Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction
“Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children” is an animated film that uses computer graphics to create a stunning visual world. The animation in the film is well executed and very detailed, down to the small movements in fingers and overlapping action of drapery and hair. While the physics of this world are supposed to emulate the physics in the natural world, in many cases they break those rules. The physical nature of the actions occurring in this scene breaks the laws of physics completely, or sometimes they are inconsistent with the rules established earlier in the scene. Either way, these actions take the viewer out of the scene and out of the story. In this paper, we will be looking at one scene of the film in which 3 principles of physics are broken. The scene we will be studying is the scene where Tifa and Loz fight in the church. The first principle we will explore is Newton’s third law of motion, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The next principle we will look at is Newton’s first law of motion which states that every object in motion will remain in motion until acted upon by an outside force. The last topic we will review is the principles of physics concerning the motion of secondary actions in this scene.
Actions that happen at the beginning of this scene establish to the viewer what the rules of physics are that the characters will obey. The animation and movement of the characters in the beginning of the scene seem to indicate a very realistic world where the characters are under the rules of the natural world. When Tifa and Loz begin fighting, Tifa does a full roundhouse kick and hits Loz directly across the face. Loz’s reaction to this kick is that his head flies back and his spine bends backwards to compensate. Loz stays in the same spot where he was standing, barely moving back at all in response to Tifa’s kick. This establishes that the force of a full roundhouse kick is not strong enough to make the character fly back in response. This establishes the force of every other action in the scene, and the strength of the characters.
In response to Tifa’s kick, Loz attacks Tifa with some type of electric weapon attached to his wrist. He punches Tifa, and at the time of impact, the electric weapon generates a spark of electricity. The punch itself has very little horizontal force and actually slows down significantly when it reaches Tifa. Tifa’s reaction however, has a disproportionate response of horizontal motion compared to the horizontal force of Loz’s punch. Tifa flies backwards about twenty feet away from Loz. The animation is trying to suggest that the horizontal force was generated by the electric weapon that Loz is wielding. However, an electric shock from a weapon would not generate a horizontal force upon a person. So in the natural world, the only source of horizontal force would be from the punch itself, which was not strong enough to justify Tifa flying back twenty feet away from Loz. Also, compared to the reaction of Loz to Tifa’s roundhouse kick, Loz’s electric weapon would have to generate a massive amount of horizontal force to justify Tifa’s reaction to the attack.
Later in the scene, Tifa jumps off a wall and grabs Loz in mid air. Tifa grabs Loz with one hand, pulls him off the ground, slams him against the floor, and then throws him about thirty feet up in the air. This action completely destroys the illusion of these characters being in the physical world because it would be impossible for Tifa to do this with the rules that have been established earlier in the scene. Earlier in the scene, Tifa’s full roundhouse kick to Loz barely even moved him back. Now, Tifa is able to pull Loz off the ground with one hand and throw him thirty feet up in the air. Loz appears weightless in this scene, and even the way he moves while in Tifa’s hand resembles overlapping action of cloth or paper in the wind. When Tifa throws Loz into the air, she is actually in the middle of a short jump, so she does not push off the ground. In fact, the animation of the throw indicates that she is using very little force to throw Loz into the air. If she actually were strong enough to throw Loz that high into the air, she would need to exert and strong enough force against the ground to do so. But Tifa does not appear to exert any force at all. The weightlessness in this scene is caused by the animators breaking Newton’s third law of motion.
Later in this scene, Loz kicks a pew at Tifa, and Tifa blocks the attack by smashing the oncoming pew in mid air. Again, there is an imbalance of forces in this scene. Loz kicks the pew towards Tifa, but the pew is flying towards her extremely fast in the horizontal direction. This speed is far faster than any human can kick an object of that size. If the pew weighs around ninety kilograms, and is accelerating at a rate of ten meters per second, the force would be nine hundred newtons. The force of gravity is around ten newtons, so when Tifa blocks the pew she would be feeling a force ninety times the force of gravity. In the natural world, this would definitely cause Tifa to fly backwards. Also, this conflicts with the pattern established at the beginning of the fight because if the force of the pew was not strong enough to cause Tifa to fly back, how strong was the force of Loz’s electric weapon?
Newton’s first law of motion states that in the absence of force, a body either is at rest or moves in a straight line with constant speed. Objects on the Earth are always affected by the force of gravity, pulling them down towards the center of the Earth. In this scene, the characters take actions that defy gravity.
