Lady Saiyan's Homepage!!!

 

Lady Saiyan Productions

CRP Studio

 

 

I.                    Inspiration

 

I’ve been a huge fan of parodies and spoofs for as long as I can remember.  I’ve seen lots of fan-based projects from Corn Pone Flicks, Sherbert Productions, Fast Food Freedom Fighters, Neko Sama Productions, and CDS Productions.  They have such wonderful projects, and they never cease to amuse me. :)  Once I saw them, I said, “you know what?  I wanna do something like that someday.”  At the same time, I have attended anime conventions where I would have such a rotten time.  I’d be really upset once I went home, and I wouldn’t want to talk to anyone about it.  Everyone has a bad time now and again, but the trick is, to learn from it, or… you could do what I do – laugh at it.  My good friend Rob Miles always said, “you’re never going to get over a bad situation, unless you poke fun at it.”  I couldn’t argue with him there.

 

 

II.                  Story Ideas

 

I recall the memories of Nan Desu Kan 2002, like it was yesterday.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good time that year… unless you want to count the Anime Match Game I played, but that was it.  I was completely told off by guest relations for absolutely no reason on my part.  Later on, I found out that the reason why she was so harsh was because there were far too many girls going after Scott McNeil.  Of course, I would never do that.  First of all, he’s a married man, and second, if I did something like that, I knew damn well that it was the quickest way for me to get thrown out of the convention.  I go to cons to have fun, not get in trouble.  Because there were so many out of control girls with their loving affection for the drop dead gorgeous actor, it’s kind of hard to distinguish the obedient attendees from the wild ones.

 

Back in 1998, I was a part of a public access TV show in San Francisco, known as World of Anime, where I met an acquaintance named Emily Snodgrass.  She brought her VHS copy of anime parodies from C-Ko Duplication Services (CDS Productions).  She even told me that she provided the voices for one of his parodies, and that Bobby Beaver (C-Ko) was looking for female voice talents to help him with his next projects.  I immediately contacted him, and we talked about it, but we never got anything off the ground.  I decided to view the videotape that Emily had, and I noticed that one of the videos he created was called “Con Zombies”, where he had fanboys talking in monosyllables walking in the corridors of the hotel.  With the help of convention security (an actor), they managed to lock them up in a hotel room… but not for too long.  After I saw it, I thought to myself, “you know, there is so much negativity regarding fanboys, but you don’t hear anything about fangirls, and they’re far much worse.”  I figured since no one has created a spoof on fangirls, I thought that maybe I should have a crack at it.  My spoof is somewhat similar to C-ko’s, but the difference is that it consists of fangirls, a real convention staffer, a real convention security guard, and a guest of honor decoy.

 

 

III.                Production & Casting

 

Would you believe me if I told you that I had absolutely no script for this spoof?  I knew what I wanted, and I wasn’t stressed about it, neither.  I figured, as long as I have people who can cooperate with me, I should be okay.  I thought, “okay, because I’m going to be creating a spoof about fangirls from Nan Desu Kan, it needs to be filmed at NDK.”  Of course, before I worked on any kind of production, I contacted Bobby Beaver, and I told him what I was up to.  The advice he gave me was, “don’t get too many people.  Chances are, someone is going to sneak out on you.”  I originally wanted to get this spoof out of the way on Saturday.  Unfortunately, a friend of mine wanted me to be in the masquerade with her, so I had to wait until Sunday, which isn’t necessarily a good idea, not to mention that I had to fly back to San Francisco that evening.  With that said, it was kind of a rush job, but one of the things that surprised me was that each scene took only one take.  How often do you have something like that?  In a way, I was kind of hoping for some outtakes.  Oh, well.  Maybe next time.

 

