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1. According to Mountfort et al. (2018), what are the three main genres of cosphotography, and how did they historically develop?

Cosplay fan conventions are known to have developed genres of cosphotography, where people in cosplay do more than wearing costumes, make-up and prosthetics (Mountfort et al, 2018). Cosplay photography is inclusive of poses and gestures made by cosplayers, which is a part of the fan capital; not only does it provide a private value in fan capital, it also gives cosplayers a chance to network and form or join communities that express similar cosplaying interests (Mountfort et al, 2018). The concept of cosplay photography can be traced to its emergence circa 1908 in the United States; William Fell of Cincinnati dressed up as ‘Mr Skygack’ in a masquerade ball (Mountfort et al, 2018). The three main genres of cosplay photography are known as firstly the ‘runway’ snapshots that originated from cosplay costume conventions, the second as ‘hallway’ photography where cosplayers were photographed in informal convention spaces, and the third that developed from hallway snapshots to ‘studio portraits’ (Mountfort et al, 2018).

As the most formal genre of photography, costume convention photography or also known as ‘runway’ snapshots encompassed cosplayers that participated in convention competitions held on stages or runways (Mountfort et al, 2018). Mike Resnick’s account of the annual masquerade that inaugurated in 1940 narrates the first formal photography, while informal photographs were taken in 1939 (Mountfort et al, 2018). Formal cosphotography implied consent from cosplayers to be photographed. With such a distinction in formal and informal convention spaces, it led to the creation of two more genres as known today, those being the ‘hallway’ and ‘studio portraits’. This was enabled through technological advancements and the emergence of mass media, along with cameras that had become affordable to the public (Mountfort et al, 2018). Polaroids and instamatics from the 1950s and 1960s respectively largely contributed to black-and-white photography (Mountfort et al, 2018). Cosplay competitions resembled practices and aesthetics of fashion shows, as photographers would constantly capture different cosplayers and cosplayers would pose or catwalk on stage to display costume capital (Mountfort et al, 2018).

Hallway photography is the least formal genre of cosphotography; cosplayers are often caught out of act while being photographed which explains informality (Mountfort et al, 2018). The Mike Resnick account of the informal snapshots of 1939 convention is the first account of ‘hallway’ or informal cosphotography (Mountfort et al, 2018).  Hallway photographs are taken by an assembly of varied photographers, snapshots that range from DSLRs to contemporary media such as smartphones; these lack the specific setting in terms of backdrop and lighting (Mountfort et al, 2018). It is argued that this genre of photography is quite invasive as it occurs sans the consent of cosplayers, but Bordieu (1965) put forth his view of the ‘natural pose’, wherein humans instinctively pose toward cameras as ‘out of respect’ (Mountfort et al, 2018). Nonetheless hallway snapshots are more spontaneous than a preparation of capturing the essence of the cosplayers’ characters.

Studio portraits as the third main genre of cosplay photography emerged in the 1970s, also known as an amalgamation of the first two genres (Mountfort et al, 2018). The term for the genre ‘studio portraits’ derived not from shooting in private locations but in designated convention spaces that comprised of settings such as lighting and backdrop (Mountfort et al, 2018). Much of this cosphotography would take place during or after the convention. One of the first accounts of such genre’s photography was Angelique Trouvere posing as Vampirella in 1969, which displays aspects of studio features along with character poses (Mountfort et al, 2018). Initial studio cosphotography were staged with plain, more commonly solid colour and fabric backdrops and minimal props; contemporary studio cosphotography consists of far more props and use of advanced technology such as blue-screens (Mountfort et al, 2018). Studio snapshots often resemble fashion shoots because of its professional aspects in photography, but is mainly regarded as a fusion of hallway and runway style cosphotography (Mountfort et al, 2018).

References

Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. (2018). Planet cosplay: Costume play, identity and global fandom. Intellect.

1. According to Mountfort et al. (2018), what are the three main genres of cosphotography, and how did they historically develop?

Cosphotography is a genre of photography that is mostly seen at conventions where photography of people in cosplay is taken with a range of different modes and settings. The idea of photographing people in costume has existed far before the notion of cosplay with perhaps the earliest account of cosphotgraphy according to Mountfort (2018, p. 48) being from “the United States from around 1908, when William Fell of Cincinnati attended a masquerade ball held at a skating rink in Ohio dressed as Mr. Skygack.” Cosphotography includes several different genres the first being officially conducted costume competitions at conventions and secondly, the genre labeled hallways snapshots where photographs of people in cosplay are taken in convention spaces. Later in the 1970s, a third genre of cosphotography had begun, this being the studio portrait.

