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Lighting a Scene w/o Maya (Alternative Assignment)

"Cb"

The Physics of Hero

Tarantino’s Version of a Fight Scene

The movie Hero, directed by Quentin Tarantino, classically illustrates Hollywood kung fu. People are capable of manipulating physics as they battle, sometimes they are unaffected by one aspect, while another is enhanced. By choosing to defy certain laws at certain times, however, the film becomes a meticulous work of art. Tarantino intentionally fantasized the fight-scenes in order to enhance composition and drama. In some cases the laws are changed entirely. We can look at one fight scene in the whole of the movie, and get the gist of them all. In it we will see at least three of the laws of physics broken, or otherwise changed. These include two of Newton’s laws, and some rotational dynamics. Although there may be several more, we’ll focus on these for the assignment.

There is a scene an hour and thirty-nine minutes into the movie in which the protagonist, an unnamed man, fights Flying Snow, an assassin against the Chinese king. The scene shows the two of them ringed by the king’s army, lashing at each other in elaborate moves that resemble flight and floatation. Several high jumps are stifled by a lengthy mid-air slide before touching the ground. The characters also change their motion dynamics while in the air; suddenly stopping a spin, jumping in non-parabolic arcs, maybe even dipping and rising again while in the air. In the scene, the laws of inertia, action/reaction, and moment of inertia are all somehow violated, especially by the characteristic motions of Flying Snow.

Part of the law of inertia, discovered by Sir Isaac Newton, states that an object in motion stays in motion until acted on by another force. An example of this would be a rock, drifting through space. If the rock does not experience gravity or friction, and never collides with another rock on its way, it will move onward in a straight line forever. If that rock happened to be spinning as well, it would also continue spinning at the same rate.

In mid jump, characters are capable of stopping rotation (of themselves, their hair, and their clothes) immediately, dropping out of an arched path of action, or stopping on a dime after high-speed movement. Flying Snow does this frequently. She leaps high into a jump, spinning from the beginning, but then freezes while still “falling” forward into her attacks. The spinning, normally, could not be stopped in mid air unless one collides with something. At home, a person might think they are proving this wrong by jumping, vertically, and spinning themselves, then stopping the spin before landing. This is actually an example of the law. In order to stop the jump, the body must twist, rotating energy in the opposite direction. When the force in one direction equals the other, the spinning can’t continue. Flying Snow does not do any such thing. Her rotation varies on a whim. She does not even throw her arms or legs out when she wants to slow it down.

Clothing demonstrates this as well. If a person jumps in place, rotating in the air, their landing would be punctuated by the overlapping action of flapping hair or cloth. Flying Snow has a unique control over this. Her long- sleeved garments and flowing black hair sometimes do not continue past her body’s stopping point. When her movement dies, so does everything else.

Another notable violation of inertia is how Flying Snow and the protagonist change the properties of their jumps. Especially in the case of Flying Snow’s final strike in the scene. In several areas she leaps forward but stops in mid-air, falling straight down. In the final scene she arcs up, then down, then up again. The momentum of her weight should be able to carry her all the way through an arc. In reality, if she jumped at the running speed and height that she did, she would likely rise two feet in the air and reach three feet from her take-off before gravity pulled her back down at the opposite rate that she went up. She might make around six feet of distance total. In the film, she sometimes managed 20 feet or more from her take-off. After a jump that was 20 feet across, one would also expect her knees to pop if she lands in the position she did. It would make much more sense to roll. But, again, she stops her spinning and momentum in mid-air, descending safely anywhere she wishes no matter where she aimed when she jumped in the first place. Obviously there are unseen magical forces aiding these fighters, like digitally removed stunt cables.

The fact that Flying Snow and the protagonist both tend to end their lengthy jumps en-point, in a frigid stance, brings up another fully-ignored law: for every action is an equal and opposite reaction. This is Newton’s second law, and defines what should happen when two objects, say, a falling body the rocky ground, collide. The body would hit the ground after falling, and the ground would hit back. The downward force of the body is almost usually less than the upward, rocky force of the earth. If the body were a normal body, impacting the ground would most likely result in shattered bones, torn joints, what have you. This is not seen in Hero.