The Fangirl Zombies (Sunday, September 18, 2005, 9:30 am): Where did I get the girls, you ask?  I basically went around the convention, and focused on a select group of girls, rather than individuals; it’s much easier that way.  I just went up to them casually and said, “hi, I’m creating on a fangirl spoof.  Do you have time to help me out?”  They were like, “sure, what would you like us to do?”  I said, “okay, just come with me, and I’m going to get a couple more girls to help as well.”  At that point, I had only three girls, and I knew I needed more.  So again, I went around the lobby area to see who else I could get, and I managed to get three more girls.  I said to myself, “six girls…  Okay, that’s good enough.”  With that said, we took the elevator up to hotel rooms.  Since I was planning on using my hotel room for one particular scene, I decided to stick to the hall nearby for a film shoot.  I basically told all the girls to act like zombies with the arms in front.  One girl asked if she could snarl, and I said, “sure, just make sure it sounds scary.”  I filmed them twice for different scene changes.  I then asked the girls to go to the hall near my hotel room, and I had the door open for them to run into.  Unfortunately, my fiancé, Patrick was helping my friend Merlyn with her wig and makeup for a photoshoot.  I thought, “ohhhh, bummer.  How am I gonna do this scene?”  Fortunately, they were understanding, and they said, “it’s okay.  If you’re only going to film them for a short time, that’s fine.”  Out in the hall, I had asked the girls to continue with the zombie act, and that once they reach the door, to pretend that there was a famous celebrity in that room, and to run in excitedly, and that I would slam the door from behind them.  Of course, I was extremely careful not to point the camera towards Merlyn and Patrick as I got the girls running in.  Poor Pat and poor Merlyn for putting up with me. :p  I then said that I wanted all the girls to bang on the door as though as they were trapped, shouting something like, “let me out of here!”, or, “we’ve been tricked!”  That was it.  I thanked all the girls for helping me out with my project, and I gave them my website business card.  Funny thing is, not one person from that group of girls ever contacted me. :(

 

With A Little Help From My Friends (Sunday, September 18, 2005, 10:15 am): I asked Merlyn if she could at least help me out with one scene, even though she was going to a Sailor Moon photoshoot outside.  She was all, “oh, but Claudine, I’m wearing my Princess Saturn costume.”  I said, “so what?  This is an anime convention; it’s perfect.  You have one regular attendee and one cosplayer in the scene.”  She was like, “oh… okay…” *laughs*  Patrick was such a doll to be my cameraman for a little while.  In the scene, the two of us would be leaving our hotel room, deciding on what event to attend at the convention, and I would have the both of us look over to our left and react in a somewhat terrified manner.  Merlyn would then grab my arm, and bring me back into the room, while we both told each other, “don’t look!  Don’t look!”, and we’d slam the door shut.  After that, Merlyn and Patrick headed down to the photoshoot.

 

Convention Staffers & Security Guards (Sunday, September 18, 2005 10:30 am): At first, I wanted to copy the Bobby Beaver method of having my friends pose as staff and security.  Unfortunately, none of my friends had any clothes that made them look like convention staffers, nor did they have any costumes that made them look like security guards.  But then I said to myself, “you know what?  Although I like all of the scenes I filmed for the spoof so far, there was nothing in any of them that shows it took place at Nan Desu Kan.”  I figured that maybe I could ask someone on staff who could help me with the project.  As I was taking the elevator down to find someone, I came face to face with James Meyer.  I asked him if he would be willing to help me with one quick scene, and he said, “sure, but we have to do this quickly, because I’m expected elsewhere.”  Upon hearing that, I said, “oh, I don’t want to take you away from your duties.”  He then said, “no, no, it’s okay.  How long will it take?”  I told him that it will take less than a minute to film, and he agreed to do the scene in front of the hotel elevator.  Fortunately, an anime attendee was nearby to help me film the scene.  I told James that I would be walking towards him in frantic manner, stammering about a disturbance nearby.  I basically asked him to say something like, “whoa, whoa, slow down.  Now… what… happened?”  And I would say, “I’m telling you, them mangy fangirls are invading our convention area space.  What am I going to do?”  He would then take me back into the hall and possibly have me talk to the security guard.  Once the scene was completed, I thanked James for helping me, gave him my business card, and he went back to work.

 

