The Last Of Us Clicker Cosplay

Hey what's up everybody! In this blog post I will talking about behind the scenes of my video "Chased by a Clicker".

I did something that I am very proud of. For 2013 Halloween, I made my own costume, by hand! What I did was make a character from my favorite video game of the year, a Clicker from The Last of Us. The Last of Us is indeed my most favorite game because it has incredibly beautiful graphics with an emotionally awesome, bad-ass story. This game touches your heart and makes you feel something.

The Last of Us is an action-adventure survival horror game created by Naughty Dog, who also created my personal favorite classic, the Crash Bandicoot series. I believe that this game broke the world record selling over 3 million copies after 3 weeks of its release date (June, 14, 2013). Set in a post apocalyptic world where people get Infected with a mutated cordyceps fungus which takes over their body and become a zombie like creature, the protagonists, Joel and Ellie, must travel across the country to a resistance group called the Fireflies in hopes to find a cure for the infected.

The Last Of Us Wallpaper

The biggest enemy in the game (the antagonist), are the Infected. The Infected are humans that have been infected with the mutated cordyceps fungus in a sudden, violent outbreak that occurs in the beginning of the game. Once the fungus takes over your body, you are no longer in control of your own actions. The infected human is then a host to the fungus. Whether or not you die is never said in the game which is kind of scary if you are still alive and suffering on the inside while the fungus takes over and you just watch the world pass by. The resulting creatures are extremely aggressive and will attack any uninfected human in sight. The infected have different stages of infection/fungal growth(Which you can read more about 'here'). The one that I chose was the third (3rd) stage of infection, the Clicker. The Clicker has the most distinctly recognized stage of the infection/fungus growth which is the main reason why I decided to build it. The Clickers are completely infected with the fungus growing out of their face. Because of this, they are blind and must produce a clicking sound as echo location in order to see. Hence the name, the Clicker.

Clicker Concept Art

I understand that Halloween is long gone but I still wanted to make this video because I loved it so much. It would have been done and uploaded in November but my computer sort of broke down and making videos came to a complete standstill for me and I hated it. But now the video is up and I'm glad that it's done and over with.

Me making this video is kind of like a passion project for me. I love The Last Of Us so much that I wanted to built this costume and make the video. Originally it was going to be similar to 'Slenderman in New York' where I just wear the costume walking about in the streets of New York, but a week before Halloween, I went to gamestop for an event and saw an Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag t-shirt. Immediately I knew I had to have it because I don't have any gaming shirts like that. Luckily I decided to bring money with me and I happily purchased it. And I forget exactly when but before I started filming I decided to mix AC4 with the Clicker instead and make it an Assassin's parkour, Clicker chase. I liked this idea better because it was now two video games with action running.

The biggest thing that I was afraid of was other people watching me film myself, especially wearing the Clicker mask because you don't know what they're thinking when they see a kid doing something as ridiculous as I am. Another thing was the public costume change. The first day that I started filming, I wanted all the shots to be in order and keep the camera in the same position to have a smooth, sequential look. But I immediately found myself switching back a forth between outfits. So afterwards, filming was done over different days. And another factor to this video was the whether. I didn't want to much sun because the video would have a warm look to it, which basically means that the colors would look more yellow-ish, and I didn't want that. I didn't want it to dark either because then the video would look dull, without much color. I went out to film on partly-cloudy days for the right amount of light. Also, the wind was horrible. Even though there is little to no dialogue, the wind could still ruin the audio and I didn't want the effect of my clothes flapping or leaves blowing either. The best days I got were 15-20 MPH.

And the last thing that I was worried about was the gun scene. Its technically illegal to paint a toy gun to look realistic, but I'm not going to use a fake looking gun for something this serious. I mean, I want to make high quality videos, right? I was afraid that someone would see me, believe that it was a real gun, have the cops show up and potentially go to jail. I was seriously running the risk doing this scene, considering I look extremely sketchy being a teenager by myself in the back woods next to a highway with a rifle in my hands. Simply said, I was paranoid.

I had to actually learned how to make the Clicker mask from a tutorial on YouTube. Once I had all the materials I needed for this project, It took about a week or so to get the shape that I wanted and to paint it the best that I could. And it came out well, I was proud of myself that I could make this. For Halloween, my friends and family were amazed that I made this mask by hand. They also said that it looked like popcorn, as well as the people who didn't know what I was. The only thing is I couldn't make any eye holes to see because it would mess up the structure and make it look, well, not like a Clicker. So throughout the entire video, I was literally running blind, which was actually pretty nerve wracking. Its scary being unable to see where you're going. And since the game mostly takes place in the southern states, I wanted to dress like a southerner. As a Clicker, I am wearing boots, dark jeans, a bloody shirt(which I made), a beige plaid dress shirt and a ripped up sweater. I never knew why zombies clothes are always ripped, but after thinking about it, it makes sense because once you become a zombie you will be traveling around the same clothes, and those clothes will eventually get worn out. As far as the assassins outfit, its just black sneakers with regular jeans, an AC4 T-shirt and a hoodie with a wing like design on it.

Cosplay Concept Art

I spent so much time, effort and money into building and putting this thing together, that to me, its more than just a costume, this is cosplay. And after making this, I am interested in making more cosplay projects. I really enjoy crafting type projects, you know. I just like to make things. So hopefully this would be my new Halloween tradition where I just make my own costume and make a video about it. Its not like I go trick-or-treating anymore, so I'm taking on the next level for me, which is cosplay!

MP3 Experiment 10 : My Experience

So, this year was the 10 year anniversary of the MP3 Experiment by Improv Everywhere, and for the first time I was able to go. Improv Everywhere was created by Charlie Todd in August 2001 which is a NYC based prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Kinda like doing pranks to other people without hurting them (physically/mentally/emotionally/etc.) while rather just acting goofy and weird when interacting with them, either direct or indirect. The MP3 Experiment itself is in the form of a flash mob where everybody listens to an MP3 track together at the same time, synchronized.