Flying Snow falls forward towards the ground, landing with both feet in a ready-and-waiting fight pose. Her arms do not even dip with their own weigh or the weight of her sword. She looks like a ballerina finishing a pirouette. This way of landing is almost equivalent to dropping a plastic army man on your hardwood floor. He will hardly change shape as he hits it, every part of his form will remain just about the same. But what he does do is bounce. Flying Snow does not. Nor is she made of plastic. The moment might look about as odd as a baseball that sticks where it lands, if her clothing did not follow through and sway behind her. There must be another force interfering between her apex and her landing, something that slows her down.

There is also little adherence to this law when characters seem to fly to great heights with the slightest tap of the foot. Flying Snow’s feet rise above her opponent’s head when she jumps without a running start. In reality, the upward force she applies wouldn’t even get her off the ground. Attacks also seem to have unequal reactions on each character’s end. In a piece of the scene in which Flying Snow twirls horizontally towards the protagonist, their swords collide and she is flung in the opposite direction. This should have caused the Hero’s arms to reel back, if not he should have been able to carry through the motion. The sudden change in her does not appear balanced with his attack. He neither recoils nor follows through. He stands rigid.

While seeming to float in their spinning attacks, there is one more obvious violation of the laws of physics. The moment of inertia tells us that the farther the mass is from the rotation’s axis, the more force required to maintain speed. This can be demonstrated watching a high-diver leap from their 20-foot-high board. To ease their ability to flip in midair they will tuck their bodies inwards, allowing them to rotate faster and perhaps complete more than one tumble before hitting the water. If applied to the fight scene in Hero, the characters should be doing the same. If they intend to rotate faster in midair they should accomplish it by pulling their arms in. Flying Snow, however, increases her speed of rotation by throwing her arms out. Also, when blocking during a mid air spin, (arms pulled in) she slows. This is about the opposite of what should occur.

The point of rotation itself also changes with no explanation; the character will be spinning one way at one moment, and then gliding horizontally the next. But the body positions will remain the same. They do not twist nor do they hit anything. They simply begin rotating at the hip, and then, when they feel they should land, their shoulders seem to lock while the rest of their body swings down into the landing.

According to all of these manipulations and effects, to consider and apply the laws of physics might have been a hindrance to the art of a Tarantino movie. Hollywood fight scenes are notorious for manipulating such laws for increased drama, mysticism, and character quality. By making Flying Snow and the Hero appear weightless in quality, the fight scenes can be compared to dancers in a ballet performance. Removing the forces of gravity and action-reaction, among others, enhanced the visual composition and texture of movement. Without them, the timed beats of every scene flowed well into one another. The contrast was easily seen, when one character floated and another tumbled and hacked with a sword. We could easily point out Flying Snow or the Hero simply by the way they moved. If someone switched their dynamics in movement, it would be easy to spot. Also, they ways characters fell made the composition far more intricate. Every attack became a graceful arch leading us into the point of collision, without the jarring effects an anticipation or running start might have caused. From this, we can state that the defiance of physics was a successful artistic choice.

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

Tarantino’s Version of a Fight Scene

The movie Hero, directed by Quentin Tarantino, classically illustrates Hollywood kung fu. People are capable of manipulating physics as they battle, sometimes they are unaffected by one aspect, while another is enhanced. In some cases the laws are changed entirely. We can look at one fight scene in the whole of the movie, and get the gist of them all. In it we will see at least three of the laws of physics broken, or otherwise changed. These include two of Newton’s laws, and rotational dynamics. Although there may be several more, we’ll focus on these for the assignment.

2nd Scene with protagonist fighting Flying Snow: In the scene, the laws of inertia, action/reaction, and moment of inertia are all somehow violated.

