Forum:Character Images and Infoboxes

As is providing new images and descriptions for characters, several discussions have arisen about which is the best information to use for a character infobox, the new image and related details from the play, or the previous ones from the films. There seems to be a couple different approaches being favored, so it's proably best to discuss them here to decide on a common approach. As an overarching rule of HPW:CANON details provided by JKR in any written work take priority as Tier 1 canon over other visual representations in the films and play. The current suggested approaches: Ideas for other approaches are welcome as well. Thoughts & discussion? --Ironyak1 (talk) 16:21, June 2, 2016 (UTC)
 * 1) Use written details first, and if film and play details conflict then leave the field blank with a comment that the sources differ. All differences can be noted in the Behind the scenes section.
 * 2) Use written details first, and use details from the first portrayal of the character only. This means that all known characters will use images and details from the 8 HP films, but Cursed Child information would be added to the Behind the scenes section. Any newly portrayed characters from the play will use images and details from there.
 * 3) Use written details first, and then any additional information from the latest portrayal. This means that the play images and details take precendence over the films as the latest revision of the material.
 * 4) Use written details first, then hold a vote for each character to decide which image and related details are used. This allows for a case-by-case decision on how well an actor matches the written description, what may be implied by canon, or other considerations.

Discussion
I´d vote for the first option. --Rodolphus (talk) 15:06, June 2, 2016 (UTC)
 * My vote goes to option two. My earlier arguments:
 * I think changing the pictures of Ron, Harry & Hermione (and those to follow) to those of the play will bring way too much confusion, and simply will not work. The way the characters look in the film is the way the characters were presented to the world for the first time. The majority of the people who have seen the movies see Harry/Ron/Hermione as Daniel/Rupert/Emma, the same for every other character out of the movie. Also take the people who only watch the movies into consideration. Most of them probably have no clue that there is going to be a play in the first place. Replacing the images of Daniel, Rupert and Emma to those of the play will probably displease a lot of people.
 * Of course when new characters are introduced in the play a picture of the actor/actress playing that character should be used at the top. Because it how the character is introduced to us for the first time like with the movies. -- LilyOfTheMoon (talk) 16:13, June 2, 2016 (UTC)


 * I love the idea of both option 1 and 2. I think we should use pictures from their first portrayal but only use written information for the infoboxes, and if we don't have any put sources conflict instead and explain why in Behind the Scenes. This way we avoid the confusion of why some characters have their film picture and why others have had theirs changed to their Cursed Child picture. Voting on every character will be time consuming and people will still try to change the picture to the other one. At least if we use option 1 for the infoboxes and option 2 for the pictures we can explain it simply as "We use pictures from their first portrayal and we use information from the written source unless there is none in which case we put sources conflict and explain why in Behind the Scenes." --EmilyMills22 (talk) 15:26, June 2 2016 (UTC)


 * I agree with LilyOfTheMoon. Also, while we can keep the movie images as the 'upper' image, there's nothing stopping us from using images further down on the page from the play/play cast with something like 'Albus Potter, as seen in the 'play' (link to page), portrayed by' as we flesh out the pages with the new information introduced.  Ninclow (talk) 20:25, June 2, 2016 (UTC)


 * I would suggest a gallery. You can put the images of every actor of the character in it. When a picture for the infobox shall be used then 8 years are much longer than a few weeks or months. We have seen the film actors rise from child to adult. No one will ever forget this. Ask me for the name of the film actors and I can tell you. Ask me for the name of the play actors and sometimes I have already forgotten. And - the play will be performed in England. Most people of other countries will probably have no chance to see it and only know the pictures, but that are only pictures without life when you could not see them acting and could not hear them speaking.  Harry granger   Talk    contribs  21:21, June 2, 2016 (UTC)


 * Generally speaking, it is generally incorrect to describe characters based on what the actors that play them look like (unless we are talking about wigs, or prosthetics the actors wore, or things like that specifically designed to alter their appearance). First, because it's potentially canon-defying (e.g. "Aunt Petunia is totally a brunette and has regular front teeth"); second, and most obviously, because characters can be played by several different actors who will, invariably, have many, many physical dissimilarities (Lavender Brown is, perhaps, the greatest example of this out there -- Kathleen Cauley, Jennifer Smith, and Jessie Cave have nothing to do with each other). Hence why any references to skin colour, hair colour, how tall they are, should preferably come from the books/written material themselves -- because while the actor may change, the character is still the same, and our info on the character shouldn't change just because the actor did.
 * Any considerations of "newest source is most canon" (the same thing goes for its "oldest source" variation presented here) are restricted to Tier One canon when it comes to our canon policy, and simply for the purpose of allowing J.K. Rowling to make corrections or retcon things. Applying that rule to Tier 2 canon has no policy basis, and doesn't make much sense either -- for example, whoever designed the scenery in the play cannot possibly be retconning anything we have seen in the film; they're two different media.
 * That said, option 4 is particularly aberrant when it comes to voting on "what details" to describe them. Such votes would be meaningless, in the face of policy, since we cannot simply decide, as it were, what's the correct description. All we can vote on is what pictures to showcase on a given infobox -- it's completely irrelevant which, since they all come from legitimate canon sources.
 * Tl;dr: Option 1 is the only one that adheres to the canon policy (though no references should be made to "sources differing" on the article's main body, since that breaks the in-universe point-of-view); and all images from canonical sources are equally valid. --  Seth Cooper  owl post! 22:10, June 2, 2016 (UTC)
 * Seth - can you point us to where in the policies it says that infobox descriptions cannot / should not be based on images from the films or other visual media? Most of these options hinge on this policy or norm as without it voting on the image leads to voting on the descriptors when notnprovided in the texts. (Such as red vs brown hair for Rose Granger-Weasley depending on the actress). If the descriptors are only to come from Tier 1 canon then it's probably best that a ref with a quote is used to make clear interpretations (hair like her dad's, white face vs white as a ghost, etc) vs clearly stated (eg green eyes). If that is established, then it's just an image policy which likely comes down to voting on best images to resolve disputes? Thanks --Ironyak1 (talk) 22:37, June 2, 2016 (UTC)