Balticon 54

Virtual Masquerade General Information

Our participants represent all cultures, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, and ways of life. We strive towards friendly, fair, respectful competition to showcase costumes and cosplay. Despite the current pandemic, we want people to be able to show off their creative spirit. Therefore, we are attempting a virtual Balticon Masquerade.

The Balticon Masquerade will be held as a compilation of pre-recorded videos and photos with the Masters of Ceremonies, Lee and Jay Targaryen, to be aired Saturday May 23, 2020 at 8pm on the BSFS Twitch channel.

Marty Gear Memorial Masquerade

Group costumes and individual entries are welcome! Entrants are permitted a maximum of one minute long (60 seconds) presentation. Any additional time must be approved by the Masquerade Director (masquerade@balticon.org)

The Masquerade will be based on the current International Costumers’ Guild guidelines. There are four skill divisions designed to protect less experienced contestants from being forced into competition against more experienced costumers before they are ready. All division entries are at the discretion of the Masquerade Director. All competition entries are eligible for Best in Show. 

Please refer to the Masquerade Rules page for detailed information.

Tips for Creating Your Entry

• Media Files: Please record your video and audio separately. File specification details for photos, video, and audio are given below.
• MC Script: Submit any introduction that the MC reads along with your online registration. Note: The MC cannot provide a voice over during your presentation.
• Transcript: We plan to include closed captions in the final video. If your audio includes narration or dialog, please send a transcript of your audio with your entry files.

Virtual Balticon 54 Masquerade Spec Sheet

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How Balticon Tech wants to help you make your Masquerade presentation the best it can be.

Introduction:

To create a Virtual Masquerade for Balticon 54, we plan to have individual costume entries create their own videos at home showing off their creations for the Presentation portion of the Masquerade which will be submitted to Balticon Tech. The MC will separately record the costume introductions. We will then edit these together into the Masquerade that will be shown during Virtual Balticon 54.

Costumers may also submit a separate video for Workmanship judging.

If you have any questions about what is acceptable, or if this description is overwhelming and is keeping you from joining, please contact us for help at masquerade@balticon.org 

Specifications:

1. We plan to compile the video at 1280 x 720 pixels, also known as 720p. You can record at a different resolution, but your video will have to be converted to 720p. Any lower resolution will not look as good. Please don’t record at 4K or some other super high resolution, that will only make it harder for you to get the video to us and will strain the editor’s computer.
2. All videos must be in landscape (horizontal) orientation. Any submissions in portrait (vertical) orientation will be rejected and you will be asked to re-do your submission.
3. If you have several video recording devices, try them all to see which gives the best picture. Some phones can make amazing video. Some, not so amazing.
4. We can take many types of files such as .avi, .mp4, .mov, .mkv. However there are a vast number of audio/video codecs in the world. If you use something unusual, we might not be able to read it. If there is any doubt, send us a test file first.
5. Try to set up a performance location with a plain, non-distracting background. Clutter in the background will distract from the costume. Move some furniture to clear a wall. Closed full length living room curtains would be a possibility. Do not shoot in a location with a brightly lit window behind you. Do try to get as much light on your shooting area as possible.
6. The submitted video should be a finished shoot, with any necessary editing done by you. We don’t have the manpower to edit dozens of videos in the time before the con.
7. If you need a voice over, it needs to be something you do yourself. Since the MC will not actually be seeing your performance, there is no way they could have their voice align properly with the performance. When you create the voice track, it needs to be done as a separate thing from the performance. Do not have the person presenting the costume speak from across the room while presenting. That will sound terrible and probably not be intelligible. Use a separate microphone if you can. 
8. If you want a music backing track, send that as a separate audio file. We will mix it in so the audio is balanced. If you need both a voice over track and a music background, the best way is to submit the video with a mixed sound track including the voice over and the music. Also submit the voice track and the music track as separate files. We will use the mixed track only as a guide for how to place the voice and music tracks.
9. Submit audio files as a WAV or MP3 file.
10. Masquerade presentations can also be done as a series of still photos. Each entry has a maximum of one minute. You may submit up to 10 photos. Each photo will be shown for a maximum of 20 seconds. If you submit more than 3 photos, the time for each will be adjusted to fit in the allotted minute. You can submit a voice over audio file and a music background audio file. If desired, you can submit a script for the MC to read.
11. We CANNOT provide music for your costume presentation. It is against copyright law for us to stream music with your photo/video. Music that is NOT copyrighted is fine.  Please provide information proving your music is NOT copyrighted or that you have written permission from the copyright holder.
12. To help keep us organized, please include your entry’s name in the filename of each media file or document you submit.

Submitting your entry

Media file submissions will be done though DropBox. After you register for the Masquerade, you will be given the link for your DropBox submission. The deadline for Registration is May 8. The deadline for submitting your video and audio files is May 15.

Please provide a transcript of any narration or dialog in your audio for our closed captioning provider. A plan text file or commonly used word processing file is acceptable.

Despite the above deadlines, try to get us your files as soon as possible so if there are any problems, they can be dealt with. If you submit at the last moment, you may be disqualified if there are technical problems that can not be resolved. Earlier submissions give us time to fix problems.

If you have any questions or concerns, email the Masquerade Director (masquerade@balticon.org)

Judging

There is no official judging or ICG-style awards for the Virtual Masquerade.  If you would like our judges to give you feedback on your costume, they are available for both presentation and workmanship. If you would like to be judged for workmanship, please send documents to familiarize the judges with your character, including information about the character and source. Please also send any documentation about the techniques used to create your costume that you would like to highlight. The judges want to see the details of your work. Refer to the rules for more details. 

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Introducing the Masquerade Director for Balticon 54