As an artist, I respect copyright and it pisses me off when I see someone trying to pass work off as their own so they can make some ill-gotten gains. This could be someone on Hive posting images of art they didn't make but when it comes to the big corporations where the fans are harassed for even sharing an image that my views are not so clear.
Someone making a birthday cake with a character from a child's favourite movie is not a criminal mastermind hoping to overthrow the incumbent. They are more paying homage as part of the community which grew up around this creation.
Unfortunately, Disney as a company has the political clout and the money to get laws changed and they have done this in the past to keep Mickey Mouse from being released to the wild. It will be an interesting few years ahead as these big corporations have to come to terms with community ownership that Web 3 will provide and that the laws they have used to protect their IP are no longer valid. I believe they will have to get with it or fight a losing battle. Attacking their fans and community will not be the answer.
Deep down I feel there is enough creativity out there for everyone to benefit, both fans and creators. Hive has really shown the way in this, that the Curators/ fans are also rewarded for the success of content. It is a near Utopian idea that I am very happy to be part of.
Funtasia ice sculpture Exhibition (Prologue)
I was approached by Funtasia Fun Park in Drogheda, Ireland to make an ice sculpture exhibition for Easter time as a special attraction, Because the Disney movie Frozen was very popular at the time they asked me to make the exhibition using that as the theme.
I remember sitting at the initial meeting and asking did Disney itself sanction the exhibition. I only asked because I knew that messing about with any of this corporate goliath's IP would bring about the wraith of one hundred lawyers. They were vague in their answer but I let the vagueness hang in the air as I needed the job and knew that on their heads be it.
It was a large undertaking because they didn't have a freezer to display it. So I had to design one and tell them how to build it. They were to have it ready for me a few days before opening making sure that the temperature was around -6c. I would then bring in and assemble the sculptures which I would make offsite in the comfort of an industrial freezer.[sic]
I busied myself and spent a few weeks of 8 hour days in -10c creating 7 scenes which I based on pivotal points in the movie. The whole exhibit was made in parts that I could just about lift by myself. They were then wrapped in bubble wrap ready to be delivered to the Funtasia Fun Park.
Chapter 1
Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Hilda. She had an magical chicken who laid the most wonderful chocolate eggs.
The faithful day came for me to start setting up and I arrived with a van full of my first load of sculpture. There had not been much communication with the owner of the Funpark in the last few days because when I say I am going to do something I will just do it and hate distractions, like talking to people.
I waited for ages for someone to come greet me. Finally, one of the employees came out and told me that they had received a cease and desist letter from Disney.
What were they thinking? Signs had been placed all around the town advertising the exhibition with Elsa and Anna on the image.
I had gotten my answer about Disneys knowledge of what they were up to. To be honest I don't know how they thought they could get away with it. Since Walt died the corporation of Disney has been very defensive about their copyright. It's a little know fact that Walt Disneys descendants actually came from Ireland. The creator of Mickey Mouse's great grandfather was actually an Irish man. How Funtasia didn't know that these ghosts from the past would not rat them out I will never know.
Chapter 2
One sunny day while Hilde was out playing with her chicken, Rufus, the dog came running across the fields barking with excitement to join in the fun. But sadly for Hilda, her chicken got scared and flew away never to be seen again.
So, there I was, with a van full of contraband ice sculptures that could never see the light of day. A purpose-built exhibition freezer and a prebooked audience that was expecting something to gawk at.
Chapter 3
A little while later in another part of the kingdom, a little boy called Stephan received a gift of a rabbit for his birthday from his grandfather.
I could have just walked away there and then and sent my invoice. I had done my side of the bargain. The ball was in their court. But I wanted to finish this job I had put so much work into. While the guys at Funtasia ran around like headless chickens I hatched a plan. The show must go on.
I had a few days till opening and I was confident that if I threw my last bit of energy into things I could make it work.
Chapter 4
Many years later Stephans beautiful rabbit ran away and while searching for him in the fields Stephan met Hilda who was still searching high and low for her chicken. They instantly fell in love and married soon after.
The good thing about Disney characters is that they all have very big heads and I was sure I could refashion these blockheads into someone else. I also had lots of other elements that I could reassemble in different ways to create something new.
I took stock of all that I had and set to work. The sculpting was not going to be of the best quality but if I mixed up all I had, cutting bits here, sticking bits to there, I could make something original and with a story to tie it all together.
Chapter 5
Although their life was good with riches and happiness, The two still had a longing for their missing pets. Stephan would search every spare moment for the rabbit and chicken while Hilda would wait by the door in case they returned.
For the figures, I quickly chiselled in some new faces and hairstyles. Redid their clothes and readjusted a few limbs. A story was starting to form and although it may not have been Hans Kristian Andersen it had a hint of his universe.
Chapter 6
Stephan decided to ask the wizardess Zara for help. She thought for a moment and told him to leave it with her. She finally told him that he and Hilda should go to the town square the next morning, which was Easter Sunday.
I went with a theme I thought would be more appropriate for the time of year. Changes were made to the animal species and in the end, I had the little illustrated story you are reading in Italics. This was printed out and placed at each scene.
Chapter 7
At dawn the next day Hilda and Stephan entered the square to find a giant rabbit as big as a house and a giant pile of chocolate eggs. The rabbit said he brought greetings from their pets and that they were doing well. He consoled them that he would return every year around this time.
I will admit that I was proud of what I pulled together from the wreckage. Thinking on my feet is something I always enjoy and trying to make the customer happy is a very important lesson my parents beat into me (not literally) while I was growing up.
I don't have any images of the original sculptures I made. Even if I did, I probably would not post them here in case 'They' are watching. Disneys is renowned for sniffing out this kind of thing and squashing it. I am sure they helicoptered in some lawyers to view the exhibition for a potential lawsuit. But the only thing Frozen™ about the sculptures was the ice and me.
