Just Be Friends Cosplay PV (Behind the Scene)

Finally, the mystery uncovers =)




Megurine Luka: Kaika

Luka’s ex BF:
Reiko

Photographers (alphabetically arranged) :
Adrian
Peggy
Maria
Shiroin

Video editing: Kaika


Special Thanks : Ying and Xrystal for lending us their gakurans and wig xD

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Reiko (my lovely ex-bf) and myself, along with our fabulous photographers and helpers shot this last year 12th - 13th September. We had so much fun and so much to share but for now, I’m handing this entry over to my bishie ex-boyfriend (Reiko). She’s gonna share a part of our journey with you guys! 

Happy reading!!! (Below text are all by reiko)

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If you are here reading this, I'm assuming that you have already watched the "Just Be Friends" cosplay video! :) If you haven't, please watch! xD (Link here)

Link to original video: Just Be Friends(niconicodouga) Just Be Friends(youtube)
 


... Otsukaresamadeshita~! Thank you for viewing^^!! I hope you enjoyed it!
Hopefully our cosplays were good enough to evoke some form of emotion in the viewers;;; Despite it being an up-tempo song, the lyrics and PV are very heartbreaking. Quoting what the song creator put in his description:

愛し合ってここまで歩いて来た二人。
Two lovers who have come thus far together.
そんなお互いが進む道がいつからか違(たが)ってしまっていた事に気づいた時。
Before they realised it, the path they both treaded together, had diverted.
あなたならどうしますか?
What would you do if it were you?


Liking someone doesn't mean you have to be together, and breaking up doesn't necessarily mean you each other. The song moved us so much that we wanted to, as cosplayers, do a tribute to it. Since we are at it, we thought we might as well go all the way to recreate the PV;;
I must say I am really lucky to be part of this project! It was towards the end of my stay in Singapore last September, when Kaika and I decided to go ahead with cosplaying "Just Be Friends"(hereon referred to as JBF).

It was a rush to co-ordinate the shoot because we only had one weekend left to shoot before I left the country! It so happened that Shiroin, who loves JBF as well, was stopping over in Singapore that weekend, so we asked Shiroin and Adrian to help in the shooting! Thanks for agreeing to assist on such short notice!!! Also, we tried to keep this project as secret as possible without involving too many people.

But as most cosplayers will know, not having any helpers for a shoot is just crazy x.x So I would like to hereby thank Maria and Peggy for helping us with the shoot, and for keeping it secret for so long too!!! :) But the one who worked the hardest and longest, sacrificing precious private time from her busy schedule, battling long nights of retouching, data losses and video-technical woes to make this cosplay video happen, is ☆Kaika☆!!!

I feel bad that I couldn't be of much help in the technical aspects, but at the same time I am sooo proud of her for not giving up in the face of adversity and hanging on till the end of the project!!


It was our first time at the studio, and the photogs helped a lot in coming up with ideas as to how we should use the studio space!
 
A peek into the rather cramped preparation room! 


Inflating balloons for the first set of pictures! 
We didn't expect to finish the whole packet of balloons, and it was pretty insane to have just 4 persons inflating 50+ balloons manually! *lung collapses* x.x We didn't have helium gas for the red balloon that had to be floating..
Shiroin climbing the dangerous ladders to get the red balloon up.
 
Tada~a~ah!
 
Can I say that it was hell trying to prep the balloons for the first take alone?! Some of the balloons started losing air and shrinking even before we started, and they just wouldn't stay put on the floor!
Kaika and I running after balloons. 
It amuses me that we've both got pictures of us in that same position LOL. We had thought of taping the balloons down to the floor, but that would mean time-loss preparing and cleaning them up, so we tried to gather them as much as possible and went ahead with the shooting.



Luka's and ex's feet were shown in the PV, but we couldn't tame the balloons enough to get that shot.



This may seem like an easy pose, but trust us, it wasn't XD.
We had to use alternative chairs too because we couldn't find similar ones to those in the PV, and it just so happened that the ones in the studio were springy :/


Kaika had a hard time trying to get into position because the seat sinks downwards, so we experimented by letting her seat on some things to lift her up. Then came the inhumane positioning of the hands, face and posture. We kept checking and adjusting her, even having to stretch her behind-arm to bring it to the front ala. Luka in the PV, just to get this single shot!

Double checking the shots to take.