*Inertia: object in motion stays in motion until acted on by another force.

-In mid jump, characters are capable of stopping rotation (of themselves, their hair, their clothes) immediately, dropping out of an arced path of action, or stopping on a dime after high-speed movement.
-Based on this law, the momentum of the characters should be able to carry them all the way through an arc. It should also require them to tumble after landing.

*Action/Reaction: for every action is an equal and opposite reaction.

-There is little adherence to this law as characters seem to fly to great heights with the slightest tap of the foot, and attacks seem to have unequal reactions on each character’s end.
-The height of jumps must be laced with a magical element to carry characters as high as it does. They should only be able to reach a height of 4 feet, at a normal jump. Much less with the force they apply to attain these motions.

*Moment of inertia: the farther the mass is from the rotation’s axis, the more force required to maintain speed.

-Flying Snow increases her speed of rotation in mid air when her arms are spread out. Also, when blocking in a mid air spin, (arms pulled in) she slows.
-These spinning dynamics are backwards.

Conclusion: The laws of physics are not followed as seen by this evidence. Hollywood fight scenes are notorious for manipulating such laws for increased drama and mysticism.

Stop Motion Animation

Analysis of Walking

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ClipB


ClipC


ClipD


ClipE

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)

The Physics of Sin City

The Physics of Sin City

Sin City is supposedly a world within our own. It is cast in treacherous ghetto settings, which mimic those we see in our heavily populated areas, although they are exaggerated versions. People are shot, raped, and tortured daily; survival of the fittest is the moral code. Those who choose to live here must be tough as nails. Literally. While the violence and action is enhanced beyond the norm, so too are the physical dynamics of the characters, allowing them to thrive in such depths. In most cases, the laws of physics hold to reality in Sin City, however, at times of heightened action they change to resemble things witnessed in fantasy and sci-fi stories. Because of the many examples present throughout the movie, we will follow Marv, the brutish and ugly protagonist, through his trials wherein he almost exhibits and imposes superhuman qualities. These scenes include the changeability of hard matter, the dynamics of falling, and the broken laws of inertia.

Let us introduce Marv. Above, we’ve described his personality and appearance, and now we should look at his physical traits. The man is not a superhuman. In a few cases we find evidence of this, such as when a woman with a personal vendetta against him, Wendy, ties him to a wooden chair. He is seen struggling against the ropes, which, unless he is simply choosing to remain captive, hold him effectively. Wendy also smacks him across the face with the butt of her handgun. Marv’s head whips back and he bleeds, in obvious pain. The scene sets him up as an ordinary human being. However, other scenes imply that he has incredible strength and endurance.

To define the changeability of matter, let us first look at the properties of the brick walls around which dozens of impact scenes take place. There are instances where these walls appear to have a solid mass. A car could not smash through one, as witnessed in one of the opening scenes, where it chases Marv down a narrow street. The car, a typically styled cop’s vehicle, was crushed all the way to its rear seat after ramming into the sidewall of a brick building. This should tell us that the brick-walled buildings in this area, even if only based on similar building codes, are indeed made of brick. However, scenes set in the same district would show otherwise. If we follow Marv, he takes us to an alley behind a bar. Here, he debilitates three mafia-type gang men, a couple of which get knocked upside the same type of reinforced brick wall. (Having been air born on the way to impact). This shows the sturdiness of the structure. But then Marv takes one by the back of the skull and drives his face into the brick. One would expect that the man’s head to crack on impact. If two other men could fly at this wall and be broken against it, this should be no different. But the wall crushes instead. The bricks collapse under the man’s face and he survives the hit, which, ironically, serves to make Marv look stronger. The properties of that wall must have been very brittle at that exact moment.

