Such a coincidence - I just wanted to post something very lovely from the same young fan: 

http://thecumbercollective.tumblr.com/post/117534750687/i-still-cant-believe-i-met-benedict-cumberbatch

Aaaawh!!

That is such a sweet story! 

Wow, what a lovely story. I'm amazed at how much Ben gives of himself considering he has to stand there and smile while aprx 1000 people take a photo with him. And that with a cold! Poor man must be exhausted after this weekend.

So. I've edited part 1 (Andrew's, Lars' and Rupert's talk, the screening, the party) of the report. At first I thought I was going to add the pictures in it, but...seeing as it's already an enormous post, it's probably best if I just post another one.
And no, I've not forgotten about Part 2. Don't worry. And I'll have less things to say because I dedicated Sunday morning and early afternoon to photoshoots (they really need to invent a device that enables you to be in two places at once. Like a Time-Turner. Or a TARDIS.)

So, on with the pictures, then.
Let's start with...well, the entrance.



Saturday's timetable, for anyone interested



I think I've mentionned there was The Door



Not very far from the bus


Sherlock's side



and Moriarty's


The Dreadful Exhibition


John's military outfit

He was a doctor



Told you I was going to share the texts...

(2004...still can't believe they did something like that)


Army doctor.


Not sure I see the logic in putting that sign here, but, ...

Last edited by Lilythiell (April 28, 2015 12:05 am)

That Baker Street set is fabulous - and so is the door! I would take many pictures there, if I attended.

Plenty of room around the cab - where was it displayed?

The costumes exhibit is really a bit weird - I wouldn´t choose such a dark black as a background, because it swallows them up and they are not as conspicious as they could be. And do I see correctly that props were placed around the costumes? I originally thought there was a separate exhibit for them.

Awesome pictures! Thank you Lilythiell!! I'm impressed with the 221B stage! 

Well, I only went for one day (Sunday), and I didn't pay for any extras except for the Ladies of Sherlock talk because if you bought that one, it guaranteed you a free ticket to the Moffat and Gatiss talk. I shared this with one of my friends, so she went to the Ladies of Sherlock one and I went to the Moffat and Gatiss one.

The main part of my experience, however, involved hanging out with my friends - there were about 12 of us at one point - and walking around in my Army John cosplay which earned me a large amount of attention, photo ops, and 4th place in the Cosplay Parade, which I was really pleased with and I won some excellent goodies from the BBC Sherlock store.

The Moffat & Gatiss talk was excellent and very funny, as is to be expected from those two. I didn't particularly learn anything new that I didn't already know from previous interviews or the DVD extras. Moffat did give some nice tips to new writers though, which I tried to take on board, being a writer myself.

I thought the con in general was very well done and much better organised than I was expecting. The staff were very friendly and helpful, and although there were queues, that's only to be expected at cons anyway, and they tried to keep them moving as effeciently as possible. They weren't too bad either because they gave you an opportunity to catch up with stuff on your phone or talk to the people either behind or in front of you and meet new acquaintances.

It was such a great day and I really hope they do another one next year. I would definitely try to get a full weekend ticket next time if I'm available to go, and will probably splash out on at least one photo with one of the actors, because it did look like fun. You can do the con cheaply though - like I did - and still have an AMAZING time.

Last edited by Sherlock Holmes (April 28, 2015 1:02 pm)

Here goes my account for Sunday -limited as it is. Apologies for the delay.
 
 
Sunday was mostly, in my case, dedicated to photo shoots. I would have liked to go to Jonathan Aris’ and Rupert Grave’s talk, as well as Andrew’s and Mark’s (which apparently was full of fun). I would have gone to The Ladies of Sherlock Talk, but it was clashing with Mark and Rupert photos…ugh!
What was nice, though, when people were waiting in the photo area 1, is that you could listen in/watch what was going on the Second Stage –they had big screens and the sound was quite loud. Good. Obviously, you couldn’t do that with the Main Stage –you had to pay to get to the talks taking place there, so it was separated from the rest of the Con by huge black “walls”/curtains. Yes, you can listen in when it’s only a curtain separating you from the action, but…rude! And I don’t think that the crew would have accepted, to be honest. (The crew of people who were “there to help” us attendees.)
When you went to a talk taking place in the Main Stage, you had to queue in S7 and wait till the crew made you go to the Main Stage in package order. VIPs got the very first row, Platinum were in the front seatshe, Gold were behind them, and, quite frankly, I don’t think it was very good to seat farther (sorry, Silvers, Weekend and Days) because you couldn’t see a thing, despite the screens (because yes, there were screens in here, too). The talks took place in 221b’s living room where the host would sit in John’s chair, then there was Sherlock’s and the sofa for the guests.

On cosplay…I didn’t see many cosplayers. There was baby Sherlock, really cute, sure, but…an infant at a convention…I’ve said my piece about that already. There was someone dressed as Moriarty in a straightjacket (Andrew was baffled by that. How can you do anything when you can’t use your arms…? Still, I applaud the commitment), a Sherlock with a harpoon and a bloody shirt (yes, from Hound), a few Sherlocks and Mollys here and there, a Mycroft Holmes, Irene and John (Coslocked), an Army John (waves to Sherlock Holmes, so sorry I missed you) and a few others, I think. Mostly though, people came as they were.
I won’t bore you with the details, so I’ll skip the photos and autographs (nothing really happens in a queue, does it? Although there was this one queue that formed in an orderly manner without the crew having to do anything for Mark’s photoshoot. But they had to dissolve it, however beautiful it was, because people had not considered the packages in queuing. Still, good effort, I would say.)
On to the two talks I went to, followed by an account of the auction. Wish I’d gone to that of Saturday, too. Might have won a bidding. And anyway it’s always fun to watch.

