PROMPT: ROUND THREE

[hso_mods]

ROUND THREE: BALANCING ACT

you gotta tip on the tightrope

Hey shippers!
Welcome to the very last main round. The R1 Phase One results should be up in a day or two, as should the R1 Phase Two voting form; the R2 entries are being processed right now, and the R2 Phase One voting form will go up when the R1 Phase Two voting form closes.

This round is a format challenge! Your R3 entry should be composed of two separate but related parts. They should be roughly equal in size/complexity; we're not going to be policing that, but the general idea is that they should balance each other in some way.

All submissions must be created/assembled new for this round by members of your team.

This challenge will run until 11:59PM EDT July 21. If your Palhoncho sends it in after that time according to the gmail timestamp and before voting closes, your team's entry will get posted--but we may not be able to approve it out of the queue right away.

Requirements (as stated in the Info Post)
Fic/meta must be between 800-3000 words.
Combination fic/art entries cannot have more than 4 images.
All other image-based media (including comics) cannot exceed 10 images/panels.
Cosplay must be at least 75% created or assembled new for the challenge.
Gifs and other animations must be 8 seconds or less total. (e.g. you could have one 5-second gif and one 3-second gif)
Games are still subject to the 10-image limit.
Live-action movies are limited to one minute total.
Original music is also limited to one minute total.

The penalties for going over 3k words will be as follows:
3000-3050: no penalty (to allow for disparities in wordcount software)
3051-3150: -30 points
3151-3250: -60 points
etc.
PLEASE NOTE that gdocs is notoriously bad at generating an accurate wordcount, so you should probably check your submission at http://www.wordcounter.net/ just to make sure.
Also, this year we are requiring transcriptions of all text on images. These transcriptions count towards the wordcount.

For audio/vid files, we are allowing a 2-second grace period, and applying a 30-point penalty every 5 seconds after that. For animations, we are allowing a 1-second grace period, and applying a 30-point penalty every 2 seconds after that.

Penalties for going over the image limit will be 30 points per extra image.

If your entry has 800 words or more, it will be considered fic and will be subject to the illustrated fic limit.

Please remember not to post your HSO creations publicly until voting ends, whether or not they are chosen as part of the team submission. We would like to keep things as anonymous as possible!

Submission Format
Submissions should be formatted as outlined here.

Questions about this challenge should be emailed to us at homestuck.shipping AT gmail! We will try to answer any questions posted as comments here, but we may not see them in a timely manner.

Comments

[veira]

Wow, this is a really good prompt. Exciting!

[ephemeraldelusion]

Uhm... are you sure you don't mean "The R2 Phase One results should be up in a day or two, as should the R2 Phase Two voting form; the R2 entries are being processed right now, and the R3 Phase One voting form will go up when the R2 Phase Two voting form closes."??

Otherwise I am rather confused.

[hso_mods]

The voting period that just ended was R1 Phase One--it was divided into sectors. Voting for R2 has not yet begun, since R1 Phase Two has not occurred.
-mimicre

[robokittens]

I'm not totally clear, so I figured I'd better ask, to be on the safe side: is this strictly a format challenge, or ought the content of our submissions concern balancing acts, as well?

[graveexcitement]

It's just a format challenge, the content can be about whatever we liked. I emailed the mods, and they said:

The prompt for this round refers to the format only! There are no restrictions on what your submission may be about, it just has to be in two (roughly equal) parts.

[cherryburlesque]

Does this prompt involve content, or is it only pertaining to format? Can we make the subject matter about whatever we like, though in two separate parts? Or does the subject matter in itself have to be about a 'balancing act'? I'm not entirely sure about the requirements of our content here.

[graveexcitement]

I emailed them, and they said this:

The prompt for this round refers to the format only! There are no restrictions on what your submission may be about, it just has to be in two (roughly equal) parts.

- Ink

[person4]

Do the prompts need to be in different formats? Like, does it need to be a fic and a piece of art/short song/whatever, or could it be two short fics showing the same scene from different points of view?

For that matter, by "separate but related" do you mean illustrating a scene right out of a fic that's the other half of your entry would be fine, or do they need to be more separated than that (both being based on the same theme but not directly connected to each other or whatnot)?

[slippy]

I asked the same question as your first one over email, and the mod said that it was fine to use the same format in both halves of the submission.


(to quote:

Hello! I want to make sure that I understand the requirements for
Round 3 correctly. While it needs to be one piece composed of two
equivalent parts, it doesn't *need* to be two different media, right?

Thanks
slippy


Yes, you are correct--it does not need to be different types of media!
-mimicre)

[chromatic_coma]

Are we allowed to use poetry that does not belong to us as long as we credit it? The poem I want to use is by Robert Frost and it's very well-known, and I won't claim it.

[runespoor]

Not a mod, so this is strictly imho, from a voter's point of view: if you quote the poem at the beginning/end of the fic, as an epigraph/coda, I'd say sure! If, howver, you plan on using it as one of the "two separate but related parts", I'd say no, since all contents must be created new.

[beyondthegoldenlights]

Ooh, this is going to be exciting!

Quick question however; does video editing (taking pictures and putting them to music in short) count as a "movie"? Or do I have to follow the "10 image" rule? It'd be terribly difficult with only 10 images, but I'm just wondering.