In this scene, Loz throws Tifa against a wall and she clings against the wall for several seconds without falling down. At first this may seem very possible because carnival rides that make use of centrifugal force allow people to cling to a wall without falling down, even though they are not harnessed to it. However, this is a difference between those carnival rides and the situation happening here. In a carnival ride, an outward force created by the spinning machine is constantly acting on the riders to push them up against the wall. As long as the machine keeps spinning, the force continues to act on the riders and they stick to the wall. When the machine comes to a stop, the force lessens and eventually the riders fall back to the ground. In this situation, Tifa does not have a constant force pushing her against the wall. The initial force of her hitting the wall would be enough for her to cling to the wall, but once she has come to a complete stop against the wall, she would fall down to the ground. The wall is exerting and equal and opposite force on Tifa when she hits the wall, and those forces cancel each other out which would bring Tifa’s net horizontal force to zero. Once her net force is zero, she would fall to the ground because there is no further force causing her to stick to the wall. So she would cling to the wall for a short period of time, but then she would quickly fall to the ground. Tifa could increase the time she is against the wall by bending her knees as she hits the wall. This would increase the time of the impact, thus increasing the time it takes for the wall to cancel her horizontal force. This would be similar to the crumple zone on a car which is intended to increase the time of impact during a crash, and could give her perhaps an extra second against the wall.
There are many instances in this scene where the overlapping action on hair, clothes, and objects, don’t follow the natural laws of physics. When Tifa is thrown against the wall by Loz, she flies past a bed of flowers on the ground. When she hits the wall, the flower petals suddenly fly up into the air as if a current of air from underneath them suddenly rose up and threw the petals upward. The animators were trying to create the effect of a wind current created by Tifa when she passed by the flowers that threw the petals into the air. However, if this were the case then the petals would fly in the direction that Tifa was moving and not straight up into the air. The petals would fly towards the wall. However this would not look as good in the camera, so the animators decided to make the petals fly upward.
In the same moment that we see the petals fly up into the air, we also see the drapery on the back of Tifa’s shirt gently caress the surface of the wall. This makes no sense in the natural world because the drapery would have been traveling at the same speed as Tifa before she hit the wall. When Tifa hit the wall, the drapery would have slammed into it at the same speed that Tifa hit the wall. The drapery would not slowly hit the wall as it does in this scene.
In conclusion, this scene in “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children” breaks many of the rules of physics that we know in the natural world. Many of the actions in this scene bend or break Newton’s laws of motion. Sometimes this can be used as an effect to make the scene more appealing, but often it can cause the audience to become distracted and take attention away from the story.
Actions that happen at the beginning of this scene establish to the viewer what the rules of physics are that the characters will obey. The animation and movement of the characters in the beginning of the scene seem to indicate a very realistic world where the characters are under the rules of the natural world. When Tifa and Loz begin fighting, Tifa does a full roundhouse kick and hits Loz directly across the face. Loz’s reaction to this kick is that his head flies back and his spine bends backwards to compensate. Loz stays in the same spot where he was standing, barely moving back at all in response to Tifa’s kick. This establishes that the force of a full roundhouse kick is not strong enough to make the character fly back in response. This establishes the force of every other action in the scene, and the strength of the characters.
In response to Tifa’s kick, Loz attacks Tifa with some type of electric weapon attached to his wrist. He punches Tifa, and at the time of impact, the electric weapon generates a spark of electricity. The punch itself has very little horizontal force and actually slows down significantly when it reaches Tifa. Tifa’s reaction however, has a disproportionate response of horizontal motion compared to the horizontal force of Loz’s punch. Tifa flies backwards about twenty feet away from Loz. The animation is trying to suggest that the horizontal force was generated by the electric weapon that Loz is wielding. However, an electric shock from a weapon would not generate a horizontal force upon a person. So in the natural world, the only source of horizontal force would be from the punch itself, which was not strong enough to justify Tifa flying back twenty feet away from Loz. Also, compared to the reaction of Loz to Tifa’s roundhouse kick, Loz’s electric weapon would have to generate a massive amount of horizontal force to justify Tifa’s reaction to the attack.
Later in the scene, Tifa jumps off a wall and grabs Loz in mid air. Tifa grabs Loz with one hand, pulls him off the ground, slams him against the floor, and then throws him about thirty feet up in the air. This action completely destroys the illusion of these characters being in the physical world because it would be impossible for Tifa to do this with the rules that have been established earlier in the scene. Earlier in the scene, Tifa’s full roundhouse kick to Loz barely even moved him back. Now, Tifa is able to pull Loz off the ground with one hand and throw him thirty feet up in the air. Loz appears weightless in this scene, and even the way he moves while in Tifa’s hand resembles overlapping action of cloth or paper in the wind. When Tifa throws Loz into the air, she is actually in the middle of a short jump, so she does not push off the ground. In fact, the animation of the throw indicates that she is using very little force to throw Loz into the air. If she actually were strong enough to throw Loz that high into the air, she would need to exert and strong enough force against the ground to do so. But Tifa does not appear to exert any force at all. The weightlessness in this scene is caused by the animators breaking Newton’s third law of motion.
