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CopperCon Masquerade

CopperCon is the Central Arizona Speculative Fiction Society's annual fan-organized science fiction convention.

CopperCon 28 will be held August 29-31, 2008 at the Embassy Suites Paradise Valley, 4415 East Paradise Village Parkway South in Phoenix, Arizona.

Saturday evening at CopperCon features a SF/Fantasy/Cosplay masquerade. The physical setup is like a fashion show. We'll provide a stage, a Master of Ceremonies to announce you, a sound system to play the music or narration you provide, and a stage/backstage crew to bring it all together. An appreciative audience will provide itself. It's your 60 seconds of fame on a silver platter!

This web page provides technical details and other information for participants in the CopperCon Masquerade.

Please e-mail me at webmaster@southwestcostumersguild.org with questions about the masquerade, especially if you would like to show a costume, donate a prize, or volunteer for the crew.

For general information on the next CopperCon, go to www.coppercon.org

Where/When
How do I Sign Up?
Staging Details
Lights and Sound
The Crew--Volunteers Needed!
Contestant Classes
Prizes
Rules
Contacting the Director
Just for Fun

Where/When

The Coppercon 28 Masquerade will be Saturday evening, August 30, 2008 in Painted Mountain Ballroom A of the Embassy Suites Paradise Valley hotel. 

There will be a Contestant Meeting on Saturday of the convention. Check your Coppercon Pocket Program for the exact time and place. This is the time to prepare your entry forms and bring your music, notes for the MC, documentation, and to work out any presentation questions with the director and crew.

If you can't make the Contestant Meeting, the Masquerade Director will be available all day Saturday to assist contestants and handle last-minute details. Look for the person wearing the yellow "Masquerade Director" sash.

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How do I Sign Up?

At con, there will be signup forms set out near the registration table.

You can fill out your entry form at the Contestant Meeting or before. At the Contestant Meeting, you will have the opportunity to confer with the Masquerade Director, Master of Cermonies, and tech crew.

Click here to download the signup forms. Click the link with your right mouse button and choose "Save Link Target As" or somesuch to save the file to your computer. The form is presented in "Rich Text Format" (.rtf), which can be read and edited with any word processor software.

This signup form is subject to change up until the convention weekend, but older forms will still be accepted. 

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Staging Details

If you have limited mobility or vision because of your costume design or natural physical limitations and this stage plan will not work for you, please contact the Masquerade Director  in advance so we can work something out. With sufficient advance notice we may be able to arrange a screened area to assemble your costume, have you enter through the double doors off the main hallway, or arrange a lift up onto the stage.

Click here to see the stage plan as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf image. In this form, you can zoom in on the stage details and save a copy to your computer. You'll need the reader software, available free from adobe.com . You probably already have this softwareon your computer.

This stage plan is contigent upon the hotel's permission to use the service corridor. If we can't get the corridor, we'll set up the stage at the opposite end of the auditorium and enter from the open hallway.

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Lights and Sound

Lights will be arranged for general illumination of the stage. Don't expect special effects or anything too elborate. If you have a special request, please contact the Masquerade Director as far in advance as possible.

We can accept sound on audio cassettes, CDs, DVDs, or flash memory devices (camera cards or USB thumb drives). You can also e-mail your sound track to the Director as a digital sound file (MP3 or WAV). Please submit your music or narration no later than the Saturday contestant meeting. We will need some time to "rip" your sound track onto the sound director's computer.

If you purchased your music from an online store, it may contain "Digital Rights Management" (DRM) software that allows it to be played only on specially authorized devices. We will not be able to use music that contains DRM.

The Master of Ceremonies will have a microphone, but onstage microphones will not be available for contestants. If your presentation uses dialog, we recommend that you record it on your sound track, then lip synch. You probably do not have a loud enough voice to be heard from the back of the room.

Narration to be read by the MCs should be submitted on 4 by 6-inch note cards or on the form we provide. Write or type carefully! Besides your introduction, please include the designer, maker and wearer of the costumes; and any sources of inspiration for the presentation. Character names and other unusual words should be spelled out phonetically (fone-et-ick-al-lee).

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Randall Whitlock will be your Masquerade Director. Randall is an active member of the Southwest Costumers Guild and directed the Coppercon 15, 19, 21, 23, 25 and 26 Masquerades. Randall also composed this page. Look for his fuzzy countenance and the yellow "Masquerade Director" sash when you have masquerade questions.

Tanya Cropper, who is also our convention's Spotlighted Young Artist, is Deputy Director.

