One-Point Lighting
Two-Point Lighting
Three-Point Lighting
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Building a Scene (not) in Maya
I downloaded Maya 2010 and it took 4 hours, then when I tried to open it, it wouldn't let me, and error...So I decided to cut out my initials from my cereal box and light it with a lamp instead. I hope this is suitable for the assignment.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Second Term Paper
Fact or Fiction? Sinbad’s Actions in Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas
In Dreamworks’ animated full length feature film, Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas, Sinbad’s ship is stopped by the icy environment created by Eris’ demon bird, and his crew is out trying to crack the ice in order for the ship to sail. Meanwhile, Marina the princess is taken by a demon bird from Sinbad and dropped on top of a cliff. Sinbad finds a way to get to the top of the cliff to save the princess. The fiction of the scene is that his crew is draped in practically nothing, how can they withstand the cold? Secondly the when Marina is taken, Sinbad devises a plan to get to the top of the mountain, but how he does it is questionable. Lastly, when Sinbad is sliding off with Marina through the snow and ice to escape the bird are they sliding as they should be in reality or are they pushing it? When watching Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas carefully, many loop holes of the scene start to surface.
As Sinbad and his crew are awaking from the Sirens, they find themselves in an icy plane created by Eris, the Goddess of chaos. The Goddess turns their tropical ocean into an icy plane in just a matter of 5 seconds. How is that possible? Because she is a goddess, that excuses the unrealistic aspect of freezing an entire ocean and the mountains nearby in just 5 seconds. Although she is magical and is able to do such a thing as freeze the entire mountain, it doesn’t excuse her magic to be able to affect the insides of the mountain, like the cave that Sinbad and Marina will be sliding through later in the scene. Because of the drastic change of weather, the crew has changed their outfits. However, what they change into is the same pirate outfit with just a little bit of fur trimmings to suggest warmth. According to the Junior Reserved Officer Training Corp (AFJROTC) Survival Camp Training, an average person, if properly clothed freezes to death in about fifteen to forty five minutes if they are conscious, and fewer than fifteen minutes if they are exhausted or unconscious at the temperate of 32 degrees Fahrenheit or less. In that situation, that scene is only seven minutes long, and is not possible to have gotten on top of the mountain, saving the princess, sliding down about a thousand foot mountain in seven minutes. So the scene is cut and should have been about at least half in hour to get all of those things done. And the characters, if they were real should have frozen to death because of their lack in clothing. Another suspicious action is in that scene is when one of the crew members jumps into the water to get away from the demon bird, he escapes successfully, however according to AFJROTC, swimming, or treading water can greatly shorten survival time by more than fifty percent and cold water robs the body’s heat thirty two times faster than cold air. And he is not properly clothed. In that situation, that crew member should have been pretty frozen since he just dove into the icy water and in that type of weather and in a thin jacket with fur trimming nonetheless.
In archery, an average person can shoot an arrow in about ninety pounds in draw weight. I am not certain that a draw weight of a bow has anything to do with the machine that Sinbad was using to launch his harpoon to the mountain to save Marina. But if the machine he used had a draw weight of 90 or higher, could that have been strong enough to bring Sinbad to the top of the thousand foot mountain? I think not. Even if the harpoon was shot at great speed, the rope that was tied to the harpoon is long and therefore should have slowed the harpoon down, also, Sinbad was grabbing onto the rope, slowing the harpoon down even more. In that scene, the harpoon made it from the ship that was about 250 feet away from the foot of the mountain and up the thousand foot mountain. It doesn’t seem possible. And when Sinbad reached the mountain short of a few feet from the top, he slid down a few feet with the daggers in hand and carved into the rock. However, if you pause in that part of the scene right after he slid down those few feet, you can see that there is just a hole that the dagger created, and not a line that was actually created when he slid down those few feet. After he settled down, he used his crew mate’s daggers to stab into the rocky cliff to the top of the mountain. The way he did that stabbing seemed like he was stabbing wood or something even softer. Because stabbing stone requires a considerable amount of strength and energy in both arms and legs, and in his body type, seems unbelievable that he can carry those actions so easily. Both his arms and legs were able to penetrate the solid rock of the mountain at least half a foot into the rock with each stab. Although stabbing into the rock to get to the top to save the princess is very heroic, it is impossible in reality.
