Jeni Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Is this a general feedback thread? Ah, I'll make it one, it's got a good title. :) The Brilliant: -Justin Chon! Paul Couvela! Lovely blokes I'd like to see more artists like Couvela, signing for free, with donations for Oxfam if you wanted. He was quite shocked when I gave him a £10 note and joked if I wanted change, but I said no, I'd rather see the money go to a good cause. Over the weekend I gave him £12 for five autographs, they were worth every penny. -Robert Rankin. Although I'm personally not a reader of his, it was a really good to see an author there! The Good: -So much room! It was lovely! Being able to walk around without starting an intimate relationship with people in front, behind and to your left and right! -The guests! I don't know whether they were flown in a day before or something, but they seemed so chipper! I didn't have one bad experience. -Chill Zone, what an excellent idea! -Gaming Zone, an even better idea! -Good food, I know this is a venue thing, rather than SM, but it was nice to have some places in there serving decent food. Of course it was expensive, but it was better than having to have hotdog and chips because there was no other choice. The Bad: -Still not enough variety in stalls for me. I don't know what you can do to change this, SM, but it would be exciting and, well, I would start to look forward to going there for the stalls as well as the guests! -Chill Zone, just not quite big enough, considering there was all this space not being used for stalls. -The Very Useful Cloakroom wasn't mentioned on the website. I saw it on Saturday, but come Sunday morning when I was checking out of the YHA, I couldn't remember whether it took bags and how much it was. I texted a Crew friend, and she asked others, and they told her there wasn't one. So I ended up shoving my backpack in the YHA lockers for £2. When I got there at 9am, after going in, I looked at the cloakroom and gutted, it did take bags, at £2! The Ugly -No posed photos. Heh. Ok, this one isn't directed at Showmasters, but I'll say it anyway. Get it through your skull that by not letting guests pose with people at an event that you're going to make them buy a photoshoot ticket. Of course the main guests can't be doing with posed photos, so few people would get to meet them, and it's just not fair. But come off it, Sean Maguire? He was very Open Queue all day, and I saw him jumping up gladly to do posed photos with a big grin on his face (so it obviously wasn't his choice). That's the thing with professional photo shoots, you get an assured good quality picture, taken by a professional photographer, with a good background, no other people intruding and generally something you can frame on the wall. One over the table is a personal memory, that's all, and it could be blurry, your eyes could be shut, there could be crew walking behind, but that's what you get. And quite frankly, I know that this is a business like anything else (so no capitalist arguments pls kthxbai), but really, when the photoshoots are expensive (and with good reason) and in this sort of economic climate, it's insensitive. I am no way a supporter of The Customer Is Always Right (in fact, I think they're frequently wrong), but, likewise, I don't agree with It's My Way Or The Highway. I won't let Tesco tell me what food I should buy, so nor am I going to let someone dictate to me that I should fork over precious pennies for a memory of the day. So I'll take the Highway. Regrets: -I didn't get an auto from Sean Maguire, I really wanted to, but he's just so pretty, I was shy. -I forgot to ask Scott Bakula how his name was pronounced, then I was going to go into my spiel about how Bak-u-la is awesomer because it rhymes with Dracula. Feedback: -Webcomic artists! I think this is such an untapped medium over here. I'm sure plenty of people here read webcomics and would like to get the chance to meet the artists behind them. A real money maker, I reckon. Heeheehee. Incidentally, some suggestions: -Dave Kellett (went to Kent Uni!), Sheldon -Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary -Pete Tarkulich, Bardsworth -Sarah Ellerton, Inverloch and The Phoenix Requiem -Authors! I think LFCC would be perfect to bring in more authors. Incidentally I know Jonathan Stroud, Garth Nix and Markus Zusak are excellent speakers at talks. But there's also Kevin Crossley-Holland, Brian Jacques, Marcus Sedgwick, Mal Peet... hint much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dellefyne Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 About the posed photos, I don't understand something: why is it that there were no signs such as 'no posed photos' Saturday, and Sunday these signs just seemed to appear out of nowhere?