My first two term paper scores were 95 and 80; I will not be writing a third term paper

Outline for the Third Term Paper

I.Intro
-I will explore the use of human made substitutions for animals and characters, such as with animatronics and CGI.
-the two films i will explore for this are Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Jurassic Park 3
-I will focus on the AT-AT and the Spinosaurus

II. Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
-Uses stop motion, when they originally planned robotics
-Uses a multitude of different sized models for different shots
   -large 50 centimeter walkers for closeups down to simple cut outs for back ground walkers in the distance
-Matte paintings where used for backgrounds along with baking soda snow
-They wanted to produce a "staccato" like feel, to fit the mechanical nature of the war machine
-They succeeded, to an extent, in making the scenes believable, especially since they regularly mixed these scenes with models with those of life sized sets featuring different parts of the AT-ATs body.

III. Jurassic Park 3
-Uses animatronics to make its creatures move.
-Uses Hydraulics and a steel track for movement
-Completely remote controlled
-The machine, moldings, maquettes and all where life sized
-To this day i believe that Jurassic Park has successful mastered the art of creating realistic creatures in film, surpassing CGI and stop motion models.

IV. Conclusion
-These two films went two different routes when creating large beasts for their films, animatronics and stop motion with models.
-Stop motion allowed fro work to begin as soon as they received the models, but the animation was slow and tedious, producing 5 seconds a day.
-Animatronics produce a mechanical actor to perform, but takes an entire year to produce the working machine.
-Both also have completely different budgets, stop motion being relatively cheap, and animatronics being incredibly expensive.

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/animatronic1.htm
http://mentalfloss.com/article/54235/animating-walkers-star-wars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_(Star_Wars)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIlYk7KQe-s

Stop-Motion Character Animation

Creating this animation took more thought than actual shooting and re-shooting, mostly because I had no idea how to even begin the project. First of all, I wanted to do something different than to what I have done, since i feel that trying out new forms of stop motion would be more beneficial then doing what I know. Secondly, I have NO idea how to do stop motion properly, from shooting things in mid air, to having things in an exact position that i would want, I dont understand the process so to speak. Ultimately, i decided to start small, by using a simple shape, that shape being a lemon, and seeing if i can control its position and movement. It was simple enough, except that i realized I had more establishing shots than I did animation, and it turned out to be more of a story board and camera test than a stop motion one. As for the animation itself, I used a camera on a tripod (which I had just recently acquired for this assignment) a lemon with kneaded eraser to stick it in place, a plate, utensils, and a small but reflective knife. Everything was shot in a straightforward manner, Sometimes requiring a re-shoot if something seemed out of place or if I didn't like how the segment looked. I prefer re-shooting an entire section rather than simply trying to replicate the frames that I saw where inadequate. An instance being when the lemon rolls away, it didnt seem like it was following a bath properly, and it seemed to wobble to irradicaly rather than moving on a smooth path. I had also music in the concept, but due to recent assignments in Ani114, where music was forbidden and action/framing was emphasized for emotion or mood, I decided to see if I can make those work for me.

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

We all understand physics, and whether or not we understand the mathematics and science behind it all, we all have a natural knowledge of how things behave in the world we observe. Entertainment media, such as films and television shows, are known for pushing what is physical possible to create fantastical scenes and situations, and while these things are naturally jarring to us as humans with an understanding of physics, our lack of understanding behind the actual laws allows us to have some suspension of disbelief. One of these laws that is often broken is Newton Third Law, which dictates that every action has a reaction, that is of equal magnitude as the action itself but in the opposite direction. I have found three shows and movies that have been guilty of disobeying Newtons third law, defying the concept of action with reaction, in some way or another.

Dragon Ball Z

One television show in particular that is violating this principle of physics is the japanese animated cartoon “Dragon Ball Z”. In this show, the heroes are a group of saiyans, aliens with incredible super powers, and their ridiculous powers are tested by the constant arrival of super villains who are more or equally powerful. In this show, the average character weighs below 200lbs, has the physical strength to move mountains, but when one character is considered stronger than the other, the other character can not move him or hit hard enough to provoke a reaction.

In one episode, Goku is fighting the antagonist Freeza, a powerful and evil alien intent on enslaving the universe. During their fight, Freeza, while floating in the air, grabs Goku by the neck with his own tail, and manages to push him to the ground with his tail while remaining in place in mid air. It is important to note that Freeza has no wings or physical means to maintain flight outside of “hes so powerful, he just can”.

In another fight, Vageta, the other protagonist, blasts his opponent with a powerful beam that destroys the land, including an entire mountain that was nearby. Not only does this blast not push vageta back, the blast also fails to push his opponent or even harm him.

Hancock

In the superhero film “Hancock”, Will Smith, the superhero and protagonist, calmly goes out of his way to rescue a man in his vehicle who is stuck on the train tracks just as a train is headed his way. After Hancock/Will moves the vehicle our of the tracks, he realizes that he is seconds from being hit by the speeding Train head on, and instead of moving out of the way Will Smith braces himself to receive the impact. He remains unmoved by the incoming force and is also unscathed, as if he himself weighed more than the locomotive and emitted just as much force back at the train without actually physically pushing.

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

In the climax of this film, Aragorn, the king of Gondor, leads the remains of his army to draw out the armies of Mordor, an evil kingdom of beasts and demons. He does this to distract the forces and the eyes of the dark lord of Mordor, Sauron, so that his companions Frodo and Sam can traverse the dark lands to destroy the one ring in the fires of Mt. Doom. It is a hopeless fight, and while his army is engulfed by the ocean of orcs sent against them, a single, armoured, and gigantic Troll seeks out Aragorn to destroy him. The troll swings down on Aragon with a giant machete, and Aragon blocks it instantly, as if, for a split second, he had the strength and mass of a troll.

Conclusion

Newtons third law is a part of physics that all things must obey, but in entertainment, exaggerations are often taken, breaking the very laws of physics, to make some point. During the dragon ball scenes, where people are shown to resist reactionary force, we are made to feel that these characters have obtained a sort of unnatural power that has helped them transcend our own powers and understanding. Vageta is shown valiantly shooting his beam standing perfectly still against the reactionary force adding to his epicness, and in the opposite end we see his enemy, a seemingly simply enemy who in his absolute resistance to the incoming force paints him as some kind of “out of this world” power, capable of defying the power of our protagonist and not submitting to our understanding of physics.

In Hancock we see a hero, Will Smith, refuse to move out of the path of an incoming Train, and choosing to simply take the hit out of laziness to exert excessive force in jumping or running away. He could have been shown being launched far away, as he should have been, but the depiction of him absorbing that immense amount of force and the fact that he chose it as an easier thing to endure than moving a few steps away shows us that he is a truly amazing powerhouse that has not even tapped into his full potential for what ever reason he has to not care for it.

Aragorn, a king of men, has been fighting with the strength of an average man but with superior fighting technique, allowing him to contend with any enemy that opposes him. It is with the arrival of the large troll in the climax that shows us that he is truly in peril, because he couldn’t possibly have the power to compete, and showing him parrying a direct blow from the giant troll without showing any force exerted on him tells us that he has gained some kind of new strength now in the end of all things, where he could very well die.

These erroneous depictions of physics are done with intention, with the purpose of accentuating the heroism or the raw power that these characters have achieved, increasing our interest and excitement in the scenes. Lesson to take from this: laws are meant to be followed, unless you have good reason not to, dont break them because you are careless, but because you are taking care in the story telling.

Outline for the Second Term Paper

I. Intro
a. Action and Reaction: Newtons Third Law
b. All forces occur in pairs, where a force is applied a force applies back.

II.
a. Dragon Ball Z (cartoon)
b. Characters all weigh below 200lbs, have the strength to move mountains, but when one character is considered stronger than the other, the other character can not move him or hit hard enough to provoke a reaction.

III.
a. Hancock (film)
b. Will Smith, a superhero, is hit by a large speeding vehicle and remains unmoved and unscathed, as if he himself weighed more than the vehicles and his feet on the ground pushed him in place as hard.

IV.
a. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
b. Troll swings down on Aragon with a giant machete, and Aragon blocks it instantly, as if, for a split second, he had the strength and mass of a troll.

V. Conclusion

*Question to Garcia: Since two of these are superhero films, do we have to remain in the mindset that, as superheroes, they SHOULD be able to compensate with strength? I am confused on that one video concerning the soccer mom movie you showed us, and whether or not the characters lack of reaction are allowable through suspension of disbelief.

Reverse Video Reference

Clip A:

Clip B:

Clip C:

Clip D:

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

A little robot happy at his own accomplishments. History behind the story/design goes back to an Ani class with Annabel concerning stop motion and simple shapes.