One of a bike, One Po from the 3D Animation lab in the art building and one of myself.
Green/Magenta glasses
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Scientific Fact or Cinematic Fiction-2nd Term Paper
Cory Fuller
Art/Physics 123
Prof. Garcia
November 17, 2010
The Law of Gravity
As Addressed in Hook, Coraline, and Toy Story 3
When an audience watches a film, they will sometimes notice that the characters do amazing things, such as lift extremely heavy objects over their head, fly through the air or twist and change shape. If they are smart the audience will realize that these feats are not capable of real human beings existing in today’s world. It is not that filmmakers are completely oblivious to the way that physics work in life; physics are altered in films either to contribute to the story or to add entertainment value. By taking a look at just one law of physics (in this case the law of gravity) and observing how it is changed within three different films, one will be able to see how film makers altered this law to add entertainment and progress the story. By understanding how this law has been altered, audience will then be able to see how the law of gravity would work in the real world.
Although the scenes being analyzed are very different, they still deal with the elements of gravity. The first scene is from the live action film Hook, and deals with human flight. The second scene is from the stop motion animated feature, Coraline, and deals with how gravity affects balance. The last scene is from the 3D animated feature Toy Story 3, and it deals with gravity’s effect on arches.
Renowned physicist, Sir Isaac Newton was the first to develop the three basic laws of physics that describe how forces in nature act on objects. Gravity is a force that is always affecting objects in the real world; therefore Newton’s laws are important in determining what is accurate physics and what has been altered for entertainment purposes. According to Newton, an object that is moving will continue to follow the same path of action at a constant, uniform speed until it acted upon by a force. In most cases the force that acts upon objects is gravity. The dictionary definition of gravity is: the force of attraction by which terrestrial bodies tend to fall toward the center of the earth. In other words gravity is what cause objects to fall. If one were to take a look at the flight scene in Hook, it would be obvious that the law of gravity has been ignored to entertain the audience.
The film Hook tells the story of a grown up Peter Pan who forgets all about his boyhood adventures in Neverland and grows up to be a mean-tempered, work-a-holic. When Captain Hook returns to London and kidnaps Peter Pan’s two children, Maggie and Jack, Peter Pan must return to Neverland. There he is forced to regain all the memories he lost in order to rescue his children. The scene that will be analyzed from this film is when Peter Pan has finished with his training and all that he has left to do is remember how to fly. In order for Peter to fly he has to think of a happy thought. In the film Peter’s happy thought is the day his son was born. When he realizes this, Peter is able to soar hundreds of feet into the air, and move through the sky as a swimmer would move through water. The first thing that jumps out about this scene is that the force of gravity isn’t affecting Peter. In reality if a person were to travel that high into the air gravity would pull them back toward the center of the earth. Also Peter would not be able to run and swim and flip in mid air because the forces would not be balanced. In life it is very rare that no forces would be acting upon an object, such as the case with the flight scene in Hook. What allows for an object to stop falling, is when the forces are balanced. For example what allows animals to walk upright, instead of being pulled flat against the ground by gravity, is that the ground is pushing back against gravity with equal force. This causes the forces to be balanced so animals and mobile things are able to move in a constant, uniform path. The reason that Peter would be unable to do tricks in the air in real life is because up in the sky there is no second force to balance out gravity, so uniform motion would be impossible.
The second scene to be analyzed is from the stop motion, animated film Coraline. Coraline tells the tale about a young girl who feels under appreciated by her parents so she travels to a magical world where everything is centered on her. In one particular scene Coraline goes to see a trapeze performance by two of her neighbors. Because this is an animated film the proportions of the characters are ones that could not be found in real life. Both sisters are ridiculously top heavy, however they are able to move just as they would if their proportions were normal. In life every object has a center of gravity. The center of gravity is the overall position of the weight distribution of an object. For simpler objects the center of gravity is usually located in the center of that object, however for more complex objects the center of gravity may be located outside of that object. For humans the center of gravity is located in the middle of the body. When a person lifts their arms or bends over, their center of gravity will adjust position to accommodate for the weight change. The position of an objects center of gravity depends on that objects weight distribution. The center of gravity is located on an object so that there is equal weight on both sides. So if an object is heavier on one side, then the center of gravity will be closer to that side to make up for the extra weight. This applies to the scene in Coraline because in order for a human to balance upright, their center of gravity must be over their base of support (the area that makes contact with the ground or supporting surface.) The two sisters in Coraline are designed to be so top heavy they would not be able to stand upright because their center of gravity would be located up in their chests and not centered over the base of support.
