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cosplayinamerica · 3 years

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Cosplay Over 40 group founders : Jae and Ana

Today I’m highlighting one of the Instagram share pages / theme pages, I followed, Cosplay Over 40. For the past few years, I’ve reached out to various pages asking about how their page got started.

Ana: We arrived at cosplaying via two different avenues. Jae and I were both into anime, comic-book, and science-fiction geeks growing up. He loved — still loves — Macross and Robotech, I was more Star Blazers, Superfriends, and Star Trek. In high school and college, my friends and I made our own Star Trek uniforms and attended Star Trek events in New York City back when it wasn't called cosplaying. It wasn't even called costuming. It was just being a Star Trek geek. I bought my first official costume — a Star Trek Next Generation science jumpsuit — in grad school, and that just opened the door to what would become cosplaying. I pulled together costumes of Ranma Saotome from Ranma 1/2, Jessie from Pokemon, and Kim Possible, and I'd wear them for Halloween, to library events, and to comic-book expos... what would eventually become the cons we know today.

Jae: I have always loved taking photos. I'd take photos of friends, of people at events I'd attend. I love photography. It's my way of being involved without being the center of attention and without being stuck on the sidelines. I became a sports and portrait photographer, but cosplay always called to me. It just appeals to my geek side. And with Ana getting more and more into cosplay, it only seemed natural for me to turn to cosplay photography.

Ana: At first, we were just thrilled to be part of the cosplay scene. I love fandom meet-ups. I love meeting voice actors and artists, especially those behind the anime and comic-book characters I love. When people come up to me and ask to take photos with my cosplay, it's such a deeply satisfying feeling. My cosplay made people happy, made people smile.

Jae: We got really caught up in that scene, seeing other people reacting to Ana's cosplays and to so many other amazing cosplays.

Ana: And then we started to notice a different reaction. I think I first started noticing it at some meet-ups. There's be the main group, and then there'd be a handful of us on the outside. This happened more and more often, and it took me a few years to realize that those of us on the outside were older than the central groups. Once I realized this, my eyes flew wide open. At cons, I started noticing that the photographers would ignore fabulous, intricate cosplays worn by older cosplayers and would flock to take photos of teenagers and 20-somethings in wigs and bikinis.

Jae: It really pissed us off. Here were so many people who obviously put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into creating armor and amazing sewing projects, and they were barely being given a glance. I started going out of my way to photograph these cosplayers... and all over them were our age or older.

Ana: It finally came to a head in 2019. We spent a weekend at an out-of-state con, and we — myself and all the other older cosplayers — might as well have been invisible.

Jae: One of the other photographers actually told me he only takes photos of "young, pretty girls."

Ana: I told Jae that we couldn't just let this kind of behavior continue. We had to stand up and do something about it, let the older cosplayers know how wonderful they are. I have a Master's in public communications and I've worked as a social-media specialist for various companies and organizations since the mid 1990s. Since cosplay is such a visual art, I went straight to Instagram and searched for "cosplay" and our age range: 40. There was absolutely nothing there.

Jae: We also checked 50. There was nothing. Then we checked 30. Two accounts came up, both dead in the water. One hadn't posted since 2015, and one hadn't posted since 2018.

Ana: Just to be safe, we also checked "old," "older," "geezer," all those types of terms. There was absolutely nothing. Given what we'd seen over the years at cosplay events, this really didn't surprise us, but it still hit us hard that there was no representation for the older cosplayer. I spent a couple of weeks outlining the guidelines we would follow. We looked at successful cosplay feature sites like @sharingcosplay and @women.of.cosplay. We knew we wanted to feature individuals, to give each cosplayer their time in the spotlight. We also wanted it to be structured. We didn't want to give one cosplayer a huge write-up, then give the next one just a few sentences. Everyone had to be showcased equally. After all, the whole reason we were doing this was because of the inequality we'd seen.

