Last week I borrowed a theme from our Runway Cycle and asked our models to give us a fashion shoot in the style of “formal.” The only requirement beyond that was that the shot had to be in a portrait (vertical) orientation. Our models had a wonderful range of interpretations of the theme, some of them taking us to the Met Gala, others to the pages of Vogue or to a senior prom. But the winner this week took the “portrait” part the most seriously, and gave us a military general hanging above the mantle of a castle: Congratulations Tattl!
This is a clear example of how the setting can make a shot. Out on the open field this would have been some nice but normal armor. By giving us a pile of treasure as a background and a stiff pose, this shot has transformed into clear definition of a “formal portrait” and centuries from now this will be hanging in a museum exhibition about digital art.
Great job to all the models this week! Classic Cycle will return soon for Round 3. Also don’t forget that the deadline for the April Challenge is coming up on Friday April 17th, for the theme of April Flowers No Showers.
Welcome back for another week of ENTM Classic Cycle 12! This week, we borrowed an idea from our Runway Cycle, and asked our models to submit us a Formal Portrait. The round requirements were “Get as dressy as you can for this shot. Vertical orientation required.” Other than that, our models were free to interpret the instructions however they wanted, and we have a wonderful variety of concepts ranging from parties to paintings.
Please review the gallery of beautiful images, below, and then vote in the Google poll for the strongest shots this week!
For our first week, we stuck with a classic ENTM round all right – By the River! Our models were asked to go find a stream or a river and take a scenic shot to show off the location (and also themselves, of course.) Our judges had a tough time narrowing down the strongest shot and it was very close, but the winner this round was Reina Nymeria!
This shot had everything that we ask for in ENTM – a beautiful background scene with strong composition, good lighting and clothing contrast, and a story that we can tell about what we are seeing here. Congratulations Reina! To all our models, keep up the good work, and to our audience, thank you for voting! Community votes make all the difference and ENTM wouldn’t be the same without your input.
Welcome to the first round of Classic Cycle 12! Our models were asked to go out and find a stream or a river, and take a screen shot with it! We had no other restrictions in place for this round, other than it had to be scenic (so no monsters or fighting things.)
Thankfully there are plenty of waterways in Eorzea, so here we go!
When you have looked at all of the images, please vote in order from strongest to weakest in the Google poll embedded below, or alternately by >>>clicking on this link here.<<< 1 is the strongest, 2 is next strongest, etc. Voting will be open until 11:59 PM EDT on April 7th. Voting is anonymous (no email addresses are recorded) but we do limit to one vote per Google account to prevent ballot stuffing 🙂
It’s April Fool’s Day for another couple of hours, but the theme for April is no joke! Or is it? Elessia has asked us for:
April Flowers! No Showers!
That seems pretty straight forward – so go out and take your best shot of a lovely April flower patch in Eorzea in any other weather but rainy or stormy!
Entries will be accepted for this challenge until April 17th at 11:59 PM EDT.
To enter, send your image in a direct message to admin Katarh Mest on our Discord channel! >>>>Click here to join the Discord channel.<<<< Voting will commence sometime on or around April 18th. The winner gets a minion from the Mogstation, and also gets to pick the next month’s theme!
ENTM monthly challenges are open to the general FFXIV screenshot community. You do not need to have participated in any other ENTM contests to play. The usage of Reshade, in game mods, or post processing edits are not allowed. Please include the FFXIV copyright notice as required by Square Enix to allow us to host your screenshots on our website. ENTM monthly challenges are judged solely by the community, so be sure to share the link with your friends when voting starts!
Sorry for the delay posting this – it’s been a weird time for us all these last few weeks.
The challenge for March was “Green, Gold, and Rainbows” and we had five models and photographers give us their best shot. Voting this month was very close, and the winner by a nose was once again Elessia!
Cheers to a March that ended with most of us indoors and drinking.
It’s the moment we’ve been waiting for – the casting for ENTM Classic Cycle 12!
We have exactly 12 models making this a very nice and tidy little cycle for us. These models, a mixture of ENTM veterans and newbies alike, will compete for the crown of Eorzea’s Next Top – I mean, Next S-Rank Model! (Ahem. Please don’t sue us, Tyra.)
The models will be settling into their dressing rooms and given a couple of weeks to plan out the next two months. In the meantime, I encourage everyone to stay fashionable and keep posting those screen shots everywhere!
