Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?
Movies are made for the purpose of entertaining its viewers. However, entertainment doesn’t always translate into realistic physical motion, especially in action movies. The scene I chose to analyze for inaccurate physics principles is from 2009’s G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra. Three principles that I found violated physical reality in the G.I. Joe movie happen to be Newton’s three laws of forces which include: the law of inertia, the law of acceleration and direction of force, and the action-reaction principle.
The scene is a typical chase scene in which the good guys are chasing the bad guys, with one exception the good guys (the Joes) are on foot and the bad guys (Cobra) are in a vehicle, which one might think would be unfeasible if not for the accelerator suits that the G.I. Joe’s wear that enable them to keep up with the speeding vehicles. The scene takes place on the streets of Paris among the tourists, cars, and trains of the city which makes for a myriad of crashes, collisions, and a ton of action.
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Newton’s first of his laws of forces that I will discuss is the principle of inertia. The principle of inertia maintains that an object moves with constant, uniform motion until acted on by an unbalanced force. In the scene being analyzed, this principle is violated in a way that might not be obvious. The violation occurred when Marlon Wayans’ character, Ripcord, jumped through the windows of a train moving at about 35mph. The issue with the scene is that the train continued to move forward during the jump because there was no force acting on the train that would have stopped it or slowed it down, the brakes were never applied. The same continued movement forward should have applied to Ripcord. If these rules had been obeyed the trains movement forward a few feet, should have resulted in Ripcord going through a point of the train not directly across the point of entry, but across and a few feet posterior to the point of entry; perhaps, a different window or through the wall of the train. This is not what happened and Ripcord exited directly across his point of entry despite the continued movement of both himself and the train.
The second of Newton’s law’s that is violated in the movie is the law of acceleration, more specifically, acceleration and direction of force. This principle states that when a force is perpendicular to the path of action of an object, it then deflects the motion of that object into an arc. The point of the scene when this law was not obeyed was when the hummer vehicle that was speeding down the streets of Paris collided with a passenger train. What the audience saw was the train colliding with the hummer at a perpendicular angle, and then the hummer was propelled into the air in the exact same direction (straight) that it was originally travelling; this would not be the effect in the real world. If this scene had taken place in reality the train would have had a rather large impact on the hummer because of its greater mass and speed, which translates into a large force that would have resulted in the derailment of the hummer from its original path of action and propulsion into a diagonal arc. It would have been possible for the hummer to be raised up into the air somewhat because the front of the train was wedged, but not to the degree it flew in the movie and definitely not in a straight and forward motion.
The last one of Newton’s laws of forces that is not correctly applied in this scene is the action-reaction principle. The action-reaction principle asserts that for every action force there is an equal reaction force in the opposite direction. Violation of this principle can be seen numerous times in this scene. One of the most obvious blunders of this principle can be seen with the incredible jumps that the G.I. Joe’s perform with very little effort. One component of the action-reaction principle with regards to jumps states that how high you jump depends on the force and on the distance over which you apply that force. Somehow, the Joe’s were able to jump incredibly large heights with very little effort. The Joe’s applied very little force to the ground on which they were standing and yet, were able to jump roughly 30 feet in the air almost instantaneously. The jump force would have had to be very large to enable something a human’s size to jump as high as 30 feet, and would result in the action of the jump leaving an impression on the ground, but this did not happen in the film.
Another example of the action-reaction principle being ignored in this scene was the use of the enemy weapon; a gun that fires, not bullets, but powerful blue pulses of energy. The problem I had with the scene is not that a handheld gun was shooting pulses, but that the powerful pulses had no kick back and only acted on their target. In reality when someone shoots a gun, the powerful propulsion of the bullet forward has an effect on the person holding the gun, as it should because every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This physical principle is ignored here. What happened when a person shot the weapon was impossible because there was no reaction. Every time the weapon was fired at its target, be it a person, glass, or concrete, destructive force followed, but it was unrealistic because the direction of the force was only forward in motion, flowing out of the gun. If this weapon was an actual weapon the power of it would jolt the user backward, if not completely send the weapon flying out of their hands due to the inability of a person being able to hold on to something so forceful.
The final illustration of the action-reaction principle being violated in this scene, again, involves the hummer vehicle. Throughout the scene the hummer was racing down the streets of Paris, eliminating anything in its path, including other vehicles. When the hummer collided with another car, the hummer seemingly lifted the car and sent it flying over the top of the hummer without fazing the hummer in the slightest. There was not an effect on the speed or exterior of the hummer whatsoever, as if the car was just a leaf blowing by. The hummer was substantially heavier than a regular car, but not so heavy that a 2-ton car would not have an effect on the momentum of it. The action of the hummer on the car would have caused an equal reaction on the hummer in the opposite direction, so the weight of the car should have slowed the hummer and forced the hummer into the ground, again this did not happen.