Jae: I felt we had to go beyond Instagram with this. I'd recently gotten into videography. I felt — still feel — that a multimedia market exists for the older cosplayer. I told Ana that we had to take this to podcasts, to YouTube, to even a magazine specializing in the older cosplayer.

Ana: I've worked as an assistant editor and managing editor for several magazines and I currently work as a contributing writer for two specialty magazines, so creating a magazine was something I totally agreed with. I also agreed with the podcasts and You Tube channel. That kind of thing is right up Jae's alley.

Jae: We decided that we would make this a multimedia venture, focusing on the older cosplayer and letting the world know how fabulous older cosplayers are. Older cosplayers have the discretionary income to dedicate to cosplaying. At this age, they're serious about their hobby and it's a true labor of love. It's not just something they do with their friends a couple of times a year. It's a passion. And the skill I've seen, the dedication... it all needed to be celebrated.

Ana: But we decided to start with social media first. We launched on Instagram on June 28, 2019, with Facebook and Twitter following shortly after. We did encounter a small glitch...

Jae: There was a Facebook group with a very similar name...

Ana: We checked them out and saw they were a community group that shared photos of themselves and events they attended, nothing remotely like what we were doing and have planned for the future. Having studied journalism law and having consulted with a copyright specialist, we knew we were in the clear to bring our dream to life: celebrating the magnificent, often-overlooked older cosplayer.

Jae: The reception has been incredible. Not a week goes by that we don't get a message or email from a cosplayer thrilled to have found a place that showcases people their age. Our age.

Ana: We also get messages from people letting us know they'll be turning 40 soon and can't wait to be featured. We get people who message us on their 40th birthday, eager to be featured. Or who message us just days before their 40th birthday, asking to be featured on their special day. It's been wonderful. It's been mind blowing.

Jae: We've gone to several cons, and the reception there has been amazing. We've spoken to so many older cosplayers, every single one of whom had experienced ageism at these type of events and who were absolutely thrilled to discover that our focus is them and only them.

Ana: And then the pandemic hit.

Jae: It really sucked, from the photography standpoint, to watch everything come to a halt. But this also gave us the push we needed to move forward with our plans.

Ana: We started producing cosplay video projects, open to any cosplayer over the age of 40. We figured that cosplayers were looking for ways to continue cosplaying — safely — during the pandemic, looking for ways to interact with other cosplayers. We'd present a theme and state a deadline for submission.

Jae: We had a tremendous response.

Ana: Jae took all the video clips and edited them into amazing montages that really showcased how amazing cosplayers over 40 truly are. For one video, our Fight Challenge, we had more than 50 cosplayers participate from all over the world.

Jae: We also held an online con in March 2020.

Ana: Yes, our "Con Together." It was nine days of scheduled fandom meet-ups and cosplay sharing. We even had an artist's alley.

Jae: But right now, we've moved on to the next stages of our Cosplay Over 40 plans.

Ana: Jae has been building a dedicated podcast studio outfitted with all sorts of live-streaming equipment. I'm sure I'm not using the right terminology for this. It's Jae's baby, and I trust him implicitly to have it ready to go later this summer. I've also started working on the inaugural issue of Cosplay Over 40 magazine. The editorial content has been decided, I've reached out to cosplayers and others in the cosplay community for interviews and photos, and I'm really looking forward to laying out the issue and getting it to print.

Jae: But even with these new platforms, we are not slowing down with our original presence on Instagram.

Ana: Absolutely not! We're still growing — we just passed 3,900 followers — and we are now actually part of the @SharingCosplay family of feature pages. We are always looking for new cosplayers to feature and we always invite those we've featured in the past to share more of their cosplays with us. We have cosplayers in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and even in their 70s sending in their photos. Like I said before, it's mind blowing.