Now, all I needed was a security guard to help me on how to take care of the situation.  It was at that point where I basically kicked myself for not thinking about what I could’ve done in the first place, in terms of having NDK staffers helping me with my scenes.  Every time I attended a convention, sometimes my friends would get into a fix and wouldn’t know what to do in terms of the convention.  I always told them, “if you have doubts about something, or if you have a particular request from the convention staff, always go to con ops.”  I should’ve taken my own advice much sooner, now that I look back at it.  So, I went to con ops, and I said, “okay, this is a very unusual request.  I’m currently filming a convention spoof, and I was wondering if it’s possible for me to borrow one of your security guards?”  I felt so embarrassed about asking that, not knowing whether or not they would laugh at me, or take me seriously.  In the end, they were very nice, and happy to help me out.  Moments later, an NDK Security Guard arrived, and I basically told him what I was up to, and he said that he would be happy to help me out.  We went right back to the hotel corridor, where my hotel room was located.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have anyone holding my camera in this scene, so I ended up using the housekeeping cart to mount the camera into position.  I told him that I would be walking up to him, saying that a staffer had sent me over to him, and that we had a problem with fangirls, and if he had some kind of solution.  If you’ve seen the spoof, you’ll notice that I stumbled in that scene.  I decided to keep the scene the way it was, since it was only one stumble; however, I thought, “If I do it again, I’ll have to re-shoot.”  I asked him if he could say something like, “okay, this is what we will do.  We’ll have all the GOHs locked away in their rooms, and keep one hotel room open with a GOH decoy.  The fangirls will be lured into the room, and we lock them in.”  Originally, I wanted him to close my hotel room door for an effect, but wouldn’t you know it?  I misplaced my room key. :(  Instead, what I had him do was, stand outside a particular hotel room, and give the illusion that he closed the door.  As soon as everything was taken care of, I would give him a look of relief, and say, “oh, thank you.  Thank you”, while hugging him, kind of how some women hug their doctors when they’ve been cured of an illness, or if they’re given good news. *laughs*  I thanked the security guard for helping me out, and just like the others who had helped me, I gave him my business card, but I never heard from him, nor did he ever tell me his name.

 

The Convention Scenery (Sunday, September 18, 2005, 11:00 am): At this time, I wanted to get Patrick in one scene, but he was still busy taking pictures of the girls in their Sailor Moon Princess Costumes… so were Lionel Lum and Eurobeat King.  I used this time to film the convention center on the outside.  I managed to get footage of the “Convention Center” sign posted on the building, and on the very right, you see the big Marriott logo on the hotel tower.  I said to myself, “this is perfect.  This footage is perfect for the very beginning of the spoof, and it tells the audience where the story was filmed.”  Another thing I liked, were the international flags hanging on the outside of the main entrance.  I figured that if I’m going to be filming the spoof at this hotel, I should get some footage of the flags; pity that the flag from Japan wasn’t there.  I even managed to get a shot of the valet guy on duty, where he took notice of the camera. *laughs*  I kept that because I felt like it was a touch of humor that could be used for the opening sequence. :)

 

The Scott McNeil Decoy (Sunday, September 18, 2005, 2:30 pm): I knew that I needed a Scott McNeil decoy for the spoof, and if you saw the back of Patrick’s head, it would be pretty easy to mistake him for that particular voice actor.  The only difference is, Scott McNeil is usually seen wearing a white cowboy hat (something we didn’t have).  But statistically speaking, in Texas, you’re not allowed to wear the hat in a house, or in a hotel room for the matter.  So, why did it take so long to get Patrick in this scene?  He was busy taking pictures of the Sailor Moon Princesses, and I didn’t want to pull him away from that.  Also, I didn’t need him for too long.  Just a good 20 seconds, and that was it. :)

 

IV.               Completion

 

I pretty much had all of the footage that I needed, except for one.  I never got footage of myself at the con, with the exception of some scenes in the spoof.  I didn’t think they were accurate for the credits in the end.  I filmed myself sitting on my big computer chair in my room back in San Francisco, and wearing the exact same clothes I had on, when I was at Nan Desu Kan.

 

I obtained all the necessary footage needed, and now comes the hard part – transferring all the footage from my video camera onto my computer.  That’s one of the joys of owning ATI connections and programs.  The footage wasn’t the problem, but the sound was.  There were times when the audio was so buzzy and loud, or it was almost incoherent.  It took me a month to get the sound quality just right.  Then came the joys of working with Pinnacle Studio Version 8.4.  I’m sure there’s a much better video editing software than this out there. *laughs*  As I was looking at the title editing option, one font stood out – “Matter of Fact”, but it was a fiery orange color.  Blue is my favorite color, which is why the font is in that color.  Also, I figured that since it was a horror spoof, it would be the perfect font used for the credits. :)  As for the music, I went through my pile of anime CDs, and there were two that I really liked – Vampire Hunter D and Devil Hunter Yohko.  At first, I wanted to use the Resident Evil CD, but I felt the music was far too gory for a spoof like this. 

 

Normally, when I get new software, I like to play around with it, and learn things on my own, but when it came to the music, the program just didn’t want to work with me.  Thankfully, my fiancé, Patrick was able to help me out in that area, since he had used Pinnacle on several occasions.  In the end, all the hard work paid off… at least from my standpoint.  Sure there were a couple of scenes that I wanted done differently, but I think this is just about as good as it gets. :)