Masquerade

[mistress-koloth.livejournal.com]

My husband wants to be in the masquarade for the firs ttime. Any suggestions? 

Comments

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

Bring a book. The hurry-up-and-wait is astonishing. It eats up most of the night, so don't plan on doing anything else but the masquerade.

If you're interested, my write-up of my experience in 2004 is here (http://www.rejoycing.com/cons/dragoncon/dragoncon2004/costumes/masquerade/dragoncon2004-masquerade.htm). It's a bit different now; a lot of the major costumers have been siphoned away to the Friday night contest, and of course it's not at the Civic Center anymore, but the general format should be similar.

[mistress-koloth.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[targeter.livejournal.com]

I'd edit this to say "bring a book and a small flashlight to read by." The last time I was in the Masquerade a few years ago, backstage was quite dark.

[florida-phil.livejournal.com]

The masquerade table is set up in front of Centennial in the Hyatt starting Friday morning until 10 - 5 each day. There is no prejudging, so if you want to participate, show up early, and have him sign up.

Read as much as you can about the rules: http://www.dragoncon.org/masquerade.php

Listen to, and follow any directions Marilee gives you. Don't address the crowd while on stage (EVER!). Try and have fun.

I always enjoy the spectacular entries. (The spectacularly good, and the spectacularly bad.)

[mistress-koloth.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[bama-spyder.livejournal.com]

I've been in the Masquerade a few times and it's quite fun, but as has been said, it eats up most of your night as you have to get there early and stay back stage until the whole shindig is over.

They are VERY strict about getting your entry sheets and music (if you have any) in on time, no exceptions. It's a well-oiled machine and worth at least doing once, although there are some that do it each year but do something different (chronic D*Con masqueraders...hehe)

There is no rehearsal...so it's all or nothing with whatever you end up doing. And as florida_phil said, don't try to talk (or sing) to the crowd...they WILL NOT hear you as you will have no microphone. Also, try to keep it short and to the point..or else the Stormtroopers will run you off stage...literally.

[mistress-koloth.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I bet I'm over my word limit! Part 1

[jarissa.livejournal.com]

My best friend who doesn't live under the same roof as me is Chip Malinowski. ( http://dragoncontv.com/videos/clip-of-the-week/81/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/speaker/1299787418/in/set-72157601814791523/ are both him.)

The rules are here ( http://www.dragoncon.org/masquerade.php ) and I see there's a limit of 50 acts. Sign up early! Like, Friday!

One of our huge mistakes in the Clip-of-the-Week skit I listed above is that we TOTALLY forgot about the cigarettes. I mean, we practiced everything in the act about when to draw the pack out of the torso, how to "light" one with the lightsaber, all that -- and it never occurred to us that we'd need the Jedi to have a broom, and clean it up! Neither of us are smokers, so you'd think we would MORE notice the fact that we had to pick all these things off the floor when we were done. Learn from our dumb: notice where all your props and parts are at the end of your walk across the stage.

(And, practice. Even if it's doing several dress rehearsals this week in front of the mirror -- walking "on", waving, taking a bow, showing the rear of the costume, and walking off while Darling Wife Mistress Koloth plays the part of Announcer reading your description -- this is the best way to find out if there's going to be any real problem.)

Include pronunciation guides for the MC. "Note to MC: last name is Malinowski, pronounced Mal as in 'bad', in, *OW* as in 'get off my foot', ski as in Luke Ski" would've been a good idea. Also write out how to pronounce any character names and the name of your source media -- sometimes the host has lost all memory of anything outside their day job.

Funny, short acts tend to do better than straightforward costuming. But even if you're planning to go out on stage, move close enough to the edge that the judges can see detail without you falling off, turn around a couple times, and walk off, give the MCs *something* to say -- there's some great suggestions on the D*C Masquerade site, in the Q&A section. If you can incorporate some sort of interaction with the MCs into your ninety seconds of stage time, without breaking character, you usually get more applause.

If you record something to CD to serve as sound accompaniment, make sure it's the only thing on the CD. Go to your nearest electronics store during parts of the day when few customers will be around, and ask the staff if they'd start your CD in a couple of their demo systems to make sure it works.