Later in this scene, Loz kicks a pew at Tifa, and Tifa blocks the attack by smashing the oncoming pew in mid air. Again, there is an imbalance of forces in this scene. Loz kicks the pew towards Tifa, but the pew is flying towards her extremely fast in the horizontal direction. This speed is far faster than any human can kick an object of that size. If the pew weighs around ninety kilograms, and is accelerating at a rate of ten meters per second, the force would be nine hundred newtons. The force of gravity is around ten newtons, so when Tifa blocks the pew she would be feeling a force ninety times the force of gravity. In the natural world, this would definitely cause Tifa to fly backwards. Also, this conflicts with the pattern established at the beginning of the fight because if the force of the pew was not strong enough to cause Tifa to fly back, how strong was the force of Loz’s electric weapon?
Newton’s first law of motion states that in the absence of force, a body either is at rest or moves in a straight line with constant speed. Objects on the Earth are always affected by the force of gravity, pulling them down towards the center of the Earth. In this scene, the characters take actions that defy gravity.
In this scene, Loz throws Tifa against a wall and she clings against the wall for several seconds without falling down. At first this may seem very possible because carnival rides that make use of centrifugal force allow people to cling to a wall without falling down, even though they are not harnessed to it. However, this is a difference between those carnival rides and the situation happening here. In a carnival ride, an outward force created by the spinning machine is constantly acting on the riders to push them up against the wall. As long as the machine keeps spinning, the force continues to act on the riders and they stick to the wall. When the machine comes to a stop, the force lessens and eventually the riders fall back to the ground. In this situation, Tifa does not have a constant force pushing her against the wall. The initial force of her hitting the wall would be enough for her to cling to the wall, but once she has come to a complete stop against the wall, she would fall down to the ground. The wall is exerting and equal and opposite force on Tifa when she hits the wall, and those forces cancel each other out which would bring Tifa’s net horizontal force to zero. Once her net force is zero, she would fall to the ground because there is no further force causing her to stick to the wall. So she would cling to the wall for a short period of time, but then she would quickly fall to the ground. Tifa could increase the time she is against the wall by bending her knees as she hits the wall. This would increase the time of the impact, thus increasing the time it takes for the wall to cancel her horizontal force. This would be similar to the crumple zone on a car which is intended to increase the time of impact during a crash, and could give her perhaps an extra second against the wall.
There are many instances in this scene where the overlapping action on hair, clothes, and objects, don’t follow the natural laws of physics. When Tifa is thrown against the wall by Loz, she flies past a bed of flowers on the ground. When she hits the wall, the flower petals suddenly fly up into the air as if a current of air from underneath them suddenly rose up and threw the petals upward. The animators were trying to create the effect of a wind current created by Tifa when she passed by the flowers that threw the petals into the air. However, if this were the case then the petals would fly in the direction that Tifa was moving and not straight up into the air. The petals would fly towards the wall. However this would not look as good in the camera, so the animators decided to make the petals fly upward.
In the same moment that we see the petals fly up into the air, we also see the drapery on the back of Tifa’s shirt gently caress the surface of the wall. This makes no sense in the natural world because the drapery would have been traveling at the same speed as Tifa before she hit the wall. When Tifa hit the wall, the drapery would have slammed into it at the same speed that Tifa hit the wall. The drapery would not slowly hit the wall as it does in this scene.
In conclusion, this scene in “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children” breaks many of the rules of physics that we know in the natural world. Many of the actions in this scene bend or break Newton’s laws of motion. Sometimes this can be used as an effect to make the scene more appealing, but often it can cause the audience to become distracted and take attention away from the story.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Outline for the Second Term Paper
Physics in “Final Fantasy VII Advent Children”
I. Introduction – Incorrect Physics in the fight scene between Loz and Tifa in the church
• a. Action/Reaction Principle broken
• b. Newton’s first Law of Motion broken
• c. Physics principles concerning overlap broken
II. Action/Reaction Principle broken
• a. Tifa’s roundhouse kicks to Loz
o first main attack of scene and sets stage for physics of scene
o Loz barely reacts to the kick, bending back but not flying away
o Balanced forces here, sets standard for scene
• b. Loz’s first attack with his electric weapon
o Loz’s attack has very little horizontal force
o Tifa’s reaction is flying back several yards away
o Imbalance of forces
• c. Loz’s pew kick at Tifa
o Loz kicks the pew with strong force, but not enough to justify the distance and speed it flies
o Tifa blocks pew and hardly reacts at all to the horizontal force of the pew
o Imbalance of forces
• After Tifa jumps off the wall, she grabs Loz and throws him up into the air
o Tifa grabs Loz with 1 hand and pulls him off his feet, dragging him against ground
o Tifa throws Loz into the air without pushing off from the ground at all
o Imbalance of forces
III. Newton’s first Law of Motion broken
