Oct 13, 2016 | Cosplay, International Cosplay Contests |
Next to the costumes, preparations and skit, we needed to fill out some forms.
We had about 4 different sheets we needed to fill out.
1. Construction report
2./3. Performance Sheet
4. Costumes
5. Participation agreement
All sheets needed to be sent in 1 month prior of the championship with the finished video file, audio file and original pictures of the characters you are going to Cosplay.
You have about 2 weeks to fill out the most forms (we got the construction report earlier) and you need a lot of information’s regarding your props (size, Kg, pictures) and costumes. This is why we finished all our championship costumes and props, made all pictures, measurements, scripts etc. beforehand so we just needed to copy and paste everything inside.
1. The construction report
The construction report is a power point presentation which you use during the craftsmanship judging in order to present your costume. You are supposed to talk 5 minutes per person about your costume and to use the presentation as support. You can show your finished work in comparison to the original artwork, the materials and the technique you used. It had 3 main sections; Costume, wig and prop. We kept it in the order we wanted to present our costumes and decided to change after each section. The rehearsed a lot, because we were afraid not to finish everything in the time frame. Our report was about 24 pages.
2. The performance sheet->The prop setting
In this sheet you write everything about your props inside; Height, length, wide and weight and a picture. This is necessary, because there are limitations. The staff will check the measurements and weight (incl. the weight of your costume) at the craftsmanship judging day. In this sheet you also fill out where the props should be set at the stage and how your stage setting is at the start of the ski and what will be left after the skit.
3. The performance sheet->The rider
In the rider you write down a short description of your skit and a detail one for the camera setting. You also need to mark where you will stand and where your props will be at which point of your audio. Additionally to that you write down the light setting and the special effects you want to have at a certain moment at your skit.You also write down your phrases in English and Japanese and describe what happens on stage at the certain moment and time code.
4. Costumes
This was the easiest sheet. In this sheet we just wrote down which costumes we are going to wear at which event.
They told us that no changes are possible, because the Cosplayers are going to be announced with their costumes at most of the events.
Actually someone changed his costume without notice before a courtesy visit and it caused a lot of trouble. It happened in front of the Major where a lot of cameras recorded this mistake. Furthermore the press people all wrote down the wrong character name. I guess it was kind of embarrassing for the Cosplayer.
Afterwards they told us, if we need to change a costume, we have to tell the staff beforehand. I guess they accept changes if you notify them in order to prevent embarrassing moments like this.
5. Participation agreement
In this sheet you just sign and agree with the rules of the World Cosplay Summit and the usage of your pictures for promotion purposes.
A lot of teams had troubles to finish these sheets in time, because they weren’t finished with their championship costumes or skit or weren’t prepared for that. A lot of pictures and information’s in detail were required. If you missed to take pictures and gather the information’s, 2 weeks are a very short timeframe. Some of them couldn’t take pictures or write everything down because without finished costumes gathering all these material is nearly impossible.
The most crucial part was the costume construction report.
If you don’t have pictures of a certain technique, because you are not done, you cannot show it to the judges.
Difficult also seemed to the light rider. I am quite used to it because I write light riders every 2 weeks. But I guess for people who have no idea about light setting and effects it can cause trouble.
I prepared everything beforehand and could finish it in 2-3 evenings. I made it in Japanese and English so it was easier for the staff to read our sheets and light rider.
I guess if you are prepared it is quite easy to fill out all these sheets. The preparation itself took hours and hours… I think it was quite tough to finish everything in 2 weeks.
Oct 11, 2016 | Cosplay, International Cosplay Contests, Uncategorized |
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| Picture by Japanaily |
I am back from one of my biggest journeys of my life and my head is full of great memories, experiences and new friendships. It was an honor to participate at the World Cosplay Summit and Iam really grateful for this experience.
I never though that the World CosplaySummit would be such a rewarding event.
This is why I decided to blog about it. So I can share my experience and write down my memories and thoughts.
If you have any questions or wishes about which topic I should write. Please don’t hesitate to ask.
Today I want to start with the Preliminary 1 year ago and the way to the championship.
The Preliminary in Germany:
One year ago I participated with my partner Chiko at the Preliminary at the Connichi, one of the biggest Anime/ Manga events in Germany.
I did I because I really love to perform and could try out new things on stage next to singing and dancing.
I never though we really would be become the next WCS Team Germany, because I know that other awesome Cosplayer are trying since years and years and I was just a rookie who started to participate at competitions recently.
