Extra Credit: Lighting a Scene in Maya

I turned in the assignment late so I don't get any extra credit points, but I did it anyway just for fun.

One Point

Two Point

Three Point

Building a Scene in Maya

Special Effects in Animationi and Live-Action

"My first two term paper scores were 85 and 85; I will not be writing a third term paper."

Outline for the Third Term Paper

Introduction

• When there are settings that take place around large bodies of water, an appearance of a few waves is bound to happen
• Often times, the waves are used to depict a large storm and provide the setting for an epic battle of some sort
• It is quite difficult to accurate the movement of waves realistically, as some films do it well while others don’t quite get it right

Body

• The Last Airbender (2010) directed by M. Night Shyamalan

• Introduce The Last Airbender 
• In the climax of the film, the protagonist summons a large tidal wave to take out attacking enemies on board ships
• The waves and water were created by visual effects artists from Industrial Light and Magic; the scenes are shot on a green screen background then the artists will animate and render the water into the scene
• The behavior of the tidal wave does reflect on the surrounding water, whereas the waves are relatively minimal when it should be a bit more violent as a result of the tidal wave
• The movement of the water is realistic, but when the tidal wave is formed it doesn’t look as real, it still looks too graphic

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) directed by Gore Verbinski

• Introduce Pirates of the Caribbean
• Being that a large part of the film takes place aboard ships, the setting would mostly feature waves
• These waves and the whole setting on water is also creating with visual effects, animated by artists
• This film is successful in recreating the behavior of waves when ships are sailing
• During the climactic battle scene, a maelstrom occurs and two ships are battling in the midst of it. The scene shows the water acting violently, crashing on to the ship and rocking it back and forth
• Even though this film was released three years earlier than the previous one mentioned, the effects of the water are much more believable

Conclusion

        Waves are difficult to create accurately as in general, their behavior is so erratic and unpredictable. Advancements in filmmaking and technology have improved the quality of visual effects dramatically. However just because a film was released later does not necessarily mean it will always have better visual effects as mentioned previously. Films are generally successful in recreating the behavior of waves and its effect on other objects and in doing so, can provide a more realistic depiction of it. The more real it can be, the better the film can ensnare its viewers into the world it is depicting. 

Stop-Motion Character Animation

For this assignment, I teamed up with Justin Ho to create this. He provided the Gundam, (the robot) and I provided the Rider (the grasshopper-looking guy). We initially came up with a story and storyboarded it out, with 4 characters making an appearance. However when we got to shooting it, problems arose where the stands we were trying to use were not doing its job and the figures wouldn't balance.

So we then just simplified it and it made it so much easier.

Justin did the moving of the characters and I handled the camerawork. After we finished shooting everything we needed, Justin and I worked on syncing the audio and video together, and the final result is above. 

Doing this, I learned stop-motion requires A LOT of planning, even more so than traditional and 3D animation in my opinion. But in the end, I generally had fun doing it. Plus it is nice to see things come to life.

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

          Breaking the Law

          From its first development to the early silent films to modern times, movies were able to provide a vast new world to audiences. They could show comedy situations, romantic moments, or tense and violent scenes. Either way, films allow the makers to stretch beyond what is normal to effectively tell a story. In modern times, physics is an extremely enormous part of how movies are made. There is physics in virtually every film, and often times those films will break at least one principle of physics to better convey the story. One major principle of physics that is often broken, is Newton’s First Law. The First Law states that an object in motion or at rest stays in motion or at rest unless acted upon by on outside force. Basically if you have a ball rolling from right to left, it will theoretically continue rolling to the left unless there is something to stop it or slow it down. There are a vast number of films that break this rule, and often times while they can each be radically different films, the principle can be broken in similar manners.

          Final Fantasy VII is arguably one of the most popular titles in the Japanese role-playing game series, Final Fantasy. Advent Children Complete is an extended version of a film sequel to the original game. While in the original game, the characters would encounter enemies, and a battle would take place. The battle would be a turn-based system, where one character attacks and a time. In Advent Children Complete, in order to show a more “realistic” portrayal of the battle system, the characters in the film are fighting in real time. but are also shown leaping to extreme heights and performing superhuman feats. The breaking of Newton’s First Law occurs during  most often during  when the characters are fighting. In one major scene the protagonist, Cloud, and his six allies are in a battle with a titanic flying behemoth, called SIN Bahamut, amongst high rise buildings and platforms. Throughout the battle, the characters especially the protagonist, are constantly leaping from one building to another while attacking and even while attacking seem to not be affecting by the air around them. Remember that these characters are not flying, but are really just leaping at great heights. During these jumps, they would somehow slow themselves down in order to land exactly where they need to. Sometimes, the characters wouldn’t even slow down and just seem to travel at a constant speed through the air. During the climax of the battle, SIN Bahamut is charging up a blast while rising up in the air. Cloud jumps after it, and he is assisted by his friends or propel him upwards. One of his allies, jumps up, spins in the air multiple times and stops himself in mid-air while continually moving up to further Cloud’s ascent. The last person to give him the final boost appears on screen already in the air yet is somehow moving forward in an arc, launching Cloud up. Finally, instead of slowing down due to air resistance, Cloud just remains flying upwards through the air showing no signs of slowing down. 