Another obstacle: Luka's flying hair scenes x.x Whether you get good shots for scenes like these really depends on luck!



Despite having the studio keeper help us with directing wind from a strong fan, which threatened to blow off Luka's fake lashes, we still needed help with bringing the hair up!




It was even more time-consuming when rose petals were introduced x.x

They get blown away very quickly and how they move can't be controlled x.x I daresay this is one shot we spent most time on, testing different ways of releasing the petals and gathering them up over and over again. Thank goodness Maria had come by this time to help us!!! Our savior! T_T




One scene I had the most fun doing was the part where tears rolled down the ex's cheek!

If anyone had been observing the shoot, this must have been the most LOL moment. I had to apply eyedrops so many times, it wasn't easy trying to keep myself from laughing! But yes, thanks to burst shots and superb skills, Shiroin managed to get a number of shots with the eyedrop solution trickling down x.x

We had planned for 4 hours in the studio, but ended up paying for 7 hours instead x.x We decided to have dinner before continuing with the Christmas lighting scenes. It was a pity Adrian had to leave us for another appointment, but thanks again for helping us with the studio shoot!!! :D We had dinner at our next location in our fullgear x.x It was one of the times I felt thankful that SG doesn't send the police after cosplayers who walk about in public (not as if our get-up was an eyesore to the public).



Luka's ex in girly clothes(insert pukage here) enjoying Shiina Ringo stuff on Shiroin's iphone.


Got a photo at this eatery to include in the flashbacks!! Did you manage to catch it? :D 


Last scene of Day Primo!!!

There is an escalator just behind us so we had to keep trying to get shots when there was no one coming up or going down XD I trampled Shiroin's luggage just to get more height for this shot... I'm soooo sorry dude T_T


Protecting mah girl, yo >D Don't ask why I even posed that way please =_= We swapped jackets because I thought the colour was closer to the PV this way. Day 2 started at my house, where we focused on the non-studio and flashback shots. We kinda exhausted Shiroin from Day 1 so we couldn't have him with us, but Maria and Peggy kindly came down to help us!



One of the photos we took of Luka strumming by the window side. Another photo was used in the PV, but Kaika looks angelic here so I'm posting it *________*



No fan to get the wind-in-hair effects? Let the hands do the work! Our next location was the beach, to shoot that beautiful scene of the two lovers cycling back from school.


Here we tried to be creative and take a few more shots which we could use as flashback photos. Unfortunately, most were left out of the final product XD



Kaika had to hop on to the back wheel even though it had no foothold D:


Another lovey-dovey scene for the couple. I personally like this out-take because Luka is arranging my hair and I feel LOVED ROFL. Lukaaaaa!!!! <3<3<3  Yes this shot was taken in the dark, with a lamp post to provide us with the light we needed. The reason it looks like daytime in the video? Photoshop :P Don't believe all that you see~ *wriggles eyebrows and does squinty eyes*

That kind of wraps up our photo-taking session, but we were far from the end of the project. There was a lot (still an understatement) of post-processing to be done, a bulk of which was single-handedly done by Kaika >.<> In the process of collating pictures and producing the video, we came to realise that there were shots which we forgot to take, thus the discrepancies in the cosplay video oTL We're really sorry about that;;; Thanks for patiently reading all the way up till the end!! Hope you like what we did!!!

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Much thankies to Reiko for doing up this entry. Yeap, the whole ride was a very crazy one, I still find it hard to believe we have finally come to the official premiering stage!

I'll be coming up with my own Post Editing journal and some Behind The Scenes video footage soon. So stay tuned yeah! If you liked our hardwork, please leave me a comment below nao!!!

OH BTW! Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Chinese New Year!!!!!!!!1

Comments

.:decadence:. said…
LOVE IT BABE!! really very very very well done!!!! <3
Anonymous said…
HOI! Vic here!! THE VIDEO IS DAMN DAMN GOOD!!! -very in love-


GREAT JOB TO EVERYONE INVOLVED!! <3
Mitsuki said…
Really really nicely done!!
It's so close to the real PV and the editing is great! <3 Good job!!
Xiaobai said…
WELL DONE!! You girls put in so much effort! And it worked very well! I can't wait to see the end product!! *o*
Anonymous said…
you all are great and put in so much effort for this project! And the final product is so amazing. Congrats, guys! ^^
Ying said…
Really lovely piece of work! I don't like vocaloids, but seeing the effort you guys did for the whole shoot to match the PV it really touched my heart.

