Killjoys, Make Some Noise!
I know there's room for much improvement, but we're quite happy with it for our first piece of video work!
I actually picked up After Effects for the first time just to be able to edit this video — to fix the colors and add the text and lasers and stuff. It was fun!Happy anniversary, Danger Days! On November 22, 2010 My Chemical Romance introduced the world of the fabulous killjoys. One year later, we're still here singing it to the world in our own way!
Some background info
For those of you who aren't familiar with this usage of the term killjoys — it's based on the My Chemical Romance album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. A description that was given on this very informative post goes like this:"The killjoys are the survivalists, the one trying to bring the truth, no matter how bad it is, thus being a "killjoy" in the literal sense, destroying the notion that everything is perfect as BL/i portrays it to be. Their world is dirty, fast, colorful and violent – abandoned buildings, graffiti, brightly colored masks, ray guns and biker jackets. It is unknown if the killjoys are the heroes or the villains – they are just trying to survive and get the truth out there."
I believe the truth that my friends and I constantly uplift is this: It's okay to be you. It's okay to be weird. It's okay to have fun by doing silly things. Other people's opinion of you shouldn't matter, and you should always strive to make yourself happy above all others. You will find people out there who will love you for who you are. Friends never let friends do stupid things — alone. Be yourself and be kind. Things will get better. They did for us, and they can for you.
Shoot outtakes!
First of all, to introduce ourselves again, here's our cast:
Melo is Flutter Shark
Aki is Noodle Kid
Jin is Death Berry
Miguel is Kombat Kibble
We've also got this group shot at the ruins!
Erving is Dr. Kow
Dom is Count BadmulletBok is Wolfman
Rayson is SkeletorBefore the shoot, there was a lot we had to do! We had to put our costumes together and make props
My mask and my gun, which is named BANANARCHY.
The mask is a random mask base that I cut to shape to resemble a harlequin mask, also painted with the common diamond pattern but in the bold red and blue to mirror the accent colors of my jacket. I put some red splatters too, as a vague reference to Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge.
My gun was an old Nintendo Zapper, which I customized. One day I just suddenly remembered that I used to have one of those Zappers, and when I compared photos of it to MCR's ray guns, and saw they were rather similar. I chose yellow as the base color so it'd match my shoes. And to go with the fruity theme of my name, I named it BANANARCHY. Hahaha!
(Special thanks to Zychez of My Little Prince Shop — they have excellent cosplay wigs — for helping me acquire the Zapper!)
Here's what the Zapper looked like before I customized it. Hoping to add the circular trigger guard (as seen in MCR's ray guns) in the future!
I added the patches, which I got from an old piece of clothing I got from years ago. (I knew there was a reason I didn't want to throw it out!) One is a smiley face with a bullet hole. It reminded me a lot of Watchmen, and I felt the struggles and conflict from the comic could somehow relate to the world of California 2019. Like the ambiguity of who the good and bad guys are, and the questions of whether these big corporations are making the world a better place or screwing it up. And Rorschach can be considered similar to killjoys, if you think about how he wanted to get the truth out there no matter how ugly it is.
The other patch is of a spider on a backdrop of colorful rings (that make me think of Lifesaver candies), which of course is an allusion to the iconic Danger Days American Widow. (But like, on a sugar high or something.)
I let the jacket look messy, battered and weathered because it would suit the post-apocalyptic world more than one that looked brand new.
Check out that badass strawberry print on my bandana. Aww yeah.
My shoes are the Osaka Jika Tabi from Japonista Sole. They're one of my favorite pairs of shoes, and since a lot of my friends have Japonista Sole tabi shoes too, we decided to use them for the video. It fits in with the hints of Japanese inspiration in Danger Days visuals.
There's actually a lot more to my design for my character, as well as choosing Death Berry as a name. If you'd like, you may read about that in my Tumblr post over here
behindinfinity.tumblr.com/post/13113664935/the-story-behind-death-berry There is a lot of cheese in there. 
Here's a mask I found when it was around Halloween. I thought it would make a good base for a Draculoid mask.
I simply had to paint it a bit it to look more like the dracs in MCR videos.
And now for the shoot! We went to our friend's family-owned property away from the city. It was an awesome location for simulating a post-apocalyptic world. The ancestral ruins were pretty creepy and dangerous at parts, but altogether very cool.
While I shoot Miguel's solo portrait, the dracs hang out on the seesaws.
Despite all the fighting in the video, we're all friends when we're not filming.
The return of
Duuuuude look at that evil-looking abandoned pool. The water was actually that green and I'm afraid to think of what might be living in its murky depths.
Miguel and I were sweating our asses off in our leather jackets but hey, we gotta commit. I actually didn't notice all that much until we were just standing around idly while other people were being filmed. Still. Totally worth it.
Giving my jagged smile. NGREEEEE.
KITTY!
(All of us kinda react this way to cats)
Dr. Dom a,k.a. Count Badmullet demonstrating why he is named as such.
It started to rain after a while, but it didn't dampen our spirits. Hey, it made for some cool lighting in the video!
After shooting is when it hit us — all the fatigue from running around and doing fight choreography and the heat and the water deprivation and the dirt and being around ruins all day. So we set off to find refreshments and we found sanctuary in...
7-11!
I had a Mountain Dew Slurpee and oh god it was the best-tasting Slurpee of my life.
By the way have I mentioned how I love these huge display fridges, especially when the stuff inside is very colorful?
Yeah.
I love how my friends never tire of photobombing. It was just supposed to be me and Aki in this picture.
Making good use of my little point-and-shoot camera for snapshots. I still love my trusty old DSLR for shoots but this small one is great for documenting little moments. And I love how it's royal blue.
I, umm. Yeah. Man, the photo of that Jacob guy. The way it's put on the tumbler is reeeeaaalllyyyy not flattering. I don't even.
And then we went back to the house that served as our base, got out of our sweaty clothes and got ready for dinner.
Drops of balsamic vinegar on olive oil. We dipped our focaccia bread in this. Mmmm.
Rayson looking all saintly in the lighting.
ONION RING PRISM POWER, MAKE UP~!
And I wasn't to take many other photos because DINNER WAS EXCELLENT. Everything was so good. Also I was starting to pass out from being so tired from the shoot. (But I repeat — Totally worth ittttt.)
This, though, I had to have. Cherry piiiieeee! I don't think I've ever seen any place that serves sweet cherry pie here in Manila so I was like WHY DO THEY HAVE THIS IN ANGELES. ALSO THIS IS DELICIOUS.
It's not over yet! Now I present our blooper reel! Yeah, even our outtakes come in video form now! Part of the reason is that I've got my newish little point-and-shoot camera to make these documentations so convenient. The rest of the clips were shot by Erving with Foodtrip's 7D, and I just put everything together.
Click here to watch the video!
Hope you guys enjoyed all that! We certainly had a CRIMINAL amount of fun with all this!
Celebratory toast to MCR! Three cheers! (None for Noodle Kid for being underage)
And once again, happy anniversary to Danger Days! And our thanks to My Chemical Romance for being an incredible inspiration to us in so many ways.
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