Originally posted at ManyLemons, you can reply here or there.

Since the first Cosplay Cascade video went down well I’ll likely be making more! I’ve had the odd request to be in the next one from various people so I’m making a general post on the topic.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Originally posted at ManyLemons, you can reply here or there.

So this is a bit of a breakdown of the toy I’ve been playing with the last few weeks. Inspired by cosplay fanvideos around the world I noted the video mode on my Canon 550d and set about doing some research on whether I could do anything similar!

Usual disclaimer, this is all my understanding of things and how they work, I could well be wrong or misguided, feel free to throw in comments if you know better! However for now this is kind of a layman’s view on things, I got a LOT of enquiries about the steadicam while running around with it at KitaCon and I promised I’d do a detailed writeup of how I abused the poor thing.

There’ll be a later post on actually using the thing and considerations for the filming itself, but for now this is the techy side of fixing up a cheapo steadicam.

This rig, of course, is all I used for the first Cosplay Cascade video, so the results are already out there!

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Originally posted at ManyLemons, you can reply here or there.

The sprocketed lemon slice rotates once more!

It’s been a long time, my jog/shuttle wheel hasn’t seen this much exercise in many years but it’s time I got back in the editing seat and got some movement up in my visual media deliverings!

In other words: A cosplay music video has been made! Except CMV doesn’t sound all that cool so I’m going with the far cheesier Cosplay Cascade! (I reserve the right to retract this name if the world and its dog hates it) Thanks to all the wonderful cosplayers of KitaCon 4 for putting up with me not just snapping photos but also making them spin like tops, jump about, and generally flail around like loons. This is your payoff! All 130ish of you! Apologies to anyone I filmed who didn’t make it in, there aren’t many and most are my fault at the camera end!

All weekend I was trying out my amateur steadicam and running semicircles around people in order to get that magical floating-camera effect that’s popular these days, with the aim of setting it to music and making something cool. I had a lot of fun with this and it was great to see so many people getting involved.

“But hang on“, I imagine you saying, “aren’t you ripping off CosplayFever with making music videos?”

• Not at all! I started out in music video stuffs, albeit not with cosplayers, nor with any clue what I was doing, nor were they any good, but NEVERMIND!
• I did – since we’re on good terms anyway – check I wouldn’t be stepping on toes by making one, so I think we cool. Hopefully.
• I’m ripping off acksonl, get it right! Jeez. I am half expecting a knock on the door and opening it to get the back end of a steadicam to the face for this, but I figure no one else this side of the pond is making them so..

So yes, music, cosplayers, swishy steadicam, and much silliness. As a disclaimer – beyond not owning rights the music in any way, shape or form – I’m not a pro at this. The steadicam rig is cheap, flaky, customised and abused muchly; this is only my second outing doing any filming with it and my first on this scale; my editing skills haven’t been flexed since like 2006; etc etc excuses excuses. Basically: it isn’t all sharp, perfectly focused, smoothly panned, ungrainy footage and I can’t even promise I kept peoples’ heads in view the whole time. I’ll get better!

For obvious reasons, I’ll take criticisms on the filming, the grading, the editing, music choice, what have you, but keep negative comments on individual cosplayers to yourselves – they’re out of my control XD and a lot of them are good friends of mine.

Hope you enjoy, share the love, etc. Anyone interested in taking up similar projects or donating footage to the cause of Nert Makes More Videos, I’ll be making posts about the steadicam and its trials/tribulations soonish.

Originally posted at ManyLemons, you can reply here or there.

KitaCon returns! Only my second visit but hardcore veterans were hitting the dancefloor for the fourth year running. If anyone worries the con scene might start to stagnate with the same faces every time, that’s not happening anytime soon! So many new faces in and out of costume it was quite the change to barely recognise anyone! Aw man, I have to do the whole socialising thing again?

Kita4 managed to best the previous year on just about every count, the vibe throughout the venue was amazing, lots of lovely costumes, and all the special guests were awesome to meet.

While the gallery numbers are respectable for a small event, Kita is anything but, so what gives? Also what the HELL is up with that massive data count, I ask myself? I may have been.. preoccupied the entire convention with the gadget you may have noticed in an earlier post. Details are still sketchy and we haven’t got all the intelligence on the matter yet, but rumour has it that I was filming cosplayers all about the convention merlin-steadicam-style. To what end? We just don’t have the answers yet..

But soon…

Originally posted at ManyLemons, you can reply here or there.

Random opportunity to visit the Birmingham NEC for the Sunday of the joint Memorabilia/MCM ComicCon event last weekend, which is usually a bit too far out of my way. Would I turn down chances to photograph cosplayers? No, no I would not.

Up-and-coming MyM magazine enquired about some assistance with their cosplay section so I was duly thrown at them to take some pictures by their stall, as will be apparent when you look at the gallery! Also something of another first, I teamed up with Foxy of Fox’s Eye Photography and his photos from the stall are mixed in here, head along to his gallery for more photos from the whole weekend!

More video footage was also taken, it’s a slow process but I amassing something of a collection for The Project ™, hopefully KitaCon will source me with enough to get something substantial put out!

Originally posted at ManyLemons, you can reply here or there.

Back once more to where I first started my convention-going days over a decade ago :O

Minami’s 18th outing, breaking another landmark as the country’s oldest running anime convention, did not disappoint and was a remarkably chilled event for me. We didn’t even break any tables this year!

Photography backup was to be found in the forms of Niffer and Lucy once more, covering convention ground that I could not! Their first Minami and they both loved it.

Apologies in the delay of getting these done, the world and its dog seemed to want these buried, or just me in general. I’m still typing this through a swimming headache!

Originally posted at ManyLemons, you can reply here or there.

So we’ve got quite the run up of events approaching at shocking speed, MinamiCon is this coming weekend and once more I’ll be waxing satirical about photography rubbish so if you’re around earlyish on the Friday I appear to once more be taking over Event Room 2 from 5 ’til 6. So be there. Or don’t be. That’s fine; I won’t mind. I-it’s not like I do these things for you or anything.

To the right you may well notice something unusual, you may see this at the forthcoming events, do not run, do not fear or panic. Well, unless it looks good in 60fps, then feel free. Most importantly, don’t freeze on the spot! The deer-in-headlights look isn’t in fashion this season, do something cool instead! The lemon demands it. ManyLemons may well be revisiting something of a page from its own tattered, ancient-runed book, and taking a little return to roots with a project I have in mind.

To this end: EXPECT THE LENS

Originally posted at ManyLemons, you can reply here or there.

First event of the new year for me! HyperJapan returns for its third outing in an even larger venue and appears to have smacked its queuing problems on the head from last year, the event is only improving and this year was host to the UK qualifiers for both the European Cosplay Gathering, and – for the first time ever – World Cosplay Summit. The UK is finally on the WCS map!

Congratulations to our winners for both!

Lex and Sands are our representatives for the 2012 World Cosplay Summit with their excellent Vampire Hunter D (Amano version) costumes and performance, and will be attending the finals in Japan.

Yuka and Dahlia will be representing us at the 2012 European Cosplay Gathering with their costumes and performance from Final Fantasy XIII, as with Nomes with her Son Goku from Dragonball Z (which sadly I missed seeing!) at the finals held in France.

Other prizes went to contestants for: Judges’ Choice, Best Junior, Best Individual, 4th place, and 3rd place.

Originally posted at ManyLemons, you can reply here or there.

What’s this?! An entry on ML that isn’t specifically attached to an event of somesort?

Heresy.

tl;dr version: What kind of panel/workshop would you want to see from me? or for me to generally arrange and drag people into?

( Read the rest of this entry » )