Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

Lighting a Scene in Maya

One-point lighting

Two-point lighting

Three-point lighting

Building a Scene in Maya

"AM"

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

Films have, since their inception, been designed to take their audience to different cultures, unusual lands, and other worlds. A film must keep their believability, even when it is trying to distort the audience’s understanding of the physical universe. That is why as an audience member, one must be able to distinguish between fact and fiction in films. To create these other worlds, many films will choose to ignore the various physical laws. Occasionally, a film misuses or misunderstands a physical law. But more often or not, this ignoring of the physical laws is done in order to be able to create fantasy, humor, action, and new worlds. Ignoring these laws can be effective in science fiction and fantasy films, as well as, within real world films. One law that is often bent or ignored in films is the law of gravity. The law of gravity states that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force directed along the line of centers for the two objects that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the separation between the two objects. In layman’s terms: any two objects in the universe exert gravitational attraction to each other. Three films that intentionally ignore or change the law of gravity are “Shaolin Soccer”, “The Castle of Cagliostro”, and “The Matrix”.

“Shaolin Soccer” is a live-action martial arts comedy directed by Stephen Chow that takes place in modern Hong Kong. In the film, the main character wants everyone to learn martial arts. He believes knowing martial arts will improve everyone’s daily life. After realizing his natural talent in soccer, he contacts his five brothers. He decides that he can preach the word of martial arts by demonstrating its use in professional soccer. He convinces his brothers to join his team and use their own various kinds of martial arts skills while they play soccer. All of the brothers have their own specific supernatural talents in martial arts, and each of the techniques defying the physical laws. The scene that demonstrates the ignoring of the law of gravity is when the six brothers are playing their first soccer game. The rival team is playing dirty and tries to defeat the brothers by attacking them with tools. The brothers are losing. Suddenly, the brothers are able to tap into a Zen-like state and re-realize their martial arts talents. They all begin to attack the soccer ball with different techniques. One technique in particular, briefly ignores the law of gravity. The character Light Weight, the obese brother, begins running to intercept the soccer ball. The ball is flying straight into the air. As Light Weight runs forward, he begins to fly off of the ground. With each step he rises higher into the air, until he comes in contact with the soccer ball, about one hundred feet up. He, then, performs a flip in the air, and kicks the ball back to the ground. This completely defies the law of gravity. No one, regardless of their size would be able to propel him or herself one hundred feet into the air by running. Even if there were a lot of momentum propelling the person forward, they would be unable to jump that high into the air. It’s unlikely that the soccer ball could even get kicked up that high. But it is definitely impossible for a person to rise that high unless the law of gravity is temporarily ignored. Gravity would keep Light Weight from jumping up more than a couple feet. He also would be unable to run forward and up like he is running up invisible stairs. Both Light Weight and the soccer ball would be pulled downward, and neither would ever be able to reach such extreme heights with running or a hard kick. The filmmakers decided to ignore the law of gravity, to make the scene more comical and to show that the characters’ martial arts had a supernatural quality to them.

“The Castle of Cagliostro” is a Miyazaki animated adventure/heist film. It takes place in a castle in modern Europe. The main character, Lupin the III, is attempting to uncover a counterfeiting ring. He also tries to win the heart of a kidnapped girl. Although the film is animated, it takes place in the real world. It follows all the laws of physics. And could just as easily be a live-action film as an animated one. That is until one particular scene where the laws of gravity are briefly ignored. The character, Lupin the III is climbing on the castle’s roof. The kidnapped girl is being hidden away in a tall and inaccessible tower. After fighting against gravity to climb to the top of the roof, Lupin sits down and takes out a small rocket with a rope attached. He intends to shoot the rocket over to the inaccessible tower and then swing across. He ends up dropping the rocket. It slides down the roof and Lupin chases after it. As gravity pulls him down, he begins to run. When he reaches the edge, because he has built up so much momentum, he jumps. He ends up jumping high into the air and landing a hundred or so feet away on the tip of another tower. Immediately, he jumps again and lands, once again, a few hundred feet away on the side of the inaccessible tower. As soon as he makes contact with this tower, he begins to be dragged down by gravity. The moment where the law of gravity is ignored is brief. It only occurs in the two long jumps. But both jumps are impossible. While Lupin gained some momentum running down the roof, he would not have gained enough to jump that high or that far. He would have been pulled down by gravity. In the film, however, the gravitational pull is lessened and he is able to almost float to the two other towers. The film purposely ignored the law of gravity in order for the main character to reach his destination in a comical and unusual way.