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen_Sindel Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 About the posed photos, I don't understand something: why is it that there were no signs such as 'no posed photos' Saturday, and Sunday these signs just seemed to appear out of nowhere?? They actually showed up Saturday in the morning already, at least for some guests. Sometimes it's clear in advance that posed photos just are not possible, like for Scott or Peter. Sometimes the guest mentions it in the morning because he/she woke up with a headache. Sometimes a guest requests it during the day because the headache just started then, or they may get tired from the constant getting up and down. I sat with Michael Shanks for one day at a prior show and although the fans were taking pictures of him I ended up with a flash induced migraine in the evening too. Since then I have 110 percent sympathy for a guest if those signs show up during the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeni Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Asking for no flash photography is a very reasonable request, especially as at LFCC my pictures came out worse with flash! But as a general rule, when asking guests for a photo, I turn the flash off, it's just politeness and good manners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adriangill Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 (edited) The Good - Jewel. Scott. Pretty much everything else. Jewel... The Bad - No reapperance of Darth Tall on Sundays entry The Ugly - being refused entry to the car parks at 7am (the time I was told they would be open when I checked with Earls Court). Not the fault of Showmasters. Even Jason was refused entry until he tried another gate. I was stopped when trying to follow him through though, got told they would be opened at 8am and to go away. Went back to the first gate. Five minutes later was told that the other gate was open. Why couldn't they open this gate as well which was actually closest to the car park!! Arrgh! The regret - Not getting around to seeing Jacon Kogan Totally agree about flash photography. The lighting is more than adequate. I have never used a flash at any of the events and the photos have been fine. The black hole that was Earls Court 1 in 2007 is excluded from this - I still didn't use the flash there (no the phottos were not as good ) as that would have blinded the guests even more. Edited July 20, 2009 by 1of2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absynthe Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) My only criticism was about one particular staff member who I found intolerably rude. I was on the staff at Artist's Alley and she made it very difficult on the saturday for us to have staff passes and caused a huge fuss over my parking space on the sunday. I don't think it prudent for me to go into details on the forum- perhaps someone could let me know who I could actually talk to about it as in furture I would not like her involvement with our staff. Other than that, I found the weekend thoroughly enjoyable! I was kept very busy so was only able to wander the stalls a little bit, but I met Chris Sarandan and he was a lovely guy. The cosplay was fantastic and everyone seemed to be having a good time. I was able to meet lots of lovely people and although I was exhuasted after the two days it was so much fun! The lighting for photography was awful, but that is to do with the hall itself. A friend of mine showed me that if you just have the pictures in black and white they look much better rather than orangey Edited July 21, 2009 by Absynthe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showmasters Admin Too Tall Posted July 21, 2009 Showmasters Admin Share Posted July 21, 2009 My only criticism was about one particular staff member who I found intolerably rude. I was on the staff at Artist's Alley and she made it very difficult on the saturday for us to have staff passes and caused a huge fuss over my parking space on the sunday. I don't think it prudent for me to go into details on the forum- perhaps someone could let me know who I could actually talk to about it as in furture I would not like her involvement with our staff. Please talk to Mike about this who will then pass the information on to myself or Jason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adriangill Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) The lighting for photography was awful, but that is to do with the hall itself. A friend of mine showed me that if you just have the pictures in black and white they look much better rather than orangey This may help for future events. With a lot of cameras the automatic white balance setting does not cover enough of the kelvin temperature range to be able to compensate accurately for the colour cast given off by the lighting. If your camera has the option to change the white balance then setting it to Fluorescent/Tungsten/Incandescent (depends on the type of lights used) will help remove the orange colour cast. Even better would be using a Custom setting if available as this will be the most accurate. Auto and Fluorescent Incandescent and Custom Edited August 17, 2009 by 1of2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flibble Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Thanks for the tip 1of2. All my photos came out with an orange glow, and I've had to fix them on the computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riversidejon Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Just a couple of thoughts. Could have spent all day talking with Eve , she was very chatty, so was Alex and Michael, most guests I feel would have like to chatted more, but with queues etc, not realistic. but I do feel for the guests that have no one at the desk, and they are just looking out at the big