Cosplay Festival. From small to large.
If there is an opportunity to visit the cosplay festival and make photo reports, then our editors try not to miss this opportunity. Almost always spectacular and exciting events that are carried out by 100% enthusiasts. Personally, I first came to such an event in 2016 (it was Higan). To say that I had a slight shock would be an understatement. Before that, I had not seen cosplay live, and the level of detail in the costumes just left me in a slump. This is where you can really immerse yourself in the world of characters Fantasy, fiction и anime. And in what is happening in Minsk, was hard to believe. I wondered: where was I before, when all this had time to happen?
I learned from the organizers about how the first festivals were held.
Part 1. Beginning, Higan.
The festival was launched higan, which took place in 2006. What did the organizers not expect and how did the participants shock the residents of Minsk?
In 2006 year Belarus there was a small but active anime party. There were already festivals dedicated to anime in Russia, for example, the oldest anime festival in the CIS - Voronezhwhich was first held in 2000.
And in Belarus everything was limited to small local events. The very word "cosplayer" then it was just coming into use, it was new and unusual. Anime people organized small parties, meetings and walks in the city, field trips and much more.
The idea of holding their own festival was literally in the air, so in 2006, two groups independently appeared, planning to organize the first anime festival. When they started working, they discovered each other's existence and, after negotiations, merged into one team. The very first Higan took place in TsTDM "Eureka". We planned that a maximum of 200 people would come, but 500 came (and this is without participants). There were about 150-200 cosplayers then.
"Eureka" could not accommodate such a number of people, so the performance was partially transferred to the street, especially since the weather was warm and sunny. There was no cafeteria in Eureka, and the hungry participants soon began to go to the nearest store to buy food. Most of them did not leave the image. So, for example, residents of nearby houses and store employees had to watch Pyramid Head and a nurse from the Silent Hill game series, who, with a slow gait of zombies, wandered towards the store, wandered between stands, silently served food at the checkout, and then just as silently and slowly left towards "Eureka". I think the sellers and visitors of the store received a lot of impressions.
Higan 2006
But, of course, there were also difficulties in the organization process:
1. None of the team had the slightest experience and knowledge in the organization;
2. The festival needed money, which was also not available;
3. In 2006, it was much more difficult to process all the necessary papers to obtain permission to hold an event than it is now.
But this did not stop the organizers, and today higan is a large-scale cultural and entertainment event dedicated to modern East Asian culture (Japan, Korea, China), which gathers more than 1000 participants and more than 1500 spectators annually.
Translated from Japanese, “Higan” means “equinox”, the astronomical change of two seasons (summer and autumn), and allegorically, the change of traditional and modern cultures.
Higan 2017. Photo from the group vk.com/higan
On the other side of the barricades.
While the organizers of the first events coordinated the venues and processed the documents, the cosplayers were preparing costumes and honing their skills of impersonation. To be honest, when I first saw the costumes live, I was very interested in what drives these people and how much free time should be to make such exact copies of the characters. Veronika Larchenko under the name Lady Integra has been fond of cosplay since 2005, then there were the very first attempts to assemble a costume, in most cases from a closet. Veronika herself is from Mogilev and a journalist by education.
It all started with my passion for Japan, from there I learned about cosplay, and since I was fond of the stage since childhood, this direction seemed interesting to me. In cosplay, love was combined for performances, for photography, and for handmade.
Memories of the first costumes and the first festival
The very first ones, which date back to 2005, are already embarrassing to remember.
A shirt and pants from the closet, no wig, makeup and a good camera were out of the question.
For the first Belarusian Higan anime festival in 2006 (my first festival) something was already being sewn, it was Verdandi from the anime “Oh! My Goddess!". The fabric was then taken cheap, they helped me with a blue cape, and the rest I did and sewed myself. Of course, now this is also not a level, but then it was just a start.
Compared to modern festivals, a lot has changed. On the one hand, the events already demonstrate the highest level. Thousands of people come to UNICON, which occupies a huge area. And in 2006, cosplayers performed at the stadium, as the small room did not accommodate everyone.
