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Cosplay on SyFy???

#1

ncts_dodge_man

ncts_dodge_man

From: http://tv.yahoo.com/news/syfy-orders-reality-series-producers-arthur-smith-mark-220835317.html

Cosworld (working title) – Premieres Tuesday, August 27 at 10PM (ET/PT)– Cosworld is a tantalizing six-episode docuseries that lifts the veil on the imaginative world of cosplay competition. The series follows some of the hottest cosplay stars as they make a splash at comic book conventions around the country. The show dives deep into their lives, following their process as they create extravagant and visually arresting costumes each week. These individuals will constantly defy odds and race against the clock to transform themselves into amazing fictional characters that push the boundaries between fantasy and reality, all in hopes of impressing the convention judges to win a cash prize and the chance to become a cosplay legend. Production company: 51 Minds, an Endemol Company. Executive producers: Mark Cronin, Courtland Cox and Dave Caplan.


#2

PatrThom

PatrThom

I like the concept.
Let's see if I like the execution.

--Patrick


#3

LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

I'm not allowed to say what I know about this show yet, but woot!! =^^=

Also just want to mention that if I had to make a full costume in a week, I would turn into Rage-zilla and hate everything in this world constantly.


#4

ncts_dodge_man

ncts_dodge_man

LittleKagsin said:
Also just want to mention that if I had to make a full costume in a week, I would turn into Rage-zilla and hate everything in this world constantly.
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Just out of curiosity, wouldn't it somewhat depend on what the costume was? If it was buying pre-designed stuff (ex: spandex, shirts, vests, paints, etc) that was then put together to be the costume, wouldn't that be easier and possibly easily done in a week? I realize crafting something from scratch would be very hard unless you had nothing else to do but that (and a mega-ton of patience).


#5

LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

ncts_dodge_man said:
Just out of curiosity, wouldn't it somewhat depend on what the costume was? If it was buying pre-designed stuff (ex: spandex, shirts, vests, paints, etc) that was then put together to be the costume, wouldn't that be easier and possibly easily done in a week? I realize crafting something from scratch would be very hard unless you had nothing else to do but that (and a mega-ton of patience).
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Sure, if you could find premade stuff that would work, which you're right, it definitely depends on the costume. If what you're dressing up from is from real life (like TV or Movies), it is generally easier to find pieces you could make work. But, in my expereince it's rare to find things for comic book, video game, anime cosplay.

I feel like that's a somewhat oversimplification of the process though. I know every cosplayer does it differently, but quit a few that I know are so detail oriented we even research the exact fabric type used (which includes finding fabric with the perfect patteron on it), or the exact shirt (which sometimes can't be found anymore), the exact shoes (which often have to be made since they don't exist), the exact hair style (which can involve heavy wig styling), contact lenses for the right eye color, the right prop/weapon if the character has one (which also are generally made from scratch because again..they don't exist), exact gun models, some even go extreme and find the exact buttons used on jackets, shirts and any other little detail.

So, you have to do all of this research to find everything that you need, you have to order everything (which if by chance it's coming from China there is NO way it will get there within the week), then make, attach, alter, fit, re-fit, sew and do all of that in a week? And really, the ordering stuff from online is what sounds scary to me given the time frame. If you have everything, and an easier costume, no a week isn't a bad time frame at all.

I'm just an idiot and have yet to do an easy costume for myself. (Well, I guess femMerlin and Fluttershy were quite on the easy side and have probably been the easiest costumes I've done to date.)

But, I need to shush. I hope the show does well and is presented in a...classy? manner. =^^=

EDIT: Oh oh, one last thing, I swear, you're definitley right in that if this is all you had to worry about, then sure a week's not bad at all. If you didn't have to worry about a regular day job and you could just work on costumes, then yeah, that would take a lot of stress out of the equation. (I only know of one cosplayer, however, that doesn't have a day job on top of cosplaying awesome things to awesome cons. :) )


#6

strawman

strawman

LittleKagsin said:
I'm not allowed to say what I know about this show yet, but woot!! =^^=

Also just want to mention that if I had to make a full costume in a week, I would turn into Rage-zilla and hate everything in this world constantly.
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Why doesn't this fine forum have a drawing of a Kagzilla yet?

Hopefully someone will remedy this immediately.


#7

Bowielee

Bowielee

Sci Fi Channel exec said:
Hey, I know our entire format is based off of science fiction, but we're going to go for wide audience appeal and change our name to something stupid.... Oh, I don't know, SyFy.
A few years later.

Sci Fi Channel exec said:
Hey, nerds, I know we pretty much alienated all of you, but guess what.... COSPLAY. Please watch our shows again... pretty please?
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#8

Dei

Dei

Meanwhile I'm in a state of ragezilla trying to make easy outfits because I can't find the right color fabric and my dying keeps coming out wrong lol. I imagine a week with all the right materials at your disposal isn't too bad, and you know that these reality TV competitions always have a way to make it work no matter what drama they put on the screen. ;)


#9

linglingface

linglingface

They were filming at ECCC this year! I was not cosplaying at all, but I hope I get to see a few friends on this!