queues on the other tables, MS (icon) was one of these I think. Havent seen him so quiet before. RDA for the next event . Bit of an awkard moment at first, but with having auto pics to be signed next to the guest I think is a bit, well at first awkard. you look at the pics, the guest is then looking at you waiting for your choice, hand over money, people queueing behind, prefer selecting before going to the guest. However, I went to see Anna walton, again pics on desk, but this time talked to her whilst choosing, so in a way it was more time with the guest and it was good to talk about the photos there, she said about the makeup and then said about Abe costume how due to the way the suit makeup was, toilet breaks were tricky for him, not helped by Ron who kept pouring water into a cup, doing anything to make him want the toilet. The lighting in there is bad, , But I have now got an SLR which more than copes with the light, and though flashes can produce better shots I think it does irritate the guests, having a barrage of flashes at them, save that for the photoshoots, anyhow, using a good paint shop program you can remove the orange, no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwarfer ZK Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 looks like everyones commenting here so here's a far too in depth account of my visit on the Saturday: The Generally Good - - Robert Rankin, never read his books before but my friend's a fan so I had a look and bought a book. thought about getting a peice of the jewlery made from victorian watches but had to watch the budget. also had a conversation about cats with wings - was being teased by my mates for buying a faerie winged cat from another stall, and robert then told us to look it up on google as it can happen and his cat actually grew wing type growths. - Jewel Staite, she was absolutely lovely. that's pretty much it. - Hattie Hayridge, Dominic Keating, Chloe Annette, woman who played Master's wife in Doctor Who, didn't get any of their autographs but they were all great for a random chat and photo. - Room to sit down, Lack of space at other events i've been to has been a big problem, especially as I have CFS and often have to resort to using a walking stick (nicknamed the baby dalek for the first half of thecon as when it was in my friend's rucksack it looked like a dalek sucky thing) - The red headed staff woman who was working around Scott Bakula, Michael Shanks and Jewel Staite's queue areas. She was really lovely and made queuing not as difficult when possible. she also kept getting told off by other staff members for pronouncing Scott's last name wrong which amused me. The Generally Bad - - We were sent standard tickets when we'd paid for early. but that said we explained what happened and we just got in straight away with no fuss, so not that bad really. - Realised after 20 minutes of being there I'd forgotten the dvd covers I was getting signed for my friends (one wanted Michael Shanks, the other Tom Baker) so I had to travel all the way back to Hostel at Kings Cross to get them. was my own fault though and back by 11am. - Sound quality in talks. I'm a bit deaf so found it hard to hear in the Red Dwarf talk, was gonna go to the Doctor Who and Stargate ones but kinda changed my mind as a result. - People kept glaring at my mates coz I bruise *REALLY* easily and had some love bite bruises on my shoulder from play fighting in the park with my boyfriend a couple of days before, and they thought I'd been beaten lol (was *so* embarrised) If anyone remembers me I was the midget with the walking stick, electric blue tights, denim shorts, purply top and pink scarf - I was in a random mood to wear bright colours that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absynthe Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 TooTall- I shall mention it to Mike. I know that a few of us at Artist's Alley had some probs with her so I'll get something sorted and ask Ruth or Mike to talk to yourself or Jason (actually, if you are who I think you are- you witness this lady at the organisation booth being really rude to Ruth and I on the sunday evening...you might not remember though?) 10f2- Fantastic tips! I have a Canon 400D which I am still getting used to, but I shall definately do that. I thought there was something up with my ISO heheh me lame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adriangill Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 10f2- Fantastic tips! I have a Canon 400D which I am still getting used to, but I shall definately do that. I thought there was something up with my ISO heheh me lame No problem. As you have a DSLR then I have no doubt there will be a custom white balance option. Basically it will involve taking a photo of something with a neutral colour (grey is best, or white) that is directly under the hall lights - I think used the floor this time around - and then applying it as your white balance reference point. I use a Nikon D300 so can't help you with the exact way of setting it up on a Canon. It should be in the manual somewhere. Although if you are struggling by the next event then feel free to shout - we can meet up (providing I am there of course!) and I will try and help. In the meantime enjoy your camera! p.s. Raising the ISO can help with non-flash photgraphy as it helps keep the shutter speeds up. Although the higher you go then the photo will start to degrade with noise. 