‘Behind the Curtain’ is an advice column written by masquerade judges answering anonymous questions from the community. There is a form to submit your question anonymously at the footer of every column!
This week’s question is answered by: Captain Amelia
This is a great question! I’ve waxed lyrical on the importance of acting on feedback here but it can be really hard to ask for it in the first place. Sometimes conventions have a formalised ‘feedback process’, where you can go through the coordinator without ever having to talk to the judges directly. But if you do want to speak to the judges, and don’t know how to go about it, I hope these tips help.
Before the competition
- Research your judges in advance, if they’re announced. Whose costuming style is similar yours? Who has skills you’d love to learn? Make a note to ask them about those skills when you talk about feedback.
- Clock their cosplans for the day of the competition and see if you can say a quick hello in the corridor before your pre-judging slot.
- If you’ll need to receive your feedback in a format other than text (eg. voice note, if you use a screen reader), let the cosplay coordinator know, so they can arrange that with the judges.
After the competition
Constructive criticism is essential for improving as a creative, and asking the right questions can help you get the best, and most useful, feedback possible.
- If you can wait, ask for your feedback via email or social media message after the event. Emotions can be high straight off stage, and you’ll want to collect your thoughts as much as the judges want to collect our notes.
- If you’re happy for a judge to be really brutal, tell them, otherwise they might pull their punches to be kind. When I get feedback as a competitor, I ask the judges to ‘rip me apart’; I want to know the niggly little things, because I’m a perfectionist and that’s how I learn. You’ll always receive both positive and negative feedback in a polite and respectful way, but if you’re a masochist you can give us some guidance of how deep you want us to dig!
- Tell us if there is anything you particularly want feedback on, eg. you weren’t sure about the quality of your audio, or how to make your bodice fit right. Also tell us if there’s anything you don’t want feedback on, eg. you know you screwed up part of your prop, or that one bit of painting, and being told that again won’t help at all. It really helps us focus our feedback.
- Tell us why you want this feedback. Are you planning to compete in the same costume again, and want to upgrade the dodgy bits? Or are you thinking about making something entirely new, and want some general guidance? This massively helps us give you the right sort of feedback that will be most useful to you.
- Remember that the judges’ decision is final, even if you don’t agree with it. Be humble in victory and gracious in defeat, and vet your social media comments before you make them.
Further down the line
- If you later realise that you didn’t fully understand some of the judges’ feedback, you’d like clarification on what they meant, or it would be useful to have their opinion on your upgrades so far, reach out to them. The judges want to help you improve and see you succeed, and the vast majority are happy to be used as a resource for that help.
- Within reason, it’s never too late to ask for feedback. A couple of days later is ideal, while the competition is fresh in the judges’ minds, but a couple of weeks later isn’t going to hurt. But it’s definitely helpful if you send a photo or a video to jog my memory!
- Pay it forward. If you’re later lucky enough to be invited to judge a competition, remember how important receiving feedback from your judges was, and go out of your way to mentor competitors of your own. They will thank you for it, guaranteed.
Personally, I’m always happy to give notes on your upgrades and new work if you want them! I’m glad to see that a lot of other judges think the same way too, and I really hope it’s helpful.
Break a leg!
Captain Amelia is a competitive cosplayer, cosplay judge, and all-round drama queen. Follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and, when the captions get too long, her blog The Captain’s Log.