“The Matrix” is a post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by the Wachowski Brothers. The main characters live inside a computer-generated world that looks very much like the real world of the twentieth century. Not until the main character, Neo, encounters the character Morpheus, does the film show change to a gritty dark lonely world. Neo is told he is “The One” who will eventually defeat the Matrix. To do this, he must train within the Matrix and literally bend the physical laws to his will. On scene in particular demonstrates the film’s ignoring of the law of gravity. In this scene, Neo is fighting against an agent. Throughout the whole fight, the laws of physics are ignored. After awhile, Neo falls onto the subway tracks. The agent clings to Neo’s back. Neo suddenly jumps straight into the air, like a frog, and smashes the agent in the ceiling hard enough to crack the concrete. Then he lands gently in a crouched position. And right before the train comes, Neo back flips about twenty feet into the air and back onto the subway platform. Even if Neo capable of jumping up with another man, of similar weight to his own, on his back, he would be unable to jump up to the ceiling. He also would not be able to jump up with enough force to cause the agent to smash the ceiling. And after the jump, if Neo were able to generate the force of that jump, he would not be able to land gently. He would be pulled down by gravity. He also would be unable to jump up and back into the flip. It is certainly possible for someone to jump and do a back flip. However, gravity would not allow them to jump so high. The film chooses to ignore the laws of gravity, because the universe of the Matrix is supposed to be fabricated. Neo knows this he is able to bend and break the law physical laws and uses that knowledge to his advantage. “The Matrix” is unusual, compared to the previously discussed films, because the characters are fully aware that they are ignoring the law of gravity. They are doing it on purpose.

All three movies, at some point ignore the law of gravity. Even the most realistic of films will occasionally ignore a physical law in order to heighten a scene or enhance a character. And each of the three films ignored the law of gravity in a different way and with a different purpose. “Shaolin Soccer” ignored the law of gravity to make the martial arts techniques unique and supernatural. “The Castle of Cagliostro” ignored the law in order to create a humorous and surprising way for the character to access a difficult location. And “The Matrix” ignored the law in order to give its characters power in their fabricated world. It is important for viewers to understand the difference between fact and fiction. Once one understands that, they can appreciate the reasons behind the changes or intentional ignoring of the physical laws within films.

Outline for the Second Term Paper

Intro:
· The importance of distinguishing fact and fiction in a movie
· Why movies often choose to ignore various physical laws
· The Law of Gravity
· Thesis

Shaolin Soccer:
· Brief description of movie: live-action, modern real world, soccer movie
· Description of the scene: running off the ground, into the air
· Why the rule was ignored

The Castle of Cagliostro:
· Brief description of movie: animated, modern real world, adventure/thief movie
· Description of the scene: jumping across rooftops
· Why the rule was ignored

Matrix:
· Brief description of movie: live-action, post-apocalyptic/CPU world, sci-fi movie
· Description of the scene: jumping off a skyscraper
· Why the rule was ignored

Conclusion:
· Summary of previous material
· Analysis of the movies’ choices
· Restate Thesis

Stop-Motion Character Animation

I recommend clicking the video to view it on the YouTube site, otherwise the right side is cut off.



I started the project by trying to find two figures that had a lot of articulation. I ended up choosing a Godzilla and Captain Kirk figurine. The figurines were both about the same size, so I decided to have them have a battle. Godzilla and Kirk both move like they're stop motion anyway, so I figured I could make the movements look pretty natural. I storyboarded out the whole battle first, then I started photographing them. I knew there would be a lot of frames for the fight and that it would take awhile, but I really underestimated the amount of time the whole thing would actually take. Kirk fell down a lot and I had to use a ton of tape. For the end, I couldn't decide who should win, so I tried to figure out a movie both Godzilla and Kirk could agree on. I figured "King Kong" has a big monster that Godzilla would like and it also had a pretty girl Kirk would like. It also has some beautiful stop motion. After I finished taking all the pictures, I edited it together and added sound.

Mid-semester Survey

"This is to certify that I completed the anonymous mid-semester survey for Art/Physics 123 and am requesting the five points of extra credit.

As a student at San Jose State, I understand the university's Academic Integrity Policy (http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/catalog/rec-2083.html)."

