Second Term Paper

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Homework #10 Outline of the Second Term Paper

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

 I.          Introduction

A. Law of Inertia

            1. Objects in motion or at rest will stay that way until external forces act upon it and

change its motion or velocity accordingly.

B. 3 Different clips, different mediums, different themes of animation.

1. Nightmare before Christmas

2. Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny

3. Extras from Incredibles

C. Laws are broken purposely in order to advance main themes of the animation.

II.        Body

A. Nightmare before Christmas

1. Scene where Jack is singing, the hill he stands on is curved in a spiral. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouAt_5UO83s)

2. The hill happens to unravel without any explainable forces and recoils upon itself.

3. If the hill were alive, it would explain the movement, however it is never presented to be alive or another character in the animation, therefore is just an object that happens to move without visible outside help.

           B.  Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny – “Piker’s Peak”

1. Yosemite Sam is running down a mountain side with a boulder rolling/skipping down after him. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psfboAl5kLg)

2. Boulder seems to stop abruptly near the edge of the cliff. The loss in energy is too much especially after rolling down a hill.

3. Boulder also seems to “jump” with too much energy from Sam landing at the bottom of the cliff. The reverberation from Sam’s impact does not seem enough to move the boulder that much.

C.  Extras from Incredibles

1. Extra clip to supplement the movie, shows what happened with the baby sitter and jac jac while the Incredibles were out. Jac jac goes through several changes and displays several powers. One power displayed is some sort of phasing where he floats in space while teleporting through portals only accessible to himself. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0VE7gTehAw)

2. While floating through the hallway through his portals it is suggested that gravity does not act upon him. His speed is constant which may support that theory however his constant speed doesn’t seem to have been predetermined correctly.

3. His first phase was after a fall and the speed of the fall was much faster than the speed of his float, therefore he lost energy somewhere in between phasing. If it happens each phase than he should’ve gotten slower each time.

III.       Conclusion

A. Revisit Body A, B, and C.

B. Each animation purposely broke the law of inertia to further advance magical qualities, comedic purposes, as well as otherworldly effects respectively.

Homework#9 Stop-Motion Character Animation

"The Strawberry"

The video quality is a little choppy. Looking back I should've taken more shots for each scene, but by the time I realized this, I had eaten my material.

special thanks to Costco, for selling ugly strawberries in bulk.

Homework #8 Reverse Video Reference of Walking [Incomplete]

Only did clip D at the moment.

Here is a bad rendition of clip B. There was too much space left inbetween the prop and myself, resulting in an awkward posture and additional step.

No attempts yet made for clips A and C.

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

In the world of Eragon, the laws of physics are very similar to ours, with the exception of a few magical elements. The movie is live action with cgi special effects added in to create most of the non-believable and fantasy related components such as Saphira, the dragon. Saphira and her rider Eragon, go through a wild and dangerous journey together in order to meet up with the Varden, a group of freedom fighters, and save their lands from the tyrannical dictatorship of Galbatorix. Along the way they encounter friends, such as Arya and Brom, as well as foes, such as the Raazac and Durza. The bad guys are more noticeably outlandish and fantasy based, which really makes you feel more in tune with the good guys and in comparison makes all the heroics seem even greater. In Eragon, exaggerating the magical feeling in order to play up the heroics is really what all the physics are about.

One of the biggest and most noticeable examples is the arrows that are shot in this world. Arrows shot in this movie always hit their marks when shot at guards or big groups regardless of their affiliation. In conjunction, arrows shot at the main good guys or main bad guys, may or may not land. It seems that if someone is wearing uniformed armor, they were more likely to be hit with an arrow. This really helps set apart the main characters on a different level in comparison to the fillers. In the beginning of the movie, the two guards accompanying Arya are both shot off of their horses requiring only a single shot each. However Arya is not shot by arrows. Around 45 minutes into the movie Eragon shoots an Urgal square in the chest and not only that, he also looses an arrow that wipes out a whole group of them. These two scenes really heighten the strength and difference of Eragon and Arya. After this scene, as Eragon and his companions fly away atop Saphira, many guards shoot arrows at them but none of them hit, separating the masses skills from that of the main characters. In regards to Galbatorix’s army, although they don’t ever seem to hit Eragon, Saphira, Brom or Arya, around 1 hour and 26 minutes in, they loose arrows upon the Varden, all of which seem to hit. This shows how much stronger the army is in comparison to the Varden creating a sense that most of the Varden would be helpless if not for Eragon and Saphira.

Besides showing how great Eragon and Saphira are, the hit or miss of arrows also serves to exaggerate how strong other characters are. Another character, that is an unknown factor, is Murtagh. He seems to be a good guy, but his past would indicate problems. At 1 hour and 4 minutes he shoots an arrow aiming to kill a guard behind Eragon, which it does. At 1 hour and 25 minutes, Murtagh aims again at killing Urgal soldiers that are attacking the Varden. Again he is successful. Murtagh is shown to be a force to be reckoned with within the movie and helps to exemplify how guards are most likely to be shot and killed by an arrow.

Another character that reaps the benefits of the arrows shooting of and by soldiers is Durza. About 1 hour and 4 minutes into the movie, Eragon aims to kill Durza with an arrow to his head in order to save Arya. The movie shows that Durza does indeed get shot in the forehead, and it does indeed serve a purpose. Although the shot was not shown to increase Eragon’s prowess with a bow and arrow, the scene signifies how powerful and dangerous Durza could be, because the arrow to his forehead does not kill him, much less faze him. Later in the movie, around 1 hour and 26 minutes in, many soldiers of the Varden shoot a sea of arrows at Durza and the monstrousity that he rides, however none of the arrows touch him or faze him in any way creating another illusion that Durza is so mighty that he is impenetrable and infallible.