There’s the possibility that the walls had become old and degraded over time, but it isn’t likely that this would make much difference. The force of human flesh and bone would still be too small. There may also be documented cases of martial artists breaking through stacks of brick or through cinder blocks, but these are trained people who hit the stacks at their weakest point, when there is room for the stacks to break on the other side. These people would more easily be compared to Marv. Instead of using his fist to punch through the wall he is using a head. But if a martial artist were to place the equivalent of a skull between his hand and the cinderblock, the object would be broken before the block is reached. In the movie the scene is in slowed-motion, and it is clear that it is the skull that breaks through the wall.

There is another scene where Marv encounters a wall after he is captured by his nemesis and imprisoned. He is locked in a cell with one barred window, through which you can see that the wall is one foot thick and made of concrete. Marv grabs the bars of the window and pulls on them, in turn, ripping out a chunk of the wall surrounding the window. The mass of the wall can be seen as solid concrete where he broke out the chunk. In reality, people use wrecking balls and dynamite to break through that type of material. The wall itself would, again, have had to change properties for even the toughest human ligaments, muscles, and cartilage to simply pull it apart. Perhaps Marv got lucky and found a crack all the way around the opening? Then it would also have had to be brittle enough to break off chunks around the edges, because the piece he yanks out is both jagged and tapers out towards the outside of the cell. It would have been locked in place from the inside.

Another scene shows the phenomenon of changeable matter, but in the opposite way. In a scene where Marv dives into fall down the stairwell of a building, a wood railing becomes tough as steel when he latches onto it and swings himself over, stopping the fall. Instead of shattering, the wood creaks forward slightly and cracks a bit in the grip of Marv’s hands. The time it takes for Marv to reach the rail is difficult to judge because of the cut scene, but as he looks up we can see his followers chasing him down from at least four stories above. This would mean he fell at least forty-eight feet, if the stories are as they look: about twelve feet tall. According to our chart, falling over 49 feet he would accelerate to thirty-five miles an hour. Plus, he seems to have a build like many body-builders or professional wrestlers, which would make him up to 280lb, most of that being his dense muscle tissue. At that weight and speed, he would certainly hit with enough force to smash it, if not pull his own arms out of their socket. All of his weight is also born in the same spot. The rail tilts forward as he grips it, then shifts back as he uses his momentum, (so it appears), to swing back over it. There is a chance that the way Marv gripped the it slowed his impact-time somewhat, if he were a farther distance from the railing he might have rotated, giving the strength of his grip a chance to slow him out of the fall. But in the scene, he actually grips it from straight above with arms rigid. This would send his weight through the wood, if it were your everyday railing. There’s reason for suspicion though. It seems like the material is much tougher than wood, to be able to withstand the scene’s action.

Falling and impacting objects are also manipulated throughout the movie, as we can see in this same scene with Marv jumping over the banister and gripping the wood railing. In mid-air he seems to change vertical direction. Watch closely and it can be seen that when he leaps over the edge, he falls down the center of the stairwell, which looks to be twenty feet wide. When he grabs the handrail, he grips it from above, indicating he fell at an angle. This should not be possible unless, perhaps, he took a sprinting leap forward at fifteen miles per hour in the course of two steps and the banister he grabbed was on the other side of the building. The shot down the stairwell, however, shows him falling straight down, and the shot up it, after he lands, shows that he landed on the same side that he jumped from. He is also able to swing back up and over the rail onto the hall floor. This appears to be due to the momentum gained from the fall. In fact, it couldn’t have been possible for him to do so. The change in direction would have been too abrupt, as the railing, at about three feet tall, has a wall extending below it another three feet. There is not enough room to swing at all unless, after he smacks into the wall, Marv still has the strength and consciousness to use just his arms in pulling himself in a circular arc over the rail. That is difficult to imagine.

Right after this jump, Marv takes a second dive out the window and falls five stories, headfirst, into a pile of garbage. There are cases of people surviving falls this high by hitting trash bins, but in those cases, they are instructed to fall flat, on their backs, and into bins that are full. Marv’s dive is punctuated with a heavy thud, indicating he hit the pavement under the bags. He also went headfirst, wherein the impact against his skull would be deadly. But even if he had maneuvered to a safer position when falling, he’d have had to have a weight no more than a cat in order to hit the concrete without injury.

