Behind the pretty picture (Final Task)

Cosplay is a very strange hobby. There are multiple different ways to do it and you are only one who can say what your limits are. How much money or time do you want to spent on it? How precisely you want to mimic everything you see...People often argue who can cosplay and what, but for me, it has always been about having fun and challenging yourself. You might be 20 years old female but who says that you can't be that 200 years old demon from hell or a freaking alien/robot from space?

I was positively surprised to find this article where they told about "Psychology of Cosplay" survey which was created by Dr. Andrea Letamendi and Dr. Robin Rosenberg. This survey was created after cosplay had had some negative light and I think it's great that people are making things clear. People who cosplay are not different from people who don't. Cosplayers aren't just some freaks that think that it is Halloween everyday.

What is common to all cosplayers, is that in one way or another, we want to make fictional characters to exist in real world, even if it is just for one day. What a great way to escape reality! And sometimes people aren't even cosplaying characters, I saw Howl's moving castle once. Who wakes up in the morning and decides: “I want to dress up as magical moving castle!”?

Most of us have seen pictures of cosplayers, even if you don't really follow that scene. Usually those pictures are taken by professional photographers and costumes are really well made. Often those are pictures of “famous” cosplayers. We see the pretty picture, but we don't really think what all needs to be done before that picture can be taken.

Whole scene might seem peaceful and fun hobby to those who don't do it themselves, but there are actually lot of ridiculous things going around. The reason why I made these comics, was to show you what goes behind those cosplay pictures you see. Cosplayers go through a lot before they can but those amazing looking pictures online. 

1. First comic is about how you so often spent so much time, just to fail at the end. You learn from your mistakes and keep going on.

We all have our different ways of solving problems.

Some people try to fix the old one and others just start all over again. It's always fun to talk about different ways to build something. It's a great way to start conversation.

 2. There are also times when you just can't feel happy about your costume. You see everyone else as a perfect gods and feel like your skills aren't good enough.

Too often I hear my friends to say that they thought they looked horrible in their costume, but now that they can see picture of themselves they realise they look ok.

It can also be reverse, you think you look good unless you see your picture. It might be part of Finnish nature but it's defiantly something we should try to get rid off.
We keep spending lot of time with those costumes, we should be able to feel good about even if not everything is perfect! You are doing it to have fun.

3. Last comic is about taking the actual pictures. It can be fun but also complete pain in the ass.
Sometimes you just have have winter photos and characters don't always have the best clothes for that. Also there is the fact that other people exists and will see you.

You can also take photos in studios but that needs more arranging and sadly you don't always have possibility to do so.
Photoshoots are great way to have time with your friends and even though I haven't done it in a while I have lot of good memories!

 

Sources:

 http://ifanboy.com/articles/what-is-cosplay-and-why-do-people-do-it/ 

http://www.dailydot.com/fandom/psychology-cosplay-survey-results/

Oh no, spoilers!

There is a constant danger when you are surfing through the internet. I'm talking about spoilers! Is there anything else that could flatten your excitement? You start watching new series, you start loving it, you can't wait to see what happens next, and then some airhead from internet manages to spoil it to you! And most likely could not see it coming. That sweet feeling you have, when you are waiting to know what happens next is lost. Element of surprise is destroyed. All you feel is hate and disappointment. This all happens so often, at least if I can believe the angry tweets my friends are making in Twitter.

I might be over dramatic, but I honestly don't like spoilers, they kill my purpose to watch the series. Does this mean that I'm a bad watcher? If only reason I watch something is to be surprised I should not be watching any of mass films. They are full of cliches and often I can even predict exact words they are going to say. But I still watch them! Why? I hope I might get positively surprised!

My hate towards spoilers is quite extreme and that's why I have some sort of weird respect for people like Patricia, she said she doesn't mind hearing spoilers. She actually even asked to hear them! But I could not tell her any because I thought it would be wrong thing to do. You would not hurt your friend even if they asked, so why should I tell them any spoilers ether? But I think it is great that people can enjoy stories even if they know what is going to happen.