The client was happy that the day was saved but I will say that it took several invoices and threatening letters to get myself paid for the work I did. Payment did come but I resolved to be very cautious with this client in the future.
Ps
Thanks for reading. I use PeakD to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice, amongst other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Hive Blockchain. Below you will find some of my recent posts.
The Royal baby - sand sculpture
Iglu-Dorf History and Sport (Part 3/3) - snow sculpture
Iglu-Dorf History and Sport (Part 2/3) - snow sculpture
I hope you'll join me again soon
@ammonite
If you would like to support me
Bitcoin: bc1qp4lfg0ttz66nesgff8fd5unglg9y0l2jy53j36
Ethereum: 0x6abaE039b9BDFB67495A0588cb90F9EAF5f7556c
Eos: ammonitearts
I am also starting to create NFTs of my sculptures and welcome you to my gallery where you can own a bit of ephemeral sculpture history
That's a great story and talk about thinking on your feet. You really dug the client out of a hole.
It's strange what we get conditioned to to be normal.
I know, When I wrote that line I knew it sounded weird but left it in because for me working away from the public with my chainsaw always feels a bit more comfortable.
Amazing work Danial.
Thank you @g-race-c. Hive is starting to make some interesting moves.
Such a gorgeous artwork! Your presentation is so beautiful ❤️
Amazing work my dear friend @ammonite . Fantastically beautiful!
God bless you dear.
Thank you so much. I was pretty happy that I was able to pull everything together in some way.
Well I guess I can see where Disney are coming from with the usual horrible feeling of other people scamming money off your hard work but seriously -_-
Nice save with rearranging your ice sculptures into a completely different story XD
And given that I would be genuinely surprised that the company you did it for couldn't pay you on time never mind give you a nice bonus for the save but if they were fighting with Disney they might have been busy and running low on resources.
I see change coming that the fan community is going to want to have some more ownership of the success of the creativity and I believe that could create a better feedback loop if it was nurtured.
I surprised myself with this one, that I was able to turn it around in such a limited time, I had thought I deserved some sort of medal or somethings. Then when the payment wasn't so easily forthcoming I was quite annoyed
Like with everything else, "it depends" XD Fanworks are great (usually, I can count on one hand the amount I've gotten, all super flattering ^_^ sibling dearest has gotten more and some of it is adorable some of it we're both like well it's the thought that counts right?) til you have that number one fan that absolutely HAS to have you condone/canonise their head canon (as far as I can tell from some of the questions sibling has gotten about her characters). And letting fans contribute ideas for characters and events can lead to all kinds of great ideas and fun.
And then on the flipside you have upgrades of the aforementioned who get really angry if you don't write/draw things "correctly" (ie how they've decided it has to be regardless of where you want to take your story, and fanworks to "fix" it isn't enough, it HAS to be THEIR canon). And if you keep on doing your thing, the threats and tantrums and how you "owe" it to them to pander to exactly what they want because if not for them you would never have "succeeded" (which I guess is technically true if your entire purpose for doing something was to appeal to the masses but still they presumably liked your thing as you made it to be fans?).
Can you tell I've watched this happen before with some contempt for the entitled gits XD
You absolutely did deserve some kind of medal or something! Yeh don't blame you for being annoyed about the slow payment especially after going above and beyond when you would have been well within your rights to just walk away and demand payment for the work that you'd already completed (wasn't really your problem that they got in trouble for not checking first).
I've had a few of my ideas copied over the years. It can be the greatest form of flattery. As long as they give some sort of nod to the original creation I am Ok with it. I do welcome suggestion but only after it is too late to change anything;)
For Disney of course I understand the protectiveness of their IP. I just have seen them come down like a tonne of bricks of people that just want to be part of their success. For me personally, I prefer to just avoid getting to close to their work snd if I am forced to make something from their world do it so bad I will never be asked again.
Is your Sibling on Hive?
Glad I checked in to find this post in time to still upvote!
Monumental, is all I can say! Reposted and tweeted:
those tweets are also embedded on my VAG website:
https://www.vagallery.com/visionary-twitter.html
Thank you so much @thermoplastic. Great to be tweeted about also.
WOW!!!! So crazy and cool!!!!! Love it 🤩
Thank you Caroline
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
~~~ embed:1465464797244407816 twitter metadata:dmlzaW9uYXJ5YXJ0Y29tfHxodHRwczovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL3Zpc2lvbmFyeWFydGNvbS9zdGF0dXMvMTQ2NTQ2NDc5NzI0NDQwNzgxNnw= ~~~
The rewards earned on this comment will go directly to the person sharing the post on Twitter as long as they are registered with @poshtoken. Sign up at https://hiveposh.com.
to be fair if someone corporate uses your image it's pretty good news as you can sue them lol or email them to pay you and they probably will rather than be taken to court. This is a great story though and to me it shows you are a true artist not just after money.
The true artists stay late on a photoshoot to make sure they are happy with the photos, they basically have a level of professionalism within themselves and something in them cannot leave a job till they have done everything they can to ensure that what they did matches up to that. The people that just work to the exact hours and don't really care once they got paid are the ones just in it for the money.
Sorry I missed your lovely comment till now.
I agree with everything you say. Many times I burned the candle at both ends to get the project just right. Even when I was working on film sets I felt guilty if I left before any of the other crew. It is something I enjoy and am always afraid I'll miss something or be on my way home and be struck with a new idea that I then can't do. I believe professionalism in the arts is really important. It always leads to more work and collaboration.
I’ve stayed on photo shoots for hours longer than my job brief. I’m always thankful for the models as they normally demand to go home on time 🤣