Jae: There's a sense of satisfaction that comes from showcasing cosplayers in our age demographic and beyond, of showing the world how awesome cosplayers over 40 truly are.

https://linktr.ee/cosplayover40

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#cosplay page interview #cosplay interview #cosplay over 40

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ramajmedia · 5 years

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Jumanji: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Making Of The Original Movie

If you grew up in the '90s, chances are you have fond memories of Jumanji. Based on a children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg, director Joe Johnston’s fantasy-adventure box office smash has won over countless fans since hitting theaters in 1995. Indeed, the franchise’s recent resurgence—in the form of 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and the forthcoming Jumanji: The Next Level —serves as an undeniable testament to Jumanji’s enduring appeal.

RELATED: 10 Best Board Games Based On Popular TV Shows And Movies To Own

While the cast and crew behind these sequels have done the Jumanji brand proud, the original movie will always hold a special place in our hearts. We can’t help but be impressed by everything that went on behind the scenes to make Jumanji such an instant classic.

10 Tom Hanks Was The Original Choice To Play Alan Parrish

Jumanji may have been an unqualified commercial success, but the film’s critical reception was decidedly more mixed. That said, one aspect of the film that was universally appreciated by critics was Robin Williams’ turn as adult lead Alan Parrish. Indeed, it’s virtually impossible to picture anyone else in the role—unless you happen to be director Joe Johnston.

As we’ve reported before, Johnston and producers Scott Kroopf and William Teitler originally had another Hollywood icon in mind to play Alan: Tom Hanks. One of the most versatile actors of his generation, Hanks certainly has the chops necessary to juggle the dramatic and comedic aspects of Alan’s character, but we’re nevertheless glad the role ultimately went to Williams.

9 The Screenplay Went Through Substantial Rewrites

As anyone who’s even vaguely familiar with the movie-making business will tell you, it’s standard practice for a screenplay to undergo multiple rewrites before the cameras roll. Jumanji was no exception: the script was heavily revised prior to shooting, in large part because Robin Williams passed on the first version he read.

For those keeping score, Jumanji’s first treatment–which incidentally was strong enough to get the project greenlit by TriStar Pictures – was penned by the book’s author, Chris Van Allsburg. This treatment was then fleshed out into a full screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, Greg Taylor, and Jim Strain, who jettisoned the more surrealist elements Van Allsburg had retained from his book in favor of a more mainstream story that met with Williams’ approval.

8 ILM Developed Custom Software To Create Realistic CG Animals

The computer-generated imagery in Jumanji hasn’t aged particularly gracefully in the 24 years following its release—but back in 1995, it was groundbreaking stuff. That’s not hyperbole, either: the visual effects artists at Industrial Light & Magic didn’t just raise the bar in terms of creating realistic CG animals, they invented brand new tools to do so.

Arguably the most impressive innovation devised by the legendary effects house was iSculpt, a tool which enabled animators to develop entire libraries of convincing facial expressions for each animal. ILM also utilized proprietary software when it came time to render the fur on Jumanji’s artificial wildlife, with the pixel-perfect monkey and lion hair in the film setting a new standard for photorealistic CGI.

RELATED: 10 Awesome Ruby Roundhouse Cosplays That Look Good Enough To Be In Jumanji

7 Bradley Pierce Spent Nearly Four Hours In The Make-Up Chair

Halfway through Jumanji, Bradley Pierce’s Peter is transformed into a human-monkey hybrid, courtesy of the titular boardgame’s supernatural powers. Although the film pushed contemporary CGI to its limits to accomplish many of its outlandish visuals, back in 1995, the only way to create this “monkey boy” effect was via prosthetics.

This was bad news for Pierce, as it meant spending 3.5 uncomfortable hours in the make-up chair every morning for nearly 70 days. Most adults would struggle with such a grueling start to their day, but for 12-year-old Pierce, it was an especially trying ordeal. On the plus side, Robin Williams kept him company early on, offering the child star tips on how to cope, which he’d picked up during his similar experiences filming Mrs. Doubtfire.

6 Robin Williams Dialed Back The Improvisation

Robin Williams was renowned for being a master of improvisational comedy. Not only did it make him a popular guest on the late-night talk show circuit, but it also added extra spice to many of his big screen performances. But for Jumanji, it became clear to director Joe Johnston early on that Williams' penchant for going off-script would need to be reined in if the movie was going to work.

