+

[Shine-Chan]

It looks like if I budget my time and money wisely I can go to Costume Con next year. If I can get her done in time I would love for Faris' debut to be there and getting to meet the other costumers in the green room looks like it would be really fun. I have some questions about participating in the science fiction & fantasy masquerade. All my experience stems from anime convention masquerades and this really seams like another kettle of fish entirely.

What kind of doumentation do I need for a re-creation costume?

Is is still a re-creation costume if I add my own artistic touches?

Would it be a good idea to bring in my sketch book along with the official pictures of the in game render?


Do I need to provide in progress photos?

What kind of questions will the judges ask and what will they be looking for in a costume?

How can I tell which skill division I need to be placed in?

I know I will have to make my skit accessible to people who have never seen the game but I was wondering what kind of skits are popular? I would hate to bring a over the top humorous skit to an audience expecting high drama and vice versa.

[Buddycat]

Originally Posted by Shine-Chan

It looks like if I budget my time and money wisely I can go to Costume Con next year. If I can get her done in time I would love for Faris' debut to be there and getting to meet the other costumers in the green room looks like it would be really fun. I have some questions about participating in the science fiction & fantasy masquerade. All my experience stems from anime convention masquerades and this really seams like another kettle of fish entirely.

I'll take a shot at that. I'm sure others will chime in, as well.

Originally Posted by Shine-Chan

What kind of doumentation do I need for a re-creation costume?

Doing a recreation is not as big a deal for the SF & F masq as it would be for the Historical, right off the bat. A couple of pages in a report cover that has several shots of your character's outfit from different angles is good enough. For workmanship, if you want someone to see the detail you painstakingly reproduced, be sure you have a good closeup shot of it.

Originally Posted by Shine-Chan

Is is still a re-creation costume if I add my own artistic touches?

Depends on how far you deviate from the original. If you do so, you need to be sure to make notation of that fact. Too much deviation becomes "interpretation". In which case, you've gotten away from strict recreation.

Originally Posted by Shine-Chan

Would it be a good idea to bring in my sketch book along with the official pictures of the in game render?

Make copies. Don't let your originals out of your hands. Would it help? <shrug> Maybe. Maybe not.

Originally Posted by Shine-Chan

Do I need to provide in progress photos?

For the workmanship judges, it probably wouldn't hurt. It really depends on how much time they're able to take to look it over. Usually, it's not an issue.

Originally Posted by Shine-Chan

What kind of questions will the judges ask and what will they be looking for in a costume?

Really depends on the individual judge (which can range from 1 - 3). Some people say "tell me about your costume". For those cases, you might do well to make yourself a small list of the things you want to be judged on, so you won't forget -- and more importantly - don't ramble.

Some judges sit at a table and you stand in front of them. Others like to get up and walk around you while you explain things. Some will ask you specific questions about how you made one particular item. They basically look for what you point out. Don't rely on them to spot stuff, but like I said - don't ramble.

Originally Posted by Shine-Chan

How can I tell which skill division I need to be placed in?

Have you visited our site? The rules are there. Specifically, www.cc25.net/SF&F_rules.htm When all else fails, ask the Masquerade Director.

Originally Posted by Shine-Chan

I know I will have to make my skit accessible to people who have never seen the game but I was wondering what kind of skits are popular? I would hate to bring a over the top humorous skit to an audience expecting high drama and vice versa.

A#1 - stay away from long speechs. As a rule, the less said, the better. Other than that, it's pretty wide open. Humor is often more the rule than a serious presentation, but a well-done serious one can make a big impression. Just avoid a cheap gag to pander to the audience. Fill the stage - keep moving, or at least have your costume moving. DO use music.

One solid guideline is that something new should be happening on stage every 20 seconds or so. Keep the presentation to under a minute, unless you have monkeys flying out of your butt.

Seriously, though, always leave your audience wanting more.

Hope that helps. Got any more questions? Fire away. Sounds like you're going to be a good, solid competitor, since you've been giving this a lot of thought.

[Shine-Chan]

Thanks for answering my questions.

I read that science fiction & fantasy masquerades were a lot more structured when it came to documentation and rankings each anime con seams to have wildly different rules from year to year and I didn't want to come unprepared. I think it may have been something more like the historical masq I was reading about. I imagine it must take a lot more doumentation for those.

I think the only thing so far I have really done that has deviated than the reference pictures is make the liner fabric swirly like the sea instead of whatever pixilated design was there.

I think I maybe a novice because I don't think any of the awards I have count but I bet the judges will tell me if I am wrong.

What I want to do for a performance is sing along with a 30 second clip of a silly pirate song with a few puppet pirates on a small boat. 30 seconds should be long enough to show off what we have made without being boring and that way I can also perform it at Anime Iowa later in the summer.

How early should I send in my registration form for the masq?

If my life implodes and I can't get my costume done how early should I tell you so someone else can take my spot?

Isn't it ridiculous that I am so excited already?

[Buddycat]

Glad to hear you're excited.

Actually, SF & F masqs are not as structured as you would think, but that may be just your perception in comparison to what you've done at other venues.

I would contact the MD about registering, but I don't think she'll be ready for quite some tmie. Don't worry - this con is not as big as others, and we don't limit the number of entries. As far as we're concerned, the more the merrier.

[Sarcasm-hime]

You probably want to pre-record your skit and then lip-synch; often the audience can't hear you if you sing or talk onstage.

