CostumeCon Report

[aya_blue]

Costume-Con report time!

Quick summary: If I could only go to one convention for the rest of my life, this would be the one! This was our first year at CC, so hopefully this will be helpful for other noobies next year.

Comments

[sarcasm_hime]

Haha, you sound like me after my first CC: "If I could only go to one convention for the rest of my life, this would be the one!"

This year though was a bit of a disappointment for me compared to the past three years; I found there was a lot of disorganization and lack of info, and while the hotel was goooorgeous it was so big it felt kind of empty and lonely. I'm sure next year will be better.

In my experience CC is going through a growing-pains phase in that they are now getting more cosplayers and younger people, so there are some misunderstandings and confusion in the meeting of worlds.

Silly award names...

[kproche]

Hi -- as one of the committee members who developed the latest revision of the ICG guidelines

Re: Silly award names...

[aya_blue]

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I do believe I am experiencing "terminology confusion" regarding performance and imagine that I will become more familiar with time.

Its good to hear that there is a rule concerning joke awards. I thought that might be the case, but from the audience point of view, it isn't readily apparent. I try my best to put my faith in the judges, understanding that they see things that I can't from my position in the audience. When I first started out costuming, I thought every judge was a blind idiot. Eventually I started judging, and everyone in the audience called ME a blind idiot. That little learning experience taught me to have more faith in the judges.

So.. while I don't doubt that the every costume that was awarded earned that award, some of the names lead me to wonder at the criteria. However, I'll keep that faith and trust the judges and I'll adjust as I attend more CC's.

Re: Silly award names...

[natastic]

Thank you for chiming in. We really did enjoy our time there. I echo Aya when I say we "went in as wide eyed N00bs" :)I appreciate the definition of presentation vs. skit.

Thank you for doing a movement workshop. It's a craft that seems to be missing in a lot of performances. Usually it's JUST "acting" workshops... and that's it.

We tend to run into the same issues at Anime cons when it comes to poorly rehearsed in-joke reenactments. Last year, I had to dismiss a possible skit at a brand new Anime con due to its obvious lack of preparation and inappropriate subject matter.

People complained because there wasn't a skit, but I would rather have a smooth Masquerade than a huge speed bump planted somewhere in the middle of it.

I'm really looking forward to CC29. :)

~Natalie

[bovil]

Hi, Aya, glad you had a great time! I loved your and Natalie's shirts!

So a few notes:

The website was too clever by half. Yep.

The cost? It's all just budgeting and economics. Costume-con uses a lot of space and tech for a small number of people (even the bigger ones) which is expensive, and has little if any corporate sponsorship to reduce the cost to members. It's also a one-off every year with, as you've heard, variable attendance. There's a lot of juggling involved in budgeting on wild-ass guesses regarding actual attendance, and some of that is putting a smidge of buffer in the price.

A lot of people do care about the completeness of a costume, including wigs, headwear, shoes, accessories. Including judges.

Heating and air conditioning in that hotel was horrible. It's an old hotel, and the system barely works. That's not a normal problem.

The discussion/seminar balance in the program is a hotly debated topic. This year's program got off to a late start. Next year's program head (Lisa Ashton) is already starting to collect

[aya_blue]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for taking the time to talk with Nat and I throughout the con. I enjoyed your panels and the depth of info.

I have no problems with the cost, and I bet most cosplayer/costumers won't either. I would pay twice as much, the empty, un-stinky elevators are worth it. I appreciate the explanation, I can't imagine how difficult budgeting must be when you have no idea how attendance will pan out.

I will start putting together a list to send to Lisa Ashton. I hope the proximity to New York will result in some interesting panels!

Please look at my response to Kevin above regarding judging. Summary: I trust the judges. One thing though that troubled me was the hierarchy of awards, I had trouble determining what was a bigger or lesser award. Perhaps I'm too inexperienced and hung up on such things, but from an audience point of view (and as a future competitor) it would be nice to know what the judges feel is top notch and almost-but-not-quite-as-top-notch.

[bovil]

An old phrase is "A win is a win." Costume-con judges rarely give an "eh... that's not half bad" award.

Workmanship awards are considered to be equal to presentation awards, they're not lesser awards.

From the bottom up, award names are:

Honorable Mention
Everything else but "Best in"
"Best in..."

They're usually read in that order. Historical also has "Best Documentation in" which is another "Best in" award.

[hikaruchan]

I want to go sometime, it doesn't sound exactly like my thing but still interested. I know what you are talking about on panels that are about the presenter instead of the subject, the masq stage movement panel at Conglomeration was mostly the how awesome the presenters thought their Archon masq was, so that was a yawner.

I don't particularly care for silly name awards. Like at Anime Punch, some people don't know to count their award as a major award or as an honorable mention/judge award - just adds to confusion sometimes if you can't infer with how it was presented. I just list those as Presentation Awards.

I am only aware of a few contests that don't allow awarded costumes to be re-entered, as long as the award was from a different con. Usually as long as the second contest is bigger, and especially if you have gone up a level in the contestant pool most are okay with it.

[bovil]

In ICG-based masquerades, it comes down to three things:

1. "Best in" is a big whopper of an award. You need to advance to the next division.
2. "Honorable Mention" means you did good work, but not work meriting a kick upstairs.
3. Anything else means you did really good work, and you should think about advancing yourself to the next division.

Personally, I avoid awarding "Honorable Mention" in the master division. There's nowhere to move up, and if you're stuck in the master division you've got enough confidence to compete without the incentive of minor awards.

[gamingkitty]

Hi Aya!

I can only get to Costume Cons that are within a one-day drive of my home, partly due to travel costs and partly because the rules for scheduling vacation time at my job are a bit wonky. I won't be able to get to another one until Denver in 2013 ... but I bought my membership Sunday night in the con suite.

As near as I could tell, the only way to get air moving in the hotel was to turn on the AC. My poor roommate almost froze because I need air circulation to sleep well. Hopefully that won't be an issue at upcoming Costume Cons. (If Denver picks an older hotel, I'm packing an oscillating fan :) .)

I hate to make suggestions when I won't be able to help with implementation, but it sounds like a "what are we talking about" seminar, discussing terminology and how it differs from what people might be used to, would be good for CC29.

[bovil]

Denver just signed their contract and paid their deposit. It's at the Red Lion Denver Southeast in Aurora. It's not an old hotel.

[archaeologist_d]

Yes, please contact Lisa Ashton for any ideas for panels next year. I've already sent her a bunch but there is always room for more. Also if you have anime panels you would like to see, a lot of the costumers aren't that familiar with the ins and outs of anime so we'd love to learn

[aya_blue]

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

I will be contacting Lisa with a list of suggestions. Hopefully we can make good use of New York's proximity and get some great panels!

Thank you for the explanation regarding presentations. I figure I'll understand more as I go to more CC's. ^_^