May 4, 2011

Interview with Rana McAnear

Given the space-y occasion of today (Star Wars Day -"May the 4th be with you"), I decided to publish my interview with Rana McAnear; face of Samara and Morinth from Mass Effect 2. I also figured it would a great way to tide all of you Mass Effect fans out there, after the devastating news of the release date push.  I met Rana at PAX East 2011, after her panel with Crabcat industries. She is absolutely beautiful (as you can tell) and one of the nicest people I met during the weekend convention. During the next few months, she will be undergoing a transformation into Samara, the character modelled after her, with the help of Crabcat industries. I'll update readers via twitter with her progress. I was able to chat with Rana about her feelings on the characters modelled after her, cosplay, and being a female gamer. 
Amanda: Well how about we start by telling me a little bit about yourself and what you do.
Rana: Ok… I'm a student right now at FIDM (Fashion Institute for Design and Merchandising) looking to get into costume design for film and TV. I also model and act. I'm a cancer survivor of 15 years and I'm the face of Samara and Morinth for Mass Effect 2, which I'll be cosplaying at comic con this summer.
Amanda: I didn't actually know you were at FIDM. That's very cool. What would be your dream job with regards to costume designing?
Rana: I'd love to be able to design a whole film (costumes); a period piece would be awesome.

Amanda: What games are you currently playing?
Rana: I'm replaying ME2 when I have a free moment. I get really addicted and I'll play for 5 or 6 hours at a time…into the wee hours of the morning haha.

Amanda: Is it a little weird to see yourself (sort of) in the game? Or does it just make the experience that much better?
Rana: It's really crazy to see myself. When I use the sniper rifle and Samara gets in my sight I'm say "damn it! I don't want to shoot myself". Then I had to kill myself (Morinth), a little morbid don't you think?
Amanda: Oh no, yes that is a little twisted. But that's the joy of video games . Speaking of Samara, how is the costume with Crabcat going? I haven't seen any updates in a while.
Rana: yeah.. it's a little slow to start - Holly is very busy with other projects and Aubrianna who is going to be helping with the sculpting is in Hawaii right now.. so.. *sigh*, we better get started though! It's going to take some time for sure!
Amanda: Readers can check out the progress here. I'm so excited to see the finished product.
Rana: You and me both sista!

Amanda: Back to gaming, who is your favorite female video game character? And why?
Rana: I think Laura Croft is pretty bad ass…because she's bad ass haha

Amanda: From what I gathered at PAX, you had no control over what the developers did to Samara and Morinth. What do you love about Samara and Morinth, and what would you change if you were in control? Why would you change those things?
Rana: yeah they didn't tell me much about her at all when I did the scan except that she was a strong female Alien. I love how powerful she is in her convictions I love her loyalty (Samara or course). And Morinth is just hot. If I were in control I would have loved to be the voice of either one, but I think they women they picked fit the characters really well. I think I wouldn't have made her boob so big too hahaha
I also love that you can't romance Samara (I like being unobtainable)

Amanda: hahaha, I'm glad you said that about the boobs, it was something that I noticed as well. As a female gamer, do you feel that video game characters (especially female ones) are designed with a mostly male audience in mind?
Rana: yeah as far as being designed for males – definitely.
Amanda: Does that impact your gameplay?
Rana: not really… I feel like I'm so desensitized to it from watching movies and being in Hollywood - it's just kind of the norm (sadly).

Amanda: And my last question; What does being a female gamer mean to you?
Rana: I think being a female gamer is pretty cool.. I feel like there are so few of us that we bond really quickly.
Amanda: I totally agree!
Rana: plus being nerdy is totally "in" right now!
Rana McAnear

Rana's character Samara from Mass Effect 2

Myself and Rana at PAX East 2011

As always,
LadySnip3r

3 comments:

BK said...

Didn't know she was also a student. Cool.

KathTea Katastrophy said...

Love this! Such a personal interview :)

ranamary said...

you should update this with the picture of us this year!

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