CC12-SF-15: Darkness of the Black Crystal
Competition Staff & Rules
Staff:
- Director: Breighton “Rusty” Dawe
- Master of Ceremonies: Alys Hay
- Workmanship Judge: Adrian Butterfield*
- Presentation Judges: Deborah K. Jones, Tim Bray, Cheryl Serr
- Judge’s Clerk: ?
Rules:
1. There will be a $1.00 per entry Polaroid fee for each masquerade, payable at the time you register. The Polaroids are to help the judges remember which costume was which, and you can pick them up after the masquerade in the Con Suite.
2. These masquerades are rated PG-13: please, no flagrant nudity! (And remember, no costume is NO COSTUME!)
3. NO NOXIOUS SUBSTANCES BACKSTAGE. No messy substances, wet, dry, or oily, that might ruin the costume of any other contestant will be allowed in the green room or on stage. (The No-Peanut-Butter-or-Jelly Rule).
4. Each contestant may appear only once on stage. However, you may enter more than one costume, as long as it appears on another body.
5. Costumes previously worn in the hallways at this convention are ineligible for competition, since we are
recognizing hall costumes separately.
6. Purchased or rented costumes are ineligible for competition.
7. There will be no live microphones. We encourage you to bring music/dialogue on a prerecorded cassette, or typed copy for the MC to read.
8. Weapons that are a part of the costume may be displayed only on stage and only in a safe manner. Sharp points and cutting edges must remain safely covered except from the time immediately before going onstage until immediately after leaving the stage. No functional projectile weapon may be placed in firing condition or aimed at any person at any time, on stage or off! Due to local fire and safety regulations, no open flame, working laser, or flash paper/powder may be used. Sealed flash bulbs and electronic flash units may be used, but only with the prior approval of the Masquerade Director.
TAPES:
Label the tape box and both sides of the tape with your name and costume name. Mark the side you want played “PLAY THIS SIDE.” Mark the other side “WRONG SIDE.” Make sure your tape is cued up and ready to play, so the sound man need only drop it in the player and press the button. DO_NOT GIVE US COMMERCIAL TAPES CUED TO YOUR SONG. If they accidentally get played, we will not be able to find your cuing again. Dupe the music onto a separate tape with only YOUR music on it. We suggest you put your music on the beginning of both sides of the tape, just in case. Leave a three second leader before the music.
If you have any questions, you can discuss them with the sound engineer before the masquerade.
PHOTOGRAPHY/VIDEOGRAPHY:
For the safety of the contestants, there will be NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY during the Masquerade. If at all possible, we ask all contestants to go through Official Photography, which will be located next to the Green Room, before you go on stage. There will be a separate photo area set up for Fan Photography where you will go after your stage presentation. We also ask all contestants to stick around briefly after the masquerade ends, so people who were in the audience can get pictures too. Appearance in the masquerade automatically releases usage of all film shot at the event to the photographers/videographers shooting it.
FINAL AUTHORITY:
We reserve the right to disqualify anyone from participation in the Masquerades on the basis of taste, danger to the audience or contestants, violation of the above rules or any other reason deemed sufficient. There will be no appeal. (The necessity to eliminate a contestant from competition has never yet arisen, but this policy is meant to protect the convention from real “loons.”)
REHEARSALS:
We have made the stage in the California Ballroom available whenever possible for entrants to practice their presentations. See the CC12 Pocket Program for the complete schedule. The large size of our ballroom enables us to have a 72-foot runway, which contestants are encouraged to use for their exits. Please take some time to walk the stage and runway before the masquerade! Technical rehearsals are scheduled for you to run through sound or lighting cues, or check other technical issues. If you have any questions about technical support, or have any special requests, please talk to our tech crew! We will do our best to accommodate your needs, but we must know what these are in advance!
Science Fiction & Fantasy Masquerade
Rusty Dawe
Masquerade Director
The CC12 SF&F Masquerade is a competition for fantasy, mythological, science fiction, futuristic, and other non-historical based costumes (whatever your twisted imagination can dream up). It will be held on Saturday night, February 19, 1994, in the BIG California Ballroom of the Santa Clara Marriott hotel. The M.C. for the masquerade will be Alys Hay.
DIVISIONS:
In order to promote fairness and recognize differing experience levels, costumes will compete in the following skill divisions (Note: these are the minimum requirements and contestants are encouraged to compete at a higher level if they so wish):
Junior Costumer: Models or exhibitors under the age of 13, if not part of an adult group, or wearing a costume made by an adult.
Novice: Anyone who is an amateur and has not previously won at a world class competition (ie,WorldCon or Costume Con) and has less than three wins at the regional level. The costume to be competed should not have won Best in Show at any level.
Journeyman: Anyone who is an amateur and has fewer than three wins at the world class Journeyman level.
Master: Anyone who has more than four wins at the world class level, is a professional costumer, or has won Best in Show at a world class competition.
CATEGORIES:
Costumes will be judged in the following two categories (within the above detailed experience levels):
Original: a costume designed by the contestant. Such a costume may be based on a non-visual description or on the contestant’s imagination.
Recreation: a costume that is a duplication or adaptation of a design by someone other than the contestant. It is a costume whose design is copied from at least one visual depiction (book illustration, comic, film, etc.) giving a good view of the costume.
AWARDS:
Awards are given for appearance and presentation of the costume according to the above categories and experience levels. These are the “presentation” awards.
Awards will also be given for exceptional accomplishment in crafting a costume or part of a costume. These are the “workmanship” awards. Judging for workmanship awards is optional and will take place backstage prior to the entrant’s stage presentation.
Above all, the masquerade is for you, the costumer, and its primary purpose is for you to have fun while simultaneously entertaining the audience! We hope to make this one run as smoothly as possible so that you can indeed enjoy yourself while competing.
TIME LIMITS:
1-2 people: 30 seconds
3-6 people: 60 seconds
If you have a group with more than 6 people or if you need additional time, please contact me! Due to the length of the runway, I will be very liberal with the stated time limits, so if it takes you longer to complete your exit than you planned, DON’T WORRY: you won’t be penalized.
TECHNICAL REHEARSAL:
Technical rehearsal will be from 3:30-5:30 pm on Saturday. All contestants (or a representative) are REQUIRED to attend the orientation meeting at the start of tech rehearsal.
JUDGES:
The presentation judges for the SF&F masquerade will be Tim Bray, Deborah K. Jones and Cheryl Serr. Adrian Butterfield* will be workmanship judge.