Your Master of Ceremonies will be Jack Mangan, author of Spherical Tomi and host of the Deadpan Podcast.

Gary Swaty of the Phoenix Filk Circle will be your sound director. Gary is also Chairman of CopperCon 28.

We need more help! We need Stage Hands to set up the curtains and lights, "Den Mothers" to assist the contestants backstage, House Managers and Catchers to handle the seating, and a Judges' Clerk to help with record keeping.

Contestant Divisions

Masquerade entrants will be registered in one of these divisions:

Young Fen is for children. This is a noncompetitive division that gets lots of good "oohs" and "aaws" from the audience. Young Fen will each receive a special prize of chocolate Pirate Gold for participation.

Young Fen are expected to be under the supervision of a parent or guardian. The guardian will sign the entry form/image waiver and guide the child through the proceedings. We don't pretend to be qualified as child care professionals! Older kids who have built their own costumes may choose to enter the Novice Division.

Novice is the division for contestants who have not previously won three or more awards in SF convention masquerades and have not previously won a Best in Show.

This masquerade is novice-friendly--Try your wings!

Experienced is the division for contestants who have won three or more awards or a Best in Show at previous SF masquerades, or who have significant experience in theatre, historical societies, or other costuming fields. The contestant is on his/her honor in choosing the division. We won't be checking resumes or anything.

(Hint: There are usually far fewer entries in the Experienced Division. Moving up in divisions can actually gain you a competitive edge.)

Performance Only This division allows you to show a costume that was rented, purchased off the rack or custom-made by a professional. In other words, costumes you paid for. Performance Only costumes are not eligible for Best in Show, but may win performance-related mentions like most humorous or best cosplay sketch. If your costume was made by a close friend or relative (in other words, for love not money), you are not limited to this division. Be sure to give the designer/maker full credit as part of the costume team.

For Display Only is for persons who wish to display a costume, but not to be part of the competition. If your costume has already competed at a large SF venue like Westercon or Worldcon, this is the division for you. (Your director would take it as a personal favor if you would do an encore showing of one of your best costumes). For Display Only  is also the appropriate division  if you have some conflict of interests (For example, a costume made by one of the judges).

These divisions are meant to be flexible in their definition, since we can't know in advance how many contestants will appear and what kinds of costumes they will show. When in doubt, please converse with the Director.

Suggestions for Documentation: If your costume is something you designed yourself, it is an original. If your costume was taken from a picture, drawing, film, etc, it is a re-creation. Costumes which were inspired by a well-known movie, graphic novel/manga, or television show, but did not actually appear in that show, are sometimes called interpretations. If your costume re-creates clothing from a particular period of the past, it is a historical costume.

You can't be sure the judges have read the same books, studied the same periods of history, or seen the same shows that you have. You should bring a drawing, photograph, or other visual documentation for the judges to see. Keep your documentation brief. The judges won't have time to sift through a lot of paper.

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Prizes

We are planning special awards for Best in Show, for the Novice and Experienced divisions, and several Judges' Choice/Special Mention awards.

Anizona, Arizona's own annual Anime' convention, will present a special award for Best Anime' or Manga-inspired Costume.

Children in the Young Fen division will receive a special reward of chocolate Pirate Gold.

We hope to present Hall Costume Ribbons on Friday and Saturday of the convention. No forms to fill out, just randomly presented thank-you's for spicing up the convention with your costumed character.

Prize Donations: If you are a fandom or costume-related artisan, author or business person and would like to donate a prize for the CopperCon Masquerade, please contact the Masquerade Director. You will receive our gratitude and the chance to promote your artwork or products before a highly motivated fannish audience. You can also designate what kind of costume presentation will receive your prize (best historical, best special effect, most humorous, best use of duct tape--it's your choice).

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Rules and Suggestions

1. Strong Suggestion: Please limit your presentation to 60 seconds or less.

It's longer than you think. Brevity is the soul of wit.

2. Rule: No fire or flame allowed on-stage.

The masquerade is indoors. It's a hotel & city fire code thing.

3. Rule: The competition is for Fan-Made Costumes. Wholly purchased or rented costumes may not be entered for full competition, but are welcome as Performance Only or Display Only.

You can use a few purchased components in a competition entry, but the overall costume is to be fan-made. An original arrangement of variously obtained parts (thrift store costuming) counts as a fan-made costume. If your costume was made by a friend or relative (for love not money), it's still a fan-made costume. Please be sure the maker's name is included on your signup forms. Any awards belong as much to the maker as the wearer.