Reverse Video Reference of Walking

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

"Kung Fu Panda"

“Kung Fu Panda” is a computer-generated feature film by DreamWorks. It follows the character Po, a large panda, as he tries to learn Kung Fu. After being declared the heir to the Dragon Scroll, he has to study martial arts to become the Dragon Warrior. Po endures many vigorous training sessions. Finally, Po has to face off against the Kung Fu master, the snow leopard Tai Lung to defend the Valley of Peace. “Kung Fu Panda” follows the various laws of physics perfectly, except when a character is performing or training for martial arts. The most noticeable differences between the following of physical laws and the purposeful ignoring of said laws, can be observed in scenes that feature the law of gravity, exaggeration of forces, and the rate of acceleration and mass.

The law of gravity states that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force directed along the line of centers for the two objects that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the separation between the two objects. In layman’s terms: any two objects in the universe exert gravitational attraction to each other. In “Kung Fu Panda”, the law of gravity is most evident in the characters’ daily activities and especially with the character Po. For example, when Po tried to watch the Furious Five’s performance through a small window. Because Po is so heavy, it takes him extra effort to pull himself high enough to see through the window. When the window suddenly closes, Po tumbles to the ground and lands hard. Another example is when the red panda, Shifu, is training Po. Unable to train Po with traditional martial arts methods, he decides to use food as an incentive. In this scene, the camera focuses on the drop of a single dumpling. The dumpling falls naturally. Even though, the scene becomes a bit hectic when the two characters start performing Kung Fu, the dumpling continues to fall in a normal fashion. Toward the end of the scene, a chopstick skewers the dumpling into the top branch of a tree. It slides down the chopstick, pulled down by gravity.

While the law of gravity is followed during the everyday aspects of the movie, the law does not apply to the characters performing Kung Fu. One example is when the highly trained tiger, Tigress, jumps into the air to break two training stone discs. She leaps straight into the air and performs a split to shatter the discs with her feet. While she falls quickly, she stays in the air longer than one naturally could. Also, the pieces of the shattered discs fall much sooner than she does. Tigress should have been pulled down by gravity sooner and have fallen with the shattered pieces. Another example of ignoring the law of gravity is when Tai Lung escapes from the prison. After breaking his shackles, Tai Lung not only jumps a few dozen feet to a rising platform, he also jumps up a cascade of falling stalactites. He throws himself up and runs along the falling rocks faster than they call fall and reaches the ceiling of the cave. The law of gravity would not allow for Tai Lung to jump as high or as quickly as he did. He would have been pulled downward. But, because he is using martial arts he can breaks some physical laws.

A number of physical forces exist in our world. For example, there is friction, drag, and elastic. The way forces work is described in Newton’s First Law of Motion. This law explains that every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it. Like the law of gravity, “Kung Fu Panda” follows the rules of forces when the characters are not doing Kung Fu. For example, when Po enters the sleeping quarters of the Furious Five, he is trying to be quiet. He tiptoes across the wooden floor. Unfortunately, the floorboards are fairly thin, so Po, being a very large panda, falls through. Another example is when Po first enters the Sacred Hall of Warriors. While studying the Whispering Urn of Warriors, he accidentally knocks it over. The urn is made of a fragile material, so it shatters when it makes contact with the floor.

Because of the magical-like quality of the Kung Fu in this film, the forces are often exaggerated. One example is when Po is fighting Tai Lung in the final showdown. Tai Lung knocks Po down the stairs that lead to the Sacred Hall of Warriors. The stairs are stone and incredibly steep. If one were knocked down the steps in the real world, at the very least, they would have broken bones. But, because both Tai Lung and Po are in the middle of using martial arts, they more or less bounce down the steps unscathed. Another example is when Po bounces Tai Lung off his belly into the air. Tai Lung flies at least one hundred feet into the air. He then, falls back down to the earth and smashes into the ground creating a large snow leopard shaped indent. He is left unable to fight back, but was not killed. If the forces were not exaggerated in this scene, he would have died and have, most likely splattered apart. Of course, having the scene play out without exaggerating the forces would have made it inappropriate for a family film. But because the Tai Lung character demonstrated super strength and an ability to bend the law of gravity when using Kung Fu, his survival is in not inconsistent within the film.