• a. Tifa is thrown against the wall and stays there for long period of time
o Shot is simulating centrifugal effect that can be seen in spinning carnival rides
o However in those rides the centrifugal force is constantly acting on the people to keep them against the wall
o Tifa comes to a complete stop against the wall, meaning that the wall exerted an equal and opposite force on her which canceled out her horizontal force
o The moment Tifa’s horizontal force is canceled, she should fall to the ground, but doesn’t
o Had Tifa increased the time of impact by bending her legs as she hit the wall, she would stay there a little longer in real life
o Crumple zone effect in cars
• b. Loz thrown into air by Tifa
o Loz’s horizontal speed slows down in midair
o Breaks Newton’s first law of motion b/c no force is lowing Loz down
o Tifa must use a great amount of frictional force to stop her horizontal speed before she jumps up into the air
IV. Physics principles concerning overlap broken
• a. When Tifa is thrown against the wall
o Flowers fly up as an overlap to Tifa flying by them
The flowers fly up vertically with no horizontal motion to them
In real life, the flowers would fly in the direction Tifa was moving, because of the wind current created by Tifa flying by them
o How Tifa’s drapery reacts
Tifa’s drapery slowly hits the wall
In real life it would slam into the wall at the same speed Tifa was going
Newton’s first law, the drapery would keep going at the same speed until it hits the wall
• When Tifa is being spun around and knocked into the pews by Loz
o One pew reacts by being struck by Tifa
The pew flies up into the air with very little horizontal force, despite the fact that Tifa hit the pew horizontally
The pew flies high up into the air and stays there for quite a long time, despite the small vertical force on it
V. Conclusion
• a. Summarize points
• b. Restate thesis
I. Introduction – Incorrect Physics in the fight scene between Loz and Tifa in the church
• a. Action/Reaction Principle broken
• b. Newton’s first Law of Motion broken
• c. Physics principles concerning overlap broken
II. Action/Reaction Principle broken
• a. Tifa’s roundhouse kicks to Loz
o first main attack of scene and sets stage for physics of scene
o Loz barely reacts to the kick, bending back but not flying away
o Balanced forces here, sets standard for scene
• b. Loz’s first attack with his electric weapon
o Loz’s attack has very little horizontal force
o Tifa’s reaction is flying back several yards away
o Imbalance of forces
• c. Loz’s pew kick at Tifa
o Loz kicks the pew with strong force, but not enough to justify the distance and speed it flies
o Tifa blocks pew and hardly reacts at all to the horizontal force of the pew
o Imbalance of forces
• After Tifa jumps off the wall, she grabs Loz and throws him up into the air
o Tifa grabs Loz with 1 hand and pulls him off his feet, dragging him against ground
o Tifa throws Loz into the air without pushing off from the ground at all
o Imbalance of forces
III. Newton’s first Law of Motion broken
• a. Tifa is thrown against the wall and stays there for long period of time
o Shot is simulating centrifugal effect that can be seen in spinning carnival rides
o However in those rides the centrifugal force is constantly acting on the people to keep them against the wall
o Tifa comes to a complete stop against the wall, meaning that the wall exerted an equal and opposite force on her which canceled out her horizontal force
o The moment Tifa’s horizontal force is canceled, she should fall to the ground, but doesn’t
o Had Tifa increased the time of impact by bending her legs as she hit the wall, she would stay there a little longer in real life
o Crumple zone effect in cars
• b. Loz thrown into air by Tifa
o Loz’s horizontal speed slows down in midair
o Breaks Newton’s first law of motion b/c no force is lowing Loz down
o Tifa must use a great amount of frictional force to stop her horizontal speed before she jumps up into the air
IV. Physics principles concerning overlap broken
• a. When Tifa is thrown against the wall
o Flowers fly up as an overlap to Tifa flying by them
The flowers fly up vertically with no horizontal motion to them
In real life, the flowers would fly in the direction Tifa was moving, because of the wind current created by Tifa flying by them
o How Tifa’s drapery reacts
Tifa’s drapery slowly hits the wall
In real life it would slam into the wall at the same speed Tifa was going
Newton’s first law, the drapery would keep going at the same speed until it hits the wall
• When Tifa is being spun around and knocked into the pews by Loz
o One pew reacts by being struck by Tifa
The pew flies up into the air with very little horizontal force, despite the fact that Tifa hit the pew horizontally
The pew flies high up into the air and stays there for quite a long time, despite the small vertical force on it
V. Conclusion
• a. Summarize points
• b. Restate thesis
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe
Physics of “The Matrix”
“The Matrix” is a live action movie created in 1999 that heavily relies on computer animation. “The Matrix” is famous because it creates a world that bends and even breaks the rules of gravity and time in a creative way, while still maintaining a cohesive flow and story. In it’s time, it was revolutionary for its concept and execution of a deeply engrossing world. Today, “The Matrix” is a fantastic film that plays with the laws of physics that effect everything around us. In this paper, we will look at 2 aspects of the laws of physics that effect us everyday, and see how they work for the characters that are in the matrix within the film. We will explore how gravity effects certain characters within the film, and how it would act normally in our world. Also, we will see how the film plays with time, how it effects certain characters differently, and how it would normally act in our world. However, whether the characters can defy the laws of physics or not, “The Matrix” maintains a sense of believability by relying heavily on the principles of physics.