The Cast of Classic Cycle 12
Yume Aawkot of Ultros Rymmrael Bhaldraelwyn of Lamia Djevh’a Frehtj of Siren Marcelloix Axios of Gilgamesh Tattl Tael of Midgardsormr Crystalita Miah of Moogle Reina Nymeria of Moogle Minne Evershot of Famfrit Yomu Kazul of Gilgamesh Zylra Galcian of Mateus Elessia Sedai of Midgardsormr Alastor Izunia of Mateus
While I let our cast wait just a little bit more for the Classic Cycle 12 announcement, it’s time for this month’s voting for the challenge as well. The theme for March was:
Green, Gold, and Rainbows
We had four models rise to the challenge this month. Please review each shot below, and then vote for your favorite in the Google poll! Voting will be open until Friday, March 27th.
Before we announce the cast, it’s time to introduce our judges! Critiques were not part of the first ENTM but they have been integral to each cycle ever since they were introduced. Our judges will appraise each shot independently and rank the shots according to strengths. Judges are asked not to confer with one another until all votes are cast – so if more than one judge notices something in your shot, it means they came to the conclusion on their own and should be treated as such.
The Judges for ENTM Classic Cycle 12 are:
Haila Wetyios of Balmung: Winner of Classic Cycle 10 and a frequent recurring judge ever since then. She has a spectacular eye for detail and an honest voice in her critiques. Haila most recently judged for Fresh Faces Cycle 1.
Malkovich Malkovich of Faerie: Winner of Instagram Cycle 2 and master of light and shadow. Most likely to be sharing cool stuff on our Screenshot Fun channel. Malkovich most recently judged for Runway Cycle 1.
Odharnait “Ona” Greene of Goblin: ENTM Monthly Challenge winner of 2018 and Community Winner of Tumblr Cycle 10. Ona is a frequent judge and likes to experiment with formats for her critiques, including once writing poems for every round of Scenic Cycle. Ona most recently judged Runway Cycle 1.
Aelyria Windrunner of Siren: Our Fresh Faces second place winner is also our freshest judge! Aelyria did magical things with her ultra wide screen monitor and played with composition in a unique way we hadn’t seen before in an ENTM cycle. We look forward to what she has to teach us in this new cycle!
Hi everyone! As promised, we’re throwing wide open auditions for Classic Cycle 12.
ENTM started on the official Square Enix forums as a fun little contest run by Rongi Pongi, done in the style of a reality TV show. (Check out our archives for the available screen shots from the very first contest!) After running the contest there for several years, the hosts for Cycle 4 moved to Tumblr, as the official forums couldn’t easily handle the spam generated by the chatter! Our contest remained there until March 2019, when we launched our new website to keep our content ad-free and retain creative control of our images.
Classic Cycle 12 is the continuation of the format developed for Tumblr.
Non-elimination (everyone stays in the contest the whole time)
Eight weeks, with one screenshot due each week
A mixture of previous contestants, new contestants, and even winners from previous cycles – no limits!
Community Voting and Judged Voting combined
Judges critiques on a weekly basis
To Audition for Classic Cycle 12, take three screenshots in Gpose under the following rules:
A portrait / vertical orientation shot of you in your favorite city-state enjoying the sites. Scenic, so no battle stuff (you’re inside a city state anyway.) Include your character’s whole body!
A Black and White, Monotone, or Sepia colored Battle Shot, of you visibly engaged with an enemy. Weapons out! Gimme that battle glitter! Vertical or horizontal is fine for this.
A head shot, shoulders up, in landscape/ horizontal orientation, using any of the in-game picture frames. This will also be used as our cast announcement shot, so make sure your close up is as pretty as you can make it!
Other requirements for ENTM contests: No ReShade or mods allowed to keep things fair to our PS4 contestants. Screen shots cannot be cropped or edited in post processing (save that for Instagram.) Please include the FFXIV copyright notice on each image, per the SE Media licensing terms and conditions (the thing that lets us host their copyrighted images on our private website. )
When you have your three shots ready, please either send them in an email to eorzeasntm@gmail.com or send them in a direct message to Katarh Mest on the >>>>ENTM Discord (click to join!)<<<< While joining our Discord community is not required to enter the contest, we strongly recommend that you do join as our Cycle 12 models will have a private channel to chat – and ENTM is ultimately all about making new friends!
Auditions are open from March 8th to March 21st. The cast will be announced on or around March 22nd.
ENTM Classic Cycle 12 will run for 8 weeks from April 3rd to May 22nd. If you are auditioning, please either plan to submit shots early for weeks you’ll be out of town or busy, or otherwise make arrangements to have them submitted on time. Missing one week won’t disqualify you, but if you miss two weeks you’ll be withdrawn from the contest.
Models are also asked not to use a Fantasia for the duration of the contest. All changes in makeup and hair permitted by the aesthetitian are allowed and encouraged!
Prize: Bragging rights. The winner receives the title of S-Rank model. (For those folks more interested in contests with prizes, we run a monthly challenge that does not require an audition. Join our Discord to learn more.)