Fortunately, Williams agreed. For each of his scenes, the star would do several takes that followed the screenplay word-for-word, to ensure that all the necessary plot points were covered off. Once those takes were safely in the can, he would film an additional take, this time incorporating some restrained ad-libbing, which Johnson was free to either use or discard.

5 Samuel Parrish And Van Pelt Are Played By The Same Actor

It’s an oft-overlooked casting detail that has launched more than a few fan theories: Jonathan Hyde plays both Alan Parrish’s stern father Samuel and Jumanji’s resident big game hunter Van Pelt. It’s easy to miss on first viewing, as the flamboyant mustache, wig and costume Van Pelt sports are more than enough to distance him from Samuel Parrish’s more staid aesthetic.

But once you do realize that the same actor plays both parts, it really does add a new (and totally unexpected) layer of subtext to Jumanji. For what it’s worth, we think most of the theories floating around online overcomplicate matters, but this one makes sense: The Samuel/Van Pelt connection is a subtle way of reinforcing Alan’s emotional journey of learning to face his fears and accept responsibility for his actions.

RELATED: 15 Crazy Things You Didn’t Know About Jumanji

4 Robin Williams Gave The Cast Autographed Gifts

It’s common for filmmakers to celebrate the completion of principal photography with presents for their colleagues. For example, when shooting on Jumanji wrapped, Robin Williams handed each of his fellow cast members hardbound copies of the shooting script. What’s more, each of these tomes was autographed by the Hollywood A-lister, adding to their value considerably.

But we highly doubt any of the recipients will ever sell their gifts. Why? Because Williams’ signature was accompanied by a handwritten, personalized message, which elevates these hardcovers from thoughtful gesture to priceless keepsake status —especially following the actor’s untimely demise in 2014.

3 Kirsten Dunst Blew Her Castmates Away

Despite only being 12 when the cameras rolled on Jumanji, Kirsten Dunst already had several high-profile film credits under her belt. Among the more memorable roles at this point in Dunst’s burgeoning career were Claudia in Interview with the Vampire, Campbell McCoy in Bonfire of the Vanities and the young Amy March in Little Women.

As a result, Dunst possessed a degree of professionalism uncommon for someone her age. Bradley Pierce even recalls how his co-star (who’s only six months older than him) mentored him on set! It wasn’t just Pierce who was impressed, either—veteran thespians like Bebe Neuwirth were likewise in awe of Dunst’s skills and on-set poise, as well.

2 The Final Scene Was Shot First

Big budget outings like Jumanji are rarely filmed in sequential order. Instead, scenes are shot in the order that makes the most sense from a logistical standpoint, based on factors such as actor availability, weather considerations and so on. As we’ve observed before, in the case of Jumanji, this translated to the film’s final scene being shot first.

This decision by director Joe Johnston and his team was motivated by purely practical considerations. Since the sets constructed to represent the Parrish mansion were going to be put through the wringer during the movie’s many chaotic set pieces—think rhinoceros stampedes and in-door flooding—all footage featuring the house looking its best needed to be captured early on.

1 Scarlett Johansson Auditioned To Play Judy

Already a rising star when she landed the role of Judy Shepherd in Jumanji, Kirsten Dunst’s career would nevertheless receive a welcome boost when the movie proved to be a box office hit. Interestingly, Jumanji could have helped to launch the career of another famous actress—Scarlett Johansson!

Then a relative unknown, Johansson auditioned to play Judy, but obviously failed to outshine Dunst. To be honest, upon viewing her audition tape, it’s kinda easy to see why – still just a kid, Johansson wasn’t the seasoned pro she is today.

NEXT: 10 Things We Learned From The Jumanji: The Next Level Trailer

source https://screenrant.com/jumanji-original-movie-behind-the-scenes-facts/

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