Not only do the arrows intensify the dangerous factor of Durza, the magical qualities that are inherent to their world also increase how much we view of Durza’s potential strength. A huge difference between our world and that of Eragon is that there is the blatant presence of magic. The strongest of characters are able to channel into unseen forces using words or hand gestures in order to manipulate objects, things, or people. It seems too fantastical that energy and forces come from nowhere, however to justify itself as a law in physics it is explained in the movie that the energy to required to perform spells comes from the user’s body. In this way, the use of magic exemplifies whoever has more energy or power. Getting back to Durza, it can be seen how powerful he is with magic because in the beginning of the movie he is able to set a ring of fire to trap Arya without being phased while Eragon loses consciousness when setting just his arrow on fire at 45 minutes in.

The physics of magic in this world allow things to appear, to disappear, to move, to be constructed, to be destroyed, or really just anything for that matter. Around 5 minutes into the movie, Arya teleports an object far way in order to keep it out of Durza’s reach. 52 minutes into the movie, Eragon is able to manipulate a tree into grabbing his enemy and swing him away. 1 hour and 26 minutes into the movie, Durza recites a long phrase in the ancient language in order to tap into very strong magical forces, which he uses to collect large wild fires and compress them into a large billowing pillar of dense smoke. Durza continues shaping and concentrating the smoke until it becomes a huge monstrous dragon-like beast that rabidly roars and writhes. This is also another blatant show of Durza’s potential strength and power and really amplifies Eragon’s achievement when he is finally able to slay Durza.

Just as the other laws that apply to the movie seem to enhance or make up how important and strong a character is, there is another law of physics I have noticed within the movie that I believe is intended to help strengthen the drama and importance of events or actions within scenes. For some select scenes in the movie, time is out of place for actions, especially when it comes to falling. On a whole, the movie seems pretty fast paced with many time skips, but usually scenes are slow. A little before 23 minutes into the movie, Saphira is only but a small hatchling until she takes to the skies and rises above the clouds only to return seconds later as a fully grown dragon. Because Saphira needed to be reinforced with the image of a mighty and fearsome dragon, her growth was sped up to an instant, although this may also be attributed to magic. Around 30 minutes into the movie, Brom and Eragon are riding away from the burning house on horses, it takes just a few seconds for them to ride up a hill but within that time the whole house is burnt and a heavy rain has appeared at the same time. Although unbelievable and very offsetting to have such a noticeable time skip for the other events although they traveled a believable distance within that time on horse, the events were probably sped up to the point where viewing them at that time would provoke the mood that was needed. At 1 hour and 30 minutes into the movie, when Eragon is falling, he seems to be falling a little too fast and I assume that it is to increase the action and suspense of the scene. In many other instances where Eragon falls however, time seems to move slower. At 52 minutes in, both Saphira and Eragon fall almost slow motion as do Brom and a minor bad character a bit after. Saphira and Eragon once again fall slow motion around 1 hour and 30 minutes in after they have made contact with the ground and are bouncing into a settle. About a minute after Eragon once again falls slowly as he lands upon Saphira. Most of these slowly timed falls I assume are to increase anticipation and unnerving drama and so that the audience has more time to process the slight downfalls of the main characters so as not to display them as infallible.

Most of these physics, set into law by the director and creator of this movie are there to greatly enhance the movie’s magical qualities as well as the capabilities of the characters, allowing for more unbelievable yet fascinating events. The dynamics of the arrows in this world help set the important and powerful characters apart from the menial and weak ones, the use of magic helps to compliment images of which characters are more deadly and powerful, while the inconsistent time amplifies the drama and mood within key moments. Although the laws of physics in this world do not adhere to our own, they mostly help enhance the magical elements as well as the characters and story and help to draw the audience into its world.

Homework #7 Outline of the First Term Paper

I.          Introduction

A. Introduce “Eragon”

B. Live action with SFX

C. Takes place in a different world, land of Alagaesia.

II.         Body

A. Arrows shot in this movie always hit their marks when shot at guards or big groups.

1. Many guards get struck down instantly by arrows.

2. Big groups that shoot at smaller parties don’t always hit, however, smaller parties shooting at larger groups tend to hit more.

3. Arrows shot at non-guard or non-uniformed person may or may not hit.

           B.  Magic exists, in the form of channeling unseen forces using words or hand gestures.

1. Durza appears to cause physical pain to Arya by just making threatening gestures with his fist.

2. Shouting words in the “ancient language” can make inanimate things move.

3. Shouting words in the “ancient language” can make things appear or disappear.

C.  Time works differently in Alagaesia.

1. There are many noticeable time skips in the movie itself, but within a scene time seems to skip as well.

2. Sometimes, falling motions will not have the right timing.

III.       Conclusion

A. Revisit Body A, B, and C.

B. These differences really set apart this world and ours.

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

For my animation,  didn't really have any idea as to what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to use a circular object and contemplated using magnets but I didn't have a steady camera or tripod. I decided to use the animation lab we had available in the art building and used the flipbook program that was already installed in the computers. From there I just used an empty tape holder to create the initial fall. I used tape to mark out a "floor" and made a light pencil line to make sure that my object was falling straight. After that I was going through the frames to adjust timing. While I was doing that I started getting an idea for more and simply marked out areas outside of the cameras view and kind of "winged it" from there.