1600 is the realistic ISO limit on mine. 3200 at a push. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen_Sindel Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 No problem. As you have a DSLR then I have no doubt there will be a custom white balance option. Basically it will involve taking a photo of something with a neutral colour (grey is best, or white) that is directly under the hall lights - I think used the floor this time around - and then applying it as your white balance reference point. I use a Nikon D300 so can't help you with the exact way of setting it up on a Canon. It should be in the manual somewhere. Although if you are struggling by the next event then feel free to shout - we can meet up (providing I am there of course!) and I will try and help. In the meantime enjoy your camera! I've got the Canon 350D and it has that function, so the 400D should have it as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
touchthesky Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Only a few bad points from me, most can probably be explained.. First is that we were told online there was a place to leave coats, then told at the venue by two seperate crew members that my suitcase would have to be pulled around by me all day since there was no where to leave it ....Ileft it with a dealer (ty soo much) but then I accidently stumbled accross a cloak room! So I had left my huge suitcase with a poor man who I think was scared to say no to me (I was so desperate) for no reason. Second was that we were told that we needed to come back in an hour for Paul Mcgann at 11:30am..we went back at around 12>45 and were told to come back in another hour..then we were told half an hour..and the man was really kinda rude about it..eventually he just let us in, i think due to all the huffing and puffing and steam from the ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurquoiseTrance Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 - Witnessed Dominic Keating and Danny John-Jules chatting about the hotness that is Chole Annette ...or Chloë Annett, maybe??! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banished_From_Rohan Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Only a few bad points from me, most can probably be explained.. Second was that we were told that we needed to come back in an hour for Paul Mcgann at 11:30am..we went back at around 12>45 and were told to come back in another hour..then we were told half an hour..and the man was really kinda rude about it..eventually he just let us in, i think due to all the huffing and puffing and steam from the ears. Firstly let me say that Paul was going a LOT slower than I imagined he would be. Given the number of tickets I'd given out I think the time I gave you originally was a fair estimate. At 12.45 Paul had gone to lunch and we were told he'd be back at 1.30, hence me telling you to come back in another hour (I'm assuming you had a ticket somewhere around 170 or more? We had only got to 130 by lunch). I don't think I was rude at all on the day given the situation - others have said I wasn't rude on here - and you are the only one who thinks I was so far. If I came across like that then I apologise because I don't mean to be. As for letting you in due to "huffing, puffing and steam from the ears" I can assure you that wouldn't be the case, more a case of it was slightly quieter and I had space to do so. I am capable of using common sense and discretion, and in fact did so all day with both queues. I think the fact we got everyone through by 5pm shows that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
touchthesky Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Like I said, both can probably be explained :). It felt like you were being rude on Sunday but if you weren't then I apologize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showmasters Admin showmasters Posted July 23, 2009 Showmasters Admin Share Posted July 23, 2009 - Met two venders from the this show *****. Spot some other people from the ***** as well. Didn't know Anime would be so well represented at the LFCC. Is the LFCC guys at war with that 'other event'? I ask because a mod here has edited out my mention of it plus over at the 'other events' forum, my posts mentioning the LFCC have been deleted hi there we are not at war as far as i am aware but we do not promote them and vice verser it would be good if we all worked together and we have tried to in the past but its never worked and we just mirror how we are treated now . i hope this helps for you to understand jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zagreus Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 (edited) Was anyone else in Tom Baker's queue when he went for lunch? I thought normal practice was to close the queue, sign for the remainder of people in the queue then go for lunch. I was about to hand over my money when we were told Tom was going for lunch and to come back later. Having already handed over my virtual ticket, I asked the girl at the desk what to do, who said "see the guy giving out the VT." I explained the situation, he gave me a new ticket. This was useless since when I had 10 mins to