This is one the faults I have when it comes to consuming media. If I know the story it's very hard for me to be interested. I can't even watch any trailers of movies because nowadays they tell you everything. Maybe I should try to grow mentally and learn something from Patricia.

I have to accept that internet will always be dangerous place, you can't make it completely spoiler free. My solution for now is just to stay away. No more tumblr for me!

Gamejam

Last weekend was quite exhausting but really interesting experience. We had 48 hours to make a game and with several assets to use, such as Motion capture, green screen and dolly cameras. Our team used mo-cap to capture animation for our game character.

We came up with this game idea where you are sneaking through a dark room full of cats. The house was some crazy catlady's and your mission was to get through without waking her or any of the cats. If you made too much noise it was game over.


Here are my 3D-models of the catlady and cat:

Both days we left around midnight and came back around 8-9am. So we didn't sleep too much, just enough so we wouldn't die middle of it all. Unlike other game jams I have participated this one had media around. Yle was filming and interviewing us all the time. I guess that was because we were using their equipment and premises. Thank god we had Barbara, I was hiding behind her back every time camera was coming to our way.

Fun fact: Every night we had to dig the car out under the snow.

 
Whole weekend was scary and full of confusion but I think we all learned a lot out of it so in no means it was useless. I'm happy that I managed to participate and the game was even playable! Me, Barbara and Eeva managed to get two programmers to join our team. Without them the who game play would most likely been non-exiting.

Presentations

If there is one thing that has come up in every course I have attended in this school, it is presentations. Seems like power point and students talking is a common teaching method nowadays. It seems to me, that where presentations make students look for the information themselves, they might learn it better. But sometimes I feel like you learn only the part you have to present. Other student's vain explanations doesn’t give enough concrete information.

No matter how much I hate speaking front of the class room I can't say it is useless. If there is something media have not been able to fake it is voice. We can manipulate image, lights, basic sounds. But real human voice and good speech, that is something we can't fake. After all, you need real people to make media. This is very small thing to realize but think it is quite common to miss. People can wear make up or even do surgeries to make themselves beautiful but only way to make your voice believable is to practice.

Oz

I have to write down some sort of textual analysis about Oz. (I'm not sure how good textual analysis this will make since I'm just letting out some of steam) I'm talking about TV series that run through 1997–2003. There are six seasons made of it but I have only seen first two and half seasons. Honestly, I can't remember when was the last time I saw TV show which coul wake up this many mixed feelings at me. I'm questioning my morale and what is right, what iswrong?

If you don't know, Oz is about Oswald State Correctional Facility which by the way is level 4 maximum-security state prison. So all the prisoners are supposed to be quite hard core if I may say so. And this is what makes me feel so confused all the time. I know those characters are getting what they deserve and they can simply blame themselves for it. Sure, there are bad guards and flaws in the justice system, but still they have done something we all clearly label as ”bad.” So why, why I'm feeling bad for them? If it's right thing to do and what they deserve, why I feel like something is always wrong?

Everything is moving all the time. First, somebody is the victim, then all suddenly they are the ones who do the bad deeds. You sympathize with one character but the next moment you are repelled by them. It's very upsetting. I feel like I can't trust any of the characters to please my morals.

When there are no good characters you naturally start adapting to closest one to yourself and you start looking at your own flaws. Would that be me? If I was in a prison like Oz, would I have done that? For a example, there is one character that broke another inmate's arms and helped others to break his legs too. He admits being a horrible person. All he wants is somebody to love him and I guess that's why I can't hate him. I admire it when people can admit that they are not perfect so now, even if we are talking about somebody who is violent, manipulating, lying bastard I would still be really upset if he dies.

There are so many twists in the plot and how characters grow that I'm not even going to start talking about that. I have realized how naive I am. I keep thinking that when some characters act good they will stay good.