G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra is like any other movie with CGI effects. There are inevitably going to be discrepancies between what’s physically possible in the world of the movie and the real world. Sometimes the discrepancies are intentional, necessary to enhance the entertainment factor of the movie and sometimes they are just oversights that most people don’t even notice. In the scene I’ve just discussed both of these types of discrepancies appear. When the principle of inertia was violated I believe it was an oversight. When the principle of acceleration and direction of force was violated I believe it could have been either an oversight or intentional because the effects artists probably wanted the action to stay in the frame. I believe the violations of the action-reaction principle were intentional and added to the allure and action in the movie. Overall, I’ve come to accept the errors that sometimes appear in movies and somewhat appreciate them for what they are because without them movies, such as G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra probably would not have been as entertaining as it was.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Outline of second term paper
I. Introduction
A. Introduce common physics errors in G.I. Joe movie- Newton’s 3 laws of forces
B. Action/Reaction principle violated
C. Acceleration in direction of force
D. Principle of Inertia
E. Set up scene in G.I. Joe-Rise of Cobra
II. Action Reaction
A. For every action force there is an equal reaction force in the opposite direction.
1. How high you jump depends on the force and on the distance over which you apply that force
a. Ex. When the Joe’s jump when they are in their suits. The distance the jump is not congruent with the amount of force exerted on the ground.
2. Ex. When the bad guys shoot the ray/force gun the kick back does not match the force that exerted on the target (glass, concrete, Joe’s).
3. Ex. Hummer maintains a constant speed, despite colliding with vehicles.
III. Acceleration and direction of force.
A. When a force is perpendicular to the path of action then it deflects the motion into an arc.
1. Ex. Hummer traveling along, gets hit with train that is perpendicular, the hummer is deflected into an arc forward, not to the side as it should have been.
IV. Principle of Inertia
A. An object moves with constant, uniform motion until acted on by an unbalanced force.
1. Ex. When one of the Joe’s jumped through a moving train, he should not have hit the train directly across (180˚) from the spot he entered the train.
V. Conclusion
A. Summarize main points
B. Restate thesis statement
A. Introduce common physics errors in G.I. Joe movie- Newton’s 3 laws of forces
B. Action/Reaction principle violated
C. Acceleration in direction of force
D. Principle of Inertia
E. Set up scene in G.I. Joe-Rise of Cobra
II. Action Reaction
A. For every action force there is an equal reaction force in the opposite direction.
1. How high you jump depends on the force and on the distance over which you apply that force
a. Ex. When the Joe’s jump when they are in their suits. The distance the jump is not congruent with the amount of force exerted on the ground.
2. Ex. When the bad guys shoot the ray/force gun the kick back does not match the force that exerted on the target (glass, concrete, Joe’s).
3. Ex. Hummer maintains a constant speed, despite colliding with vehicles.
III. Acceleration and direction of force.
A. When a force is perpendicular to the path of action then it deflects the motion into an arc.
1. Ex. Hummer traveling along, gets hit with train that is perpendicular, the hummer is deflected into an arc forward, not to the side as it should have been.
IV. Principle of Inertia
A. An object moves with constant, uniform motion until acted on by an unbalanced force.
1. Ex. When one of the Joe’s jumped through a moving train, he should not have hit the train directly across (180˚) from the spot he entered the train.
V. Conclusion
A. Summarize main points
B. Restate thesis statement
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
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)."
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)."
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
First Term Paper
The movie I chose to do my paper on was Dreamworks highly anticipated animation movie, Kung Fu Panda (2008). The first time I viewed it, I thought to myself that this was the first animation movie I’d seen with as much combat and fighting action and it looked like real live-action movie, which is part of the reason I chose this movie for my analysis. For the most part, the physics of Kung Fu Panda was very similar to the physics in the real world which I think contributed to its appeal to me. However, there were some aspects of its physical world that you would unfortunately, not see in our world that I am going to discuss. Some of these alternate laws of physics that I noticed in the world of Kung Fu Panda include first, the special abilities that kung fu masters often have in movies now-a-days, and not just animation movies. Next, I will address a concept in the movie that I noticed which is, bigger doesn’t always mean stronger. Finally, and what I find most interesting, is the limited effect of gravity. In between discussing the unique laws of physics, I will point out some the inconsistencies, when the unique laws do not apply.