spare and went over, the same guy told me I couldn't get in till my number was up - despite me explaining the situation. In the end I had to go for my Scott talk and photoshoots and by the time I went back Tom had gone. Surely it's just a case of using your common sense - maybe signing the back of the new virtual ticket to know that I was already in the queue? Edited July 23, 2009 by Zagreus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyberdrunk Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 (edited) I think Tom went off for lunch unexpectedly, without giving the chance for the crew to close the queue and let those already there to get ther stuff signed. Sorry you had problems Surely it's just a case of using your common sense - maybe signing the back of the new virtual ticket to know that I was already in the queue? Good point, although i'm sure if you suggested it at the time you would have been okay. Edited July 23, 2009 by cyberdrunk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Beech Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Good points: Gold pass (helped out loads such as not needing to get to the doors till 8:55am and be able to walk in easily without having to worry bout picking up VQ tickets *thumbs*) Meeting people off the forum - Met a fair few people off the forum over the weekend Dean, Starbuck and Purple Vamp plus a few others =] was actually quite surprised that people knew who i was lol The guests - 95% of the guests were absolutly lovely personal favourites for us included Scott Bakula, Keeley Hawes (who we talked to bout the film After Thomas about an autistic lad which she starred in) and when we explained Callum had autism she nearly broke into tears which was quite surprising as we've never seen this from a guest before, Peter Facinelli & for me personally Jacob Kogan he was such an awesome little dude met him around lunchtime on the Sunday as he wasn't too busy went to him he put on my auto "Thanks for watching star trek Live long and prosper!" which was awesome had my pic with him doing the vulcan salute then to make it even cooler during the Twilight talk he came and sat next to me which was really cool Bad points (only ikkle ones) Dominic Keating (does it really need an explaination) Bruce being a little off with us on the saturday The delays with the photoshoots returning People booing us when we used our Gold Pass during photoshoots and talks - that is something i didnt completly understand why people were doing it, we payed the money to have the privallege (sp?) to do this so why were people booing us for using our Gold Passes Finally negative being during Open Q's the whole gold pass thing didn't seem to matter to some people in-charge on the queues until we spoke to a pit boss who said u can join the end of the main queue as the queue was longer than the main queue point. Other than that was an amazing weekend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zagreus Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 (edited) The booing also happened at Better Than Life recently when the gold pass holders were being let in to the talks. Standard pass holders seemed to have an issue with Gold going in first. Not a nice experience. Edited July 23, 2009 by Zagreus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showmasters Admin Too Tall Posted July 24, 2009 Showmasters Admin Share Posted July 24, 2009 Was anyone else in Tom Baker's queue when he went for lunch? I thought normal practice was to close the queue, sign for the remainder of people in the queue then go for lunch. I was about to hand over my money when we were told Tom was going for lunch and to come back later. Having already handed over my virtual ticket, I asked the girl at the desk what to do, who said "see the guy giving out the VT." I explained the situation, he gave me a new ticket. This was useless since when I had 10 mins to spare and went over, the same guy told me I couldn't get in till my number was up - despite me explaining the situation. In the end I had to go for my Scott talk and photoshoots and by the time I went back Tom had gone. Surely it's just a case of using your common sense - maybe signing the back of the new virtual ticket to know that I was already in the queue? Both the queue closing first and the signing of the back of the VT ticket "should" have happened. I apolagise it didn't. The booing also happened at Better Than Life recently when the gold pass holders were being let in to the talks. Standard pass holders seemed to have an issue with Gold going in first. Not a nice experience. If I see this I do make a point of stopping it. The problem is can't be everywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosie727 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 my only bad points were no seats altho i did find a nice wall to park my a@se against, the price of the food at the venue (my mortgage isnt that big lol). good points were meeting cool guests-how nice was scott??? jelly babies from tom baker, anna walton who was just soooooooooo lovely!!! starting the queue for paul mcgann and seeing the suprise on his face when he finally arrived that really was a picture. i could go on but wont Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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