TERM PAPER: Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

Film is always filled with fantasy and illusion. Not only do movies push the boundaries of science, but TV shows as well. But why do directors allow for this? The laws of science are pushed often for comedic effect or to create action. The motivation to stretch science is always rooted in the story of the film or TV show. When we think of certain areas of science that are routinely pushing the limits, people may think of scientific fallacies concerning action packed explosions, or superhero problems. However, there are many other areas of physics that are exaggerated though they may be more subtle compared to other fallacies. Balance in objects or people or animals, is important and allows for characters to be grounded physically and maybe even mentally and these are exaggerated often. In movies, the character’s base of support should be in alignment with the center of pressure. However, it has been skewed in media such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Aladdin, and the movie A Series of Unfortunate Events. However, they are done in a believable manner that supports the story and characters.

In How the Grinch Stole Christmas, there is an instance where the Grinch is using a toy fire truck’s ladder to obtain the star on top of a Christmas tree. Visually it is very amusing and unexpected, but is it realistic? At first glance, it looks stable. The center of gravity from where the Grinch is position runs straight down to the fire truck right beneath him. However, it still looks impossible. It could also be the fact that no fire truck toy has a ladder that long, let alone could support the weight of an “adult.” However, by evaluating the scene more thoroughly one would realize that Grinch’s weight is the main factor it looks unrealistic. When you lower the center of gravity in an object, it becomes more stable. Conversely, if you raise it becomes unstable. In this instance, the Grinch is high up, making his the whole scene impossible. He would fall down even if did manage to somehow climb that ladder.

Another example comes from Aladdin. The movie has a famous scene where, Aladdin is introduced as Prince Ali to the king, while the Genie sings the beloved Prince Ali song. There are several moments within the segment that push at the laws of physics concerning balance. There is an instance where Aladdin is balancing 6 men. However the scene in question is when the Genie is trying to rally up the people in the bazaar. He gets one guy and pushes him around like a wheelbarrow and picks up at least a dozen other guys. Somehow they form a tower that curves over Aladdin and he shakes a couple of their hands as they balance over them. The way the column is stacked almost looks like a backwards question mark. The main reason this would be impossible to achieve is that the center of pressure is not in the base of support and which also means that center of gravity is not in alignment either. Also, it unlikely that any human would be able to support all that weight, and balance so many people in a tower.

The last example of balance being violated comes from the movie A Series of Unfortunate Events.  There are many movies that take advantage of fantastical architecture to help take the viewer to another world. This movie is no exception. There is a character named Aunt Josephine and her house is balanced on stilts over the side of a cliff. In the movie, the characters even question the structure.  The structure of the house defies science to a great extent. Extensive special effects and green screens were used to capture the effect of the house sitting precariously on the cliff. First, the structure is too top heavy, the same problem of the center of gravity being too high. In addition to this, its foundation is not sound. Lastly, the center of pressure is not within the base of support, thus making it unbalanced.

The creators of these shows did not just decided to push science to its limit. In each example, there is a clear reason why such science was turned on its head. In How the Grinch Stole Christmas, he stands on the ladder for comedy effect from both adults and children. Secondly, he is being sneaky and going under cover of darkness so he has to make due with what he has. Lastly, it plays into his character; it is unexpected but makes sense for the Grinch. In Aladdin, the scene with the song Prince Ali was a very vibrant excessive scene. The reason it is there is for audiences to see how lavish Aladdin was and went with his fake Identity as a prince to gain Jasmine’s affection. So he shakes the hands of several men in a ridiculous manner, this also allows for the audience to see that everyone likes them.  Lastly is Aunt Josephine’s house, the house is an extension of her personality and how its unwieldy and precarious just like her personality. All of these movies had a clear reason for going out of their way to push the boundaries of science.

Movies often play off of science for comedic reasons, but in these examples they were more than just laughs. Both a Series of Unfortunate and The Grinch have aspects where science is questioned, but these are done to deepen what the main character already is.  Aunt Josephine is afraid of everything, so her house is situated on stilts to represent her fragile personality. The Grinch is sneaky but not the smartest.  Seeing him on the fire truck ladder is unexpected but matches his character. Aladdin on the other hand, the tower of men was done purely as a visual element. Regardless of how the relationship between the center of gravity and  base of support, physics can be pushed either to make characters more fuller and believable, or capitalize on a already humorous moment.

