Sunday, September 7, 2014

FAN EXPO 2014: IF IT'S FRIDAY, YOU MUST BE POKEMAN

As stated in my previous post, the end of summer in Toronto means it's C.N.E. time; jet planes, Superdogs and carnival games

But it also means Fan Expo time: X wing fighter planes, superheroes and video games.



Fan Expo is an increasingly massive event that fills both halls of the enormous Metro Covention Centre and runs for four days (well three and a half) Normally I go for only one of those days. It gives me an opportunity to buy some graphic novels, some video games, maybe some anime and lately, sit in on some workshops as I continue to try to delve into the world of graphic novel creation.

This year I went for every day of the Expo. Every freaking day. All together, about 30 hours. Thirty freaking hours. Yeh. You know. I ain't as young as these people


I did attend a couple of writing/publishing/promotions workshops but those were not my main emphasis this year. This year I went to make a video. I always smack together a little music video from the show, and I have done that, as you can see below. But I also wanted to make a different kind of video. Fan Expo attracts something in the area of half a million people over its three days. Many of them, like myself, come for the entire run of the show. I've seen these people, I've bumped into these people, I've taken their pictures


Fan Expo is a cross platform fan experience. Comics, anime, sci fi, horror .. as it is billed. People come to meet their idols in all these genres, to cosplay, to express themselves and whatever world it is that they love.


So I conducted a bunch of interviews of people, you will see a bit of that in the video below, and I followed a girl on her first Fan Expo experience. She is a different kind of girl, she was after a different kind of experience, but she did it in costume, with Spiderman, so who am I to complain


For any of those interested, I'm documenting the process of making this video on my other blog, Idiot With A Camera And no, for those wondering, it will not have any Power Rangers in it


The experience was exhausting for me but a lot of fun. I enjoyed the workshops and I enjoyed the filming; I did not shop as much but that is better for my wallet I suppose. I was more in work mode for the weekend and I sort of missed my "fan experience" But I got to watch many others enjoy their own




I don't know if I'd do the four days again, not if I was not making a film. I think two days would be perfect, if I could cram a bunch of workshops and networking into a day and another day to wander around, buy some shit, meet some people shoot some video for fun. Still, it was an interesting experience and I got to see some things that I never have before. It was exhausting but it's always nice to know that if I got into trouble, I had lots of people who could help me out .. or make it worse ... at Fan Expo, you never know



So, here's the video, mostly the usual music video but a little preview (sort of) of what is yet to come

Fan Expo Toronto 2014 from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.

No comments:

Top Blogs Pets

Add to Technorati Favorites