When it comes to physics in animation and
many high-stakes live action movies most of the laws of physics have their turn
being twisted, ignored, or re-valued. Special effects leave the live-action
movies just as susceptible to defying physics in both slight and extreme ways.
However when one evaluates just how much any individual aspect of physics is
affected, it's quickly clear that of everything gravity is the force most toyed
with, stretched, or broken. Gravity, in terms of cinematic story telling, is a
very useful tether to relate the described world to our world, but in
application it is far from a constant set of rules that characters and objects
are restricted to. When it comes to altering gravity film makers usually make
changes to a character's center of balance, alter gravitational effects on
individual objects, or at times pull on the gravitational stability of buildings
in order to make more intense action sequences that are just believable enough
to thrill an audience with a heightened sense of reality. The phenomenon of
altering gravity is not restricted to animation, live action, movie, or
television show, to being believable or extreme, or to science fiction, fantasy,
or action adventure movies.
When it comes to an extremely versatile personal center of gravity few characters flail so much to ultimately defy impossible positions as Jack Sparrow from the popular Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. In these live action movies the pirate captain regularly finds himself making daring plan-as-you-go escapes from soldiers, rival pirates, and angry sea entities, often with an acrobatic skill that is hidden by an average muscle distribution and an uncommon amount of dreadlocked and adorned hair. One of the very first examples of Jack Sparrow's dramatic handle on a personal center of gravity occurs in the beginning of the first movie, when he launches himself into the air and lands on a thin wooden beam, where he struggles with catching his balance (20:08). This is a subtle example of breaking the laws of physics and one's personal center of gravity, especially as he leans forward and back in a very basic effort to catch his balance. Even without factoring in the momentum he gathered in the spring-loaded arc he swings to the beam on, or the fact that he is handcuffed with movement-impeding shackles, even a basic and stationary attempt to recreate the balance catching reveals how dramatically outside of reality the self-catch is. Jack's center of balance is far outside the base of support he has available on such a narrow beam. Even if his arms were free to fully utilize counter balance measures (he does flail a bit, of course) the idea that he would be able to recover from such an extremely off-balance center of gravity is, by the most whimsical standards, laughable. And that's not factoring in the wind that would be blowing in from the ocean, or the afore-mentioned force resulting from the launch from at least two stories below. People are not the only objects granted clemency from any recognizable gravity, as the force is played with with individual objects as well. In the quirky science fiction series Warehouse 13 two special agents, Pete and Mica, find themselves the victims of a localized gravity-swap. Thrown into the ceiling by a machine that alters gravitational pull (24:30), while not technically objects but simply two large-ish masses it's applicable to look at them as large flour sacks. Flour sacks which with a simple flip of a switch suddenly collapse into the ceiling as if they were just dropped onto it. This is an interesting phenomenon of gravitational alteration, especially since it's also worth noting that while H.G. Wells appears unaffected due to wearing magnetic boots (which somehow also control her hair as well), the rest of the objects in the room remain in place as if the room's gravity is normal. So either the popular literary mastermind was obsessed with nails and glue, or gravity is being REALLY weird in the very specific location of the house where Pete and Mica were standing and then being pressed into the ceiling (hair and all). Nothing, however, pulls at an audience's sense of gravitational awareness like a building suddenly acting out of the norm. To pull off bringing entire structures into alternate gravitational science the audience must be wholly sold on the idea that the building has enough mass to exist while not enough to counter whatever is being done to it. Case in point: the house from the animated movie Up. Since the house remains in the air supported by thousands of balloons for pretty much the entire movie, the question of gravitational affect on the structure is a fairly consistent problem to be addressed. It's pushed around by wind, as balloons deflate it hangs lower to the ground and moved like it is restricted movement-wise when it doesn't have enough to lift it. This is completely ignoring many laws of physics, of course, but gravity is ultimately the cheated party in the matter. after all, on an episode of Mythbusters (where they like to challenge all of these rule-breaking ideas) they found that to simply lift a four-year old girl it would take so many helium-filled weather balloons that it would be all but impossible to blow up and attach them all to the object that needed lifting (Episode 5 of season 2). In conclusion, although many aspects of physics are regularly bent or altered in cinema and television, gravity is almost certainly the most commonly ignored and abused. The force itself, and its effects on body, object, and structure, is distorted in almost any nameable science fiction or action movie. Most of the time it tends to be subtle, more or less linked into our real-world understanding of the force, in order to make a connection to our reality that often masks dramatic and intense law-breaking. This stretch of an inescapable truth, however, creates the heightened reality that makes us believe in the supernatural abilities of a pirate, and wonder at the notion of a house flying away supported by balloons. And as long as some of the effects are observed in a realistic light we are more than willing to allow the abuse to natural law to forward a story, be it science fiction or just a whimsical version of our own reality. PS: (foot note apart from paper word counter): I know you said only three movies or shows were required but Mythbusters is the best example to disprove the notion, so I enter them as my first surprise witness and not an actual example of defying gravity in popular media. PPS: I feel like Max or Mary from Max and Mary with many P-P-S's all the time. PPPS: Here is a picture of the House Cat, revealed to be the crime boss he is:  PPPPS: Yes I'm shameless in seeking extra credit opportunities. But to be fair I wanted to include a paragraph about the amazing gravitational alteration involved in the destruction of Sauron's tower and you didn't want more than three movie examples so I feel something extra must be included. PPPPPS: Just in case you never watched Max and Mary, you should. It's on Netflix. And it's wonderful. |
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Outline for the Second Term Paper
Introduction:
Thesis: Gravity, in terms of cinematic story telling, is a tether to relate the described world to our world, but it is far from a constant set of rules that characters and objects are restricted by.