If you've never competed at a Costume-con or Worldcon you can enter any division you want, judging on how you feel your skills measure up. If you want to play it safe, go with Novice. Or bring photos of your previous costumes and show them to the MD when you sign up, and ask their opinion.

[Kaijugal]

Originally Posted by Shine-Chan

. I think it may have been something more like the historical masq I was reading about. I imagine it must take a lot more doumentation for those.

I think the only thing so far I have really done that has deviated than the reference pictures is make the liner fabric swirly like the sea instead of whatever pixilated design was there.

There is nothing wrong with a well executed artistic interpretation of a costume concept or a character. If you are not in a competition that is looking for strict recreation then it is more often than not extremely welcome if you can explain to the workmanship judge why you decided to approach the costume design the way you did, giving an idea of what your goal was or what effect you were trying to achive.

One of the things I enjoy immensely over competitions in the style of the Costume Con general masqeurade is that they welcome original design.

Isn't it ridiculous that I am so excited already?

Nope. I am too.

( I just wish I had more time between now and Costume Con, and could dump these 10-12 hour work days. -_-; Rawr!)

Cheers!

[Buddycat]

Originally Posted by Sarcasm-hime

If you've never competed at a Costume-con or Worldcon you can enter any division you want, judging on how you feel your skills measure up. If you want to play it safe, go with Novice. Or bring photos of your previous costumes and show them to the MD when you sign up, and ask their opinion.

Just to clarify a point: if you win at whatever higher level you decide to compete at, then there's no going back. No big deal, though - it means you belong there.

[Buddycat]

Originally Posted by Kaijugal

One of the things I enjoy immensely over competitions in the style of the Costume Con general masqeurade is that they welcome original design.

You're more likely to see more original designs at a CC, although with the influx of cosplayers, there are more recreations showing up these days.

[RaDragon76]

I had a question about competing as well and I'm not sure if it's covered on the site or not. I was wondering if was possible to participate in both the Sci-Fi/Fantasy and the Historical Masquerades? Khene and I have two sets of costumes that would be suitable for both and we were curious if it were possible to compete in both if we wanted to.

[Buddycat]

If you mean two different costumes - one that is SF and one that is Historical - sure. If you mean competing the same costumes in both masquerades, it's dicey. There may be an element of "seen it before" by the judges and the audience (speaking from experience here).


So, while you're certainly welcome to compete in both masqs, the tech rehearsals and the Workmanship judging for the Historical will take up more of your time from your first experience at the con. Just so you know.....

[RaDragon76]

I was more or less wondering if participating in both if I chose to is concidered dicey. I have two different costumes one anime (Mana from Yu-Gi-Oh) and one historical (Pharaoh Tutankhamun) that I might want to have judged.

I also have another question. Does it matter if the costumes have already been to a contest or have already won a major award? That might have some effect on my decision.

[AuroraCeleste]

Lots of people compete in both. It's not considered dicey, just exhausting

It usually doesn't matter if the costumes have already won an award or been in a contest. Usually you would not compete at a smaller con with a costume that has won, but Costume Con, although it may have fewer people, is usually considered as big as AX, Dragon Con, and ComiCon, just because it is mostly costumers, and many of them masters. What will matter more is what skill category your costume should be. Awards may have an influence on what skill level you enter as. My advice is that you should email the MD for both categories, tell them what you want to enter, what contests it has been in and what it has won, and what other costumes you have awards fin, and what the awards are. They will give you advice on what skill level you should enter. Also, if you do it soon, they will have more time to think about it and give you an honest answer, something a busy Masquerade Director at the con won't have time for.

[RaDragon76]

Originally Posted by AuroraCeleste

Lots of people compete in both. It's not considered dicey, just exhausting

It usually doesn't matter if the costumes have already won an award or been in a contest. Usually you would not compete at a smaller con with a costume that has won, but Costume Con, although it may have fewer people, is usually considered as big as AX, Dragon Con, and ComiCon, just because it is mostly costumers, and many of them masters. What will matter more is what skill category your costume should be. Awards may have an influence on what skill level you enter as. My advice is that you should email the MD for both categories, tell them what you want to enter, what contests it has been in and what it has won, and what other costumes you have awards fin, and what the awards are. They will give you advice on what skill level you should enter. Also, if you do it soon, they will have more time to think about it and give you an honest answer, something a busy Masquerade Director at the con won't have time for.

I already know I'm in the Novice class so I don't need to check up on that, thankfully and the only award I've won that matters in this case is Best in Class: Novice for workmanship at Archon for the Tut costume. The other costume I mentioned won a Best Hall Costume award at a first year anime convention over the summer which was not run on Costumer's guild rules, so I don't believe that it counts as a major award from a major con venue.

Thanks for the suggestions though, AuroraCeleste. I know it's not very likely that I'll participate in both because it's only my first year at Costume Con and I might want to check out the panels and so forth but I was just curious if it was allowed at all. I'll just have to decided what I want to do.

[Buddycat]

Yeah, even though there's the temptation to do everything, you might be best to pace yourself. When we went to our first CC, we did the SF & F masq - I didn't get my Fashion Show outfit done, but she did. At CC11 we were both in the Fashion show (not having completed our SF & F ones in time) and my wife was in the Historical.

The last thing you want to do is get so tied up in getting prepped for the shows that you miss the panels.