In “The Matrix”, the laws of physics apply to characters differently depending on how strongly they believe in the matrix or not. Those characters who believe that their life in the matrix is real will be constrained to the laws of physics that we are accustomed to in the real world. This includes all of the humans in the matrix that are not main characters of the movie. They are all enslaved by the matrix and thus follow normal laws of physics, particularly those of gravity and time.
In the first scene of the movie, Trinity must escape from police officers and agents. As the scene progresses, we see that Trinity and the agents have super human abilities. The police officers however, show normal human capabilities, albeit higher than the average person because of their training. They are unable to shoot Trinity even though there are multiple officers in the room aiming at her in close range. This is because the officers are acting in normal time while Trinity is able to increase her movements to superhuman speeds. When Trinity goes to the rooftop to escape the authorities, her first obstacle is a medium gap she must jump over. Trinity and the agents jump over the gap easily. Several of the police officers behind them jump over the gap, some clearing it easily and others barely making it. One officer comes up short and must grab onto the ledge so he doesn’t fall. This shows that the gap is not easy to jump across even for trained officers. The next obstacles are angled ramps which Trinity and the authorities must run up and down. Trinity and the agents run across the ramps without stumbling or slowing their pace. The officers behind them slow down, stumble, and trip to traverse the ramps. Fewer officers pass the ramps without slowing down. The last obstacle is a massive gap from one rooftop to another one across a city street. This gap is impossible for any human to jump across because of its distance. The police officers cannot do anything but watch as Trinity and the agent jump across to the other rooftop.
When Neo is being trained to overcome his limitations in the matrix, he takes a test where must jump from one rooftop to another. At this point in the film, Neo is not fully free from the matrix because he still has some belief in it. When he jumps, he falls similarly to how a normal human would fall in the real world. The timing of his jump to his apex is more realistic, and the arc of his jump is parabolic, as it would be for objects that are effected by gravity.
In the scene where Neo and Trinity go to save Morpheus, they fight a group of soldiers with assault rifles. Despite their vast numbers, the soldiers are unable to hit Trinity and Neo because they are operating at normal speeds. Trinity and Neo are able to slow down time so they can dodge and avoid bullets.
Characters in “The Matrix” that have freed their minds from matrix can bend and even break the laws of physics. One force of physics that is commonly manipulated is the force of gravity. Characters repeatedly defy gravity through out the movie.
In the opening scene, Trinity jumps from one rooftop to another to escape the agents and the police. The distance is too far for a normal human to jump but because she has freed her mind from the matrix, she is able to lighten the force of gravity on her. The motion of the jump itself seems to follow the normal arc of a jump, perhaps with more hang time around the apex of the arc.
In Neo’s training scene, he and Morpheus fight each other in a dojo. During this fight scene, they fly into the air several times. In each jump, they extend the time they are in the air by increasing the time they stay in the apex of the jump, and increasing the distance of the jump. As the fight progresses, Neo is able to bend the laws of gravity more and more.
In the scene where Neo visits the Oracle, he sees two girls making some wooden blocks float. The two girls are people who have freed themselves from the matrix and are potential candidates to be “the one”. They have the power to make other objects defy gravity, which breaks the laws of physics more than long jumps because in the jump, gravity still forces the person back to the ground.
In the last scene, Neo completely defies the laws of gravity by flying up into the sky. This is not a high jump, but actual flight through the air. In real life this would be impossible because a person would not only have to exert a force that counteracts the force of gravity, but he or she would have to exert a greater force in order to accelerate upward. But because this is the world of the matrix, Neo is able to defy gravity and take flight.
Even though the characters who have freed their minds from the matrix can defy the laws of gravity, in many cases, when they don’t choose to defy gravity they conform to it completely. For instance, when the characters are walking across a room, their walk cycles conform to a normal person under the constrains of gravity. When Trinity is running from the authorities in the first scene, her run is very similar to an athletic person’s run that is effected by gravity. She only bends the rules of gravity when she jumps across the large gap. Even then, gravity is still effecting her or she would never come down.
In addition to defying gravity, some of the characters in “The Matrix” can speed up, slow, or even stop time. In the real world, time passes at a constant, predictable rate which we have grown accustomed to. Some characters can slow time, which allows them to react to things like bullets and punches faster. This makes it appear as if they were moving at incredibly high speeds. Others can stop time entirely while they continue to move at a normal speed.
In the opening scene, Trinity fights some police officers in a room. At one part in the scene, Trinity jumps into the air and stops time to allow the camera to rotate around her before she kicks a police officer into a wall. This famous kick is the first indication to the audience that some characters can stop time.
