How much should you draw on real world examples?

[Deadman]

You’re probably sick of me creating so many topics by now, but here’s another.

Been putting some thought into an upcoming story, featuring a female character working out at the gym. What is interesting though is the actress who plays the character has been posting videos of themselves working out at a gym.

I’ve been sorta making notes without the influence of the actress’ social media feed for most of it. Yet now I’m wondering if I should take a look at the various videos or photos and use them as reference points.

Have any of you done something like this? Why or why not?
 

[BronxWench]

Most of my characters are based on either books or CRPGs, so I don’t get a lot of real person reference points, but I can see it as a valid way to flesh out the character. 

[Desiderius Price]

7 hours ago, Deadman said:

You’re probably sick of me creating so many topics by now, but here’s another.

Nah, helps keep the forum lively.  Much better than the spammers united.

7 hours ago, Deadman said:

I’ve been sorta making notes without the influence of the actress’ social media feed for most of it. Yet now I’m wondering if I should take a look at the various videos or photos and use them as reference points.

It’s totally alright to draw inspiration from real life photos & videos as a whole.  If said actor is freely posting those videos themselves, public settings (ie, it’s not taken from by a jealous ex-lover or overly excited paparazzi photographer), I’d feel those are okay to reference.  I’d avoid going hyper detailed, but a general “doing squats” and then “doing pullups” for the routines?  A water bottle?  There’s so many of those videos out there, trouble nailing it down to any specific one.

For some of my originals, I’ve found… ”nature photos” of models online, used those as a loose reference from time to time, which helps with adding some fleshed out details to my characters.

[Deadman]

20 hours ago, BronxWench said:

Most of my characters are based on either books or CRPGs, so I don’t get a lot of real person reference points, but I can see it as a valid way to flesh out the character. 

That’s sorta the way I feel but at the same time I understand that the character and the actor are different people. The actor might do something as a character that they wouldn’t do in real life. Not just saying certain things and all that, but also how they might work out. At the same time, they’re physical representations of the characters.

I was sorta having this discussion with someone previously. An actor who was a superhero on TV who had a suit made for them, could have their own suit made even if the original suit or what created them was destroyed after the show was cancelled or movie is over and won’t get a sequel. Because they were the ones who wore it, they can have a mould of the suit made based on their physical characteristics. Even if they don’t play that character anymore.

[Deadman]

13 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

Nah, helps keep the forum lively.  Much better than the spammers united.

It’s totally alright to draw inspiration from real life photos & videos as a whole.  If said actor is freely posting those videos themselves, public settings (ie, it’s not taken from by a jealous ex-lover or overly excited paparazzi photographer), I’d feel those are okay to reference.  I’d avoid going hyper detailed, but a general “doing squats” and then “doing pullups” for the routines?  A water bottle?  There’s so many of those videos out there, trouble nailing it down to any specific one.

For some of my originals, I’ve found… ”nature photos” of models online, used those as a loose reference from time to time, which helps with adding some fleshed out details to my characters.

Yes, it’s definitely something they’re posting on their own social media. Which they obviously intended to get out there. But yeah, I see them using a particular exercise machine, or lifting certain types of weights, and I think, that would be an interesting way of describing the scene.

[Desiderius Price]

Just now, Deadman said:

Yes, it’s definitely something they’re posting on their own social media. Which they obviously intended to get out there. But yeah, I see them using a particular exercise machine, or lifting certain types of weights, and I think, that would be an interesting way of describing the scene.

Might also depend on how specific you make the details.  With the way I describe, even if you came across the inspirational photographs I use, in the wild, doubt you’d recognize them.  If you’re getting too close, find another person’s videos—plenty of “squat” type of videos out there from others, or whatever exercise machine you’re wanting.  I mean, worst case, if you have access to a gym is to do the exercise yourself with a selfie-camera… though if I tried that, think we’d lose an author here instead.

[Deadman]

1 hour ago, Desiderius Price said:

Might also depend on how specific you make the details.  With the way I describe, even if you came across the inspirational photographs I use, in the wild, doubt you’d recognize them.  If you’re getting too close, find another person’s videos—plenty of “squat” type of videos out there from others, or whatever exercise machine you’re wanting.  I mean, worst case, if you have access to a gym is to do the exercise yourself with a selfie-camera… though if I tried that, think we’d lose an author here instead.

That’s true. For context, the character’s boyfriend broke up with them because she cheated on him and the boyfriend is a personal trainer. So the female character is trying to get the buy in of his colleagues as a way to convince him to take her back. They make her do all kinds of exercises to prove her love for him. Leading to… fun times.

I think what makes sense to use the videos of the actress working out, it allows me to see what the character could physically accomplish and what would be too much. Because they’re the same physically, and there isn’t any super powers or anything that would make it different.