Announcing the Classic-Castle Story Telling Contest

[Shurtugal]

Are different criteria going to be weighted seperatley? eg, MOC over story, or character development over interesting plot?

[Glencaer]

Are different criteria going to be weighted seperatley? eg, MOC over story, or character development over interesting plot?

We will be evaluating the story as a whole.

[wlister]

If someone was to win one of the prizes, but perhaps had way too much LEGO, is it possible the set they won be donated to a Childrens charity in the name of the winner?

I have been hesitant in the past to enter contests because I have so much more than a lot of guys on here, but seeing as these are readily available sets, I thought I'd ask.

Will

[Jake, of the Palace Guard]

If someone was to win one of the prizes, but perhaps had way too much LEGO, is it possible the set they won be donated to a Childrens charity in the name of the winner?

I have been hesitant in the past to enter contests because I have so much more than a lot of guys on here, but seeing as these are readily available sets, I thought I'd ask.

Will

wow, what a nice thing to do. If I wasn't entering, I'd say that I hope you win

[Glencaer]

If someone was to win one of the prizes, but perhaps had way too much LEGO, is it possible the set they won be donated to a Childrens charity in the name of the winner?

What the winner does with their newly won set is their own business. As such, we will ship the prize to where-ever the winner wants it shipped, granted that such shipping doesn't cost more than standard priority shipping, after which, the winner will reimburse the us the rest of the shipping costs.

But, on a personal note, to do such a thing would be very noble indeed.

-Lenny

[Maedhros]

5) Any restrictions on the level of violence?

Normally, I'd say no. But I don't want to see any sexual violence, like rape, etc. Murder, maiming, blood, guts - I'm cool with as much of that you can dish out using LEGO pieces.

I just wonder if sexual violence is ok if some characters are just talking about it. For example: "She told me about everything that had happened; how the Saes had pillaged Brystei, slayed her father, raped and killed her mother and ravaged her as well."

EDIT: 666th post.....

[Jake, of the Palace Guard]

Hey, I can't find this anywhere in the topic, so I might as welll ask here.

Can we photoshop backgrounds into pictures of our mocs?

Also, is it alright if I build all my models in some kind of vignette form, ie, some micro, others maxi vigs, etc?

Thanks, Jake

And Maedhros, what a horrible, evil 666th post.

[Glencaer]

I just wonder if sexual violence is ok if some characters are just talking about it.

Ya, I don't have a problem with that.

Can we photoshop backgrounds into pictures of our mocs?

Yes.

Also, is it alright if I build all my models in some kind of vignette form, ie, some micro, others maxi vigs, etc?

Yes.

[Graynar]

This is a castle contest, but can I ask if Cannons can be used? Not muskets, but the big castle breaker cannons? Cannons helped end the castle age and I was wondering if we could use them even if they are not castlely.

[Glencaer]

This is a castle contest, but can I ask if Cannons can be used? Not muskets, but the big castle breaker cannons? Cannons helped end the castle age and I was wondering if we could use them even if they are not castlely.

If it is a castley cannon, then maybe.

-Lenny

[R_The_Falcon]

I think there is a considerable problem with the 120 Frame Limit concerning the Comic Book portion of this contest. Not that the limit is too small, but that it doesn't match up with the 20 page short story limit. Now I was finishing up my story on the computer, ( It was 12 size text, New Times Roman, etc.) and it'll come to about 10-12 pages. So I decided to try and see how it would fit into comic book form. To my surprise, it'll take around 200-250 frames to fit my story. I thought I might have been a poor story-to-comic book editor, so I checked out how things worked page by page. I found out that 10 frames was the bare minimum to fit a page of text in (the current being 6); however, some scenes required as much as 40 frames per page. This is because some scenes have little if no dialogue. If a bad guy falls off a cliff and yells, "No!" It takes up 1 sentence, which is approximately 1/500 of your text, while in comic-book form it takes out 1/120, almost a 5 times difference. Let's see how Glencaer example works, http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=1875 All of the dialogue in this story would fit in one page (not counting the prologue.) That's 1 page of text for 25 frames, (which would make our limit 500.) Now, this issue brings up an important question.

1. Is the comic-book story supposed to be significantly shorter than the short story?

I was under the impression that they were supposed to be the same general lengh. If it is supposed to be the same length, then the frame limit should be increased. If we use scale factor, the new limit would be around 600 frames, which I think is a little too much . But I do think a limit around 300 would be nice and would allow much more creativity along with an overall better story. If the comic book story is supposed to be significantly shorter than the short story, then the current limit is fine.

As a side note: I'm not doing this to help out my own story, and I'm not complaining about the contest and the rules at all. The contest and the rules are fantastic , and I feel privileged to get the chance to enter. I just think it's a bit unfair for the short story to get 20 pages of text, while the comic is stuck with 120 frames. But life isn't fair, and rules are rules. Thank-you so much for taking your time to read my long suggestion, and I'm fine if you decide to stick with the 120 frames; after all, you're the man in charge and it's your contest.

EDITED: I forgot how already a month has pretty much past since the beginning of the contest, making a major rule change almost impossible; therefore, I'll just cut my story. Sorry for any wasted time, but maybe the frame limit is something we can discuss next year around.

Here's yet another question I have; can we use an introductory frame like Dan Jassim did? (Made up of entirely words.) (http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=1875 )

[Ayden]

What if two ppl work together on a project? and if u enter 2 comix and one wins grand prize can the other one win best comic(if itsworthy of either of course).

[Glencaer]

If a bad guy falls off a cliff and yells, "No!" It takes up 1 sentence, which is approximately 1/500 of your text, while in comic-book form it takes out 1/120, almost a 5 times difference.

