"Character Animation"

It seems that the above video comes out squished for whatever reason so I have provided a youtube linked video that hopefully stays the correct aspect ratio.

Youtube Linked Video of the Animation

I worked with Kristi Loo in making this animation. I did the physical animation, we worked together on the staging and planning, and she did the editing and post-production on the film. We decided on two figures that would hopefully have enough contrast and provide character contrast in that manner, and some simple props to stage the idea.

Again, stop motion is incredibly hard and I worry for the bodies of the stop motion animators. I hope they work out a lot to be able to endure the physical toll in animating. I'd like to note, not for grades but for posterity; it was incredibly, incredibly hard to balance clay on dangling fake plants just as well. I felt like that part of the experience is the one I will remember the most about the animation since it caused such hilarious frustration. We ended up holding the clay doll up with toothpicks for the most part.

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction.

Conservation of Mass: Two Movies and a Video Game

      Though physics is one of the most immutable laws of the universe, all kinds of rules and laws are broken for the sake of entertainment. I'll be looking at live action and video game media examples that choose to interpret a specific law of physics in a way that is unrealistic. That is, the law of the conservation of mass. 

     The conservation of mass usually can be subtle in its misuse. Due to our exposure to things in media that include such things as transmogrifying magical things, it's become a generally accepted suspension of disbelief to watch things grow or shrink in size. When this law is broken in a universe that purports to otherwise have a rather realistic physical world, it is interestingly obvious to much of the audience that something in wrong. I will be looking at a few items in the entertainment industry that break this law in an unironic and obvious manner. When the conservation of mass law is violated, it has a tendency to be obvious and raise some brows for the audience even without knowing exactly how it works.

     The video game Resident Evil is a zombie game starting in the year 1996, and was one of the first arcs in the horror genre of videogames. The series takes a lot of liberties with the way explosives and biohazardous weapons are treated, but otherwise characters are subject to a world built on earth that generally conforms with a similar physical situation as earth. In terms of mass, generally the beheading of zombies and destruction of other creatures equals out to the same amount of “stuff” left over on screen as indicators of the same amount of mass then being scattered. There is a willing suspension of disbelief there. There is, however, a point in the series that is glaringly obvious to many people, players or no.

     Using nothing but a biohazard virus, a normal-sized man, Derek Simmons, turns into a literal tyrannosaurus rex. By an estimation of Simmon's height, he is a little over the average height of the men around him, so he could be about a 6'4" height, if generous. The maximum weight for this height is 205lbs. The weight of the fluid added to his body could not be more than 1mL. His pants do not generally disappear when he transforms back, so it can be assumed that they become part of his transformation. The pants would add about 1lb if average. A tyrannosaurus is estimated to be about 9 tons (18,ooolbs) minimally. If we are generous with it, that still weighs eighty-seven times more than what the man probably weighed. 

     Simmons turns into this dinosaur creature with no visual cue of absorbing any matter to grow to this size, but due to the creature's ability to crush cars underfoot and flip buses, it can be deduced that it is meant to have comparative weight to a dinosaur. Later, he turns into a large tarantula creature as well, but he does so by absorbing other bodies, partially accounting for the increase in weight then, but not by much. The most glaring dismissal of this law of physics is that there is no attempt to explain it. This is one way a piece in media can take when dealing with disregarding the conservation of mass law; without alluding to or giving any attempt to explain it. It’s so blatant that it feels like a reliance on the audience’s forgiveness or for the audience to overextend its suspension of disbelief for the physics to be somewhat excusable for the game. Most media at least tries to have a foothold in science nowadays when attempting to sell an idea to audiences; such as the movie in the next example.

     In a famous childhood movie, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the movie attempts to explain a massive reduction of the size of four normal-sized teens. It uses the explanation that the shrinkage is done by reducing the space between subatomic particles which are taken as "empty space" as explained by the movie. It is of course not as simple as this, but the writers were trying.

     There is not necessarily "empty" space between subatomic particles; as I understand it. It is more that the particles are spread out along these empty spaces as "smears" to cover all these gaps between in varying time. Not only that, depending on what substance it is, the space between particles differs. In gases and in space there's much more room between particles, but in solids, the space between atoms may be as small as atomic particles themselves. 