When many people think of kung fu movies of today’s generation I think the Matrix series comes to mind most often. Many other kung fu movies, including Kung Fu Panda and one of my favorites Kung fu hustle have employed some of the special effects notably seen in the Matrix. The special effects techniques have enabled the kung fu master’s to be portrayed as having “powers” that defy the boundaries that people have in the real world. For example, Oogway, the rather large and slow turtle is able to balance his whole body on the tip of his walking stick, just using his toe. There is no way that a normal person or animal in reality would be able to achieve this feat. Being that he is an irregularly shaped object, to be able to keep the center of gravity completely balanced on a very small base of support would be unfeasible, he would assuredly fall over almost immediately, but it’s perfectly plausible for a turtle with omnipotent kung fu skills.
One of the other superhuman abilities demonstrated in the movie that stood out to me was when Shifu was able to put out a room full of candles just a wave of his arm. In the scene the frail Oogway was trying to muscle up the lung capacity to blow out the flame of a single candle in a room full of candles. Shifu, annoyed with Oogway’s distraction while he was trying to talk to him just came in, waved his arm at one end of the room and with a ripple effect all of the candles were out in seconds. It doesn’t take much thought to realize that it should take a rather large gust of wind to have an effect on area the size of a room, but that is not the case here.
Even better than being able to balance on something 1/100 one’s size or blow out a room full of candles, is the ability to jump infinite heights and then soar back down to the ground as if you could fly, an ability that Tigress demonstrated when going to meet Tai Lung. First of all, it would take an amazing amount of force to be able to jump as high as Tigress did in this scene, a force that a tiger of her size just didn’t have. Even if a tiger did have the mass to jump as high as hundreds of feet, the fall back down would not be a simple glide and then a soft landing on the feet. On the other hand, not all of the characters in the movie displayed super-animal abilities like Po before he was trained in the ways of Kung Fu.
The next noteworthy difference between the Kung Fu Panda world and our world is that size is no indication of one’s strength or power or as I put it early, bigger doesn’t always mean stronger. Case in point, Mantis, short for praying mantis, is a minute sized creature with colossal strength. Although Mantis weighs most likely no more than 15 grams, he is able to stand up to anyone. In one scene Mantis is shown beating up Po, a panda weighing probably over 200 pounds. This sounds a little disproportionate to me and violates the action/reaction laws we have in our world. Something the size of praying mantis should not be able to exert the kind of force needed to lift and throw a panda bear. However, in this movie size does not matter and comes secondary to skill and training.
In addition to being beaten up by a praying mantis, Po also gets beaten up by a snake, which I guess would make a little more sense, but not enough for it to be possible in our world. Another example of the insignificance of size in this movie is the fact that Shifu, who is a rather small red panda, is the kung fu master and mentor to Po and the rest of the furious five. Although this character is small in stature, he has enormous capacity. Another oddity of the movie, but in the other direction is the lack of strength that Po presents. At the beginning of the movie Po is trying to race up the steps of temple, however, he is finding it too difficult to carry up his noodle cart which is physically half his size. This scene stood out to me because it was funny to see such a large animal struggle with something that was so much smaller than it.
The last unusual physical property in the world of Kung Fu Panda that I would like to discuss is the limited effect of gravity. In my opinion this was the most obvious deviation between our two worlds. The first example of this I will address is when Shifu throws up two plates in the air for Tigress to break mid-air in order to demonstrate her skills. After Tigress jumps up into a split and breaks the plates, she lands on the floor and walks away. This sounds normal enough, except that she landed and walked away before any of the shards of the plate reached the ground. We’ve learned that despite how heavy or light two object are, they will generally fall and reach the floor at the same time, however, that didn’t happen. It took so long for the pieces of plate to reach the ground I almost forgot they were broken in the first place. I suppose the creators did this for dramatic or comedic effect, and it worked.
Another instance of the lack of gravity is in the scene where Tai Lung is trying to escape from prison and has to make it to the top of the ledge from a crumbling bridge. The way he accomplishes this is by jumping from one piece of the falling bridge to another. As strange and impossible as this sounds, it looked even stranger. Despite the falling pieces of bridge, Tai Lung was able to jump on them as if they were floating in mid-air or falling at an extremely slow rate. In contrast to this implausible scene in the prison there was also a realistic scene in the same location. A feather fell from the top of the bridge in the prison. The feather falling looked very similar to a leaf drop which seems probable considering that there would have been very little wind resistance inside the prison. So in this case, gravity has a normal effect.