Unless your costume is VERY agile, durable, and easy-to-maneuver:
Bring one handler. DON'T bring a handler who will check on you every twenty minutes, and spend the rest of the time chattin' up tha ladeez. Your handler should have an emergency repair kit (clear duct tape, nail scissors, one of those emergency stain-remover sticks I see in the checkout line all the time these days, Kleenex, safety pins, and makeup if costume involves such). Bonus karma points will be awarded if the handler's got a digital camera (with a display screen) and fresh batteries, so spot-checks can be made. Handler can keep your badge for you, if I remember correctly.

If you happen to have a very small, fold-up camp stool, that helps a lot too! It's like being in very friendly, nervous bumper-to-bumper traffic, only you're on foot and there's no dotted line to tell you which way you'll be travelling next.

'Course, if you're in a group, possibly you can handle for each other, with the emergency kit, camera, and badges locked in a matte sack for the short while that you're onstage.

Most contestants love to talk shop about how they done it, and with good reason! It also helps pass the time to get friendly. You probably won't be able to hear what's going on out on stage, anyway, and you'll have an easier time getting over any last-second jitters if you're busy marvelling at how awesome someone else looks. Chatting with your neighbors in line and helping each other with the inevitable "Oh, dear, my ankle just fell off, could someone hold that for me while I tape it back in place?" little mishaps is an important part of the whole experience.

Yep. MAXIMUM VERBOSITY to the rescue!

[jarissa.livejournal.com]

The MCs *might* say something obnoxious. If they do, ignore it. On occasional years, it seems, the celebrities hosting the Masquerade show up already a bit liquored up. On the other hand, last year PAD chewed the audience out for heckling, and the MythBusters folks in 2006 were adorkable and loved every minute of the contest.

Eat a late, good lunch that day. It'll be quite a while before you're done with the photo gauntlet after the Masquerade, and able to go get some food and drink. "After midnight" is not an unreasonable estimate.

I think every repeat D*C attendee should enter the Masquerade at least once, just like we should volunteer at least once: it helps make the whole DragonCon experience more interesting, over the years. I didn't expect us to win anything, I just wanted to see what happens on the other side of the curtain. I met some awesome people, had a LOT of fun, and pushed myself into doing something that my meatworld shyness would otherwise never have let me try. It helps to know there're friends and family in the audience, but it's still a blast without!

Re: Yep. MAXIMUM VERBOSITY to the rescue!

[mistress-koloth.livejournal.com]

Wow! Thanks! I'll make him read everything!!!!

Re: I bet I'm over my word limit! Part 1

[jarissa.livejournal.com]

(I shoulda mentioned, above, that in the Clip of the Week, I'm mostly off-camera -- dressed as a Jedi who shoots Grievous dead at the very very end. Chip's alone on-camera, and all four arms and the two legs are him.)

[radegund-lj.livejournal.com]

Shorter is better. Get to the point quickly -- your time allotment doesn't sound like all that much time, but thirty seconds of watching you standing there pointing your tricorder at a rock gets old real fast.

[va-ronin.livejournal.com]

The Miss Klingon Pageant is looking for contestants;)

[atomicferret.livejournal.com]

My advice is to not do it. :)

No, not really. I was in it several years ago, and it was fun enough. But it took up a HUGE chunk of time, most of it spent sitting in your costume twiddling your thumbs and listening to a drunken anthony daniels talk smack about people. (If he is the MC that particular year.)

We had a really short skit with no words or props... Just physical humor. So it was pretty easy for us getting in and out, and I had the advantage of being married to the tech director at the time, so I knew lots of folks and had more people to talk to backstage than most of the other contestants, which made it more fun. But between pictures, line ups, the post show walk.... You are looking at a six to eight hour block of time. So be prepared to have to kill a lot of it.

And as others said... Keep the skit short and to the point. People watching have a shorter attention span that you think the would, and they want to action to keep moving along.

Psst!

[jarissa.livejournal.com]

Don't quote me -- but I heard a rumor, off the record you understand, that the lovely lady who runs the Masquerade made quite plain that Mr. Daniels won't be involved ever again on her watch. His needs for pre-stage entry review and editing took more time and effort than anyone could afford.

You didn't hear it from me!

Re: Psst!

[atomicferret.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that is good to hear. He was quite the prima donna, and not in a good way. :)