     If you go with the idea, however, that it was possible to remove all this seemingly empty space to shrink a person, there still remains that the mass is conserved. The mass of the people would have been unchanged, making them extremely dense people at the miniature size that they were shrunk to. Their weight would have remained the same with their mass being the same on earth. Therefore, they would not have been flying around and taking the risk of being whisked up by lawnmowers as in the movie, essentially removing the plot. This is another way that physics has been treated; by taking a cursory understanding of the science of something and attempting to blow it into something else to fit a plot. This is at least a shallow attempt to make the physics of the world a little more believable for the audience.  There is another way to make the world more immersive while having even less realistic physics, however.

     The sci-fi work Star Trek (2009) is something that hinges most heavily on a basis of science and physics and this movie in particular focuses greatly on supernovas and black holes. The mass of objects and how they are affected by black holes is crucial to the plot. What is unknown to both the writers and much of the audience is that black holes are limited directly by their mass.

     At the beginning of the movie, there is a supernova which is stopped by dropping a black hole into it. First of all, the aftermath of a supernovae tend to create black holes, so it is questionable as to how it would reverse an exploding star when the amount of red matter used to do this turns out to be a single drop.

     The black hole creations of the movie circle around this substance called red matter that that turns whatever it touches into a black hole (except its holding container). The movie universe, however, takes the false liberty of assuming a black hole is an endless vacuum not limited by its own mass. Another example of this red substance is when it hits a spacecraft, it turns the spacecraft into a black hole, but that black hole should be limited by its mass... which would be equal to the spacecraft and only be able to suck in things at a radius of the spacecraft. It has been considered that it could be the red matter itself that has the mass necessary to create bigger black holes than the matter it is turning into a black hole, but it isn't really treated in this way in the film by how everyone is able to carry it around with minimal equipment. 

     This disregard for conservation of mass is built up more believably in Star Trek, however. It is built in such a way so that this red matter is more easily overlooked than the shrinking or growing of the two first examples. As stated in the beginning, it tends to be obvious, but Star Trek manages to make it less obvious by how it frames its pseudoscience in its world. The way Star Trek treats the conservation of mass, in this case, is relying on the audience to not be informed enough about its subject matter. The real physicality of black holes and supernovas may not be fully grasped by the audience, so the movie can take advantage of this by framing its story in a believable manner at least. A piece of work can get away enjoyably with violating the laws of physics.

     Generally, the law of the conservation of mass is not usually violated in an obvious manner, but when it is, it can be disorienting for audiences. Lots of laws of physics are bent or ignored for drama or effect, especially suspending the disbelief of the audience realistically. Sometimes, however, even the audience can be tipped off to the lack of realism when done so blatantly or ungracefully as Resident Evil 6. It can detract from a story rather than enhance it. Resident Evil 6 chose to hand-wave the science and depend on the audience to forgive it for its lack of realism, but the audience finds it distractingly obvious. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids starts off with a basis of science and has to ignore the real science in order to be able to go through the plot. Star Trek, however, ignores science even moreso than Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, but it is able to pull off its idea by using certain techniques. It does it by relying on preconceived notions in the audiences mind, using a more immersive story, and by using distracting drama. If that is the case, however, it makes for an entertaining piece of media.  That’s more the point of how to incorrectly use physics, one would think.

Outline for the Second Term Paper

I.            Introduction

a.       Law of Physics: Conservation of Mass

II.            Three Items of Media that Demonstrate lack of Conservation of Mass

a.       Resident Evil 6 (Video Game)

                                                  i.      Man turns into 3 story tall tyrannosaurus with only the amount of mass in his body (enuff said. Just kidding; but it’s horrendous)

b.      Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (Movie)

                                                  i.      Idea is used that what is being removed is the space between atomic particles; allowing shrinkage

                                                ii.      They still would retain their mass, meaning that they would still  be as strong and heavy as they were as normal sized people

c.       Star Trek (2009)

                                                  i.      There is a red matter that can create a black hole that can fix an exploding supernova star

III.            Conclusion

a.       Lots of laws of physics are bent or ignored for drama or effect, especially suspending the disbelief of the audience realistically. Sometimes, however, even the audience can be tipped off to the lack of realism when done so blatantly or ungracefully as Resident Evil. It can detract from a story rather than enhance it.

Reverse Video Reference

In the back of your mind you may think: actors, psht, just a load of hissy-prissy

People get paid to act for a reason. (Just as artists and designers get paid for a reason). Acting is hard.

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

Oh no! It's a little yucky.

I worked out the yo-yo physics and tried to be interesting; preparing an animation in flash to work out the timing, but I didn't of course take into account the difficulty of the physicality of the medium. The string was incredibly uncooperative, and I noticed though I had taped down the filming area, it had been moving a bit anyway. If I had added a spin perhaps the yo-yo illusion would have been more effective; but it still accounts that the physics and the arcs are not completely believable hence its kitschy nature. I knew stop motion would be an endurance test on the body, and it was, to be positioned in a certain way as to be ready to take the shot as quickly as possible in the right motion.