Steven and Mark.
That Q&A was a treasure. Both of them were very relaxed, and in good spirits. Most of the questions were about writing -no matter what kind of writing- but most had already been asked and answered in the past-nothing really new, then.
Do you need a special room to write?
Steven tells a funny story (not at all embellished, he insisted on that) about how the door to Mark's writing room constantly disappear -is never at the same place. It is behind a fake bookshelf, up a Victorian spiral staircase, and on his dead there's a bust of William Shakespeare. But then, you realise that it is William Shakespeare's head.
There was a question on how to deal with writer’s block and how to deal with it. Steven says there's no such thing as writer's block and that we must stop calling it that. Nothing to do with writers specifically. It just means that you're stuck because most of the time you have no idea what to write. Or in some cases it's your brain telling you that you haven't got it right quite yet. Mark advises to do something else to get your mind off of it.
Steven tells us that writing needs to be for you, for your pleasure, if every full stop has you craving for the next capital letter, you're fine.
If you're writing a scene that is boring but necessary later on, you DO have to get rid of it and write it differently, everything must be entertaining.
To the question “What would you say to Doyle if you could meet him?”
Steven answered: You're a big fat liar, you've never wanted to kill off Sherlock Holmes, you've never fallen out of love with him -even in the later stories where the writing gets a bit weaker, there's still passion, and adventure. You didn't kill Sherlock off in any dramatic way, he just fell off a cliff and they were unable to recover the body. The only reason we have to believe this is that John Watson, a man known for being regularly wrong, tells us he *must* be.
Incidentally, why should we believe the third explanation Sherlock gives for The Fall? Because the only person who doesn't believe him is Anderson, a man known for being always wrong. Mark adds the anecdote in one of Doyle’s stories where Sherlock was in locked burning house, with no way he could have escaped. When he came back to Baker Street and that Watson asked him how he did it, Holmes answered “You know my methods, my dear Watson. I am known to be indestructible.” Mark thinking this is just brilliant, he nicked it. And added that leaving things open enables the audience to keep wondering, and thinking up theories, because then the story will last forever. “And it’s a good way to pass the time between series [and because you’ll have to wait forever for the next series]”.
Someone asked a question on "what might happen". No matter how well it was said, that was the essence of the question. Steven didn't wait to reply...: "You're asking something about what might happen in the future of Sherlock?! Are you new?" *laughter from the audience*
How did you have the idea to make Magnussen a press businessman when in the books he’s just a man in an office who knows a lot on everyone? Steven answered right away, by saying that he is also described as a shark-y man, a disgusting person who knows everything about everyone. That just screamed press businessman to him.

Special effects Talk, with Danny Hargreaves.
Danny Hargreaves takes care of the physical side of the special effects, before CGI takes over.
It was the third time they gave this show, and Danny looked to be exhausted, as well as the host (he had hosted most of the talks), and there was a recurrent question – Does it ever go wrong? They seemed to find this question most amusing. Danny answered negatively, and added that it was part of his job that it didn’t go wrong. He did say that there might have been some hair burnt, but that it wasn’t too serious, as they grew back…
He continued on the topic of safety – and in particular that of the actors, whom he treats as he would a child, because they're just as careless (so, whenever there's a knife involved, they use a blunt knife). He added that he preferred working with the actor himself than his stunt double.
He gave us an interesting anecdote about the face on the wall of 221B. He was working on the bullet holes and the script said that a face had to be on the wall. He expected a proper face, and Arwel Jones just went, took a paint spray and drew the smiley face we’re are so familiar with.
He was asked whether he likes his job (what sort of question is that??). He did say that there was a massive load of paperwork, though –in particular regarding Health and Safety.
Later on, he explained us the scene in which Mary shoots Sherlock. Explained us about the bullet impact –basically, it works as follows: a pouch of fake blood is patched onto the “victim”, with a small quantity of explosives (the pouch does have to be pierced at some point, and it is triggered from a distance. The gun goes (they use real guns, but with blanks), and at that moment someone triggers the explosives, resulting in the “blood” to pierce through the pouch. Et voilà. I realise I am far from being as interesting as Danny when he explained it…sorry.
That was part 1 of the scene, the second part was making it realistic to have Sherlock fall in slow mo after he’d been shot. They created a special rig, and placed Benedict on him. He had to place himself on the rig, which has a very very low profile and his coat on, so that the rig doesn’t show when he actually falls, and there's a mechanic who actionates a lever to make them “fall over”..
A member from the audience was chosen to go on the rig…and wear the coat Ben had when shooting the scene… I’ still dying of envy, here.
The talk finished on a hopeful note –first Danny told us that he worked on another rather well-known British franchise, but can’t talk about it. I understood he was talking about the new James Bond movie, but it’s possible I’m mistaken. Then the host proceeded to tell us that Danny had to leave on time, because he was nominated for the BAFTAs for Doctor Who. Note: and won

The auction was interesting, and the people organising it knew what kind of buttons to push..."That toe bag...Benedict's DNA..."
 

Last edited by Lilythiell (April 28, 2015 9:26 pm)

Oh, I forgot to say that there was an "egg chair? sitty thing???" at Sherlock's Mind Palace party.
Good thing I'm watching The Sign of Three (yes, so soon after...), otherwise I wouldn't have remembered.

Here's a quick pic of my army John cosplay, taken by Sora from the Baker Street Babes: