Creating a Scene in Maya

Since Raquel pointed me out in the audience for creating water effects in Maya, I felt compelled to use it in my initial making. I'm not sure if I want to keep everything in the scene as it is, or if I'm even allowed to change it, but at least the water looks cool.

Term Paper 2

Gravity of Physics vs. Gravity of Emotion

            A roadrunner is speeding towards a cliff, disguised as solid land by the coyote trying to catch him, yet he glides over the massive ravine as if land really existed in that space; the fact that the law of gravity is broken is what makes this scene so entertaining. Such was an example of a classic Chuck Jones cartoon. Hand drawn animations are harder to come by these days, yet breaking the law of gravity is not. So long as there is a story to be told, there will be some rules of physics broken, even if unintentionally. I will be giving some examples of animated scenes breaking the laws of gravity on purpose and on accident from three very different styles of story telling. The hand drawn animation High Diving Hare, by Chuck Jones starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam, the computer animated movie How to Train Your Dragon, by DreamWorks Animation Studios, and the live action film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, directed by Ang Lee all, in their own way, break or ignore the law of gravity. There will be a URL link to each of these scenes at the end of every explanation for the reader to reflect upon.

            Cartoons love to play with physics; it is very entertaining to watch characters defy the laws and do extraordinary things. A famous Disney animator Art Babbitt, the creator of Goofy, said “Animation follows the laws of physics—unless it is funnier otherwise.” Chuck Jones was notorious for this in his highly loved characters from Loony Toons. In his animations, Bugs Bunny can outrun a baseball flying over 60mph to be both the pitcher and the catcher in a baseball game, Daffy Duck can survive several gunshots to the head, and Roadrunner can run through solid objects that Wile E. Coyote cannot. The gimmick most commonly used, however, is the manipulation of gravity. In the short High Diving Hare, Yosemite Sam wants to see someone jump from a high dive into a small bucket of water, and Bugs Bunny becomes his unwilling candidate. True to his reputation, Bugs Bunny tricks Sam time and time again to take the dive instead. During each of his falls, Yosemite Sam manages to break the law of gravity. One scene stands above the rest, illustrated in the following images.

             After being fooled yet again Sam falls of the plank and plummets to the ground. As with all of his other falling scenes, he has no falling arc—he simply clears the edge of the plank—hovers for a moment as he realizes his mistake, and then shoots downward with no slowing out. What sets this scene apart is that Yosemite then comes back up to even height with Bugs and floats mid-air long enough to tell Bugs “I hate you,” before dropping once more. We as the audience know there isn’t a trampoline down there, and even if there was we neither hear the sound of him jumping off of it nor would he have jumped back up so high, because when he returns to the scene he actually comes a little higher than he started. This manipulation of gravity was completely intended because it gets a laugh out of the audience; it is mean to entertain. It’s funny to watch Yosemite suffer the fall so many times and still come back for more.

 High Diving Hare

            We will now move on to a scene that is less obviously breaking the rule, and was probably done on accident. In the movie How to Train Your Dragon, a young Viking named Hiccup forms an unusual friendship with a dragon, forbidden because the entire village is bent on killing dragons who in turn steal their supplies. Hiccup starts off like the rest of his clan and in an effort to prove himself manages to shoot down a dragon known as a Night Fury. He later realizes that this dragon—now named Toothless—cannot fly because of a damaged tail wing. Being the inventor that he is, Hiccup creates a mechanism that when controlled by himself will allow Toothless to fly again. On their maiden flight together, Hiccup loses his hold on Toothless and they both start hurtling towards the ground. It is in this scene that the law of gravity is broken, and it is not immediately noticeable. Disguised by the pretense of wind resistance being the cause, the scene is filled with so much action and drama that the view is not likely to pay attention to any mistakes. Only perhaps on the fourth or fifth viewing can this really be spotted. Take a look at the images provided below, and pay careful attention to the positions of Toothless and Hiccup.

            The law of gravity states that two objects falling at the same time, regardless of weight, will fall at the same rate. Take a look at where Hiccup starts falling in respect to Toothless; they are maybe a foot or two apart. In the second image, perhaps due to perspective, they are now much further apart than before. If there is indeed wind resistance involved in the fall, how is it then that hiccup is able to catch up with Toothless? Being much lighter than Toothless in mass, Hiccup should not have been able to catch up. Going further he even manages to pass Toothless and end up lower down. The two characters are constantly shifting back and fourth in their falling positions, and though it breaks the rule of gravity, it serves to create a very dramatic scene. The two look very wind-whipped as the fall to give the feeling of air resistance, which helps to disguise the bending of gravity. As it would be counter productive to kill off our main characters before the climax, they level out again so Hiccup can re-attach himself to the saddle and save the day by trusting his instincts and maneuvering through difficult terrain, serving to strengthen the bond between the two further. 