Rate of acceleration and momentum is another instance in “Kung Fu Panda” where the laws are followed except during martial art sequences. Newton’s second law of motion explains that the acceleration produced by particular force acting on a body is directly proportional to the magnitude of the force and inversely proportional to the mass of the body. The normal rate of acceleration and momentum can be observed in a number of scenes. One scene in when Po is trying to reach the presentation of the Furious Five. He is required by his father to pull the family noodle cart up the hundreds of steps to the ceremony at the Jade Palace. The steps are very steep and Po is very fat. He also has to drag the unwieldy noodle cart. The slow moving rate of him dragging the noodle cart up the stairs in appropriate for the weight of the cart and the weight Po himself has. Another example of the rate of acceleration being normal is when Po and the Furious Five move through the sleeping quarters. As described before, Po moves slowly through the quarters trying not to fall through the floor or make too much noise. And because he is heavy, is would be inconsistent for him to move quickly. The other Furious Five all move through the quarters in their own way, specific to their body type. When they travel through, they move in a natural walk. They are doing simple, normal activities and not martial arts. They do not move fast than their body can allow when following physical laws.

However, the rate of acceleration is often changed in “Kung Fu Panda”. Because the characters have the ability to perform Kung Fu, they can move much faster or slower than one normally could. When the Furious Five discover that Tai Lung has escaped from prison, Tigress decides she is going to meet with him before he reaches the Valley of Peace. She leaps across rooftops in single bounds or runs across them within a few seconds. When the remaining four of the Furious Five discover that Tigress has left, they quickly follow and catch up to her in a matter of minutes. Another example is when Po is eating dumplings with Shifu. To train Po to be fast and agile in martial arts, Shifu steals and eats the dumpling before Po can. Shifu grabs the dumplings the instant before they enter Po’s mouth. Shifu moves at an unrealistic speed.

“Kung Fu Panda” is a world of walking and talking animals. They behave like humans in everyway. While they do things animals in our world cannot, they follow the laws of physics established in their world. Even the characters that are trained in martial arts follow these established physical laws. The only time these laws are ignored or bent is when a character is performing Kung Fu. The Kung Fu gives characters like the Furious Five and Po the ability to bend and break these laws. They can defy gravity, survival normally fatal situations with nothing more than a scratch, and they can move at much faster rate. And even though the laws are changed during the Kung Fu sequences, the bending of the laws has a consistency. “Kung Fu Panda” follows and breaks the laws of physics in a way that makes the unbelievable feats of the Kung Fu as believable as the everyday activities of the characters.

Outline of the First Term Paper

Kung Fu Panda

Intro:

• Thesis: "Kung Fu Panda" follows the laws of physics perfectly, except when a character is performing or training in martial arts

• Laws of Gravity

• Exaggeration of Forces

• Rate of Acceleration and Momentum

Laws of Gravity

• definition

• example of following laws:
• noodle bowls falling
• Shifu dropping the dumpling for Po
  

• examples of laws during kung fu:
• Tigress hovering in air after jump
• Tai Lung escaping the prison by leaping to falling rocks

Exaggeration of Forces

• definition

• example of following laws:
• Po falling through the wooden floor of the sleeping quarters
  
• breaking the Urn of Whispering Souls
  

• examples of laws during kung fu:
• Po bouncing down a flight of stairs and getting up after completely unaffected
  
• Tai Lung surviving hundred foot fall into solid ground

Rate of Acceleration and Momentum

• definition

• example of following laws:
• Po walking up to the ceremony of the Dragon Warrior
  
• Po and Furious Five moving through the sleeping quarters
  

• examples of laws during kung fu:
• Furious Five racing across rooftops to stop Tai Lung
  
• Po fighting Shifu for the dumpling

Conclusion

• How the movie kept believability, while stretching the physical laws to suit the almost magical styling of the kung fu
• restate the thesis
  

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

I wanted to use an object that could squish, so I decided to use a beanbag. I initially tried to shoot the sequence from directly above. Unfortunately, the beanbag wouldn't stay in the shape I wanted. Also, the shadows were kind of strange. So I shot the sequence again. When I shot it again, I used duct tape to tape it to the wall. Then, I slowly moved the beanbag down the wall with the tape until I reached the box at the bottom. I then squished parts of it and slowly flattened it.

Video Analysis of Path of Action

Tracker Video Analysis of Falling

Video Reference

Fame rate: 30

Mini-Portfolio

I took anthropology at my JC and then took geology at SJSU. I was majoring in animation/illustration, but have recently changed my major to RTVF, focus on writing and directing film. Although, I am no longer in the animation/illustration department, I continue to work on the skills learned from those classes. I think that understanding art and animation can only improve one's skill in creating film. My favorite movies are "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Halloween (1978)", and "Shaolin Soccer". My favorite animated movies are "Up", "The Castle of Cagliostro", and "The Lion King".

112A

112B

Trailer to a short movie I wrote, edited, and helped direct for RTVF 91.

The First Post

Hi. :)