Norway has passed #NoFilter legislation against commercial photos and videos that contain visual touch-ups of talent. While well-intentioned, these sorts of filter laws spells trouble for the entire creative industry. Where is the line between beautifying an image, and beautifying the person in that image? The discussion might at first seem a bit academic, but a new law in Norway could be about to make it a very practical concern. The legislation makes it mildly illegal to post touched-up images without a flag in the image making it clear that such work as been done. The list of illicit touch-ups ranges from the expected, like waist-shrinking deformation of the body, to the rather extreme, like lip-puffing or even improvement of the overall complexion. After all, many readers of CineD will have heard someone, somewhere refer to the “midtone detail” slider in DaVinci Resolve as the “make actors look better” slider. Would the current trend eventually make this into a water-markable offense? #NoFilter – a slippery, slippery slope Right now, the law only applies to commercial content, containing advertisements, but the principles could easily apply to any monetized content stream – and then, equally easily, to all content. The focus on advertising originally arose from the fact that advertisers were simply doing the most re-touching of photos and videos – but now, real-time filters are making such touch-ups widely available, and so the responsibility for worsening body image falls to the people, in general. Norwegian influencer Erin Kristiansen. Image Credit: BBC...
Published By: CineD - Friday, 16 July, 2021