please encourage people to sign up for next year.

walk on's look great and all but you loose most of the really cool costume details in a huge set up

This makes me think that perhaps we should put a platform and allow people to take pictures and get up close to the walk on acts during the intermission.  What are your thoughts?

[SquishyK]

Hi pitin

Thank you for the feedback.  I am hoping for many more performances next year and to increase the prize values.  Please encourage people to sign up for next year.

walk on's look great and all but you loose most of the really cool costume details in a huge set up

This makes me think that perhaps we should put a platform and allow people to take pictures and get up close to the walk on acts during the intermission.  What are your thoughts?

Actually, that might be kinda cool! I know some of them stay after awards for photographs but often it is difficult to catch them. Maybe set up an area on the ground floor towards the back of the audience and invite people to come get a closer look. That area doesn't usually fill up anyway.

[SweetNiar]

Hi pitin

Thank you for the feedback.  I am hoping for many more performances next year and to increase the prize values.  Please encourage people to sign up for next year.

walk on's look great and all but you loose most of the really cool costume details in a huge set up

This makes me think that perhaps we should put a platform and allow people to take pictures and get up close to the walk on acts during the intermission.  What are your thoughts?

Actually, that might be kinda cool! I know some of them stay after awards for photographs but often it is difficult to catch them. Maybe set up an area on the ground floor towards the back of the audience and invite people to come get a closer look. That area doesn't usually fill up anyway.

This sounds like a great idea for walk-ons and intermission!  I second/third this! ^_^

[Belfry]

This makes me think that perhaps we should put a platform and allow people to take pictures and get up close to the walk on acts during the intermission.  What are your thoughts?

Actually, that might be kinda cool! I know some of them stay after awards for photographs but often it is difficult to catch them. Maybe set up an area on the ground floor towards the back of the audience and invite people to come get a closer look. That area doesn't usually fill up anyway.

This sounds like a great idea for walk-ons and intermission!  I second/third this! ^_^

That would be awesome. As someone who did a walk-on this year I would've loved the opportunity to let people to see the details of my costume up-close.

[Enkai]

I was talking with the hubby, and we like the take a closer look idea with one caveat. Lighting. The lighting in the Civic is all kinds of horrible, and not that great for photos, getting a good look at details, anything. Maybe if the stage was open for people to walk up on, where at least there is a little more light. Heck, if masq is between 5 and 7, outside would be better. That's near the best time of day for photos.

[Erik_anderson]

I was talking with the hubby, and we like the take a closer look idea with one caveat. Lighting. The lighting in the Civic is all kinds of horrible, and not that great for photos, getting a good look at details, anything. Maybe if the stage was open for people to walk up on, where at least there is a little more light. Heck, if masq is between 5 and 7, outside would be better. That's near the best time of day for photos.

The platforms would include strong lights, but perhaps putting some outside for those who want to go out into the light.  We can't always rely on good weather, plus some outfits are warm as it is. 

The stage has too many liability issues and usually we are running around trying to get ready for the next part of the show to have to mind random audience members coming up.  Plus the stairs in the front are horrible.

I should mention that there is a Media phone area on the stage left hall.  This has full photograph lighting and backdrops.

[SquishyK]

I was talking with the hubby, and we like the take a closer look idea with one caveat. Lighting. The lighting in the Civic is all kinds of horrible, and not that great for photos, getting a good look at details, anything. Maybe if the stage was open for people to walk up on, where at least there is a little more light. Heck, if masq is between 5 and 7, outside would be better. That's near the best time of day for photos.

The platforms would include strong lights, but perhaps putting some outside for those who want to go out into the light.  We can't always rely on good weather, plus some outfits are warm as it is. 

The stage has too many liability issues and usually we are running around trying to get ready for the next part of the show to have to mind random audience members coming up.  Plus the stairs in the front are horrible.

I should mention that there is a Media phone area on the stage left hall.  This has full photograph lighting and backdrops.

I think it is important to take visibility into account. Attendees will feel they have more freedom to participate if it is somewhere very visible to them and easily accessible. Or if there is very clear direction on where to go and what to do.