Official costumes competitions are the most formal genre of cosphotography that appear within conventions and feature multiple attendees of said convention who are in cosplay that participates in the costume competition, typically on a stage or runway. By presenting themselves on the runway cosplayers are consenting to photographs of their cosplay being taken and want to be seen in a more formal setting. Cosplayers will often try to act in character to heighten their performance on the runway. This genre of cosphotography emerged in “the annual Masquerade originally a kind of fancy dress ball was inaugurated at the 1940 Chicago conference” (Mountfort, 2018, p. 50). A reason for the genre’s inception may have been developments in camera technology and that technology becoming widely available to the public with affordable models.

Hallway snapshots are the least formal cosphotography genre and do not require the cosplayer’s consent, photographs taken in this style of cosphotgraphy are almost entirely shot within hallways of the convention center or inside the convention itself. Like with the official costume competitions the hallway costume emerged in the late 1930s and “casual shots are in evidence from 1939 (Mountfort, 2018, p. 50). As mentioned, hallway snapshots are far less formal than the other two genres of cosphotography and the lack of consent is a reason for this with photos looking heavily out of character. Angles are often unflattering and can show cosplayers performing mundane tasks or taking a break from the main floor.

The final genre of cosphotography is the studio portrait although the name is similar to a fashion shoot, done within a private location, and photographers hired specifically for the photoshoot, and professional cosplayers may do something along those lines. The staging is generally done in or around the convention center and not a dedicated studio. The studio portrait emerged in the 1970s, an early star of the studio portrait was Angelique Trouvere who cosplayed characters like Red Sonja and Vampirella. Studio portraits are just as formal as the costume competitions although the difference between the two is that “many of these carefully modelled shots resemble fashion studio photographs more than runway and hallway snapshots” (Mountfort, 2018, p. 51). The framing of the studio portrait is intended to look more professional; cosplayers and their photographers achieve this by selecting a photogenic location around the convention center. It results in photographs that can cleverly pass as professional without the cost associated with renting a studio space.

References

P, Mountfort. (2018). Planet Cosplay. Bristol, UK; Intellect Books.

1. Referring to Mountfort et al. (2018), in what ways is cosplay analogous to citation?

Cosplay, more or so often refers to the promoted phenomenon known to be “costume play.” With establishes situated in both American and Japanese culture, it includes the demonstration of taking on the appearance of a character. The word “cosplay” itself correlates to the demonstration of getting changed into such ensembles in order to reproduce the presence of a character from a work of fiction. Mainstream types of cosplay include dressing yourself up in the outfits of characters from for example: computer games, comic books, well known anime, cartoons and additionally movies of more or so realistic nature, and so on.

Cosplay can tend to also include dressing for non-character costumes that could be unrelated to any series or movie. Such as for example dressing up in school uniform (often more popular amongst females). The concept of cosplay is generally viewed as a sort of execution workmanship, as the individual endeavors to move their personality to the character they are ‘cosplaying’ using ensembles, adornments, even motions and mentalities in an approach to embrace the persona of the character. It tends to be viewed as that the individual possesses the part of this character which is both true and intellectual. That being said, the idea and uses of cosplay in today’s time is a means of engagement in terms of culture. It can both be seen in person ( especially in conventions of manga/anime or conventions such as comic con/armageddon) as well as on the online community. Asides from that they (cosplayers) also tend to have their own cosplay communities (Mountfort et al, 2018).

The idea of cosplay is very different due to an element which then isolates it from other means of costume exhibitions like festivals, theater or circus. The element being that cosplay relies generally upon messages from present or overall popular types of media. A source or a reference text is required, and this is the place the fundamental motivation for a cosplay is gotten from. Another component which recognizes cosplay from theater or potentially screen exhibitions is simply the length of the given overall execution.

A cosplayer doesn’t reproduce/showcase the whole content/plot of their picked text. They often just perform what can be called ‘portions’ of the first source of the text, ones which the cosplayer himself/herself sift through as being critical to the real exhibition. In correlation to that, cosplay can be viewed as a type of reference as cosplayers ordinarily reference their picked text, and play out a large number of citational acts (Mountfort et al, 2018). This is more or so because it is the cosplayer’s own costumed body which at that point goes about as the content or as a ‘cite’ referring to a book, on such accounts of cosplay, this would be the particular media source which is picked by the cosplayer to be performed. This overall brings the theme of citation to full circle.

References:

Mountfort, P. Pierson, Smith, A. Geczy, A. (2018) Planet Cosplay Intellect Books.

1.According to Mountfort et al. (2018), what are the three main genres of cosphotography, and how did they historically develop?

Just as fan customs have historically achieved advances in specific genres of “cosphotography,” photography and video have served as formation agents as well as reflections on how cosplay is performed. Cosphotography appears as a target of cosplay itself. In the early days, cosplay is almost entirely based on the characters present in multi-media original text, so that, unlike modern cosplay, many costumes made by practitioners have emerged as imaginative predictions of future fashion and trends, and specific source text has been derived from providing a range of interpretations of how the characters are seeing themselves. Whereas, modern cosplay is almost entirely based on the characters present in multi-media original text so that they can accurately model the appearance and behaviour of the characters.