The movie Kung Fu Panda shares a lot of the characteristics of human live-action movies. Along with most movies come the similarities and differences in between their worlds and our “real” world. Some of the alternate laws of physics within Kung Fu Panda that I’ve discussed are the powers that kung fu masters are often portrayed as having, the concept that size doesn’t matter in this world, and lastly, the limited effect that gravity as on objects. All of these aspects combined with the similarities between live-action movies based on reality as we know it, made Kung Fu Panda an entertaining, not just as an animation movie, but as a movie in general.
When many people think of kung fu movies of today’s generation I think the Matrix series comes to mind most often. Many other kung fu movies, including Kung Fu Panda and one of my favorites Kung fu hustle have employed some of the special effects notably seen in the Matrix. The special effects techniques have enabled the kung fu master’s to be portrayed as having “powers” that defy the boundaries that people have in the real world. For example, Oogway, the rather large and slow turtle is able to balance his whole body on the tip of his walking stick, just using his toe. There is no way that a normal person or animal in reality would be able to achieve this feat. Being that he is an irregularly shaped object, to be able to keep the center of gravity completely balanced on a very small base of support would be unfeasible, he would assuredly fall over almost immediately, but it’s perfectly plausible for a turtle with omnipotent kung fu skills.
One of the other superhuman abilities demonstrated in the movie that stood out to me was when Shifu was able to put out a room full of candles just a wave of his arm. In the scene the frail Oogway was trying to muscle up the lung capacity to blow out the flame of a single candle in a room full of candles. Shifu, annoyed with Oogway’s distraction while he was trying to talk to him just came in, waved his arm at one end of the room and with a ripple effect all of the candles were out in seconds. It doesn’t take much thought to realize that it should take a rather large gust of wind to have an effect on area the size of a room, but that is not the case here.
Even better than being able to balance on something 1/100 one’s size or blow out a room full of candles, is the ability to jump infinite heights and then soar back down to the ground as if you could fly, an ability that Tigress demonstrated when going to meet Tai Lung. First of all, it would take an amazing amount of force to be able to jump as high as Tigress did in this scene, a force that a tiger of her size just didn’t have. Even if a tiger did have the mass to jump as high as hundreds of feet, the fall back down would not be a simple glide and then a soft landing on the feet. On the other hand, not all of the characters in the movie displayed super-animal abilities like Po before he was trained in the ways of Kung Fu.
The next noteworthy difference between the Kung Fu Panda world and our world is that size is no indication of one’s strength or power or as I put it early, bigger doesn’t always mean stronger. Case in point, Mantis, short for praying mantis, is a minute sized creature with colossal strength. Although Mantis weighs most likely no more than 15 grams, he is able to stand up to anyone. In one scene Mantis is shown beating up Po, a panda weighing probably over 200 pounds. This sounds a little disproportionate to me and violates the action/reaction laws we have in our world. Something the size of praying mantis should not be able to exert the kind of force needed to lift and throw a panda bear. However, in this movie size does not matter and comes secondary to skill and training.
In addition to being beaten up by a praying mantis, Po also gets beaten up by a snake, which I guess would make a little more sense, but not enough for it to be possible in our world. Another example of the insignificance of size in this movie is the fact that Shifu, who is a rather small red panda, is the kung fu master and mentor to Po and the rest of the furious five. Although this character is small in stature, he has enormous capacity. Another oddity of the movie, but in the other direction is the lack of strength that Po presents. At the beginning of the movie Po is trying to race up the steps of temple, however, he is finding it too difficult to carry up his noodle cart which is physically half his size. This scene stood out to me because it was funny to see such a large animal struggle with something that was so much smaller than it.
The last unusual physical property in the world of Kung Fu Panda that I would like to discuss is the limited effect of gravity. In my opinion this was the most obvious deviation between our two worlds. The first example of this I will address is when Shifu throws up two plates in the air for Tigress to break mid-air in order to demonstrate her skills. After Tigress jumps up into a split and breaks the plates, she lands on the floor and walks away. This sounds normal enough, except that she landed and walked away before any of the shards of the plate reached the ground. We’ve learned that despite how heavy or light two object are, they will generally fall and reach the floor at the same time, however, that didn’t happen. It took so long for the pieces of plate to reach the ground I almost forgot they were broken in the first place. I suppose the creators did this for dramatic or comedic effect, and it worked.