He jsut doesn't slow down.

          Dragonball Z is a popular action anime based on the original manga by Akira Toriyama. In the world of Dragonball Z, while the characters are able to fly through the air, there are times when they also show feats such as leaping to impossible heights. A number of films were made based on the popular anime, one being Bojack Unbound. In this film, a few of the characters are fighting in a martial arts tournament. Throughout the tournament, the characters are constantly leaping from one platform to another. They also would encounter each other directly in mid-air and trade blows with each other. If this occurs however, the force of the punch or any attack should knock the characters backwards to the ground. Yet the characters only stagger for a moment and are able to attack right back. Newton’s First Law is broken in this case as the characters can effectively control their movements effortlessly in mid-air and it like there is no air resistance acting upon them.

          In another instance of Newton’s First Law being broken, is how often times in a superhero show, a character will jump up in the air and somehow propel themselves forward to land a kick on the enemy. This is often show in shows such as Kamen Rider, a Japanese tokusatsu show, that involves a large use of special effects, animated or otherwise. Kamen Rider Kabuto is the sixteenth installment of the long-running series, and God Speed Love is the its movie tie-in. A staple of the Kamen Rider series is what is called a “Rider Kick.” This kick is often the signature attack of many of the various Kamen Riders. In a particular scene in God Speed Love, the protagonist, Kabuto, teams  up with his friend, Gatack, and a rogue wanderer, Kickhopper, to unleash an attack on an alien commander. All three characters are Kamen Riders so in this particular scene, they all perform a Rider Kick. The kick involves them first jumping up in the air, stopping and then propelling themselves forward towards the alien, making contact. While a forward kick in the air isn’t exactly unheard of in the real world, the Rider Kick is quite impossible as the characters actually travel forward several feet at times. This breaks Newton’s First Law as while in the air there are no outside forces to initiate the forward momentum needed. The Riders do not have any sort of propulsion system attached, so they should just theoretically fall back to the ground. 

They jump...

then kick forward.

          Ultimately, physics is essentially meant to be broken in the world of films and various media. If we weren’t allowed to break principles, there would be no interesting shows or movies. Audiences want to see something out of the ordinary and the only way to do that is to break the principles of physics. Newton’s First Law, is broken almost constantly, as seen in the movies, Advent Children Complete, Bojack Unbound, and God Speed Love. If these three films decided to follow the laws of physics the storyline would just not make sense, and essentially would not be entertaining for the viewer. Physics will always be broken in one way or another in films, and is not uncommon in other media such as television and video games. The mere “ignorance” of the principles of physics allows for the creation of a unique world, one that is so different from our own, that as an audience, we can’t help but watch in excitement. 

Outline for the Second Term Paper

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

Outline

Introduction

1. Physics are always broken one way or another in media, films, tv, and games alike.
2. Talk about Newton’s First Law, a law that is often broken to showcase special abilities
3. Acceleration is constant unless acted upon by an outside force
4. Introduce the three films that break this rule

Advent Children

1. Introduce Advent Children, talk briefly about it
2. Specifically introduce Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete
3. Characters will often jump high into the air and change their direction in mid-air without any outside force 
4. They jump and travel at high speeds through the air, do not lose speed
5. The scrnr where the characters join together to fight an enormous creatures across the city

Dragonball Z

1. Briefly explain about the world of Dragonball Z
2. Introduce specifically the Dragonball Z: Bojack Unbound
3. Characters travel through the air as if there is no resistance against them
4. They can jump at impossible heights for a normal human and land safely on top of buildings
5. During the first part of the movie, the characters are fighting in a martial arts tournament, showcasing the superhuman abilities

Kamen Rider

1. Introduce Kamen Rider, talk about its premise
2. Talk about Kamen Rider Kabuto: God Speed Love specifically
3. When executing a ‘Rider Kick,” the characters jump into the air at great heights then move towards the ground diagonally without an outside force
4. Throughout the movie, the characters will will be fighting an alien, and use their finishing move, the “Rider Kick.” There are multiple scenes of this.

• Conclusion