There were no competitions and prizes at the first festival, there was no selection, there were no high-quality photos and videos, there were much weaker costumes (now the level has increased disproportionately).
But it is still difficult to return that joy, friendliness and spontaneity. Now cosplay is often a race "who is cooler", sometimes a vanity fair, and many have long forgotten that cosplay is just for fun.
What has changed in the manufacture of costumes
As a person who prefers to do everything by hand, for me the difference is primarily in the availability of materials. At the very beginning of the cosplay journey, I saw wigs only in 1 tent in the market, and it was difficult to order, so they bought through third parties, and the goods were not always delivered. Now I order materials at auctions, where even wholesale buttons go out to buy several times cheaper than 10 pieces in a store. With the search for fabric, of course, there are always difficulties, but you can find the necessary one in other cities or at the same auctions, in online stores.
But what definitely didn’t exist 10 years ago were workshops that make costumes and craft to order. Now if you do not want to do it yourself, then the choice of whom to turn to is huge. Ready-made costumes from auctions are usually of poor quality, so I do not advise.
Part 2. Unicon.
The first attempt to hold UNICON was in 2012, but in fact it turned out to be more than a party for 100 people. As such, there was no cosplay contest. But in 2013 there was a full-fledged festival, and everything was great with cosplay there.
In 2013, the festival was held in a place that no longer exists (loft coworking “Me100”), in one of the old workshops of the instrument-making plant, which is for BSUIR. The owners planned to make a platform there for exhibitions, presentations and other similar things, but for some reason they did not work out and “Me100” turned into a space "CEH", which after changed the location. It was a small playground, only three hundred and a half squares. It was crowded, the room was not heated - there were heat guns.
It was the beginning of March, not the most friendly time for events. There were so many participants and visitors that sometimes it became very crowded in the room. In total, that year we had about 350 visitors and about 50 people who were related to the organization - posters, volunteers, coordinators. There were 30 cosplayers, about half of them participated in the competition. There was no stage in such a small room, everyone performed on a designated area for performances, the audience stood right in front of the speakers.
Unicon 2013 Photo from vk.com/uniconminskgroup
Despite such a modest scale, there were worthy images. As far as I remember, the winner that year was the Clone Wars character, Rayo Chuchi, and the amazing Idris from Doctor Who. On the second day there were still very cool images from Warhammer 40000, from comics. Then UNICON did not promise anything special as prizes, but many were ready to come and perform just to support the new festival and see something new.
Since we had very cramped conditions in terms of area, the dressing room also did not differ in comfort: it was small, and there was simply nowhere to turn around. But this did not affect the desire of cosplayers to come to us again. And then everything went only on the rise. We increased the area of the exhibition, and the number of applications also increased. We do not know what it is connected with, and what exactly affected. Of course, we made preferential tickets for cosplayers, and then generally made free admission for contestants, looked for more rooms for dressing rooms, and also tried to provide interesting and themed prizes, but many festivals do this.
Unicon 2013 Photo from vk.com/uniconminskgroup
I think there is no definite recipe for attracting cosplayers to festivals. If a person is interested in getting to the event itself, then he can apply. He considers this step as an opportunity to get to the fest for free or much cheaper than ordinary visitors. But someone comes and just like that, to “walk” the suit. Every cosplayer has their own reasons for attending the festival.
Now UniCon is a Belarusian convention (festival) of science fiction, fantasy, comics and computer games, which includes thematic exhibitions, a stage show and accompanying master classes, presentations and creative meetings with the participation of invited guests.
Unicon 2018 will be held on November 2-4 at the exhibition site of the TLC "Globus Park" together with the exhibition of the gaming industry GameExpo Minsk 2018.
The popularity of fantasy, science fiction, comics and anime is growing, so there are more festivals. So in 2015 in Gomel passed for the first time FreeTime Fest. This is an annual multi-fandom festival organized by the FreeTime-Clan anime community. And in 2017, Minsk hosted the first WEBcon is an annual fandom festival of modern Western and Eastern youth culture.
If you haven't been to these festivalsthen be sure to go. Follow the information on the Internet or on our website in the announcements section.