When Morpheus is training Neo to fight in the matrix, they battle each other in a dojo. Near the end of the scene, Neo increases the speed of his attacks by decreasing the time of each attack. To the audience, Neo’s fists have lots of motion blur on them because of the speed at which they are moving.
In the famous scene where Neo and Trinity go to save Morpheus, Neo must dodge a round of bullets. Just before Neo must dodge the bullets, we see the agent dodge bullets in a similar fashion. To the audience’s perception, the agent moves incredible fast with lots of motion blur. This is because the audience perceives the action in normal time, which appears to be incredible fast. When Neo dodges the bullets, we see the action from his perception. The bullets appear to slow down to a speed at which they can be easily dodged. Neo continues moving at what would seem to be a normal speed, however he is actually moving at an incredible fast speed. So in this scene, Neo actually slowed down time to dodge the bullets, even though it would seem like he is moving incredible fast.
In the last scene of the film, Neo fully realizes his powers as “The One” and is able to stop a volley of bullets coming at him. In order to do this, he stops time completely, causing the bullets to stop in midair. The interesting dynamic about this scene is that once Neo returns time to normal, the bullets do not continue moving forward as they would if time had just stopped, but they instead fall straight down as if they had no forward motion at all. In order for this to happen in the real world, there would have to be a force on each bullet that is exactly opposite and equal to the horizontal force. This would cancel the forces out and cause them to fall straight down from gravity.
In a similar fashion to gravity, under most cases the characters in the matrix conform to the rules of time. The timing on most of their actions is what we could consider normal until they decide to speed or slow time. Their walk cycles, reactions, and runs all conform to the normal timing of a person taking those actions.
In conclusion, “The Matrix” sets up a world in which the laws of physics can be bent and broken based on its story and the characters in it. Whether the characters are jumping over large gaps, fighting, or dodging bullets, they can stretch and bend the laws of physics. However, even though the characters bend the laws of physics that we experience every day, all of it is still grounded in physics so that even the impossible seems believable.
“The Matrix” is a live action movie created in 1999 that heavily relies on computer animation. “The Matrix” is famous because it creates a world that bends and even breaks the rules of gravity and time in a creative way, while still maintaining a cohesive flow and story. In it’s time, it was revolutionary for its concept and execution of a deeply engrossing world. Today, “The Matrix” is a fantastic film that plays with the laws of physics that effect everything around us. In this paper, we will look at 2 aspects of the laws of physics that effect us everyday, and see how they work for the characters that are in the matrix within the film. We will explore how gravity effects certain characters within the film, and how it would act normally in our world. Also, we will see how the film plays with time, how it effects certain characters differently, and how it would normally act in our world. However, whether the characters can defy the laws of physics or not, “The Matrix” maintains a sense of believability by relying heavily on the principles of physics.
In “The Matrix”, the laws of physics apply to characters differently depending on how strongly they believe in the matrix or not. Those characters who believe that their life in the matrix is real will be constrained to the laws of physics that we are accustomed to in the real world. This includes all of the humans in the matrix that are not main characters of the movie. They are all enslaved by the matrix and thus follow normal laws of physics, particularly those of gravity and time.
In the first scene of the movie, Trinity must escape from police officers and agents. As the scene progresses, we see that Trinity and the agents have super human abilities. The police officers however, show normal human capabilities, albeit higher than the average person because of their training. They are unable to shoot Trinity even though there are multiple officers in the room aiming at her in close range. This is because the officers are acting in normal time while Trinity is able to increase her movements to superhuman speeds. When Trinity goes to the rooftop to escape the authorities, her first obstacle is a medium gap she must jump over. Trinity and the agents jump over the gap easily. Several of the police officers behind them jump over the gap, some clearing it easily and others barely making it. One officer comes up short and must grab onto the ledge so he doesn’t fall. This shows that the gap is not easy to jump across even for trained officers. The next obstacles are angled ramps which Trinity and the authorities must run up and down. Trinity and the agents run across the ramps without stumbling or slowing their pace. The officers behind them slow down, stumble, and trip to traverse the ramps. Fewer officers pass the ramps without slowing down. The last obstacle is a massive gap from one rooftop to another one across a city street. This gap is impossible for any human to jump across because of its distance. The police officers cannot do anything but watch as Trinity and the agent jump across to the other rooftop.
When Neo is being trained to overcome his limitations in the matrix, he takes a test where must jump from one rooftop to another. At this point in the film, Neo is not fully free from the matrix because he still has some belief in it. When he jumps, he falls similarly to how a normal human would fall in the real world. The timing of his jump to his apex is more realistic, and the arc of his jump is parabolic, as it would be for objects that are effected by gravity.