To be honest, I created the limits based off the total number of photos rather than the 'length' of a story. However, I'm not sure I totally agree with your appraisal. Comic stories and Short stories are two totally different mediums and comparisons between the two can be difficult. I would write a short story differently than how I would write a comic. Your example above assumes that each panel of a comic is equivalent to one sentence, which would be a very, very poor way of converting a story to a comic.

I'll go into more detail at the end of the post. First, I'll address your other questions.

Regarding rule changes: As long as the rule change favors the contestants, then a change can occur. Keep in mind that there is no minimum and that in telling a story, a brilliant but short piece can easily top over a convoluted and long piece. Making something longer rarely equals making it better.

Here's yet another question I have; can we use an introductory frame like Dan Jassim did? (Made up of entirely words.) (http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=1875 )

Yes.

Okay, back to the discussion of Story (aka Illustrated Short Story) vs. Comic (aka Comic Book style story).

Take this panel for example: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/DanJa ... ene-d5.jpg

When converting it to story form, it could be:
Then the Admiral said, "Need some help?" The entire fleet was there. Mr.Zog said, "It's the Gibraltar!"

or it could be:
At that very moment, when the crew of the Nasal Avenger thought their time had come, they heard a scratchy voice over the communicator. "Need some help?" It was the voice of the Admiral! The entire fleet exitted from hyperspace just at the right moment. "It's the Gibraltar!" cried Mr. Zog in a fit of joy. Now, the Adaloids were out numbered and out matched.

One version is a sentence, the other is a short paragraph. In other words, a picture can be a thousand words or none at all. A comic has a different style to it, where Zog's state of mind as he states the obvious (that the Gibraltar has come) is unimportant, or the reality of recieving a message from the Admiral (whether scratchy over a communicator or plain as day).

The power of a short story is its ability to communicate thought, feeling, details that a comic can't, whereas the power of a comic is that it is easier to follow, more dramatic and simpler.

Now, lets look at this a different way. The purpose of the maximum length for both forms is because our judges don't have infinite time. Downloading 300 photos isn't the same as downloading a 20 page word document and 60 photos. There is a very real time difference there, especially as some judges only have dial up internet access. Archaic, yes, but then again, this is a CASTLE website .

If you'd like to discuss this further, it might be better to take it to email. I'm always up for a thoughtful discussion!

-Lenny

[R_The_Falcon]

To be honest, I created the limits based off the total number of photos rather than the 'length' of a story. However, I'm not sure I totally agree with your appraisal. Comic stories and Short stories are two totally different mediums and comparisons between the two can be difficult. I would write a short story differently than how I would write a comic. Your example above assumes that each panel of a comic is equivalent to one sentence, which would be a very, very poor way of converting a story to a comic.

Comic Book Stories and Short Stories are totally different mediums. It would be impossible to write a short story the same as you would a comic. Well, maybe possible, but it'd be a very deplorable comic. No, when I said I was writing my story I ment something like this:

Frame 1: Rolan is busy mending a fence on his farm when someone calls for him. "Rolan, Rolan!"

Frame 2: Rolan sees that it's his friend John. Camera is situated behind Rolan. Rolan says, "What's the matter John?"

Etc. Etc.

Regarding rule changes: As long as the rule change favors the contestants, then a change can occur. Keep in mind that there is no minimum and that in telling a story, a brilliant but short piece can easily top over a convoluted and long piece. Making something longer rarely equals making it better.

I completely agree.

Okay, back to the discussion of Story (aka Illustrated Short Story) vs. Comic (aka Comic Book style story).

Take this panel for example: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/DanJa ... ene-d5.jpg

When converting it to story form, it could be:
Then the Admiral said, "Need some help?" The entire fleet was there. Mr.Zog said, "It's the Gibraltar!"

or it could be:
At that very moment, when the crew of the Nasal Avenger thought their time had come, they heard a scratchy voice over the communicator. "Need some help?" It was the voice of the Admiral! The entire fleet exitted from hyperspace just at the right moment. "It's the Gibraltar!" cried Mr. Zog in a fit of joy. Now, the Adaloids were out numbered and out matched.

One version is a sentence, the other is a short paragraph. In other words, a picture can be a thousand words or none at all. A comic has a different style to it, where Zog's state of mind as he states the obvious (that the Gibraltar has come) is unimportant, or the reality of recieving a message from the Admiral (whether scratchy over a communicator or plain as day).

The power of a short story is its ability to communicate thought, feeling, details that a comic can't, whereas the power of a comic is that it is easier to follow, more dramatic and simpler.

Now, lets look at this a different way. The purpose of the maximum length for both forms is because our judges don't have infinite time. Downloading 300 photos isn't the same as downloading a 20 page word document and 60 photos. There is a very real time difference there, especially as some judges only have dial up internet access. Archaic, yes, but then again, this is a CASTLE website .

If you'd like to discuss this further, it might be better to take it to email. I'm always up for a thoughtful discussion!

-Lenny

Once again, I agree with what you say about stories; however, I'd say the strengh of a comic is in the flow of story through visual aid. Since our eyes are our most used sense, you can easily communicate a story through several pictures; therefore, the writer has a harder job, and needs more room so to speak. I didn't consider the internet speed of judges and the frame limit really isn't too bad. Hopefully we can discuss this further on AIM or through e-mail.

By the way, you forgot to answer Ayden's question.

[Glencaer]

What if two ppl work together on a project? and if u enter 2 comix and one wins grand prize can the other one win best comic(if itsworthy of either of course).

Two people can work together, however one person can only win one prize. Since there are only three prizes, we want three winners.

-Lenny