Outline of the Second Term Paper

Introduction

A.     There are many examples in films where the center of pressure is not in the base of support.

B.     This is often done for comedic effect or to create a specific mood in a movie.

C.     How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Aladdin

Body

A.     How the Grinch Stole Christmas

a.     The Grinch is taking the star off the top of a tree and is balancing on the ladder of a toy fire truck.

b.     He should fall, and the ladder should not be able to support his weight.

B.     A Series of Unfortunate of Events

a.     Aunt Josephine’s house should fall, because of the center of pressure is not within the base of support.

b.     The house should topple over.

C.     Aladdin

a.     During the Prince Ali song, several characters balance on each other, but they curve over Aladdin.

b.     This is impossible and they shouldn’t be able to support each other.

Conclusion

Reverse Video Reference

A

B

C

D

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

I had some fun with this project though it definitely had obstacles. The first obstacle was coming up with an idea that was realistic to achieve but not too boring. Once I figured that out, I used my DSLR to take pictures. The animation is about a lid of a Pringles' can. I dropped the lid and recorded it and observed it using Tracker. Next I did some trial runs by photographing it, and looking at the photos on my computer. I made 3 runs before settling on the last and final take, which I did in one sitting. I used my knowledge of "Fourth Down at Half-Time" and the information from one of the lectures on rolling vs. slipping to figure out the timing. It also took me awhile to get a tripod and figure out lighting. Once I compiled the images, I used Flash to time them properly. In Flash, I had trouble exporting it as an .mov, so I imported it as .swf file into After Effects where I converted it to an .mov. 

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

           Dragons have always fascinated the human mind and have remained a large part of human imaginations and fantasies. How To Train Your Dragon capitalizes on everyone’s love for the mythical beasts. Creating a viable world where these creatures can behave realistically is an important factor in bringing them to life for the audience. The creators of How To Train Your Dragon toe a fine line between realism and fiction to present a story with both fantasy and science.

            The film revolves around Hiccup and his unlikely friendship with a dragon that he names Toothless. Hiccup comes from a village that hates dragon, but when he befriends one, he struggles to face his village and come forward with his new friendship. Toothless’ has fins or wings on his tail that comes in a pair, but one of them is missing. His tail acts like rudder and allows him to balance himself and turn. Hiccup inadvertently shoots it off in his attempt to kill Toothless at the beginning of the film. This handicap prevents Toothless from flying. Hiccup after befriending the dragon, engineers a device that Toothless can use as a substitute for his missing wing. The only caveat is that Hiccup has to be on Toothless during flight in order to change the positioning of the wing to cater to different flight patterns.

.An incredible amount of effort was put into flight mechanics for Toothless. Toothless’ wing and flight patterns mimic a bird. Many times in other movies dragon wings follow a simple, unrealistic up and down motion. However, a bird traditionally pushes downward and forward in an arcing motion. (Fig 1) In the movie, Toothless’ wings follow the logic of a bird flying and there are many scenes throughout the movie that apply to this. (Fig 2)  

Fig 1

Fig 2 

An example of Toothless Flying

            When Hiccup and Toothless fall during a flight, it is portrayed realistically, more or less, as far as a dragon falling from the sky is concerned. Toothless, being a dragon and much larger than Hiccup, falls faster. The force of air resistance is greater for Toothless, but it is insignificant compared to his weight. His terminal velocity is greater than Hiccup, thus he falls faster than him. (Fig. 3) Hiccup able to control his fall by adjusting his surface area. As he tries to grab Toothless, he brings his limbs closer to his body so he can fall faster; he is not spreading them out. Though he as not as skilled as a skydiver, he is able to get closer to the dragon. As this happens, Toothless is attempting to slow himself down by unfurling his wings. Hiccup is able to grab on to Toothless, and gain control of him. After this fall, Toothless accelerates to his terminal velocity that he has to slow down to prevent himself from crashing. He does this by spreading out his wings fully in order to use their surface area. (Fig. 4) This is an accurate portrayal of how on object would react when falling and the response it would have to increased surface area.