I used a cap and some string; though I had taped the string down behind the cap, it kept furling a lot and giving away its lack of tension on a horizontal surface. I rigged a camera and a stand to take the pictures but they ended up moving anyway as I pressed the button.

PPS: I'm sorry Professor it is 4am and I have been trying to get the video to work for hours. I am going to send it ahead to Brandon and you on email to prove that I had it since I CANNOT fix this. 

The Laws of Physics in a Live-Action Martial Arts Film featuring CGI

     The (2004) movie Kung Fu Hustle is a comedy set in Shanghai, China, parodying the pattern of martial arts movies made at that point. The movie both pokes fun at martial arts movies and uses this self-aware behavior to go for over-the-top with the action sequences and include great comedy along with a seemingly serious plot. Despite this seemingly flippant usage of what would be physical rules due to the movie having a parodying quality and theatrical action choreography, the universe within Kung Fu Hustle seems to follow certain discernible rules for its world. It creatively breaks certain physics rules and establishes its own for the sake of the movie. First of all, it exaggerates the reactions to the hits that fighters perform on one another in order to establish a clear hierarchy of power for clarity of the film and entertainment. Second, in the vein of power, the movie takes a slightly magical turn by using improbable methods of attack. There are several things in the movie which are weaponized or used in a manner with which to fight, but which are not be used in the real world  in the same way (…with just the human body as a resource). For example, music and sound are used as at three types of offensive weaponry. The movie introduces this idea and continues to expand upon it after it is introduced. And finally, in overarching relation to all of this;  gravity is felt as a loose construct in this movie world. It relates to characters in a way that is convenient or inconvenient depending on whether the person has control over the situation or not. This also has a relation to power due to how much control the person has. Overall, this creates an interestingly consistent world for the martial artists as they engage in fights throughout the plot while simultaneously enabling a continuously entertaining and comedic movie.

    First of all, all reactions to things of importance tend to be exaggerated. There are many examples of this. The main character, Sing, is shown half-awake after being comically beaten, and to indicate his upcoming skill as a great healer and a strong fighter, is able to squeeze out the knives in his body by simply flexing the muscles hard enough. These knives shoot out at a great enough speed to penetrate this seemingly tin container that he’s resting in, and one shoots out with an extremely conserved amount of force, because it ricochets off of the ceiling before hitting a car in the street. It is shown to have been gotten with so much force from his muscle rejecting it, that it retains both a straight path to fly, and enough force to penetrate the wheel of the car two stories down. This is all clearly exaggeration, besides the unlikely paths of action, it is a high exaggeration of power in general. Further along in the movie, as the fighters are revealed to be more powerful, the attacks they endure are similarly shown to be greater due to their greater recoil. After shown to be masters, the Landlady and Landlord try to take on The Beast with normal hits, and are blown back. First, they are stopped easily at two feet. Then, they are blown back about 10-15 feet in their second attack. In the final scene, by contrast, when Sing finally understands how to utilize the Palm technique, he uses it in two ways, both exaggerated and both the most powerful ways in the movie. One, he creates a gigantic indentation of a palm, about six times the length of a human being, after falling from the sky like a meteor. He is then, shown, however using it with great responsibility since he directs another attack at the Beast, but exhibits restraint to not kill him. This lack of destruction is in contrast to the building up of destruction, and even the visual destruction of the wall behind the Beast, showing the greatest exaggeration of all that one can hit something without harming what is in front of it. This is a detail for the incredible show of power for this point in the movie. These threads of power and exaggeration exist in other ways in the movie, such as uses of fantastic elements utilized by the martial artists.

     There are quite a few things which are used as weapons for representations of power, but a certain element sticks out in multiple ways. Sound, and similarly air, is used as a weapon by powerful fighters. This is first seen by the Harpists who use sound in a way that is so skilled to make the sound like a blade to cut through opponents. This idea is introduced slowly by showing a shadowed decapitation, then after showing blades being thrown out by the chords being played. The Harpists are also shown to be able to make use of concussive force using different music, hitting the Tailor with what seems to be six fists. The last, and seemingly, ultimate technique of the Harpists is to use a tirade of music that summons such force it seems to utilize an undead army of fighters. This, interestingly, is all topped out by the Landlady’s secret that she is a greater Kung-Fu Master of the Lion’s Roar, and handily defeats them with one move after the other three great masters have been defeated and killed.