In the scene where Neo and Trinity go to save Morpheus, they fight a group of soldiers with assault rifles. Despite their vast numbers, the soldiers are unable to hit Trinity and Neo because they are operating at normal speeds. Trinity and Neo are able to slow down time so they can dodge and avoid bullets.
Characters in “The Matrix” that have freed their minds from matrix can bend and even break the laws of physics. One force of physics that is commonly manipulated is the force of gravity. Characters repeatedly defy gravity through out the movie.
In the opening scene, Trinity jumps from one rooftop to another to escape the agents and the police. The distance is too far for a normal human to jump but because she has freed her mind from the matrix, she is able to lighten the force of gravity on her. The motion of the jump itself seems to follow the normal arc of a jump, perhaps with more hang time around the apex of the arc.
In Neo’s training scene, he and Morpheus fight each other in a dojo. During this fight scene, they fly into the air several times. In each jump, they extend the time they are in the air by increasing the time they stay in the apex of the jump, and increasing the distance of the jump. As the fight progresses, Neo is able to bend the laws of gravity more and more.
In the scene where Neo visits the Oracle, he sees two girls making some wooden blocks float. The two girls are people who have freed themselves from the matrix and are potential candidates to be “the one”. They have the power to make other objects defy gravity, which breaks the laws of physics more than long jumps because in the jump, gravity still forces the person back to the ground.
In the last scene, Neo completely defies the laws of gravity by flying up into the sky. This is not a high jump, but actual flight through the air. In real life this would be impossible because a person would not only have to exert a force that counteracts the force of gravity, but he or she would have to exert a greater force in order to accelerate upward. But because this is the world of the matrix, Neo is able to defy gravity and take flight.
Even though the characters who have freed their minds from the matrix can defy the laws of gravity, in many cases, when they don’t choose to defy gravity they conform to it completely. For instance, when the characters are walking across a room, their walk cycles conform to a normal person under the constrains of gravity. When Trinity is running from the authorities in the first scene, her run is very similar to an athletic person’s run that is effected by gravity. She only bends the rules of gravity when she jumps across the large gap. Even then, gravity is still effecting her or she would never come down.
In addition to defying gravity, some of the characters in “The Matrix” can speed up, slow, or even stop time. In the real world, time passes at a constant, predictable rate which we have grown accustomed to. Some characters can slow time, which allows them to react to things like bullets and punches faster. This makes it appear as if they were moving at incredibly high speeds. Others can stop time entirely while they continue to move at a normal speed.
In the opening scene, Trinity fights some police officers in a room. At one part in the scene, Trinity jumps into the air and stops time to allow the camera to rotate around her before she kicks a police officer into a wall. This famous kick is the first indication to the audience that some characters can stop time.
When Morpheus is training Neo to fight in the matrix, they battle each other in a dojo. Near the end of the scene, Neo increases the speed of his attacks by decreasing the time of each attack. To the audience, Neo’s fists have lots of motion blur on them because of the speed at which they are moving.
In the famous scene where Neo and Trinity go to save Morpheus, Neo must dodge a round of bullets. Just before Neo must dodge the bullets, we see the agent dodge bullets in a similar fashion. To the audience’s perception, the agent moves incredible fast with lots of motion blur. This is because the audience perceives the action in normal time, which appears to be incredible fast. When Neo dodges the bullets, we see the action from his perception. The bullets appear to slow down to a speed at which they can be easily dodged. Neo continues moving at what would seem to be a normal speed, however he is actually moving at an incredible fast speed. So in this scene, Neo actually slowed down time to dodge the bullets, even though it would seem like he is moving incredible fast.
In the last scene of the film, Neo fully realizes his powers as “The One” and is able to stop a volley of bullets coming at him. In order to do this, he stops time completely, causing the bullets to stop in midair. The interesting dynamic about this scene is that once Neo returns time to normal, the bullets do not continue moving forward as they would if time had just stopped, but they instead fall straight down as if they had no forward motion at all. In order for this to happen in the real world, there would have to be a force on each bullet that is exactly opposite and equal to the horizontal force. This would cancel the forces out and cause them to fall straight down from gravity.
In a similar fashion to gravity, under most cases the characters in the matrix conform to the rules of time. The timing on most of their actions is what we could consider normal until they decide to speed or slow time. Their walk cycles, reactions, and runs all conform to the normal timing of a person taking those actions.
