Costume modelling video filming issues

For a while, I have occasionally spent the time to film short videos of myself modelling a costume to embed in my costume hire website on the details pages. Below are some of the interesting issues that I encountered.

My costume videos are meant to show the costume and some movement but be short without being too short or too long.
I start the camera, walk into the target area, slowly turn around, sometimes do other movements depending on the character portrayed and then walk back.

1. Lighting
   Having proper lighting is important, but not everyone has the finance or space to set up proper lighting. Having lights behind the object in the video is a major problem. Whenever I try to film in my small space, I tend to get lights causing problems.
   
2. Background
   Having a less colourful background helps to show a costume. Preferably a bright colour. In my case, I only have a dark sheet that I hang up and it does not cover the entire background.
   
3. Bumping into things
   My filing space is small due to costumes and I cannot really film outside at night. Sometimes I bump into things while filming, especially with the big mascot costumes. Keeping the floor clear around the camera helps a lot when you wear a costume with big feet and head.
   
4. Cutting off body parts
   It helps to take photos ahead of filming to test the camera zoom and aim. Even with the photo, there is a chance of cutting off body parts because of location change during movement in the target area. Sometimes, the head is just too close to the picture edge.
   
5. Retakes
   If you need to retake the video, then do so. Last night, I filmed a mascot costume and ended up doing the filming six times. This was because of cutting off parts, bumping into things and messing up a bit during movement. Mascot costumes make this particularly difficult because of the size, heat and lack of sight.
   
6. Time required
   It takes a lot longer to film than you would expect. Starting with setting up lighting, background, camera, test photos and then finally putting on a costume. Just simply switching between costumes takes time. After that, it is a matter of getting the correct zoom setting for the camera again. Editing, uploading and embedding the video also takes time.
   
7. Video editing
   Get a video editor that allows you to mute the sound or replace the soundtrack. Do some of the early editing using your camera. The video quality output is also important. Some editors make it difficult to embed a logo in a corner. For embedded videos, you do not really want an intro or outro.

Several things that have been happening and will happen with costumes

Things have been rather quiet the last few months. Part of the reason is the winter weather, certain times of the year also do not have many birthdays happening and the beginning of the year is usually also an extended empty wallet season. A new factor added is the international finance mess that everyone is suffering from to some extend.

On to the latest changes and updates:

1. The costumes and clothing taken over from a shop in another town will be arriving some time in August as per discussion with the shop owner. Unfortunately the exact date in August is unknown, same with the exact content. There is supposedly quite a bit of variety according to a very reliable source of mine.
   
2. Some costumes have been retired due to age reasons mostly or parts never returned. Unfortunately this is not always understood by some people.
   
3. Due to age, some costumes are now a bit cheaper to rent. Prices have been mostly adjusted on the website.
   
4. Once some finance issues are sorted out, there is a plan to move the website to local hosting in South Africa and an easier domain name. The current website will then be set up to redirect and update the search engines accordingly.
   
5. Advertising for brand awareness has been recently expanded. This is mostly very localised to the Monte Vista suburb and a particular shop in close proximity to the premises.
   
6. A service for posing in costumes with messages has been started. Right now it is limited to very few characters and due to legal reasons, trademarked characters have to be avoided. There should be something appearing on the website soon about this. This kind of service can be used for advertising, birthdays and other events.
   
7. Keep in mind that the annual Halloween season is coming up which tends to be busy. Booking costumes two weeks ahead of time is usually too late for all of the popular costumes.

Public costume events in the first part of 2014

There are at least two events in 2014 near the beginning of the year where the public can show up in costume. The first event will be UCON which takes place at the UCT Upper Campus in the sports hall.
The event will take place on 29 and 30 March starting from 10AM onwards.

The second big event is the annual Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) which Readers Den is hosting as well as other comic book shops like Outer Limits. This is an international event to promote reading. Readers Den had a best dressed competition the last couple of years and had over 70 entries in 2013 as well as various anime performances.
Free Comic Book Day always takes place the first Saturday in May.

Plans to get new costumes

Several of my costumes have been getting a bit old and are in need of replacement. Different sizes for some costumes are also required as well as new styles. This year is going to be a focus to get new stock and more of it to cater for the different sizes of people that come to fit on.

Several needs in regards to this matter have been identified and will be getting more attention. At the moment there are final decisions being made about the first batch of new costumes to get.

The year 2013 was not good for getting new costumes due to the major expense of replacing the premises as well as getting many costumes repaired. Also getting a couple of costumes at 3000 Rand each ended up destroying the rest of the budget.

Major new premises upgrade

The two years overdue major premises upgrade has finally been done and set up. This means far more space, fitting rooms and hopefully less compacting. The new Wendy house is a 3x6m compared to the old one which was 3x3m. The size difference is quite huge.

It took over two hours to get everything out of the old Wendy house, the area in and around the new one is currently still a construction site, but hopefully today it should be sorted out and everything can be moved back in.

Free Comic Book 2013 is coming

The annual Free Comic Book Day is upon us soon. It is a worldwide event and it always happens on the first Saturday of May and many shops in many countries take part. As always, I will be helping out at Readers Den in Stadium on Main in Claremont, Cape Town. Last year the event was a lot larger than previous years and this year it is supposed to be even bigger. The best costume contest is being split into three categories this year because there were too many good costumes last year.

http://www.readersden.co.za/shop/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=15

New locally made costumes in wrong sizes and related delays

At the end of December 2012, I asked a local company to make selected costumes for me. I did mention my height specifically and I was assured that they fill fit. The costumes turned out not to be as good as I was expecting them to be, especially considering the photos were only of other costumes that they were based upon.

Some of the costumes arrived at the end of January 2013 and the rest was supposed to be about two weeks later. Two of the costumes that arrived and had hands, had the hands wider at the tip of the hand than in the middle and I could get my own hands only halfway in. The fact that there were no individual fingers like the original had, also bothered me quite a bit. This mess practically made it impossible for the person wearing the costume to close it up on the zip or buttons because of seriously restricted use of hands. The costumes were basically not scaled properly since the person who made them was a lot smaller.

The second batch of costumes that I had ordered and were supposed to arrive on 9 February are still being worked on and supposedly redone because of the hands. This means they were also stuffed up. Earliest that I will get them is most likely at the end of the month. My repairs lady was also upset about how the seams were done which means lots of issues later on. Sending photos that are not close enough to how the costumes actually look like, plus the scaling issues and hand issues, is going to ensure that I will skip this particular company in future what getting costumes made concerns. I rather spend the shipping costs and 40% import duties to import costumes again since that will be more worthwhile in the long run.