Fig 3

Here, Toothless has fallen faster than Hiccup

Fig 4

            While movie does have physically possible situations, if dragons existed, there are many scenes when science is sacrificed for the story. There are several scenes that have unrealistic reactions to an unbalanced force.  In one scene, two siblings are fighting over a shield. They have the shield between each other and are both pulling on it in an opposite direction. A dragon sees them and shoots fire at the shield. The shield is sent flying on the same path that the fire was shot. The two siblings spin rapidly in place as a reaction to the force of energy sent their way. The fire hitting the shield should have blown them back because the law of Inertia states, “An object at rest remains at rest until acted on by unbalanced force.” In addition, they should have followed the path of the fire blast rather than simply spinning in place. In the case of this scene, their unrealistic reaction was for the purpose entertainment, more specifically comedic relief.

In another scene, at the beginning of the film, Hiccup makes some early attempts to ride Toothless. At one point, Toothless flings him off his back into a lake. Instead of simply falling into the lake, he skips across the surface. The Law of Inertia also states, “An object moves with constant, uniform motion until acted on by an unbalanced force.” This is the logic behind why animators might have had him skip across the surface rather than fall in. Much like with the force of air resistance, the force of the water’s surface becomes insignificant as weight increases. Hiccup is too heavy for the water, and it is too weak to be a viable unbalanced force that acts upon him. Thus, he should have fallen into the water. Even if there were enough force to skip Hiccup across the water, his flailing limbs would prevent such an occurrence. Lastly, Toothless shoots a small fire blast at a little dragon trying to steal his fish. The force of the attack, though small, should have sent the smaller dragon in the same direction as how the fire blast was moving. Instead, he plops down in the same spot. (Fig 5) He does not move, and behaves like an object at rest, even though he is not supposed to be.

Fig 5

   Even though Toothless the dragon has many scenes with realistic flight patterns and reactions, many of the other dragons in the movie do not. The creators did this to set Toothless apart as a unique and special dragon. He contrasts with the other dragons in overall shape and movements. A very large dragon in the shape of a Tyrannosaurus Rex is able to fly with wings that proportionately have less surface area than Toothless’ wings. (Fig 6) At another point, there is a dragon is larger than any of the other dragons that is able to fly. As the law of Inertia states, “An object at rest remains at rest until acted on by an unbalanced force.” Planes are heavy and large and are only able to take off because of the lift and the power of the engines. Birds are light of enough to generate enough thrust proportionate to their weight. The large Dragon in question does not generate enough thrust to realistically get into the air in the first place. In addition to this, his wings are not large enough for his body and weight.

Fig 6

As a final note, Toothless the dragon is a very streamlined, aerodynamic dragon that is capable of complex maneuvers. At one point, Hiccup has his friend Astrid ride Toothless to show her the beauty of flying. Toothless pulls a lot of stunts in the air like twists and steep climbs into the air. All these maneuvers should have thrown Astrid off into the ocean unless she has an incredible amount of strength. (Fig 7) When Toothless is flying in a straight line and jerks and or turns suddenly, Astrid should be sent flying, because her body wants to continue going in a straight line and she is technically strong enough to be hold on to follow Toothless’ path in the sky.

Fig 7

How To Train Your Dragon is a great fantasy film for children and adults. It takes mythical creatures and brings it to life on screen using story and a great character design for the dragon. The universe that the characters live in is based closely off the physical world that its audience lives in and there are many aspects that hold true in both worlds. However, when the creators want to emphasize the story, the physics are often exaggerated, but the pay off is worth it. In the end, audiences have an entertaining experience watching How To Train Your Dragon.

I deviated slightly from my original outline. In my outline I had a section entitled “Exaggerated Reactions to Weight.” I replaced it with a section about how the movie followed the flight logic of birds and how it was applied to Toothless, the main dragon character. I found it more interesting. I thought my original ideas weren’t as interesting and not easy to explain in detail.