Formula Drift: Evergreen Speedway, Seattle (ver. 2011)

Spent most of the day hanging out with a friend at Evergreen speedway today for the main event of the Formula D Round 5 series in Monroe, Washington.  I was able to watch pretty much the entire Top 32 battle which went from 3pm to after 8:30pm with a 2 hour break thrown in there.  The event was PACKED this year, likely due to nice weather we had today.  Clear blue skies with a high in the 70s, it was pretty great weather-wise. 

Then I picked up an acute case of nasty allergies from something in the air and was sneeze city for the entire day.

There's not really much else to say about the event.  I might be getting a little jaded toward competitive drifting as I get older.  Maybe my tastes are changing or I'm just sad that I'll never be competitive without spending an exorbitant amount of time and money for little gain.  Sure it's a fun sport, but is it thousands of dollars per week--fun?  I don't know.

Anyway, onto the pics:

A shot of the starting grid where the two battling drifters get ready to lay down the throttle.

Some crew members, friends, or family scoping things out from high up.

A vibrant Toyota Corolla in the Megan Racing stables.

More crew and driver gatherings at high places.

NOS energy drink girls helping to sell more product.

PACKED grandstands and ground levels.

A wide-angle shot of the track with spectators wanting a personal view of the action.

Matt Powers and Charles Ng battling on the main bank.

Drifting doesn't come cheap for anyone... some more than others.

The top 16 drivers getting ready to line up for their main event driver introductions.

Fredric Aasbo in the Scion tC and Dean Kearney in the hot viper.

Cosplay Project Teaser 01

So some of the lights used for the cosplay project I have planned have arrived and they're AWESOME, a teaser is below.  More to come later...

Summer update

 

Not much has been going on since the end of AX about 2 weeks ago other than working in the lab and wanting to make more videos.  Next weekend, Round 5 of the Formula D series comes into town at Evergreen Speedway which is always a good time.  Not really sure if I want to make a video out of that event as filming is hard work and I kinda rather go to a drift event and feel laid back and relaxed rather than constantly scoping out potential video shots / talent.

In other news, after filming lots of different cosplayers and immersing myself in cosplay culture, I've decided to try dabbling into the art a little myself.  The only problem is that I don't really mess around when it comes to these sorts of things so hopefully I won't be in over my head.  My bff on the other side of the country will be helping me in collaborating the construction and design.  He's pretty detail oriented like I am so I think it'll be a fun project.  We're planning to start very soon and details including what the cosplay is of (teaser logo above) and updates related to the build will be released shortly.  Also, because I mainly shoot video at events It raises the problem of how I'll be able to both continue to acquire footage and cosplay at the same time.  These issues will have to be addressed at a later time.  Stay tuned...

Anime Expo 2011 Cosplay Video - 04

This is the last video I have planned for AX 2011, it was a fun experience and I enjoyed working with all the different cosplayers featured in the videos. Hopefully I'll be able to make more videos in the future.

Anime Expo 2011 Cosplay Video - 03

Next to last, sadly:

Anime Expo 2011 Cosplay Video - 02

Not much to say about this one, check it out:



Probably 1-2 more videos for AX left to upload.

Anime Expo 2011 Cosplay Video - 01

Spent pretty much the entire day editing way too many video clips... I took waaaay too much video, but I can't really complain I guess. It means I can be more selective with my footage although it also means sifting through all the clips will takes ages longer and is harder to figure out which bits to use.

It took a loooong time but I finally finished my first cosplay montage video for Anime Expo 2011, it was fun to make and I incorporated a few ideas that I had written down a while back. I'll probably be releasing a couple more videos later on, hopefully they will all be good. Check out number 1 below:

Edit: I messed up the framerate with a couple clips in the video so I had to fix and re-upload the file unfortunately.

Mikunopolis 2011 Concert Video

Here's a sampling of the Mikunopolis concert experience made with clips from the first 6 songs:



My favorite is Clover♣Club at 8:47 in.

Hatsune Miku in Los Angeles, USA: Mikunopolis

Here are a few photos I had the pleasure of taking at the Mikunopolis concert at the Nokia Theater in downtown LA. We were allowed to film only the first 6 songs of the concert but were able to take pictures from our seats afterward. So the actual "concert in progress" shots are from after the first 6 songs were sung.


Taken from the press seating area up (another press seating area can be seen in the middle at the top), Hatsune Miku fans start to stream into their seats in anticipation.





The twins Len and Rin give a duet performance.



Followed by a strong performance by Luka.



Miku as seen from the large TVs on the sides of the theater.





Miku in saihate attire.



What it looks like when Miku changes outfits going into the next song(s).









Concert ends, hopefully Miku will be back next year. The video footage I took from the concert will hopefully be up later tonight.

Anime Expo 2011: Mikunopolis

It's the close of day 2 for Anime Expo in downtown Los Angeles. The Hatsune Miku concert, Mikunopolis was unbelievably amazing and wild. My hearing was muffled for a good hour after the concert though. There was a media ban but somehow, somehow, everything worked out OK.

That's because I befriended a really cool guy named Ackson who vouched for me and got me a press pass to shoot video and pictures during the concert. Taking video was restricted to the first six songs of the concert from a designated spot far away from the stage. However, we were able to take pictures from our seats in the audience. I think maybe one percent of the shots I took came out due to the pure darkness and difficulty of shooting a projected image.

In the meantime I've been spending all day everyday shooting video with tomorrow's forecast being no different. The shots I've been getting are OK but I've been hanging out and shooting with Ackson and feeling a bit dwarfed by his amazing Steadicam pans. Our videos have a bit of a different style but I'm still jealous of some of the really amazing shots he has been getting especially because were shooting the exact same people... our videos are gonna be kinda awkward in that regard probably, or mine will be at least, since I'm a "nobody." I think mine and Ackson's shots would really complement each others' really well but collaborative work in this field seems pretty rare, I don't know.

Tomorrow is my last day of shooting and I'm hoping it all goes well before I return back to Seattle on Monday morning. It's been fun working with a variety of cool cosplayers though I need to be more assertive when setting up my shots.