But no, it doesn't work that way, they will make me hate them and be disappointed. Still, I keep hoping. Somebody has to have a happy ending?

You want proof that Oz is written well? We are talking about male prison. Full of males. And still they have managed to include 5 women into the plot and none of them are victims. (There are incidents but they are never portrayed as helpless.) 

They all are strong in their own way and not all of them are likeable. Some of them are cold-hearted bitches and that's why it is so awesome. They are real characters! Not just some pretty wallflowers.You actually hate them for what they are, not because they are boring.

We shouldn't ether forget their multicultural cast and all different religious you can see inside the prison. It feels corny to say, but I think Oz one of the most honest portrayals of humankind I have seen in TV. In a way it is sad. Are we living in a world where producers are not afraid to have realistic cast and characters in general unless the location of the story is in prison?

I can't help but think about other TV series which is called Orange is the new black. It also has really good cast but once again it's happening inside a prison. Actually all the prison series I can think of have multiracial cast. I don't know if they all are always portrayed fairly, but I know that they are there.

Can't we show/write/cast people in realistic way unless they are portrayed as some ones who have done something wrong?

Well I try to stay optimistic. At least it is a start. We all are portrayed as shit and filth under you shoes. That's what Oz is telling us. We all are made out of the same shit. Hopefully some day we will get more shows that are not afraid to show world as it, but this time from the good side.We can be the stars in the sky! Just don't murder, rape, drunk drive or rob a bank and the world can be yours! 

Honest News

During the class we designed our own kind of news show. Here are the questions we needed to answer:

What is the mode of presentation?

Basic idea is that we have two reporters and they both have very different attitudes and opinions. Other one is always sarcastic and always making jokes where the other one is plain serious and talks about things as they seem for most of us. First they of course just tell us the news but then they start commenting and speculating.

What kind of stories do you focus on?

Every program would start with news with light content so they could make jokes and make funny atmosphere. After that they start slowly moving to slightly more serious issues step by step. There are lot of thing people are afraid of talking about and in this way we could make people focus on those things in a interesting way. We would always offer two different opinions and that way people would have to think and look for their own.

How do you keep people engaged?

We are fed lot a of information every day and I believe there is a market for this kind of news. We would make people angry but we would also keep them awake and waiting for more information. We are not trying to make this program into trash news but instead just to make people listen. Sometimes people understand things easier if it wakes up emotion. We are so dead to all horrible things that are happening.

If our style is often sarcastic and playful, then if some day we would chance the style of telling the news it could make a big effect on people's mind. We joke about everything else, but not about that thing? That would make an illusion that this matter is too serious even for us to joke about.

How do you employ other media platforms, social media and user generated content?

Because of the nature of the program the location of studio would be a secret. We would have post boxes where people could send their messages but other media platforms would be ignored. We are not interested to hear people's endless Facebook comments. If you have something to say you have go through some trouble for it. Buy a post stamp for example.

Reality hits hard

Today I realized it has been a very long time since I watched news from television. How funny it is that I open TV only to watch some brainless trash? Imagine how back in the old days it was very same TV that told all great news and showed sophisticated shows with meaning. At least that what I imagine it was like. And now it is full of lies and shitty programs.

And now our pre-task for this week is to watch news program. This will break my loop of trash and maybe I will see something that has "quality content". Notice that I'm not completely trusting that news will have any of it... But it's nice to hope.
Maybe I have been watching trash TV just to escape the reality. 
 

But today I saw quite nice post on 9gag. And after I Google searched it I found an article about it! It's from the Guardian. (I'm sure you are happy Chris) Social media star Essena O’Neill deleted her Instagram account! Read the article to know more. All I have to say I'm happy for her and it's great to see that some young people can get smarter and realize that not everything in social media is real. Now she actually can make good rolemodel to others. So maybe all those years posting pictures were not for nothing.
Today's lesson: You have life outside your social profiles!