For example, a Darth Vader with a store-bought helmet would be okay if you built your own cloak and chestplate. You'd certainly impress the judges more if you did build your helmet.

If you have a store-bought costume that you'd like to show, or a cosplay sketch to perform using professionally made costumes, you are very welcome here. Just enter the "Performance Only" or "Display Only" division. Sometimes a presentation has one person in a professionally made costume to help set up the performances of the "real" costumes. Just tell the judges, "We're using him as a prop."

4. Clarification: The "Contestant" can be one person or a team consisting of designers, makers, and models. Everyone who worked on the costume presentation should be given credit on the signup forms.

5. Rule: Thou shalt not slime thy neighbor! No messy substances (wet, dusty, oily, sharp, etc.) that might damage the stage or interfere with other contestants will be allowed.

There is an infamous story about a costume covered with peanut butter. Yuck!

6. Rule: The masquerade is rated TV-14.

There will be children present and it's not our job to teach them the facts of life. Please, no more skin than beach-legal at a fairly liberal beach, no deliberately offensive language or disturbingly violent action.

If you have an idea that sounds good, but might be over the top, please talk to the Masquerade Director first. I have a fairly open idea of what constitutes TV-14 and how an idea might be made to work.

7. Audience Rule: No flash photography during the stage presentations.

Flashes are very distracting to the contestants and audience. A sudden, dazzling light can cause a contestant to trip and fall. Non-flash pictures are okay. Posed pictures can be arranged off-stage with permission of the individual contestants. If there is enough support for it among the contestants, we might do a second run-through for photos.

An official documentation picture of each costume will be taken before the masquerade for the judges' reference. We'll try to send each contestant a copy of the picture on CD if a mailing address is provided.

8. Law of Nature: S----Stuff Happens.

Yes, some of your plans may go wrong here in the real world. Murphy was a prophet. Please stay loose and handle it with grace. Don't let self-imposed stress or a hot temper ruin the experience for you and those around you.

9. Firm Rule: Keep the action on the stage. Weapons, stunts, and special effects must be approved in advance by the Masquerade Director.

If the weapon and its presentation have not been cleared, you will be disqualified from competition. This is a safety thing. I like weapons as much as the Next-to-Last Action Hero, but I want to see for myself what you are carrying and what you intend to do with it. This safety approval rule also applies to acrobatic stunts, special effects, energetic dances, or anything else that might inadvertently extend beyond the stage. We have a small stage this year, so it pays to be extra careful. 

10. Safety Principle: Surprise the audience, not the crew.

See Rule 9. I once scared the heck out of a masquerade director because I forgot to tell her that a pratfall was part of my presentation!

If you are going to do something surprising, please clear it with the Director, Master of Cermonies, and Catchers in advance.

If you want to interact with the Master of Cermonies, you must rehearse with him at the contestant meeting.

11. Rule: The Masquerade Director is Absolute Dictator. He has full authority to eliminate anyone from the competition on the basis of unrepentant bad taste, danger to the contestants or audience, violation of the above rules, or any other reason deemed sufficient.

This rule is intended to protect you and the convention from the real loons. The rule will not be invoked for frivolous or unfair reasons.

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Contacts

There's still time before the masquerade for comments, questions, and suggestions. I'm making this up as I go along.

You can reach the Masquerade Director:

--by e-mail at randwhit@moirandalls.com This is the best option. I check my e-mail twice daily.

--by surface mail: Randall Whitlock, PO Box 39504, Phoenix AZ 85069, USA

--by telephone message at (602) 995-7514.

Weekdays 6 to 9 PM Mountain Standard Time are best.
I use the answering machine to screen out junk sales calls, so please ignore the comic anti-telemarketer greeting and leave a message. If I'm in the house, I'll pick up. If I'm not home, I will return your call.

Masquerade questions only, please. I don't know anything about dealer room, hotel room prices, etc.

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Seen below is David Bluestein in "Alexander's Burden," the Best in Show winner at Coppercon 26 in 2006.

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Just for Fun

Here are a few articles on SF Convention costuming I've written for local fanzines:

Sincerely
Randall Whitlock

Some Thoughts on Hall Costumes

Some Thoughts on Stage Costumes

Carry On At Conventions - suggestions on how to carry your stuff in a hall costume.

The Pause - suggestions on how to make your presentation more friendly to photographers.

Pictures from 2005's CopperCon 25 Masquerade.

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Page updated May 16, 2008 by Randall Whitlock.