When I first found out about the MP3 Experiment 10 I was ecstatic. I knew that I was gonna go because I've always seen the MP3 Experiment videos on YouTube and I've always wanted to try it but never knew how. But this year I heard the announcement of the MP3 Experiment 10, and I immediately jumped on the bandwagon! I didn't care what I needed or how I got there but I knew for sure, I was gonna do it. I even brought my cousin along so we can do the experiment and for us to spend time and have fun together. Plus, it would be more fun to be with someone rather than go alone, by yourself. I mean, I would have gone regardless whether I was with someone or not. But I'm glad I wasn't alone and it was more fun.


When we first arrive I was nervous and excited. I don't know why, but I was getting paranoid thinking, what if we were the only two people here who were doing it? We were looking around trying to spot other people who were in on the experiment.It wasn't that easy considering there is no obvious way of knowing who's in on the experiment and the fact that you were supposed to dress up like a tourist. (see picture to below)

But we did notice that there were some people doing the experiment because they were getting their props ready and talking about it and stuff like that. Upon finding this out I was more excited and more comfortable, ready to do this experiment!

So without anything else being said, here is the actual video. Enjoy. I know I did. And so let the MP3 Experiment 10 begin!!! ⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩



To see the full story with photos click 'here'.
To see the photo of me and my cousin doing the experiment click 'here'. (p.s. nothing special)

Discover NYC Personal Tour: Dubos point

So a while back, earlier this year, I realized that I barely travel anywhere. In general, I barely travel at all. I also been living in New York City my entire life and I haven't seen my this cities own landmarks. (I really need to get out more) So thats when I came up with the idea of going to random places in the city in each of the 5 boroughs. My original plan was to take each train and try to go to a random stop. But then I thought that would take forever, so I wanted to go to special stops that had something to offer me instead of a regular boring normal neighborhood, like the WTC site, City Hall, the Brooklyn bridge, Roosevelt Island and many more places! But mainly, I want to go to the abandoned locations. I wanted to go to abandoned places when I simply typed in the word "abandoned" in Google and since I'm in New York the search results came up New York related and the first link was a website of the abandoned places in New York. I wanted to learn more and then visit these locations. (http://abandonednyc.com/)

I call this my own personal tour because that's pretty much what it is and what I am doing. I call it my 'Discover NYC Personal Tour' because I will tour around New York City traveling and finding out new things, to have new, young, fresh experiences because I want to and it'll be fun. This will be my plans for this summer so that way I won't get bored.

The first and easiest place that I wanted to go to was Dubos Point Wildlife Sanctuary, which in my opinion isn't even a sanctuary. Although, there is plenty of wildlife. This place is nothing but sand, grass, mud and marsh. My best advice is to stay on the sand and out of the grass. The grass is where most the marsh is, got stuck a few times when trying to cut through them. Plus, they're very tall and thick, not easy when you can't see where you're stepping let alone what direction you're going, and you don't know what plants or animals are in there. This place is technically not open to the public, but at the same time there is no one there to tell you not to be there. For more information, click 'here' or 'here'. Now without anymore reading, (assuming you did read) here are the photos I took while at Dubos Point Wildlife Sanctuary. Please read the caption for they tell my story.

As soon as I get there, not even in the sanctuary yet, there is a pile of trash such as a mattress and an old TV.

A broken wooden fence with more trash.

An abandoned naked doll in the pile.

Rotting old wooden pilings of an old dock.

More pilings.

More pilings.

I don't even know what this thing once was...

But whatever this thing was, It had some big chains.

Marsh Pond.

Another marsh Pond.

A baby doll, without a head. That's creepy & disturbing.

An old, still inflated truck tire.

 An old rotten boat frame.

A decaying boat in the sand.

A mysterious pipe, wonder what it is.

So close to the people who live here yet they have no idea.

Some plants don't mind some of the trash. Just shows you how little this place is used.

An old ships iron frame broken in the sand. Such a beautiful scene!

The engines to the ship, now rusted and covered with sea growth.

More rotten piling in a beautiful scene.

A nice shot of waves hitting the shore.

Some grass growing in a rusted, paint chipped old boat.

Another not so old broken, paint chipped boat. Maybe left there from hurricane Sandy.

A sorta still standing old wooden dock.

A boat permanently docked.

A rusted fire hydrant. Was there once a side-walk here? If not, then what's gonna catch on fire, water? Just kidding there probably was a side-walk here that was eroded away by the salt water and left this!

A lonely abandoned road.

A tugboat sunk and no one got it out.

Any treasure aboard?

An abandoned metal shed.

And it's all right here!

Water Drop Photography (experiment)

I already knew that there were still photos of these water droplets hitting a puddle, but I never thought that I could do it myself! The pros taking these photos have bigger better equipment and looks amazing!

Water Drop example photos

But then I found out that my simple point and shoot digital camera (GE W1200) with high resolution (12.2 megapixels) can take still photos with great detail in a split second. So then I was bored again and decided to try an experiment to capture water droplets. And to my own surprise, I actually captured them. These are the photos I took.

Reflection Droplet

Clear Water Tower 1

Clear Water Tower 2

Clear Water Tower 3

Red Water Tower

Faucet Stream

6 Green Droplets Levitating

Green Water Tower 1

Green Water Tower 2

Green Water Tower 3

I had to get my camera very close to the water. One slip of the fingers and my camera would've been drowning! And I only did this in my bathroom sink! Now every time I look at these, I am breathless to know that I captured these photos! And I would like to believe that this would start my professional photography career! =)