Performative Avatars | Body Scan (W2)
Questions from Readings
(1)
For characters that have merged so inextricably with their actors (e.g. Daniel Radcliffe & Harry Potter, Marvel heroes and their actors), who “owns” the character's “likeness”?
I would argue that these characters are fundamentally different from Princess Leia and Carrie Fisher because they exist before being portrayed in live-action films. Say that the rights of these characters’ likeness belong to the studios, would it still be ethical to produce Radcliffe-like Harry Potter figurines 100 years from now when the actor is no longer alive?
(2)
For historical figures that have long transcended and become cultural icons like Van Gogh or Frida Kahlo, how should one approach using their likeness in ones creative work? (Side note: Kahlo’s descendants have been licensing her image commercially, case in point: https://www.autumnfair.com/products/frida-kahlo-margarita-cocktail-set )
I don’t think it’s fair nor ethical (whatever the two mean) for the right to belong to a far-off descendant of the person, but I also have reservations to say that the right should belong in the public domain.
Body Scanning
I paired up with Ryan to do the scans. I wanted to have the flexibility of adding on different clothings on the model and I chose to be in my underwear, while Ryan opted to keep his clothes on.
We did the scan in an empty class room with no sunlight and ample space to move around.
Ryan's Scans
We each did 4 scans of our bodies. The first scan that I did of Ryan turned out okay except for the hands. They look all ballooned up. I think the software lost track of where the arms were, or possibly the arms moved down a little.
For the second scan, I asked Ryan to position his arms lower so that he could hold them out longer. But I stumbled when I scanned his feet and hence, did not scan the feet properly.
Third scan, did not manage to scan the arms correctly again, but the rest of the body turned out OK.
Fourth and final attempt was the best of the bunch. The hands turned out ok. My only concern was the face: it looked like Ryan had two layers of face. But I remembered that I will be able to fix the texture on Photoshop after UV mapping, so I thought this scan is sufficient.
My Scans
Same as Ryan’s, we did 4 scans of my body. The first scan had issues with my hands, and the second just had major fault.
Third scan turned out the best, and we did one more for safety which ended up having incomplete arms.
I also noticed that my legs look really dark because of the lighting. I ddi not notice it with Ryan because he was wearing black pants. I hope I can fix the texture of my legs with Photoshop later on in the class.
