Need your advice about Cosplay videos

[almathea]

Hi

Well my cosplay group (Murder Club) and I are quite fond of Hellsing. That's why we cosplayed on that series for 2 years.

Of course we like our costumes, the people taking pics, the children's eyes wide open and the thrill of the stage. But what we fancy the most is doing video clips we post on Youtube.
We also did many fake adverts -most of them still needing to be dubbed.

We had many advices from people on cosplay forums, but I'd love to know what cels collectors may think about what we do, especially as we are preparing the darkest clip we ever made on "Phantom of the Opera".

Here are a few links:
- Our first clip on "Love like blood": http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=pbHQLa8mo8s
- Second one on "Vater Unser": http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=-zktU_Kwvak
- Third brand new and completely crazy on "Banana Phone": http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx7d_NMxZYs
- Fake add "Walter's dental floss": http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=S2hYtP_l_c8

Please give your opinion...

[buma]

well, not quite sure what kind of comments you're looking for here. Just as folks that are 'outsiders' to cel collecting and can't see why we spend countless of dollars on little bitty pieces of plastic with paint on them, me being an 'outsider' to cosplay videos, I don't see why you do it

But I can offer some of my own personal views:
1. I think that your video test shots, to me as an AMV editor, could have been done more effectively with still shots rather than video. I think you can get a much better mood with stills, as the breakup of the poses as you shift from one to the other breaks the mood IMHO. But if this was strictly a video test (to test how cosplays look on camera, if the lighting was correct, etc etc) then disregard this

2. Banana Phone was funny and rather well edited

3. the fake dental floss add would have been funnier if I were more familiar with the series - but it did leave me feeling a bit confused again as to the 'why' (but of course, the proper answer is 'why not' so...)

nice to see you take passion in your hobbies!

[pixie_princess]

I like the intro to "Vater Unser"
I think it could benifate in some scenes from a filter in virtual dub to fix the colors... Or, if you are going for that look (ala the Omen) then maybe a little light film grain? It could use some more contrast in certain scenes as well especially in the Black and white scenes. The Yellow monochrome one is a bit too washed out (the first one). Anytime you switch to something monochromatic, you might want to consider taking advantage of the added clarity that some scenes offer. Dispencing with color allows for objects and people to be brought more to the forefront. It would be good to take advange of some of those moments to bring them sharply into focus by upping the contrast a bit. Make sure there is some variability there though so that it is not all just dark or mostly light... To understand it more, look at an image of "grayscale" online. It'll show you tonal values going from white to black, and should help.

I love the cosplay outfits. Pretty cool. I haven't seen much Hellsing though, I've been curious about it for a while. I approached this not so much as cel collector, but more as a photographer and novice cosplayer.

Also, I forgot to add, wonderful job on matching up the lipsyncing.. It looked really good.

[graymouser]

Banana Phone was my favorite. It was fun to see you messing with having them be OOC.

I am always amazed at how much work goes into cosplay. I admire your dedication.