Photographers who take pictures of cosplayers should have an understanding of the characters and genres they are trying to shoot and draw the pose or composition of the course. Also, photographers shoot various cosplayers in three different genres: Runway, Hallway and Studio portrait.

Their history begins at the first Worldcon of the 1939 World Fair. According to Mountfort et al.(2018), early Worldcon’s costuming provided important models for cosplay to be adopted and presented costumes in two major convention settings: one was a costume contest derived from the annual formal masquerade and the other was a hallway costume in informal convention spaces. “These formal and informal convention settings facilitated the emergence of two distinct photographic genres”(Mountfort,2018). It means Runway and Hallway. The runway is linked to a fashion show or fashion magazine and requires a lot of preparation and planning before taking pictures, and produces a perfect look at the course player through correction or special effects. At the same time, the Hallway appears in the form of a quick snapshot, emphasizing naturalness and creating a more relaxed atmosphere than the runway.

Mountfort et al. (2018) explain that Polaroids soon augmented black-and-white photography in the 1950s and by the 1970s, the third genre of photography, studio portraits, became prominent overtime. Studio portraits are composed of the communication of photographers and course players, presenting more detailed and carefully modeled photographs than the previous two genres. However, the production of such pictures is also considered a combination of both genres, mainly because they are performed in temporary environments, not in real studios. But over time, due to the development of various media, “High- definition phone cameras and 4k video have made the comparatively spontaneous hallway shot both easy to shoot and share, and so hallway photography remains the most ubiquitous form, if perhaps lacking the cache of runway and studio styles”(Mountfort, 2018).

References

Mountfort 2018, Planet Cosplay (Bristol, UK: Intellect Books), Chapter 2

2. In what ways can cosphotography be understood as a form of “fan capital”?

Cosplay is a medium where a person performs fragments of a character, during this performance textual citation and photographic practices are combined and “some-times collide.” (Mountfort, 2019). With photography you can both document and arrange different elements of the cosplayer’s performance “via visual genres typically spanning those of the fashion run-way, studio and ‘hallway’ shoots” (Mountfort, 2019).
According to Mountfort (2018) photography plays a significant part in modern cosplay, although
cosplay was documented as early as in 1939 at the New York Worldcon, foreshadowing the emergence of the three genres of cosphotography, “the fashion-shoot, studio portrait and ‘hallway’ snapshot.” (Mountfort, 2018). Over time fan conventions have further formed the development of the cosphotography genres. Photography and film are now acting as a shaping agent in how cosplayers act out their performance. Cosplay can be very time consuming and cost a lot of money, and cosplayers might hope they get something or some form of capital in return for their hard work. By being photographed and filmed the cosplayer can achieve tokens of private value and fan capital that circulates online and reaches a bigger audience. Photos and video can serve as a token of value, not necessarily in the form of money but in the shape of subcultural capital and happiness.   Cosphotography aren’t limited to online publication, but is also being published in books, sold as prints, coscards and as film and media files, you also have the concept of cosplay music videos (CMVs).

There are a lot of tension surrounding cosphotography, Mountfort (2018) mentions the issues between fan-directed cosplay and commercial cosplay and the “heterotopian and hegemonic control of cosplaying spaces”. Heterotopian meaning a vision of the cosplay community as a progressive/transgressive space where people can “enact a kind of collective détournement in the mass requisitioning of intellectual property from their legal rights holders and make it their own.”
On the opposite side you have the threat: commercialism, sexism and racism. You also have “flaming and body shaming” which can create a nasty vibe, especially on online forums.
 Because the cosphere is a community where visual tokens are in the centre of attention and exchanged between people, it is likely that these tensions will continue to circulate within the community.
The commercial space and other social forces is a constant threat to the heterotopian side of cosplay, reality TV series such as Heroes of Cosplay and Cosplay Melee are being criticised for turning into a competitive sport rather than a collaboration or ‘team work’ between the people in the cosplay community (Mountfort, 2018).

Cosphotography can be understood as a for of fan capital because it can function as a currency, as mentioned earlier it creates personal value for the cosplayer but the photos/videos created are also a valuable item to fans of cosplay or of the character the cosplayer is portraying. Just like hard cash it can be traded from photographer to cosplayer (or vice versa), from photographer to fan or between cosplayer and fan. It can increase the popularity of both the photographer and cosplayer, and it can provide the fan with the most valuable thing of them all; happiness.

Sources:

Mountfort 2018, Planet Cosplay (Bristol, UK: Intellect Books), Intro and Chapter 1

Mountfort 2018, Planet Cosplay (Bristol, UK: Intellect Books), Chapter 2

Mountfort 2019, Cosplay at Armageddon Expo