Videographers - Where are they ?

[BonjourHoney]

Hi there Fanimegoers ! With Fanime coming up, I had a question I'd been meaning to ask. I've seen all those gorgeous steadycam cosplay vids all over youtube that people put together from cons, and was wondering if anyone knows how to find these videographers. Are they like hall shoots, where they just find random cosplayers to shoot vids with, or does one have to arrange an appointment with them just like a photoshoot, etc? Or is there a certain place they tend to hang out around the con?

Any insight would be super appreciated. x) Thanks !

[SquishyK]

It varies. I think quite a bit of it is arranged through social networking. Often they cary business cards and hand them out to interesting cosplayers. I imagine getting involved in events like the masquerade will get you on the cosplay radar. Also you can attend cosplay gatherings where there is a hight concentration of photographers and you might catch someone's attention. My friends and I were just hanging out by the Marriot side garden section and happened to get into one of those videos. But I think it is mostly just at the discretion of the videographer. You are more likely to be approached by one of them if your cosplay has exceptional craftsmanship, is very creative and original, or something unique or rare. Another friend of mine was included in a press photo shoot because she had an old school Iron Fist comic book costume. It all depends on what appeals to the photographer.

[Nina Star 9]

I've been in a few cosplay videos (I know for sure that I've been in url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q4OsCjnZR4]this video[/url], as the Ulala at ~0:16, and this video as Lady Blackpearl at ~3:14, but I know I've been in others). Mostly, the videographers just come up and ask if I am willing to be in the video. They tend to hang out in the same places that photographers do, which tends to be the very front of the convention center (you can see me in front of that ugly tile mural in that first video, and in the second video, he found me more towards the front entrance and took me over to the trees near the Hilton side, which are probably no longer there). I don't know where the popular photo and video areas will be this year now that the construction has changed the layout of the area, but I'm assuming that the popular spots will be quite obvious once the con starts (and will probably be in the same general areas).

You might be able to arrange to be in videos ahead of time, but I think that most cosplay videographers tend to work more in the moment, rather than still photographers, who will often (but not always) set up shoots ahead of time, and I think a lot of it has to do with the nature of the medium itself. I have a feeling that a videographer would be more likely to do a private shoot if you had a very specific idea in mind of what you wanted (with a single video being more like a single still photoshoot), but a lot of the compilation videos, at least from my experience, are done actually at the con, once the videographer sees what cosplays are there and can get ideas of what to put into a video (so more like a still photographer taking a series of hall shots, and sometimes taking multiple photos of the same person, but not arranging actual shoots ahead of time, if we are continuing with the still photography equivalence analogy). Though, I've never tried contacting videographers, so you may have some luck if you find some you like and you ask. It never hurts to try. :]