Another problem that occurs in this scene is that when the two sisters are falling as part of their act they don’t accelerate properly, instead they appear to be floating toward the ground. The problem that occurs in this scene is that air resistance acts too heavily on the characters that are falling. Air resistance is the force created when an object is falling and gravity is forcing it downward but the air is forcing it back up. The level of air resistance depends on the size and weight of an object, and the speed at which it is falling. For example a piece of paper is going to have more air resistance than a bowling ball because the paper is flat and light, so it is easier for the air to force it back up. Whereas the bowling ball is round so the air will just go around it and it will reach the ground before the paper does. The greatest affect that air resistance has on an object is the creation of its terminal speed. Terminal speed is what happens when air resistance and gravity finally balance out on a falling object and cause it to fall at a uniform rate. When an object is heavier it takes longer for terminal speed to take affect. Therefore when the sisters begin to float down to the ground they are not following the laws of gravity. Although there is some air resistance in humans they are not light enough to float down to the ground, they would experience some acceleration before reaching terminal velocity. The two sisters move through the air at a speed more similar to a beach ball than to a human being.
The last scene to be analyzed is from Pixar Studio’s lasted 3D animated film, Toy Story
3, and it deals with the arcs of motion that an object takes when falling. In the opening scene of Toy Story 3, the characters are engaged in an epic train heist where the “good” toys are trying to stop the “bad toys from sending the train over the side of a cliff. This scene displays inappropriate physics when the train goes over the cliff. When objects fall in life they travel in an arc pattern, the train in Toy Story 3, falls in a straight line rather than that of an arch. When the only force that has an effect on an object is gravity then that object will fall in a parabolic arc. If an object traveling and then falls, the parabolic arc will be wider because of the law of inertia. This laws state that an object in motion will remain in motion until acted upon by a force the object doesn’t change all at once, it will have some resistance from its previous direction. This inertia is what causes an object to fall in a parabolic arc. Gravity is acting as a force, however, the inertia from the objects previous motion is still in affect, so the object will fall towards the ground but it will still be traveling forward, thus causing an arc. In the opening scene in Toy Story 3, when the train runs off the cliff, it doesn’t fall in an arch big enough for the speed at which it was traveling previously.
In Conclusion, although it is fun to go to the movies and watch characters in films do fantastic things that could not be accomplished in real life, it is important to be able to distinguish what laws of physics can occur in reality and what laws of physics have been altered for the sake of entertainment.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Outline of Second Term Paper
Outline-Scientific Fact or Cinematic Fiction?
1. Introduction
a. In films the laws of physics are often broken for entertainment value.
. There is a distinct difference between the way physics work in life and the way they work in the movies.
c. This can be demonstrated by taking a look at the law of gravity in specific scenes in three different films
d. Hook (live action) Coraline (stop motion) and Toy story 3 (3D)
2. The law of gravity affects the way that all objects move. In specific scenes in these three films the laws of gravity are broken for the sake of entertainment.
a. In hook there is a scene where the main character, peter pan, gains the ability to fly
b. In Coraline we see the law of gravity gets broken, when certain characters are proportioned so that their center of gravity would not be over their base of support
c. In the opening sequence of toy story 3 there is an instance where an object falls, but doesn’t follow a parabolic arc.
3. Hook
a. The laws of gravity are broken in this film because the world it takes place in a fantastical one.
b. How the law of gravity works in the flight scene in hook
c. How gravity would work in real life.
4. Coraline
a. In a scene in Coraline where two characters are giving a tight rope performance, their body proportions would not allow them to move the way they do, also they do not fall realistically.
b. How the law of gravity is used in this scene
c. How the law of gravity would work in reality
5. Toy Story 3
a. In the opening sequence many laws of gravity are broken to entertain the audience, for example, Buzz Lightyear is able to lift a train over his head and fly around with it.
b. How physics is changed to add entertainment
c. How physics would actually apply to a similar scene in real life.
6. Conclusion
a. In conclusion although the laws of physics are often broken in film to add to the entertainment value, it is important to remember that what is happening n the movies cannot always happen in real life.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Character Animation
I created this animation with the SAM ANIMATION program. I used a bendable plastic toy and some sculpting clay for the characters. In the animation the little toy walks up to the clay ball, touches it and transforms it into a puppy.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
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