Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Cosplay Is Not Only Dress-up

How many people think that cosplay is just wearing clothes for a character How many people think that cosplay is an activity which inseparable with the "show"How many people think that cosplay is just a waste of time does not make any sense?

For these questions, cosplayers cannot just laugh. With the recent popular of cosplay activities , Comic-Con various cities and in various countries all over the world
misunderstanding of the popularity of cosplay for more and more , I think it is time to respond to those questioned.

Cosplay is not only just dress-up can be completed
at the beginning of a cosplay event, like shoot cosplay photos, participate in cosplay competitions , and so on. Before we start to those event, we need to prepare for long-term work , including an analysis of the role of personality , as well as decomposition Costumes props composition, selection of suitable fabrics and materials, researching the role of makeup and hairstyle(sometimes we wear the wigs, sometimes we use our ture hair), choose a suitable place to take photos and a suitable time ,and to prepare in advance to create an atmosphere of shooting tools ( for example, for night shooting we may need an external flash , flash color film , tripod and smoke cakes and some other things), coordinating groups of cosplayers’ time about when to take photos. If we need to prepare the cosplay competition, the props and clothing of cosplayer would be more sophisticated, in order to cope with emergency situations on stage, we have to consider what can be done large props lightweight and easy to damage, what kind of materials and pigments can show a better result with different stage lighting, make-up in the stage also are different form the make-up which we use to take photos, because the stage lighting is very strong, we have heavy make-up in order to show better results. Complete the visual effects interpretations, cosplayers will begin to consider auditory effects , we often say cosplay stage performances is a visual feast , so in order to complete the so-called audio-visual feast proper mission, we need to performances with the right music in the stage, if it necessary we will cut some of those music clips , making the stage effects become better and better.

For me, the basis of cosplay is for an anime or game works of love, this love drives us to produce the character whom we love deeply in the real life. When we love a character, we just want to cosplay him or her, that is the reason why we cosplay. Some people will ask us, what is the point which take you carry out this activity in the end? Can you become a famous people or can you make money? I want to say that there is no need to us to live so utilitarian, I think there would have been sufficient reason to love this , and we can count the number examples of active and successful cosplayers – the first person I want to talk about is Yaya Han, she is a famous cosplayer in the United States and one of the world 's most famous cosplayers , her make-up, clothing, and props almost createed by their(Yaya and her boyfriend) own hands. Through the TV show named cosplay heroes (I will have a post of this TV show in the future), we come to understand more clearly the cosplayer----Yaya’s excellent skills in her props and on the role of interpretation , we can deeply feel her love of the character and her understanding of the character . And Yaya now also has her own brand of her cosplay. Now, Yaya Han, as a veteran cosplayer, make the success of the development of her hobby became her job, I think it's very consistent with American values ​​- doing what they want.
Yaya's cosplay photo
image from:https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151606410516608&set=pb.232604901607.-2207520000.1378960674.&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ash4%2F1002172_10151606410516608_1372755366_n.jpg&size=396%2C600
Image from:https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151578539811608&set=pb.232604901607.-2207520000.1378960725.&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-prn1%2F1097971_10151578539811608_1573972635_n.jpg&size=700%2C788


The second cosplayer is Xizhen, a female cosplayer from Taiwan China, she has entered the fourth decade of this year, as a teacher (She is working in Beijing now) , she used to work spare time , cosplay photo shoot will combine tourism and complete the many excellent cosplay works , and she also served as cosplay competition judges across China’s Comic-Con, each appearance , fans will be excited and shocked by the detailed of props and powerful gas field of Xizhen.
Xizhen's cosplay photo
Image from: http://photo.weibo.com/1910842591/talbum/detail/photo_id/3617936901857298?from=page_100505_home&wvr=5.1&mod=albumsingle#3617517261589727


After completing cosplay photos shoot , we will use Photoshop to make our photos better, such as changing the picture tone , remove the photo through the material ( through physical means should not appear in the photo among the buildings , people, and some do not meet the character traits things ) , changing the cosplayer facial details ( such as pupil color ) , fine adjustment . At the end of these processes, the photos which contain cosplayers’ love and brave are complete.

Thus, cosplay role than just wearing clothes, cosplayer cosplay a character not just wearing clothes and posing to let photographers taking many strange pictures. Cosplay starting point is love, our interpretation of a role in the real world in order to restore the role of our love life , our passion will always continue, we will deal with practical action to challenge outside of cosplay .

4 comments:

  1. It's almost amazing how you make it linear the similarities between cosplaying and acting on stage (Theatre) I supposed I hadn't thought of the similarities before you pointed them out, but they are definitely there.

    As an actor myself, I often have to find a way to "Be the character" with costumes, makeup (age-definining and the like) and sometimes wigs and the like. Cosplayers seem to do this as well in their preparation, but they don't have a script to hold them into character. You guys have to show who you're supposed to be based purely on the outfit and look. Kudos to those who can pull this off!

    Great post as it made me think of this comparison, and realize its existence.

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    1. lol,to be the character is the most difficult part in cosplay,it is a challenge for every cosplayers!

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  2. Well, before you post I did't know how difficult to take picture, I am in the dark. What I know is to be cos player you have to spend a lot of time to make up and choice the hair color etc. I was really enjoy to read this post. I realized that post should help people to understand cosplay and to take people away form confused.

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    1. Cosplay is an awesome habit!I love it wherever and whatever!

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