In another scene, across town, Marv encounters Wendy and her car, which hits him twice at about 40 to 50 miles per hour. (35” per frame). In each hit, Marv defies the laws of inertia and gravity. In the first shot she hits him straight on, and at his midsection. It should be that he either his legs bend backwards while his body collapses over the hood, or he is shoved forward, into a roll or skid. Not the case. He flies. The impact of the car seems to toss him vertically, allowing the car to drive directly under him before he splats against the pavement. While he’s down, flat on the ground, she hits him again. And again, he spins up into the air. In both scenes not only does he become airborne vertically, but he also spins and lands in the opposite direction he was hit. It is as if a person jumped out of a moving vehicle and landed behind the spot where they had leapt from. There is also a floating effect while Marv is in the air. He flies up, and while there, he spins violently and appears to hang. Even without counting frames it appears too long. It looks like a person doing flips on the moon. In each apex, he hangs two times longer than he should. Perhaps we could apply this floating effect to his falling scenes, and use that to explain how he survives.

Marv makes a good example of how Sin City’s laws of physics have been bent to emphasize action and traits. Everything that happens to him happens elsewhere in the movie, to characters of all different builds, interacting with all different structures. People have explosive strength and objects can become very strong or very weak in an instant. The movie is seemingly set in a normal universe, but physics are tweaked for effect. This “effect” would be a captivated audience that is so caught up in the plot, emotion, and action that, overall, the movie becomes enjoyable. How ironic that the things we would expect to be jolting or misleading actually help us in the storytelling.

Physics in Sin City

Physics in Sin City

I. Intro- Exaggeration for Emphasis of Traits and Action

• a. All laws of physics are supposedly the same as ours, but change during heightened action
  
• b. Super strength and indestructibility -objects change motion and do unnatural things
• c. The Adjustable Walls and Banister
• d. Thesis (summary): Sin City is supposedly set in this universe, but does not follow our laws of physics. For some reason the film still flows.
  

II. Rate of Acceleration and Momentum:

• a. Marv over the Banister
• b. Marv out the window
  
• i. In both, he falls about 4 stories and lands safely
  

• c. Marv hit by cars
  
• i. He seems to float when he's hit, landing after 2X as long as it should take to fal (floating effect)
  
• ii. He goes up instead of in the direction he's hit
  
• iii. Marv drags hitman... floatation of legs
  

III. Adjustable walls:

• a. Marv and the head-against-Brick
  
• b. Marv and the wood banister
  
• c. Cars slamming into Walls vs. people slamming into walls
  
• i. Walls and set peices tend to change properties as they interact in different ways
  
• ii. Changes are never constant
  
• iii. Magic car collisions
  

IV. Adverse Theory: Could some scenes be plausible?

• a. During falls or jumps, people and objects remain safe because of the floating effect alone
• 1. They couldnt have been saved in any way
  
• b. Other scenes (Marv is captured by Wendy) in which physics affect Marv
• 1. he can rip out a chunk of wall but cant break a rope
  
• c. Walls vary... (but not likely)
  
• d. What would it take to create these effects? -Compare actual force to human limits
• i. Marv has explosive strength
• ii. Scene where exlposives are used to emphasize his stunts
• iii. He would also have to weigh as much as a housecat
  

V. Conclusion

• a. All these points stated show how physics can be bent to emphasize traits and actions
  
• b. Sin City is set in a seemingly normal universe that bends reality for effect- thus it isn't jolting the viewer.
  

Video analysis of path of action: Runjump

Tracker: Video Analysis of Falling

Video Refs

Mini-Portfolio

Personal Inspiration: Rodney Ansell, Mad Max
Creative Inspiration: man vs. wild... (literally)... (NOT the "survival" show with Bear Grylls!)
Spiritual Inspiration: Darwinian survivors.