#10

PatrThom

PatrThom

I imagine it's a bit like cooking.

Some days, I make spaghetti sauce or stew by choosing a half dozen or so canned products at the grocery store, combining them into a pot, then simmering them all together for a while so that they blend.

Other days, I will spend time measuring, cutting, searing, browning, sautéing, caramelizing, tasting, sprinkling, and fretting…because I want it to be perfect.

--Patrick


#11

Officer_Charon

Officer_Charon

Not a bad analogy, at that...

Which explains my "instant-ramen" approach to cosplay.


#12

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Officer_Charon said:
Not a bad analogy, at that...

Which explains my "instant-ramen" approach to cosplay.
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Let me guess.... you cosplay a cop.


#13

Officer_Charon

Officer_Charon

Ravenpoe said:
Let me guess.... you cosplay a cop.
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I'm not the hero Gnomecon deserves, but not the one it needs right now.

Naw, normally it just consists of browsing Wal-mart until I find something... close enough. *grins*


#14

Azurephoenix

Azurephoenix

Officer_Charon said:
Not a bad analogy, at that...

Which explains my "instant-ramen" approach to cosplay.
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I still think it would be totally awesome for you to dress like one of the judges from the new Dredd movie... complete with a "Charon" badge and everything.


#15

PatrThom

PatrThom

Uh-oh, looks like SyFy got itself into a bit of a pickle regarding the rights to some of the images used in conjunction the show.
Yes, that is right – a nationalized television show using images for promotion AND on the weekly episodes without written permission from the authors and copyright owners of the images; The PHOTOGRAPHERS.
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--Patrick


#16

Jay

Jay

Not really, if they got the cosplayers to sign off on it and claiming it's their material they did their due process. This is between the photographers and the cosplayers and let me tell you something, you don't want to piss off your clients from being able to get what they want.


#17

Bowielee

Bowielee

Sounds pretty cash grabby to me.


#18

redthirtyone

redthirtyone

EW has a review up on it:

Heroes of Cosplay

I guess tonight is the premiere. Looks like a primary focus will be Yaya Han. None of the other names rang a bell other than Monika Lee. I came here wondering if we had Kags' take on this. Might be interesting to hear her thoughts after it has aired? :whistling:


#19

Bowielee

Bowielee

It premiered a few weeks ago.


#20

redthirtyone

redthirtyone

Bah OK then. Article acts like it's a new show. EW is usually more on top of things than that.


#21

LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

redthirtyone said:
EW has a review up on it:

Heroes of Cosplay

I guess tonight is the premiere. Looks like a primary focus will be Yaya Han. None of the other names rang a bell other than Monika Lee. I came here wondering if we had Kags' take on this. Might be interesting to hear her thoughts after it has aired? :whistling:
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I know nearly all of the girls on the show - most of them are pretty big names in the cosplay world. And I'm friends with a few of them, so I feel somewhat biased about the show. But here are my thoughts on episode one (or more like my thoughts on the storm of hate this show caused):


I haven't had a chance to watch episode 2 yet, but I plan on doing so soon and making another video review. =^^=


#22

PatrThom

PatrThom

Jay said:
Not really, if they got the cosplayers to sign off on it and claiming it's their material they did their due process. This is between the photographers and the cosplayers and let me tell you something, you don't want to piss off your clients from being able to get what they want.
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The argument is that a photographer retains all rights to the use/reproduction of their work. This is true regardless if the subject is cosplay, portrait, or celebrity photos done by paparazzi. The subject has no rights unless those rights are negotiated as part of the terms, and even then the photographer is under no obligation to make any kind of offer during the session. The problem with SyFy is that, being a large media organization, they should've had at least one person involved in the production process who knew this and who should've raised an alarm about using the images without permission. The alternative is that they thought the photographer was beneath their notice, a "little guy" who should be thankful for the kind of publicity he was getting.

--Patrick


#23

Rovewin

Rovewin

So they were airing all the episodes this morning and I was able to watch through them all. It was pretty interesting. The cosplayers put a lot of pressure on them selves. I'm surprised how fast they can crank out those costumes. Coming up with concept, getting materials and putting it together in a month followed by making another one a few weeks after and so on and so on. The prize money doesn't even cover the cost that some of them spent going by the few till signs we saw while they were gathering supplies.

I would like to see some more of the costume designing and things because the show mainly focused on the headache inducing parts of the design process instead of the enjoyable parts or just the figuring out how everything will work parts. Like I have no idea how that girl hand made everything in that Taffyta costume since they glassed over that part completely to only show the car part.

