Area “Geeks” ventured out Saturday to gather for the Third Annual Iigurubando Con, a fundraiser event used to provide transportation for FHS’s Grand Band from Eagle Land on their trip to Walt Disney World.
Several big name writers, publishers, voice actors, cartoonists, and directors were on location to share about what they do in the wonderful world of comics, anime, cosplay, gaming and the like.

Former Grand Band member, Tori Martin, was on hand to discuss how she got through film school and secured a job working for Funimation, an online anime company based in Flower Mound.

A 2013 FHS graduate and Grand Band trumpet player, Tori made a 13-minute short film called “LUCY” her senior year at FHS and debuted it in none other than the FHS Band Hall. This film landed Tori a huge scholarship for film making at Full Sail University located in Florida. This school focuses on Entertainment, Media, Arts, and Technology.

During her time at Full Sail, Tori learned to do professional makeup; filming, directing, and set building; and how to use the Avid Media Composer program, which is used today on most major films and television shows. While there Tori produced another small film called “Misfire.”

“The film, though fun, was a lot of hard work,” says Tori. “It also taught me that I did NOT want to be a film director!”

After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Film Production from Full Sail University as Valedictorian of the Class of May 2015, Tori made her way back to Texas where she began working as a Digital Video Compressionist for Funimation in September of that year.

She has worked with several major titles including One Piece, Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack on Titan, and Dragon Ball Z.

“Basically, I receive all the parts that make up an episode of anime and compress them into a usable file,” explains Tori. “This way it can be put online for viewers like yourself.”

“Anything by Funimation that you may have seen online, on Netflix, etc, is viewable because of myself or one of the other compressionists in my office,” Tori continues.

Parts that make up a film are raw video from Japan, subtitles, audio and voice dubs. Once she gets this information from the respective departments, Tori then combines it all, adds logos and credits, and compresses it into a usable file.

“I get this question a lot: What’s it like to work for Funimation,” concludes Tori with a smile. “My answer is, lots of colorfully decorated donuts; long, hard hours with good people, and all the Oreo products you could ever wish for.”

In her free time, Tori collaborates with friends on independent shorts and does freelance work as a film editor.
Another short film she co-edited, Watcher, will premier at the Rack Focus Film Competition in Dallas this coming fall.

Also speaking at the event is Dew native and 2010 Teague HS Graduate Dallis Gregory with Coat of Arms Cosplay who gave lots of useful tips on how to get great results in your cosplay costumes and competition.

Dallis has won several top awards at A-Kon over the years; her last award was Second Place in the 2017 Masters Division dressed as Sylvanas Windrunner from World of Warcraft. Her ultimate goal is to win First Place at this year’s event.

Some of her tips include watching YouTube instructional videos to learn how to construct different pieces and the proper tools and products to use when creating costumes; if you can buy it cheaper than you can make it, always buy; and “Remember, don’t be a jerk and have lots of fun!”

Coat of Arms Cosplay can be found on Facebook.

In addition to listening to the many different panelists, guests were able to play several different types of games, participate in a cosplay competition, and visit several vendor booths selling all sorts of comic/anime related products.

With this event, Fairfield Band Boosters were able to raise $1,994.50 (after expenses).