[ENNIES] Post Production Notes

[Michael Morris]

Well, I'm back from the con and I'm tired. Here are my con notes which are dominated by the Ennies.

I will be honest. I'm very dissappointed in how the ceremony went. While most everyone seems happy with the results, I know I can do better and will do better in the future.

The con started for me on Saturday. From around 8 AM Saturday until right up to 2 hours before the show on the following Friday I worked on the slides for the show - well over 100 in all. In my rush I made some critical mistakes. First and most significant (to me at least) is I allowed the primary show file to grow to 135,743 KB. At that point even my computer was crawling under the weight of the file and I was unable to modify it. This was real trouble because I learned 5 hours before show time that one of the categories (Aids & Accessories) had been omitted from the program by mistake. I had no choice but to apend it to the front of the show and lop off the opening scene of the Ennies main awards.

I showed up for the show at 7 o'clock. Fortunately the sound guys got the start time wrong and got to work early - if they hadn't've the show would have been delayed by their work. Everything was set up alright, and I went to work on the light cues when the light board op showed up (assigned by the con center). We had two cues, but I screwed up the cue assignment so the lights came up after Russ had already been speaking for 4 minutes.

Everything went smoothly afterward except three things. First, Mike Mearls lost his list of nominees and was accidently set up when I got the number of nominees wrong. Everyone got a laugh out of that. Next was Russ accidently got the nominee cards reversed for the silver and gold awards and got caught by the slide machine (he announced one product and the slides showed another). The trophy, which also had the right award listed, broke the tie.

Both of these problems could have been avoided if I had seen to it that nominee cards where presented. But, as ArthurQ pointed out to me after the show, I didn't properly delegate the tasks to be done partly because I wasn't aware of them.

The third thing was the low light of my con, and one of the most embarrassing parts of my life. I got the slide for Midnight wrong - using the cover of the one of the modules instead of the core book by mistake. Well, the staff of FFG that accepted the Best Cover Art award went out of their way to berate and mock me on the stage. If they were trying to make a joke, no one present found it funny, the room was more quiet at that moment then at any other.

As I pointed out earlier, I rushed to get all 100+ slides done by con time. With the final changes being made only 2 hours before curtain I feel lucky to have done it. Excuses aside, that still gives Fantasy Flight no right to say what they said in their acceptance speech. I was about 2 seconds from cutting their mike and telling them to get the Hell off the stage, regardless of whether or not doing such was within my rights (normally, it is within the Stage Manager's rights to do so though it is for understandable reasons rare for it to occur since it is rare for award winners to so insult their hosts).

Anyway, I've let that nag at me for three days now, and with that said I consider the issue closed.

THINGS TO DO NEXT YEAR.
With those thoughts in mind, I'm compiling a list of things I can do to improve next year's show. For, with all the problems this year, I still think it was a great improvement over the previous year's show. But there is room to grow.

FOOTNOTE.
In the coming weeks I'll upload all the images I made for the Ennies into a gallery for you guys to take a look. I can also upload the preshow itself sans music, but the files are a whopping 3 MB on average so I need Russ' permission before uploading 12 files that size that will see multiple hits.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I don't think you should be disappointed in yourself, I saw you working on those slides in the dealer room, not the easiest of places to check your work. Overall the effect and presentation was very well done.

 

[Mark]

Sounds like most everyone was pleased with the first full-blown awards presentation of the ENnies but you. There were bound to be a few glitches and I'd guess everyone would love to give you big thanks for stepping up to do the job and holding it together as well as you did. Don't be so down on yourself!

 

[Michael Morris]

Mark, I'm being critical, not down on myself. One thing I learned in theatre was how to appraise my work. Granted, I am my own hardest critic. Admittedly, my gaffs helped keep Russ loose (as many of you may or may not know, Russ has a bad case of stage fright). But there is room for improvement, and I know how to go about doing it. I'm looking forward to doing things better than this year - that's hardly being down on myself. Here are some of my ideas.

1. Print out 3000 award stickers - 1000 nominees, 1000 silvers, 1000 golds for sticking to the book covers for the nominees and winners in their booths. Why that many? It's actually cheaper than printing 500 of each. In any event it lets the publishers get in on the act and the unused stickers can be used in the future (unlike the slide version of the seal they will not have the date on them)

2. Publishers will do the slides next year. A "slide" is a 1024 x 768 pixel product image that features the product cover, the company's logo, and space for the nomination text (which I will add). Animations will also be allowed, but the strictures on this are more detailed than I care to explain here.