I was happy but really felt unsure if I would be really able to represent Germany accordingly.
Buying the materials:
Because we never expected to become the next team we already planned and booked a Asia trip in November.
This was also the reason why we decided a week after the preliminary which costume we are going to bring to Japan. We knew that we would visit Taipei and Dubai, where you can get fabrics and crafting supplies for small money.
I calculated the time schedule for the WCS and realized directly after the preliminary that we don’t have a lot of time and need to start practicing an sewing as soon as possible.
These are the costumes we decided to bring to Japan:
Because I knew that we are short on time I finished the interview Cosplay 2 weeks after the Preliminary. It was a good feeling to know, that at least one Cosplay is finished before enjoying the holiday in Asia. In Taipei and Japan we went shopping and got most of our material for our WCS costumes. Chinese silk is awesomely cheap over there… We bought wonderful Chinese embroidered silk for about 3-4 Euro per 90 cm. And 50 Meter braids for about 3-5 Euro.
We mostly bought our braids in Dubai. Because they were cheaper than in Taipei.
The skit:
Because I knew we need to practice a lot I finished the audio file in February.
We decided to go for Adekan and to use our preliminary skit, because we got a lot of good advices. I wanted to make a better skit than at the preliminary. So I we though, that pimping up and improving our skit would be a good choice.
The audio consists out of 12 Songs, 25 cuts, 160 pieces and a lot of corrections.
It took me about a month to complete it. I worked at it every day about 4 hours.
We adjusted the audio file till June in order to get the perfect timing and speed for all the effects.
It took me 3 months to write the skit and to rewrite the choreography.
The skit and the choreography has been changed and adjusted till June. We worked a lot on it to make it “better”.
At first it was very difficult for us to learn the choreography and to get used to the new movements, because we are very unsporty and don’t know anything about dancing or material arts. You can imagine that my bruises already got some names… But after 3-4 months it went better and we could start working on smaller movements of the hand and the way of walking.
A lot of people asked me how long we practiced.
We practiced from February till departing every week one between 4-10 hours. Sometimes 2 or 3 times a week. Our last practice was 2 days before departing to Nagoya.
The costumes:
Next were the championship costumes.
I started sewing directly after coming back from my Asia trip in December and it took me about 7 months to complete my championship Cosplay as well as my props and quick change costumes.
Ill write about the construction of them in an other blog.
Ive never put so much time, money and effort into a costume as for the championship.
The costumes are really not perfect but I am
very very happy about them.
I haven’t studied or learned how to sew so I needed to watch a lot of tutorials or ask friends for certain new techniques. But it was worth it.
I worked at them about 4-10 hours a day and I admit it was very exhausting.
The props:
For me it was the first time to build stage props which need to fit into a luggage. My friend owns a very big car, that’s why it was quite a challenge.
For the gate and the box we decided to use a clip box board system.
It is very simple to build up and to transport it.
The cage is made out of plastic pipes.
We shaped the rings with heat in order to get a ring.
I need to admit that I am noob regarding to light stuff. That’s why my friend helped me to construct it. And I just watched and helped him to get the stuff done….
I only know that it took quite a time to finish it and I am really thankfull, that he helped me this much.
Next to the skit and the costume I realized that planning and preparing yourself is also very time consuming and important. The earlier you think about your baggage the earlier you might avoid problems. We had problems to transport our swords, because they are too long for a normal luggage. Cause we though about it beforehand we solved this problem in a very simple and cheap way.
Also informing yourself about the events and what is expected of you is very important.
The most important thing was to inform myself about the hotel, the surroundings of the Hotel regarding craft supplies and batteries etc, as well as about the weather.
Japanese weather is very different to ours in Europe. So I checked what gadgets might be useful in order to survive an outdoor event in the Japanese summer heat.
I also got spares for all of my props, batteries and everything that might be damaged during the transport in the airplane.
Actually planning, making research and preparing myself took about 2-3 months of my sewing and practicing time. I never though that it would be that time consuming.
But it was worth it, because we were prepared for every case and could avoid stressful situations.
May 23, 2016 | Cosplay, New Release, Photoshootings, Uncategorized |
Of course I will not come to the upcoming concerts barehanded but bring some merchandise for my booths or signing sessions!
I made some new posters and postcards!
Due to some polls at my facebookpage I decided to make some Din A 4 prints. I hope you like them. 🙂
if you have any wishes reagrding to some new print products please dont hesitate to contact me. 🙂
I also got some new signing cards which you can get for free as usual. *o*
Hope to see you at my concerts and signing sessions! <3
Ill update the prints to my shop:
shiroku.storenvy.com/
After the World Cosplay Summit.
