Help me think of Reenactment Photos for Cosplay

April 14, 2008 10:11 AM

Creative Ideas Filter: I need ideas of Famous and Memorable Photographs or Paintingsor famous and memorable scenes from History, Movies, or Television that can be Reenacted on the spot without planning by 3-6 people for me to photograph for a final project for school.

So I have this final project for school and I realized that I could use my trip to the NY Comic-Con for "fun and profit." We had previously done reenactment photography in my digital photography class and I had a lot of fun, and I just thought, I could get some hilarious shots of people already cosplaying but also reenacting great scenes for me.

Imagine it, all the Naruto cosplayers reenacting the Mexican stand off scene from reservoir dogs. Or a reenactment of Jesus' Last Supper with people dressed up as DC heroes.

posted by Del Far to media & arts (18 comments total)

how about that photo with US soldiers raising a US flag on a pole in ... uh... vietman? on a bit of rock somewhere (I'm not american, please excuse the ignorance) It was the first one to come to mind when I thought of instantly recognizeable pictures from history, and shouldn't be too hard... just find some sort of flag on a pole
posted by Planet F at 10:20 AM on April 14

You're thinking of the flag raising on Iwo Jima.
posted by Static Vagabond at 10:26 AM on April 14

Robert Capa's "Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death"? The Yalta Summit? Test Card F? &c.
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 10:34 AM on April 14

Abu Ghraib and the May Lai massacre have some iconic photos and are timely, if you want to go that route.
posted by munchingzombie at 10:41 AM on April 14

Here are a bunch of senior citizens re-enacting iconic photographs of the 20th century. Probably some ideas in there someplace.
posted by jquinby at 10:43 AM on April 14

Beatles' Abbey Road album cover? The line-up scene from The Usual Suspects? Surely something from The Silence of the Lambs?
posted by AlliKat75 at 10:48 AM on April 14

thanks, Static Vagabond... Sadly my American history consisted of a year in high school where we never got beyond 1920. At least I had the right part of the world, right? (wrong)

I had a few other thoughts:

-the birth of Venus
-Michelangelo's David
-the kiss in Time Square from WWII
-Titanic
posted by Planet F at 10:49 AM on April 14

• death of Caesar?
  
• assassination of Abe Lincoln?
  
• Aristotle, displacement, and eureka?
  
• Homer choking Bart (bonus points if you get Goku and Gohan or something equivalent)
  
• any Three Stooges bit
  
• pretty much anything from Dr. Strangelove.
  
• the end of Romeo and Juliet
  

It's a slow day in the bookstore, I may post again if something comes to me.
posted by heeeraldo at 10:50 AM on April 14

American Gothic?
posted by AlliKat75 at 10:58 AM on April 14

American Gothic (Which also has a Green Acres tie-in.)

Whistler's Mother

The Thinker

James Cagney smushing half-a-grapefruit in Mae Clark's face in The Public Enemy.
posted by Oriole Adams at 11:05 AM on April 14

Washington crossing the street.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 11:46 AM on April 14

The photo of the 1970 Kent Place massacre?
posted by slowcat at 11:50 AM on April 14 [1 favorite]

Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:08 PM on April 14

Creation of Adam
The Seven Year Itch
John and Yoko
1968 Olympics
posted by piratebowling at 12:24 PM on April 14

The swearing in of LBJ
posted by Gungho at 12:45 PM on April 14

Jackie on the trunk
posted by Gungho at 12:50 PM on April 14

beatles abbey road cover
matisse the dance
washington crossing the delaware
the famous leg framing dustin hoffman from the graduate
singin' in the rain, where gene kelly is swinging around the light post
psycho shower scene
posted by misanthropicsarah at 2:15 PM on April 14

jquinby
Here are a bunch of senior citizens re-enacting iconic photographs of the 20th century. Probably some ideas in there someplace.

Thats what I was thinking of exactly, I had seen those awhile ago and thought it was perfect.

I also wanted to thank everyone for the suggestions and just wanted to remind people that the NYcomic con is taking place in the Javitts Center, which is a very big building but makes it impossible to do something like Jackie on the trunk, which involves a car, or Iwo Jima, which might be hard to reinterpret within the convention center. My plan is to just approach cosplayers and ask them to volunteer, I'm not sure how many I'll be able to convince to volunteer, so as much as I'd like to photograph large group re-enactments, I'm trying to stray away from getting two complicated, although I love all the great ideas and I plan on printing out each one to have on me while I walk around.
posted by Del Far at 2:43 PM on April 14