- Gravity is altered or ignored when it comes to three main groups: the personal gravity centers of individual characters, in objects, and even in buildings and large structures.
- This phenomenon is not restricted to animation, live action, movie, or television show.
Examples of defying personal centers of gravity:
a) Pirates of the Caribbean (Jack catching his balance on the wooden beam) 20:08
- This one is subtle, but even without factoring in that he's swinging upwards and into a narrow beam while handcuffed, an attempt to recreate the range of how much Jack leans forward and back, even while flat footed on the floor, minimally requires an immense amount of control and counteraction with a lot of flailing arms. Without these actions Jack's center of gravity is far too outside of
b) The Matrix (Neo bending backwards to dodge bullets)
Who doesn't remember the iconic, impossible move? He was re-writing gravity along with time when he did this move.
c) Mulan (Chien Po carrying the soldiers/a horse) 58:45
- one character picks up his entire squadron, who are holding a rope tied to a horse bearing two more (by the way, dangling off a cliff), and without any change in posture to accommodate the change in center of gravity walks calmly backwards far enough to get the horse back on the cliff. Either he's got a body mass equal to the mountain itself or gravity isn't pulling him over like it should.
Objects defying gravity:
- Warehouse 13 (Pete and Mika suffering from reverse gravity and being thrown to a ceiling) 24:30
- Ok, not technically objects, but as two large-ish masses it's applicable to look at them as large flour sacks... which with a simple flip of a switch suddenly collapse into the ceiling as if they were just dropped onto it. It's also worth noting that while H.G. Wells appears unaffected due to wearing magnetic boots (which somehow also control her hair), the rest of the objects in the room remain in place, as if the room's gravity is normal. So either Wells was obsessed with nails and glue, or gravity is being REALLY weird in that specific location of the house.
- Captain America (Bomb Planes)
- first flying and clearly being seen at 1:41:11, we are lead to believe that the "planes" are actually gigantic nuclear bombs meant to take out America's largest cities, yet also be fully capeable of flight and supporting three grown men in battle armor (and the Hydra armor more resembles old fashioned deep-sea diving equipment), with only one large propeller on the back to keep them going, and two stubby wings to stabilize them.
- This might keep them moving forward while falling, but not doing twists, turns, and gaining altitude as they do in the movie.
Structures defying gravity:
- Up (The house being lifted and flying away supported only by balloons), Pretty much the entire movie.
- Proven by Mythbusters to be all but impossible (Episode 5 of season 2 "Ping Pong Escape"), since they needed so many large helium weather balloons to lift a 4 year old child they could barely even gather and control the required number.
- Avengers (heli-platform carrier rising out of the ocean) 33:32
- Technically an object, but included due to scale
- Lord of the Rings; Return of the King (Sauron's tower suddenly and inexplicably being pulled down and into the ground) 2:45:36
- 2 explanations. Either gravity suddenly and inexplicably intensified to the point that the building could not withstand it and crumbled, or that the structure was initially unsupportable and held together by Sauron's magic, which vanished with the ring, thus leaving the tower to topple. Neither of these explanations conform to our understanding of gravity.
Conclusion:
- Although many aspects of physics are regularly bent or altered in cinema and television, gravity is almost certainly the most common. The force and its effects on body, object, and structure is distorted in almost any nameable science fiction or action movie. Most of the time it tends to be subtle, more or less linked into our real world understanding of the force in order to make a connection to our reality that often masks dramatic and intense law-breaking.
Thesis: Gravity, in terms of cinematic story telling, is a tether to relate the described world to our world, but it is far from a constant set of rules that characters and objects are restricted by.
- Gravity is altered or ignored when it comes to three main groups: the personal gravity centers of individual characters, in objects, and even in buildings and large structures.
- This phenomenon is not restricted to animation, live action, movie, or television show.