May 19, 2016 | Events, On Stage, Travel, Uncategorized |
I am very happy to announce that Ill have 3 concerts before heading to the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya!
I am recently very busy with my preperations for the WCS but still giving my best to practice and prepeare my concerts as usual. 🙂
I would be happy if you would visit my following concerts:
~* ChisaiiCon *~
4th June, Hamburg (Germany)
Saturday -> 15:30 hr > Main Stage
~* Animecon *~
11th June, Den Haag (Netherlands)
Saturday -> 14:30 hr > Small Stage
~* Comic Con Germany*~
26th June, Stuttgart (Germany)
Sunday -> 14:15 hr > Cosplay Stage
Hope to see you there. 🙂
Mar 3, 2016 | Cosplay, International Cosplay Contests |
I already announced our Interview Cosplays for the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya this summer.
The decision:
Some of you know that I already cosplayed this version of Asuka before. I am a big fan of Neon Genisis Evangelion and my favorite character is of course Pen Pen. I also cosplayed Rei in her maid version so we decided to go for this Anime quite quickly.
We wanted to Cosplay something we love, something easy in order to gain time for the other Cosplays and something traditional for the courtesy visits. I also have been to Japan in summer before and can tell you that Japanese summer is hilarious hot and humid. Although it was very hot I felt comfortable while wearing a Yukata. So we went for the Matsuri version and decided not to fake the obi but to wear this Kimono as traditional as possible.
Because my friend actually is a typical German girl we thought it would be a great idea that she would cosplay the German Asuka.
The progress:
Actually I already finished this Cosplay in November 2015. I started it directly after choosing our Cosplays for Nagoya. I guess it was a week after the preliminary.
I kept it as a secret until now because we wanted to announce the Cosplays with a quiz on several social media platforms.
As mentioned above it was very easy to sew this Cosplay. It actually took me 2 days to finish the sewing part and 4 more days for the crafting part. Mostly I just waited for the next layer to dry.
The Kimono:
The Kimono pattern is quite easy. It actually consists of stripes which you just put together.
I have a lot of Kimonos and Yukatas at home. So I just took one out of my board and used it as a pattern. I modified the sleeves because they are not typical in shape and length.
I just cut everything out and put it together. Nothing really difficult so far.
The sleeves:
One of the most interesting parts -> sleeves.
I needed to line them 2 times. Why 2 times?
As you can see, the inside of the sleeves are red, but if you just line the sleeve in red you can see the reddish color through the white sleeves. So I put a middle layer in white between.
We also discussed the way of attaching the black stripes to the sleeves.
We talked about painting, gluing, applying and embroidery.
In the end we used flock foil. It was the best way to attach the stripes neatly. And the structure looks really nice.
The Obi:
Because we wanted to wear the Kimono in the traditional way we sewed a normal Obi.
As you can see in the original picture, the Obi is folded in the front and shows a brown color. That’s why we used black fabric for one side and on the other side brown.
The Obi is about 18 cm wide and 3,60 m long.
We still need to practice to put the costume on faster than 20 minutes. (XD Yes, it takes time.)
I already bought a lot of different straps in Japan for my Furisode and got some for my partner Chiko-chan last year. So we are hopefully prepared. 🙂
The props:
The next interesting parts are the accessories for the wig.
I not only crafted the small prop but also the fox mask. I found a better one in Japan, so I changed the mask after finishing the self made one.
For me it was the first time working with Styrofoam.
At first I drew a pattern and cut it out with a cutter.
Afterwards I grinded the Styrofoam into shape and used a white acryl grounder.
I waited until the coat dried and grinded again. Than again I painted it with acryl grounder, waited and grinded. I did this about 17 times, to get a smooth surface.
The paintings are simply made with a permanent marker. Afterwards I finished the props with a clear coat.
I spent a lot time waiting for the layers to dry.
Grinding took not that much time, because the pieces are quite small.The pieces are attached with some press buttons at the wig.
The shooting:
We decided to make a shooting with this Cosplays in order to try out how comfortable they really are and if we need to make some changes. We are also planning to wear them at a summer event to experience if we can handle the heat.
It was quite difficult to find a Japanese room in Germany but we were successful. Thanks VW for taking these awesome pictures!
I hope you like our choice and costumes!
We are really looking forward to wear them in Japan!