Another instance of the lack of gravity is in the scene where Tai Lung is trying to escape from prison and has to make it to the top of the ledge from a crumbling bridge. The way he accomplishes this is by jumping from one piece of the falling bridge to another. As strange and impossible as this sounds, it looked even stranger. Despite the falling pieces of bridge, Tai Lung was able to jump on them as if they were floating in mid-air or falling at an extremely slow rate. In contrast to this implausible scene in the prison there was also a realistic scene in the same location. A feather fell from the top of the bridge in the prison. The feather falling looked very similar to a leaf drop which seems probable considering that there would have been very little wind resistance inside the prison. So in this case, gravity has a normal effect.
The movie Kung Fu Panda shares a lot of the characteristics of human live-action movies. Along with most movies come the similarities and differences in between their worlds and our “real” world. Some of the alternate laws of physics within Kung Fu Panda that I’ve discussed are the powers that kung fu masters are often portrayed as having, the concept that size doesn’t matter in this world, and lastly, the limited effect that gravity as on objects. All of these aspects combined with the similarities between live-action movies based on reality as we know it, made Kung Fu Panda an entertaining, not just as an animation movie, but as a movie in general.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Outline of first term paper
I. Introduction
A. The art of Kung Fu as portrayed in movies
B. Bigger doesn’t always mean better.
C. Gravity has a limited effect, perhaps less gravity in their world
D. Thesis statement.
II. Kung Fu in movies
A. Ex. The Matrix and now Kung Fu Panda
1. Is portrayed as supernatural and defies the boundaries that people have in the real world.
2. Kung Fu Masters seem to have “powers”
a. Oogway able to balance on a staff as is Sheefu
b. Tigris jump hundreds of feet in the air and dive as if able to fly
c. Sheefu able to blow out a roomful of candles with a wave of the arm
d. Wooshu finger-hold Po does creates a burst of energy with flick of pinky.
e. Nerve attack
III. Bigger doesn’t always mean stronger.
A. Size is no indication of one’s strength and power in this world.
1. Mantis able to battle opponents 100x his size.
2. Viper (a snake) beats up Po (a Panda) with her tail.
3. Sheefu also diminutive in size, but is the Kung Fu master.
B. Tai Long able to throw a piece of concrete like it was a bag of flour.
IV. Gravity has a limited effect
A. Tigris breaks plates mid-air, then lands and walks away before they reach ground.
1. Possibly for dramatic effect.
B. Tai Long jumps on falling rocks in prison and is able to climb to the top as if they
were floating.
1. Typical gravity is altered in order to suit characters needs.
C. However, feather falls in prison normally, similar to leaf drop.
V. Conclusion
A. Summarize main points
B. Restate thesis statement
A. The art of Kung Fu as portrayed in movies
B. Bigger doesn’t always mean better.
C. Gravity has a limited effect, perhaps less gravity in their world
D. Thesis statement.
II. Kung Fu in movies
A. Ex. The Matrix and now Kung Fu Panda
1. Is portrayed as supernatural and defies the boundaries that people have in the real world.
2. Kung Fu Masters seem to have “powers”
a. Oogway able to balance on a staff as is Sheefu
b. Tigris jump hundreds of feet in the air and dive as if able to fly
c. Sheefu able to blow out a roomful of candles with a wave of the arm
d. Wooshu finger-hold Po does creates a burst of energy with flick of pinky.
e. Nerve attack
III. Bigger doesn’t always mean stronger.
A. Size is no indication of one’s strength and power in this world.
1. Mantis able to battle opponents 100x his size.
2. Viper (a snake) beats up Po (a Panda) with her tail.
3. Sheefu also diminutive in size, but is the Kung Fu master.
B. Tai Long able to throw a piece of concrete like it was a bag of flour.
IV. Gravity has a limited effect
A. Tigris breaks plates mid-air, then lands and walks away before they reach ground.
1. Possibly for dramatic effect.
B. Tai Long jumps on falling rocks in prison and is able to climb to the top as if they
were floating.
1. Typical gravity is altered in order to suit characters needs.
C. However, feather falls in prison normally, similar to leaf drop.
V. Conclusion
A. Summarize main points
B. Restate thesis statement
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Video Analysis of Path of Action
Plot of tracking image.
Original reference clip.
Video clip of tracked jump.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Mini Portfolio
My name is Brandi and I am a psychology major. I decided to take this class because I thought it sounded interesting and I was hoping that this class would bring out some artistic capabilities that I have yet to find. Since I'm not really artistically inclined I don't have a portfolio or sketches of any sort so here are some pics and a video I found on my computer that I liked.
This is, Mitter. He's extremely lazy!
This is, Mitter. He's extremely lazy!
This clip is of a Giants game I went to, Ray Durham's getting struck out:(, but at least I got to see it up close.
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