[Vivian Cosplay] The Bistro Bartender in Zenless Zone Zero, An Invitation Under the Purple Night

This outdoor shoot location was chosen in a highly stylish bistro, and the environment matched the temperament of the character Vivian unexpectedly well. Actually, the idea of shooting this set of final photos had been brewing for quite a while. To recreate that mysterious yet slightly lazy atmosphere of the character, we specially booked this bar counter during the afternoon session. The lighting didn't opt for that particularly piercing white light, but instead intentionally preserved the amber and warm yellow ambient lights inside the bistro, cooperating with the colorful bottles on the liquor cabinet. The dappled light falling on my body carried an exceptional sense of storytelling.

For the makeup part, I tried a rather heavy eye makeup this time, emphasizing red eyeshadow and eyelashes, paired with red colored contacts and lip color to give the gaze a slightly blurred look. The adhesive for the elf ears prosthetic was glued quite firmly; although the edges of my ears felt a bit stuffy after a few hours of shooting, it was completely worth it for the on-camera effect. I combed through the wig well in advance; although the purple-and-white gradient long curly wig had a huge volume of hair, its fluffy arc perfectly framed my face and beautifully enhanced the character's signature traits.

In terms of outfit styling, I chose a shirt with crisp white cuffs and a black vest, paired with a black leather-textured waist cincher at the waist. The overall black-and-white contrast was very clean, and the striped bow tie in front of the neck added a touch of refinement. This outfit was highly flexible to move around in front of the bar counter, whether reaching for a wine glass or lifting a cocktail shaker, without any sense of restriction. During the shoot, we specially prepared deep red liquid filled in a martini glass, along with a silver stainless steel shaker as props; holding them made me feel instantly immersed in the daily routine of a bar server.

What I prefer about this set of images are the two angles of raising the glass and resting my chin in my hand; the expressions captured by the camera are very natural, without that forced feel of stiff posing. For post-processing, I didn't perform excessive liquefying, placing the focus on the balance of light and shadow, slightly brightening the lit areas of the face while preserving the dark tones of the background environment, which allows for a great layer separation between the character and the background. Shooting this kind of dark-toned scene heavily tests the lighting arrangement, because you need to keep details in the shadows while letting the glass reflections of the liquor bottles and the highlights of the metal utensils shine. Photographer and Water Teacher gave a lot of professional advice on-site, making the entire shooting process highly smooth.

The texture of this costume was expressed quite well in the photos, especially the glossy texture of the black vest and waist cincher under the warm light, forming a great cool-and-warm contrast with the purple hair. The bar counter background itself is relatively complex, so during the shoot, we tried our best to place the character in the visual center of the frame, focusing the gaze on the character herself by blurring the depth of the background. A slight soft-light effect was added during post-processing to make the overall image look more dreamlike. This counts as the first volume of finished images; there are still several photos from other angles, which will be slowly organized later on.