Examples of defying personal centers of gravity:
a) Pirates of the Caribbean (Jack catching his balance on the wooden beam) 20:08
- This one is subtle, but even without factoring in that he's swinging upwards and into a narrow beam while handcuffed, an attempt to recreate the range of how much Jack leans forward and back, even while flat footed on the floor, minimally requires an immense amount of control and counteraction with a lot of flailing arms. Without these actions Jack's center of gravity is far too outside of
b) The Matrix (Neo bending backwards to dodge bullets)
Who doesn't remember the iconic, impossible move? He was re-writing gravity along with time when he did this move.
c) Mulan (Chien Po carrying the soldiers/a horse) 58:45
- one character picks up his entire squadron, who are holding a rope tied to a horse bearing two more (by the way, dangling off a cliff), and without any change in posture to accommodate the change in center of gravity walks calmly backwards far enough to get the horse back on the cliff. Either he's got a body mass equal to the mountain itself or gravity isn't pulling him over like it should.
Objects defying gravity:
- Warehouse 13 (Pete and Mika suffering from reverse gravity and being thrown to a ceiling) 24:30
- Ok, not technically objects, but as two large-ish masses it's applicable to look at them as large flour sacks... which with a simple flip of a switch suddenly collapse into the ceiling as if they were just dropped onto it. It's also worth noting that while H.G. Wells appears unaffected due to wearing magnetic boots (which somehow also control her hair), the rest of the objects in the room remain in place, as if the room's gravity is normal. So either Wells was obsessed with nails and glue, or gravity is being REALLY weird in that specific location of the house.
- Captain America (Bomb Planes)
- first flying and clearly being seen at 1:41:11, we are lead to believe that the "planes" are actually gigantic nuclear bombs meant to take out America's largest cities, yet also be fully capeable of flight and supporting three grown men in battle armor (and the Hydra armor more resembles old fashioned deep-sea diving equipment), with only one large propeller on the back to keep them going, and two stubby wings to stabilize them.
- This might keep them moving forward while falling, but not doing twists, turns, and gaining altitude as they do in the movie.
Structures defying gravity:
- Up (The house being lifted and flying away supported only by balloons), Pretty much the entire movie.
- Proven by Mythbusters to be all but impossible (Episode 5 of season 2 "Ping Pong Escape"), since they needed so many large helium weather balloons to lift a 4 year old child they could barely even gather and control the required number.
- Avengers (heli-platform carrier rising out of the ocean) 33:32
- Technically an object, but included due to scale
- Lord of the Rings; Return of the King (Sauron's tower suddenly and inexplicably being pulled down and into the ground) 2:45:36
- 2 explanations. Either gravity suddenly and inexplicably intensified to the point that the building could not withstand it and crumbled, or that the structure was initially unsupportable and held together by Sauron's magic, which vanished with the ring, thus leaving the tower to topple. Neither of these explanations conform to our understanding of gravity.
Conclusion:
- Although many aspects of physics are regularly bent or altered in cinema and television, gravity is almost certainly the most common. The force and its effects on body, object, and structure is distorted in almost any nameable science fiction or action movie. Most of the time it tends to be subtle, more or less linked into our real world understanding of the force in order to make a connection to our reality that often masks dramatic and intense law-breaking.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Stop Motion Animation of Falling
So I decided to reach for the stars, having never done a single bit of stop motion animation in the past. I used my friend Jackson for reference. Mostly because I can niether run nor jump and my own pathetics for the purposes of this assignment were horrifically embarassing.
I know I included a shot with me walking into the view, but as added proof of our longterm relationship, here is us last Halloween as Hawkeye and Captain America (I'm the one with the bow):
Sorry for the crappy video quality. It was nowhere like this
to use, but unfortunately my roommate won't get off Guild Wars 2
and this is the best version I could get loaded with the crap internet
speed.
I know I included a shot with me walking into the view, but as added proof of our longterm relationship, here is us last Halloween as Hawkeye and Captain America (I'm the one with the bow):
For the record, I explicitly told him not to hurt himself during filming.
Therefore his limp isn't my fault.
If it had been me running and jumping there would have been blood and bone visible.
He's an English major, not A/I, but that doesn't seem to hold him back too much.
For the tracking I followed both Jack and the sword seperately, shown here:
For the actual animating bit, well..... it was a real pain. I see why others finally went with very simple objects. Keeping the multi-jointed Batman figurine in line was next to impossible. Ultimately I reshot the entire move four times, but ran out of time just as I thought I might be getting the hang of this stop motion thing.
Ultimately this was the best of the lot:
In closing, to show you how seriously I took this whole thing, I had my roomie snap a picture of the setup I used to get this done. You'll note the Director's Hat, which is evidenced from all bonus features ever as being a director's key to success in all movies.
It should be noted that I am not tall at all, and standing on another chair, so in effect I built an entire second-tier story for my bedroom specifically for this challenge!
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