Manip
| Synonyms: | photo manipulation, photomanip | |
| See also: | fanart | |
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A manip is a photo manipulation, often depicting TV and movie characters in situations different from canon. Manips alter and manipulate the photo source (often a screencap or promo picture) in such a way that it shows something different than it did before. Manips can be used as fanfiction covers, banners, and illustrations. They are also used in vids, icons, and multimedia installations, and of course they can stand on their own as individual artworks.
History
The most well-known manip artists in the mailing list age of online fandom were The Theban Band, with their highly refined and realistic slash manips in several fandoms. Since that time, better tools have also made it easier to produce high quality manips, and DVD source has made it easier to acquire high-quality screencaps. Eventually, more and more fanartists began to create artistic works in this medium.
Controversy
External material
Sometimes external material (ie, not a screencap) is used in a photomanip. In the 1990s when this kind of fanart first began to appear, it occasionally was referred to derisively as "head replacement pictures" (My hed iz pastede on yay) implying that no great artistic skill was needed to create photomanips. Other fans felt uncomfortable about explicit manips because they appeared to be too close to RPF[1][2], especially when the "base" pictures used were of the actor, not the character.
Crossing the Streams
It is generally considered bad fannish behavior to show sexually explicit or nude photomanips of characters to the actors who play them, as it is considered creepy. It is usually a third party, not the actual photomanip artist, who decides it would be a good idea to do this. The Theban Band has been especially visible in this regard.
Examples of different styles and fandoms
- Of the Earth by newkidfan, a Merlin manip (half drawing, half collage)
- Master and Commander by beeej, a Master & Commander/Stargate Atlantis crossover manip
- Zelenkamatch.com by LillyJK and newkidfan, a comic strip using screencaps from Stargate Atlantis
- Escape Velocity by dogeared and aesc, another comic using screencaps from Stargate Atlantis, for the artword lj challenge community
References
- ↑ Michelle Christian. RPS, Boybands, and Dead Guy RPS posted 06/21/03 (accessed 3 Jan 2010)
- ↑ Justine. I Don't Believe in Real People posted 03/04/03 (accessed 3 Jan 2010)
