Tuesday 20 November 2012

AFA 2012: RCC Champion Team SG (Interview)


PICTURE CREDITS: JIMMY COMETA

Section 8
https://www.facebook.com/WcsTeamSingapore2012
https://www.facebook.com/Section8Singapore

Raistlin
http://raistlin03.deviantart.com/

Shinji
http://worldcosplay.net/member/3516/
Cure No. 189408


Representing Singapore at the RCC held at AFA this year, Raistlin and Shinji competed against 4 other champions from regional countries Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines in an exciting finals and emerged as champions of RCC! 

We were lucky to score an interview with the champions with their hectic schedule, so read on !

~Emi



Q: How long do you take to prepare for a competition?
Team SG: Usually for story writing we take around 2-3 weeks to come up with a script and finalise the details. For the constructions of props, it depends on the complexity of the props. For this props we used this time, it took about a month.


PICTURE CREDITS: JIMMY COMETA

Q: Does the length of time it takes to make a prop depend on the complexity of the props?
Team SG: Yes it does. It depends on how many stage props we are making and how complex it is. If it is, perhaps, something new that we have never tried out before, it takes more time as we need to test out the prop to make sure that it works according to how we want it to. In that case, it takes up to 2-3 months. However if it is something that we already have experience making it and we know how to make it work, it would probably take around a month.


PICTURE CREDITS: JIMMY COMETA

Q: How do you come up with ideas for performances?
Team SG: As you know, for cosplay performances we have to stick as close to the original anime series as we can. So we rewatch the anime a few times and figure out how to compress the anime into a short 3-5 min skit. Other than that, I (Raistlin) get my inspiration from my background in drama club, and that is when my theatre background comes into play in a cosplay performance.


PICTURE CREDITS: JIMMY COMETA

Q: How do you go about choosing cosplays that you want to cosplay in a competition?
Team SG: It depends on the members that are taking part in the competition (Raistlin and Shinji are part of the group ‘Section 8’). Firstly, you need to have a love and passion for the series. If you don’t like the series, you won’t put in effort to make the props required. Secondly, we see if the props are complex or challenging. If the props are too simple, we may not have the inspiration to make them.


PICTURE CREDITS: JIMMY COMETA

Congratulations to Team Singapore for winning the competition! Well we managed to get an interview post competition with them, so continue reading to follow up!

Q: How do you feel about winning First Prize at RCC ?
Team SG: It was kind of an unexpected win for us. I thought we made a few mistakes that were different from our actual performance and that it would have cost us a lot. I guess everything goes well because those who did not watch our rehearsal would not know the mistakes we made. 


PICTURE CREDITS: RAISTLIN'S DA

Q: You've won many prizes this year including WCS 2nd, ACM 2nd, and now RCC 1st. How do you achieve such success in competitions?
Team SG: Firstly, you must really have the love for performance in order to carry on going. Preparing for just one cosplay competition would take up a lot of your time. I would dare say with that same amount of time, you can easily prepare 10 sets of costumes and photo shoots. Hence, the love for performance must be that great.

Secondly, you must not give us even if you fail. Before winning these three prizes, I actually lost out at WCS 2010 in the Singapore qualifying round. Not sure how many people can remember that.

Lastly, in such competition, people tend to make the mistake of focusing too much on either costume or performance. Sometimes, I see comments such as Team A do not deserve to win because Team X got better costumes or I don’t know why Team B win because Team Z have a nicer performance. In cosplay competition, it is about the combination of costume and performance and giving a good show to the audience.


PICTURE CREDITS: SHINJI'S WORLDCOSPLAY ACC

Q: What aspect of the entire performance did you spend the most time on?
Team SG: This time round it would be the making of the stage prop especially the motorcycle as we felt it was the highlight of the performance. In addition, it was our first time making a bike from scratch. Yes, we made the structure of the bike!


PICTURE CREDITS: RAISTLIN'S DA

Q: Do you have any advice to give to people who want to try out in competitions?
Team SG: Most people often give up when they do not win on the first try. The thing is that the first time is always an experience. The more experience you get, the faster you are able to prepare and the more you will understand what works and what would not. Most importantly, enjoy your time on the stage. If you don’t, you will not enjoy cosplay performance or competitions.


PICTURE CREDITS: SHINJI'S WORLDCOSPLAY ACC


-Transcription/Translation/Commentary by Emi
-Layout/Pictures/Posting by Emi

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