Anyway I liked the show overall. I loved the part where Merida talked to the tiny Belle. Seeing all the costumes and seeing how these competitions work was pretty cool too.


#24

Null

Null

I didn't like the contrived editing, and the obvious selection of bits to make pretty much everyone sound like a mental case or huge bitch. No one seemed to enjoy what they were doing, and the focus on cosplay as a money-earning competition doesn't gel with what I've seen of the hobby at all. For me, a big fail.


#25

Bones

Bones

http://justiceisblinded.tumblr.com/post/61555044071/jellybabiesandjammiedodgers-via-amy-schley
one of the girls who is not on the show and feels like she was construed as a villain. I think this show is going to go down as a train wreck.


#26

LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

http://chloedykstra.tumblr.com/post/61607065635/in-response-to-this

Some things aren't always what they seem.

I'm not saying everyone is in the clear - I tend to lean towards everyone being in the wrong. It's an over reaction on both parts. But those girls are not as squeaky clean as they want everyone to believe.


#27

Bones

Bones

I think the general non-cast feeling is this was Sci-fi having a horse in a race and putting money behind that horse to artificially hedge the odds in their cast members favor.(this did not happen)Because of this preconception by those non-cast girls, the ones on the show had a bad time, possibly worse due to the extra hard work of being on the show, they were not favorites, and because the had a camera crew in tow no one wanted them around. They get the cold shoulder because the people whose local con this is feel like they are being screwed with by the producers in order to make sure their cast gets the win and the glory.(this apparently didn't happen either) Both groups are tired, sick, and cranky, thus both groups said things they shouldn't have to each other and the bad blood only grew. Instead of it coming out in civil discussion it looks like it turned into a shouting match on both sides.

I don't think anyone is the villain here myself, I simply meant it as this will never bring anything good to the table. There seems to be a continuing tune of everyone being downright upset that is not good for anyone cast or otherwise. so I guess we will see what happens as it continues.


#28

LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

Well, the show is over now, so I hope it dies down.

I'm sick and tired of everyone being so rude, so judgemental and so high browed about the whole thing. I feel like a lot of what is happening is that this show is proving to the world, we are exactly how they think we are; catty, back-stabbing and hard to get along with. And that upsets me. Because that's not true, not in my experience anyway.

Chaos. It reigns.


#29

Bones

Bones

I never did watch it, and the more I hear I feel like its better I just stay away. When you read the ladies blogs and facebook pages it seems 99% of the time they are out hanging out with each other and all the people at the cons. Everything is good vibrations and no one is at anyones throats.They meet and greet the goers at the cons and mostly stay out of the competative side of the hobby. This seems like it was a good idea that just was a crazy train going off the rails from the start.


#30

LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

I understand that viewpoint, but I also wish people would watch it and see the fun in it. Not have their decision tainted by media/online drama.

I think the producers had NO IDEA what they were doing and had no actual vision for the show. I mean, I know they worked and planned so so much for it, but really there are so many more routes they could have gone with it. I appreciate it for what it is at this point. And I will go down defending it, those are my friends that everyone is talking about. And those are my friends that people are pre-judging and those are my friends that everyone is shaming.

And if nothing else, if they want to do a second season, hopefully they've heard peoples' responses and can re-evaluate how they want the show to be run.

Hopefully people can see that it's the show they dislike, not the people on it.


#31

LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

Sorry, I'm just talking, I'm not like..mad at you or anything. I'm not disagreeing with what you're saying, I'm just talking about things. Just wanted that to be known.


#32

Bones

Bones

well we will most likely be doing a bit of cosplay talk when you are on the show, so you can tell me about what I missed! I think the real gold is in the crazy ways people come up with to replicate some of the more difficult parts of a characters look. Monica Lee is doing a demon hunter from D3 now and I cant wait to see how she fabs head to toe armor.

also I never assume you, Kags, are out to argue with anyone. I am not going to have the same viewpoints as you because I am not a cosplayer and never will be, I am not a photographer or ever a congoer. so I am literally a subjective viewer looking in on the whole deal.


#33

Null

Null

I follow a lot of the cosplayers from the show on FB, and after pretty much every episode Yaya Han and one or two of the others had to do a lot of damage control, explaining the situation presented on the show and how everything was taken out of context.

I love cosplay and I think cosplayers in general are great. From the criminally little amount of actually work they show being done, the women on the show are very talented at what they do. I would have loved a lot more of that - ie "Well for this character I'm going with (x) material because the costume is supposed to be fairly stiff and this will hold its shape without being painful to wear" or "Normally I prefer to use (x material or technique) but because this took longer than I'd hope, I'm doing to use this method, which should be good enough for the short term, but I'll probably replace before the next time I do this character."