The effort is really pulled off pretty well! Nice >_<!

And it looks like you two have really enjoy the process of everything. XD

NICEE LAAA~ Although I know it's $$$ But it is really truely a nice investment of memory!
evilneo said…
very nice video. good job
Anonymous said…
Verse here
DAMN YOUR VIDEO ROCKSSSS
i was speechless before & after the video..

really can see lots of hard work into it *0*!
Cvy said…
i'm so overwhelm any words from my mouth cannot justify the epicness i just witness!!! THE BEST JBF INTERPRETATION!!!!!

(the gakuran belongs to ying D: )
rita shinigami said…
like i sai in you other blog,
the vid was amazing, really,.
and now i see all the work, the progress, to make the vid really spectacular.
alysael said…
Absolutely stunning<3
You Singaporean cosplayers always impress me with you amazing skills *________*
I absolutely love this PV and theresay, I am going to appreciate it so much after all the work you both put into it<3
Happy Chinese New Year + Valentines too!!~
Ariki said…
omgggg this is really well done! I love you both!! ahhh~ *fans* This vid is beautiful (and I'm usually LenxRin biased). Haruko showed me the actual pv last year.

Loved reading the entry and seeing what went on backstage. once again, awesome job!!!! <33333
ringo said…
It's amazing. omg! I love it~~~ <3 JBF rules!

Happy CNY n V.dae my dear! ^^
himi said…
lovely lovely! so much dedication plz XDD

happy CNY and v-daaay~~

(BTW I tried the pin+button trick on mai Sweden costume cuz I had no time to sew and it worked so wonderfully I was announcing to everyone that I learnt it off your blog hurhur XDDD)
Micel said…
I love your JBF interpretation so much!!

You guys really put a whole lot of effort into the whole video.. its the essence itself!! -thumbs up- keep up the good work!! :D
Anonymous said…
Fantastic!

Really can't imagine the amount of effort needed to stay true to the original PV and OMG the post processing must be crazy. Great work done!
omi said…
that is so awesome!!! omg. awesome job, you guys <3
Athensis_ said…
This is stunning! Vocaloid in the flesh m(_ _)m

Beyond words to describe; Suffice to say that if I watched the vid just a little further away from the screen, nobody would have thought it wasnt the original pv. The sheer amount of work put in is like gosh =O The flashbacks are a nice and unexpected touch!

Very very very awesome job done by the team; can said to be one of the best cosplay vid I've seen <3
Unknown said…
OTSUKARESAMA DESHITA!!!
Good job good job!! *gandong*
If you ever release this as a cosplayer rom or something, I WILL BUY!! ((* A *))
allkhe said…
this is so full of win that I can't even describe it!! I am awed by you and your team's effort. Even the flashbacks scenes which only take up about 1 second of the entire vid were all cosplayed out!

The final product was kind of blurry ( due to too much post processing maybe?) BUT WHO CARES? THE WHOLE VIDEO YOU AND YOUR TEAM CREATED IS JUST TOO AWESOME, I DON'T CARE MUCH ABOUT THE DETAILS.
Humanval said…
Wooaaahhh this is damn effort! Great video and good job! *thumbs up*
aruki said…
Been redirected here form Cvy's blog over at dA....

I love every bit of it! Your and Reiko-san's version of the video really rendered me speechless. I felt strong emotions coming from both of you.. it made the song and everything else look so real! The way you recreated the video isn't something superficial; it has something in it which makes the characters more human, even surpassing the charm of the original JBF.

Really, it made me cry. The efforts all the people involved here jumped right out and it just... touched me (figuratively) so much; I felt my heartstrings budge. XD A job very exemplary done.
Anonymous said…
The PV rocks!
I opened both the original and your PV side by side and they absolutely sync up!
Anonymous said…
Once again You guys came up with a absolutely last minute plan and once again you wow us with this great genius of work! otsukaresamadeshita!!! Great work!!!
z3LL said…
z0mg!!!!! I love the videooooo! It's like an official music vid xD

I'll spread this link too ^^

Keep it up guys!!
Yuanie said…
what a surprise ~! I didn't know that you have this project and i love it alot! I love how the story goes, the different scenes you and reiko took, the expressions both of you did and every photo tells its own story clearly and well. BRAVO YO !! WELL DONE YOZ XD ~!
generic cialis said…
Hi, well be sensible, well-all described

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