     The introduction and progression of these sound techniques was interestingly. The idea of sound being weaponized through skill is shown slowly through a dangerous and difficult to handle enemy, and then it is shown to be even further mastered in another way. This step toward the Landlady’s mastery of Lion’s Roar is also a step towards more of a utilization of air with sound. Her technique also partly uses sheer force for some of her power. Continuing on that, in the final part of the movie, Sing’s Palm technique is something that is sheer force without sound. Kung Fu Hustle makes this progression through the use of three slightly different things that would be difficult to use in reality as weapons; it progresses through the film with the sound, air, and force as hand-offs of powerful technique, evolving into the next one and then leaving behind another one. These strange elements are taken as somewhat magical weaponry in the movie.

     The final element of a property in this world is how fluid gravity is. It does not seem to be the case that gravity is something that has its own will to help or hinder the fighters, but the impossible jumps of the martial artists seems to be in relation to a fighter’s own skill. It makes it seem more that kung fu artists are in control of their own gravity. When they fall or are unbalanced, this is due to the control shifting to a more powerful opponent at the moment. When the Landlord is first shown fighting, he is kicked off of his opponents, but as he flips, comes to a gliding landing very much akin to the settle of a paper drop animation test. He regains control of himself easily in a very light manner. Any opponent who is soundly defeated is sent flying off very quickly and very out of control, showing the complete surrender and loss of control. When the Landlady and Landlord fight the Beast, after they have been shown to be great kung fu masters, they are sent flying as mentioned above. This is their destabilized control over the situation when it happens. Finally, in the final battle, Sing is sent very far into the atmosphere, taking control of his situation in the air and freefalling again. He plummets with such force that is able to help him defeat the Beast, and even when he is about the hit the ground, instead, he pushes back with his own force to stop and gently lands on his feet some distance away from where he would have landed. It may be less about flying and more about control of one’s own gravity in order to get this effect in the film. The hypothesis of control would also work with what I have also established here.

     I found the movie highly consistent with its own rules. As a martial arts movie, its visual language is how to showcase power visually (with the philosophy of martial arts being showed through dialogue in comparison), and it uses all these different rules to that sort of advantage. There’s an exaggeration of effect so that the audience can see what is happening and easily establish a hierarchy in their mind that is used to understand the movie. The film is well-aware of its use of the improbable Asian-action movie genre, and by parodying this genre, creates an incredibly entertaining movie. By not breaking its own rules in an obvious manner, it creates a grounded movie while being completely over-the-top.

Outline Notes:

I had found better examples than what I had before, and switched “Exaggerated Reactions” and “Dangerous Via Skill” in their order. I also removed the competing hypothesis because I did not think it was strong.

Law of Physics in "Kung Fu Hustle" Outline

        I.            Introduction:

a.       Introduce “Kung Fu Hustle”

b.      Live-action CG film

c.       Hypothesis: Film creatively breaks laws of physics and imbues special dangerous qualities for constant action sequences

      II.            Anything is Dangerous When Made Powerful Enough Through Skill

a.       Three Small Examples:

b.      Sharp sound can be used as a mode of attack and as weaponry; causes sharp or concussive force wounds

c.       The lax drunken body can deflect all blunt attacks

d.      An open palm can come down like a meteor

    III.            All Reactions to Hits Tend to be Exaggerated

a.       A giant half stone disc hits a paper-wooden door and stops completely while stuck at the door (necessary for comedy safety of civilian)

c.       People are sent flying frequently with an improbable amount of force required to send them flying

    IV.            Gravity and Arcs

a.       Gravity is very loosely used in both a hard way and a light way; distinguishing skill and hard hits; people tend to be in control of their own gravity

c.       A man’s landing arc is treated like a paper fall, disrupting the arc.

d.      Objects tend to get where they are going whether or not the center of motion and gravity is normally that way

      V.            Competing Hypothesis:

b.      A spinning axe can indeed be caught if the hand is placed toward the center

c.       An arm covered in metal rings would indeed provide a much greater hit and cover of protection when fighting

    VI.            Conclusion:

a.       The film is well-aware of its use of the improbable Asian-action movie genre, and by slightly parodying this genre, creates an incredibly entertaining movie that feels somehow grounded while being completely over the top.

b.      Its use of its physics breaking techniques is generally consistent in a way that it does not bother the viewer, especially set up the way it works in the film.

(I would indeed like help if this outline is not up to snuff!)