The show was terrible - lots of manufactured drama, a focus on one of the smallest aspects of the hobby (competition for money), incredibly obvious editing, and it essentially made everyone involved look bad. And the incredible bullshit: I'm sorry, but someone who does the majority of their business and self-promotion online and posts to twitter and facebook a dozen times a day has no idea what LoLcats are? Really? (Granted, lolcats might not have been the best idea for an ANIME CONVENTION) And when Yaya says that she basically goes to conventions as a judge, and there's a competition to be judged, it shouldn't be a fucking stunner to the competitors that she is in fact a goddamn judge.

And of course, the "repainted stormtrooper armor as Fallout armor" guy being the only dude on the show didn't help, as did the executive producer saying "We focused on women because guys' costumes are easy, just lots of armor and big guns and that's it." Because of course armor is really, really easy to make.

A few days before the premiere of the series, BelleChere posted on her FB that she wasn't going to be on the show. She said that she had been approached and talked to and when she realized that they were going for more of a drama-filled reality series rather than, say, a Face Off style competition or documentary, she turned it down.

Looks like a wise choice.


#34

LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

I personally know a good chunk of people on the show, so I take great offense when people talk badly about them or what was said on the show. Because, as you mentioned, it is silly drama and some was quite obviously edited to look worse than it was. I have a beef with the show, but not the people on the show.

I know dozens of other girls that were approached and turned it down.

What my biggest hope is that the producers listen to what cosplayers are saying and learn from this, so that the show can actually continue. I would never want a season 2 of the show that was aired. (The things my friends had to withstand broke my heart and I would hate for anyone else to go through that.) But, I do think theres a market for a cosplay show, there are just many things they need to learn and take note of, change.


#35

Null

Null

Oh, I agree. What would be great, and what I kind of assumed they were doing, would be basically Face Off / Project Runway, but for costuming: 16 skilled contestants, given a weekly theme/series, a few hours to look at reference images for the series/theme and initial design, access to a full workshop, and a week for fabrication and fitting; the worst eliminated at the end of the episode.

That would have been awesome, and not for nothing, it would have been real easy to cross-promote other shows / sponsors, etc.


#36

PatrThom

PatrThom

Null said:
Oh, I agree. What would be great, and what I kind of assumed they were doing, would be basically Face Off / Project Runway, but for costuming: 16 skilled contestants, given a weekly theme/series, a few hours to look at reference images for the series/theme and initial design, access to a full workshop, and a week for fabrication and fitting; the worst eliminated at the end of the episode.

That would have been awesome, and not for nothing, it would have been real easy to cross-promote other shows / sponsors, etc.
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^^^This.

--Patrick


#37

LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

Null said:
Oh, I agree. What would be great, and what I kind of assumed they were doing, would be basically Face Off / Project Runway, but for costuming: 16 skilled contestants, given a weekly theme/series, a few hours to look at reference images for the series/theme and initial design, access to a full workshop, and a week for fabrication and fitting; the worst eliminated at the end of the episode.

That would have been awesome, and not for nothing, it would have been real easy to cross-promote other shows / sponsors, etc.
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That would be great, but that treades on Project Runways toes - so I doubt that would fly. As amazing as it would be though! I'm so on board with that.


#38

figmentPez

figmentPez

LittleKagsin said:
That would be great, but that treades on Project Runways toes - so I doubt that would fly. As amazing as it would be though! I'm so on board with that.
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I dunno, put in enough twists and it could be as different from Project Runway as Chopped is from Iron Chef.

Get Marvel comics to sponsor it, and have the contest to be the next face of Marvel comics. (I'm not suggesting that we let DC comics become connected to anything involving female fans.)


#39

Bowielee

Bowielee

From a completely legal standpoint, I'm kind of surprised that this show even made it to air. As the whole issue over photography rights points out, it's an incredibly sticky copyright infringement minefield. Simply because it's a whole lot of trademarked characters being used for profit. Not by the cosplayers or con-producers, but by the SciFi network. I'm kind of surprised that some of the more litigeous companies out there haven't already started the paperwork to nail NBC/Universal to the wall.


#40

Null

Null

Well, a lot of cosplayers sell prints and merchandise based off of other people's Intellectual Property. I guess it's a legal grey area? It doesn't seem like it would be covered by "Fair Use" since they are using it for profit, but by the same token, I don't think you could mistake their work for official product. On the other hand, it might be unwise to be overly litigious since it's basically free advertising.


#41

PatrThom

PatrThom

Null said:
I guess it's a legal grey area? It doesn't seem like it would be covered by "Fair Use" since they are using it for profit, but by the same token, I don't think you could mistake their work for official product.
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Fair Use doctrine has exceptions for parody or for adaptations which are "substantially transformative," whatever that means. I don't pretend to know all the details but I keep seeing references to this in regards to things like WeirdAl parodies, YouTube recasting, etc.

--Patrick


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