3. Invitation cards will be mailed to the publishers to be presented to the ushers when they arrive. A "House Manager" will be put in charge of this and seating arrangements - It's something that I'm better served by having someone else do.

4. Construct a true ENWorld/ENPublishing booth. More on that to come.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

What did FFG say?

 

[Teflon Billy]

...Well, the staff of FFG that accepted the Best Cover Art award went out of their way to berate and mock me on the stage. If they were trying to make a joke, no one present found it funny, the room was more quiet at that moment then at any other...

You remember it a bit differently than I do Michael. I thought the FFG guy's comments came off as quite lighthearted and funny (as evidenced by the audience's laughter...not silence).

I think lightheartedly pointing out production gaffes is about as common a tradition at awards ceremonies as I can imagine. it happens at the oscars (witness Cuba Gooding Jr. being "played out" by the orchestra some years backa) it happens at the MTV music awards (Witness Guns and Roses drunk and Mumbling onstage in 1996).

Had you "cut their microphone", I think that would've been the height of unprofessional behaviour and I am thankful that you did no such thing.

All of that being said, your work on the whole ceremony was stellar, particularly given that this was the first time it had been attempted on this scale.

I know you sunk your heart and soul into it, but take the opinion of someone with rather less invested in the ceremony itself when I say that the FFG guys were funny, irreverent, and have done nothing that requires an aplogy.

 

[Teflon Billy]

What did FFG say?

They, while describing their Winning Cover art (that of their "Midnight" campaign setting), pointed at the entirely different cover being projected and saying offhandedly such things as

"..it's a picture of a fellow, standing on balcony, it's really a wonderful piece of work. That's not it on the wall there, but you'd all be gasping if it was, I assure you *audience laughter*"

that kind of thing.

 

[Napftor]

I'm with TB here. The guffaw in cover representation was funny. And the room was definitely not silent. Heck, I remember giggling with those seated around me. FFG was doing no disservice, IMO. In fact, they were pretty much saying that despite the error there was no hard feelings. Nothing malicious was present that I recall. The whole presentation, mistakes included, was top-notch for an amateur* gathering such as the ENNies.

*By "amateur" I mean no disrespect to any persons involved with the ceremony. The ENNies are not, after all, the Oscars. They're a fun way to recognize the industry leaders and is "by the fans, for the fans."

 

[Michael Morris]

Re: Re: [ENNIES] Post Production Notes

You remember it a bit differently than I do Michael. I thought the FFG guy's comments came off as quite lighthearted and funny (as evidenced by the audience's laughter...not silence).

I think lightheartedly pointing out production gaffes is about as common a tradition at awards ceremonies as I can imagine. it happens at the oscars (witness Cuba Gooding Jr. being "played out" by the orchestra some years backa) it happens at the MTV music awards (Witness Guns and Roses drunk and Mumbling onstage in 1996).

Had you "cut their microphone", I think that would've been the height of unprofessional behaviour and I am thankful that you did no such thing.

All of that being said, your work on the whole ceremony was stellar, particularly given that this was the first time it had been attempted on this scale.

I know you sunk your heart and soul into it, but take the opinion of someone with rather less invested in the ceremony itself when I say that the FFG guys were funny, irreverent, and have done nothing that requires an aplogy.

Perhaps, but it still hurt. I know I'm completely biased, and I'm very glad I kept silent and neither said nor did nothing at the show - but it hurt.

My duty to the boards are the Ennies is clear - I must act professionally while in that capacity. But I should still be allowed my feelings - they were hurt - and I will let that be known here rather than keep to myself and let it brew.

Noting it was the wrong cover is one thing, rubbing it in was like putting salt on a wound to my eyes.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Re: Re: Re: [ENNIES] Post Production Notes

Perhaps, but it still hurt. I know I'm completely biased, and I'm very glad I kept silent and neither said nor did nothing at the show - but it hurt.

My duty to the boards are the Ennies is clear - I must act professionally while in that capacity. But I should still be allowed my feelings - they were hurt - and I will let that be known here rather than keep to myself and let it brew.

Noting it was the wrong cover is one thing, rubbing it in was like putting salt on a wound to my eyes.

I don't think they were rubbing it in; it just sounds like they were trying to make light of a situation that was embarassing for them also. It sounds like you did a good job, and there's nothing to feel badly about. I'm a filmmaker, and I've had to show a lot of material in public that got harshly critiqued (which I don't think the FFG guys were trying to do). There's a point where a callus is built up on one's feelings, so such stuff isn't taken personally, but is instead noted so future work can be improved upon (I always need to improve ). I think if you look at it objectively, you'll see that it went really well. Man oh man, could I tell you some horror stories...