How To Train Your Dragon- Test Flight 

           

            My last example scene that breaks the law of gravity is perhaps the most glaring yet. Chuck Jones did it as a joke, and DreamWorks did it for drama, but in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, whether or not to break this law seems to go back and fourth. The movie is filled with everything you would expect from a Kung Fu film, from jumping on roof tops to epic sword fights. A young girl who is being forced into an arranged marriage decides to strike out on her own, and starts her quest by stealing a famous sword called the Green Destiny. Her theft does not go completely as planned however, when a guard hears a noise and checks on the room she is in. A hunt ensues, with several grounds guards searching for her until another female martial artist finds her on the rooftop, and thus an even greater chase begins.

            Right away the viewer will notice something wrong. The rising and falling action feels less like jumping and more like floating, as they seem to glide effortlessly across the roof tops. There are even moments when they neither rise nor fall, but glide level across an open area in between roof tops. The older martial artist- the thief’s pursuer—is pumping her arms like a windmill which belays the idea of gliding, and in no other parts of the scene do you see her doing this. It’s almost as if it takes her more effort to run than it does to fly, which is perhaps why they do it so often. A point worthy of note is that only the masters of the martial arts are capable of this flying or gliding; normal people are not able to imitate this action. Whey they get tired of running across the rooftops they head for the ground and use a series of martial techniques against one another, trying to best each other. Notice that now true gravity is being taken into affect, and the most they can raise of the ground is a few feet. For being so light and nimble on the rooftops, it is strange that suddenly the rules of gravity apply as they struggle to push the other away. Climbing along the walls creates a similar suspending of disbelieve as the rooftop-running. Their feet barely touch the wall, and moving alongside it is as easy as swimming to the surface of a pool. The idea that martial artists can do miraculous things that non-masters cannot is a very strong idea where this movie was portrayed, so gravity is ignored on the pretense that these martial artists are just that good. 

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 

            Whether it be to make a comical, dramatic, or impressive scene, the law of gravity if often ignored in the process of film making. Though films of more recent days are making an effort to more accurately portray accurate physics, the most important aspect of film making is getting an emotional response from the audience. Without the emotional context there is no reason for the viewer to keep watching. Good physics doesn’t always mean good show; sometimes it is necessary to bend or break the rules in order to generate a response from the audience. Making scenes that pull the viewer in emotionally is to make scenes that survive the test of time. In the end, it’s more about the gravity of emotion than the gravity of physics.

Sources: All videos are clips found on YouTube

            All pictures are screenshots taken from these YouTube videos.

            I do not own any rights to any of these films. The content is borrowed or referenced for academic purposes only.

Term Paper 2- Outline

I. Introduction

A. Laws of gravity are often ignored to make a scene seem more comical, more dramatic, or more impressive.

B. I will demonstrate this with three scenes from various sources.

1. Cartoon- Loony Toons

2. 3D Animation- How to Train Your Dragon

3. Live Action- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

II. Body

A. Loony Toons- High Diving Hare

1. Yosemite Sam tries to get Bugs Bunny to jump off a high dive and into a pool of water.

2. After being tricked once again of falling off the bridge himself, he actually comes back up to level height with Bugs (note there is no trampoline below), to tell Bugs “I hate you,” and then drops once again.

B. How to Train Your Dragon- Flight Scene

1. At one point in their maiden flight together Hiccup looses his hold on Toothless and they start falling towards the rocks.

2. These two constantly change position in the air back and fourth before leveling out again together. They began to fall from the same height, so they should have been traveling at the same rate downwards.

3. Air resistance in this case should not have been enough to warp this law of gravity to that degree. Gravity was manipulated to make the fall more dramatic and threatening.

C. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

1. Typical of a fight scene in Kung Fu movies the martial artists are able to do impressive things.

2. Gravity is manipulated almost too obviously. When martial artists jump in the air they glide as if they are weightless, almost as if they can choose when they are affected by gravity.

3. Jumping off of roof tops and off of walls one after the other, they glide along as much as they please, until it’s time for them to take a serious hit and suddenly hitting the ground hurts a lot.

III. Conclusion

A. Restate Thesis.

B. All types of media manipulate gravity to their advantage, whether it is a hand drawn, a computer animated, or a live action environment. The important thing to the director is manipulating the emotions of the audience.

Note to Self: Try to bring some pictures into the paper this time.

Stop-Motion Character Animation

I realized as I was putting the movie together that it was a bit overambitious, and the types of models I was working with couldn't move all that smoothly, nor did I have invisible string to make them have more rising/falling action on their turns, but I charged ahead in hopes that at least pieces of the film would come out okay. Because the models are stiff I tried a Toy Story approach in animating them; they're toy figurines in a person's room going about their own schedule. I suppose I got so wrapped up in wanting to do this story that I sort of got in over my head. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Story is basically a peaceful setting of pokemon enjoying their daily lives, until a trainer comes around trying to catch one of them. All of the pokemon figures flee, up until one of them can't keep up with the crowd and the trainer gains on them. One of the faster pokemon returns and sacrifices itself to save the other, and as the trainer leaves with his prize, the free pokemon look at each other in worry, wondering at the fate of their friend....

Don't Get Caught