In conclusion, “The Matrix” sets up a world in which the laws of physics can be bent and broken based on its story and the characters in it. Whether the characters are jumping over large gaps, fighting, or dodging bullets, they can stretch and bend the laws of physics. However, even though the characters bend the laws of physics that we experience every day, all of it is still grounded in physics so that even the impossible seems believable.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Outline of the First Term Paper
Physics in “The Matrix”
I. Introduction – Free from the Matrix and free from the laws of physics
• a. Regular humans in the Matrix follow “normal” laws of physics, including gravity and time
• b. Those freed from the matrix can defy gravity
• c. Those freed from the matrix can also slow or stop time
• d. Thesis statement
II. Laws of gravity and time- If you are still enslaved by the Matrix, you fall at a normal rate and you cannot slow down time
• a. Police officers in opening scene
o Officers unable to shoot Trinity because she can slow time and they can’t
o Unable to jump across the building to the other building
• b. Neo’s jump test
o Neo falls similarly to a normal jump because he still believes in the reality of the matrix
• c. Gunfight with soldiers when Neo goes to rescue Morpheus
III. Free from the Matrix, free from the laws of gravity
• a. Trinity’s long jump across the buildings in the opening scene
o Trinity defies the laws of gravity by jumping a massive distance
• b. Fight scene between Neo and Morpheus
o Both Neo and Morpheus defy the laws of gravity with extra high jumps and staying in air for long periods of time
• c. Girl in Oracle’s house making wooden blocks float
• d. Neo and Agent Smith gunfight
• e. Neo flying at end of movie
IV. The laws of time twisted
• a. Trinity’s famous kick in the opening scene
o Trinity slows time to do that kick
• b. Fight scene between Neo and Morpheus
o Neo attacks Morpheus faster by speeding up the time of his attacks
• c. Neo’s bullet dodging scene
o Neo slows down time to dodge the bullets
• d. Neo making bullets stop in mid air at end
V. Conclusion
• a. Summarize points
• b. Restate thesis
I. Introduction – Free from the Matrix and free from the laws of physics
• a. Regular humans in the Matrix follow “normal” laws of physics, including gravity and time
• b. Those freed from the matrix can defy gravity
• c. Those freed from the matrix can also slow or stop time
• d. Thesis statement
II. Laws of gravity and time- If you are still enslaved by the Matrix, you fall at a normal rate and you cannot slow down time
• a. Police officers in opening scene
o Officers unable to shoot Trinity because she can slow time and they can’t
o Unable to jump across the building to the other building
• b. Neo’s jump test
o Neo falls similarly to a normal jump because he still believes in the reality of the matrix
• c. Gunfight with soldiers when Neo goes to rescue Morpheus
III. Free from the Matrix, free from the laws of gravity
• a. Trinity’s long jump across the buildings in the opening scene
o Trinity defies the laws of gravity by jumping a massive distance
• b. Fight scene between Neo and Morpheus
o Both Neo and Morpheus defy the laws of gravity with extra high jumps and staying in air for long periods of time
• c. Girl in Oracle’s house making wooden blocks float
• d. Neo and Agent Smith gunfight
• e. Neo flying at end of movie
IV. The laws of time twisted
• a. Trinity’s famous kick in the opening scene
o Trinity slows time to do that kick
• b. Fight scene between Neo and Morpheus
o Neo attacks Morpheus faster by speeding up the time of his attacks
• c. Neo’s bullet dodging scene
o Neo slows down time to dodge the bullets
• d. Neo making bullets stop in mid air at end
V. Conclusion
• a. Summarize points
• b. Restate thesis
Friday, September 25, 2009
Video analysis of path of action
This is the original video reference of the jump.
This is the tracked video reference.
This is the image of the plots of the jump.
This is the tracked video reference.
This is the image of the plots of the jump.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Tracker video analysis of falling
This is an image of the tracker program graphing the motion of the falling ball.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Introduction
Hi everyone,
This is Ryan and I will be posting up some of my work here so you can see some of the things I have done. I am a student at San Jose State in the Animation/Illustration department. I started studying art when I was 19 in college after I met a person who worked for Blizzard and inspired me to look into Maya. From there I studied Maya for a little more than a year on my own until I came to San Jose State and started learning how to draw. And I've been drawing ever since. I have always been interested in the gaming industry but I would love to work in any part of the industry. Anyway, here is some of my work.
This is a video of an interior environment I did in Art 51 a little more than a year ago. This was the final project of that class.
This is a flashlight I modeled int he same Art 51 class. This was the midterm for the class. I have a turnaround for the day and I have some detail images of the flashlight as well as some renders of it with the light on.
These are some of my figure drawings.
Here is some work that I have been doing recently.
This is Ryan and I will be posting up some of my work here so you can see some of the things I have done. I am a student at San Jose State in the Animation/Illustration department. I started studying art when I was 19 in college after I met a person who worked for Blizzard and inspired me to look into Maya. From there I studied Maya for a little more than a year on my own until I came to San Jose State and started learning how to draw. And I've been drawing ever since. I have always been interested in the gaming industry but I would love to work in any part of the industry. Anyway, here is some of my work.
This is a video of an interior environment I did in Art 51 a little more than a year ago. This was the final project of that class.
This is a flashlight I modeled int he same Art 51 class. This was the midterm for the class. I have a turnaround for the day and I have some detail images of the flashlight as well as some renders of it with the light on.
These are some of my figure drawings.
Here is some work that I have been doing recently.
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