When Sinbad gets to the top of the mountain to get Marina, the demon bird notices them and attempts to catch them for a meal. Sinbad has with him a round steel shield strapped to his back in which both of them ride on in the scene where they are escaping down the mountain. They jump off the side of the mountain and is falling, they hit the side of the mountain, and Sinbad pulls his shield away from his back to protect himself from the impact of hitting the side of the mountain. The shield’s straps were extended as if the strap was made of some kind of elastic material. But during that time and age, elastic was not invented, and the shield’s straps were most likely made of leather. As they continue falling, and are near the surface. Sinbad somehow was mysteriously able to take the strap of the shield off of his back without lifting is arm from behind the strap and into the front like you would when taking off a backpack. They land with the shield first hitting the snowy surface. They slide and bump along down the foot of the mountain. The demon bird attacks and Sinbad takes the shield from underneath his rear to protect Marina and himself, and he is now sliding at extreme speed with his back as the slide. If one were to do that, their coat would have been ruined and they would have been injured and the skin would have been considerably damaged. But in Sinbad’s case, he was perfectly fine with just a cold expression on his face. Another issue with this scene was when the ruins were falling all around them, and they were incredibly lucky to have escaped all of them falling, and just a small piece of rock landed in front of their path, and made them slide about twenty feet up. I believe that was a little exaggerated. Because even if it was a small rock in the way, they should have just slid up a little like a car when hitting a speed bump and kept going. Also, the thick snow and the pressure of two people on a shield should have easily pushed the little rock the size of a fist into the snow, but that didn’t happen. Instead they flew about twenty feet above the surface. Lastly, when they were sliding down the mountain, there was no trail even though they were sliding pretty fast; there should have been a trail. The snow could not have covered it up right away. Not only was there no trail, Sinbad was able to stop immediately while going really fast at the sight of a cliff inside the mountain, which looked unnatural. Both Marina and Sinbad came out of the mountain unscathed, by flying out from the mountain and onto their ship’s sail tearing the sail and landing “safely”. If a real person were to go through such an adventure, that person should have broken many bones, but both of them were in perfect condition, they weren’t even wet.
Being that the scene I chose to analyze was an action scene that lasted a total of about seven minutes, many of the loop holes were not noticed if the movie was watched for the reason of entertainment. The animation was well done as well as the timing. I had to look hard for the mistakes throughout the scene. The clothing question, the plan that Sinbad executed to get to the mountain top and where both Marina and Sinbad were making their way down the mountain has many loop holes in them. Many of the loop holes were there for the reason that it was an action scene, and without the “mistakes” or choices of the director I believe would have changed the dramatic quality of the scene. Sinbad the Legend of the Seven Seas is truly a delight to watch and is a well made traditional animation.
He has a bare chest, I guess his hat is keeping him warm.
What kind of snow clothes are these?
He just slid down a few feet.
There is no slid mark, only a hole.
In Dreamworks’ animated full length feature film, Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas, Sinbad’s ship is stopped by the icy environment created by Eris’ demon bird, and his crew is out trying to crack the ice in order for the ship to sail. Meanwhile, Marina the princess is taken by a demon bird from Sinbad and dropped on top of a cliff. Sinbad finds a way to get to the top of the cliff to save the princess. The fiction of the scene is that his crew is draped in practically nothing, how can they withstand the cold? Secondly the when Marina is taken, Sinbad devises a plan to get to the top of the mountain, but how he does it is questionable. Lastly, when Sinbad is sliding off with Marina through the snow and ice to escape the bird are they sliding as they should be in reality or are they pushing it? When watching Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas carefully, many loop holes of the scene start to surface.
As Sinbad and his crew are awaking from the Sirens, they find themselves in an icy plane created by Eris, the Goddess of chaos. The Goddess turns their tropical ocean into an icy plane in just a matter of 5 seconds. How is that possible? Because she is a goddess, that excuses the unrealistic aspect of freezing an entire ocean and the mountains nearby in just 5 seconds. Although she is magical and is able to do such a thing as freeze the entire mountain, it doesn’t excuse her magic to be able to affect the insides of the mountain, like the cave that Sinbad and Marina will be sliding through later in the scene. Because of the drastic change of weather, the crew has changed their outfits. However, what they change into is the same pirate outfit with just a little bit of fur trimmings to suggest warmth. According to the Junior Reserved Officer Training Corp (AFJROTC) Survival Camp Training, an average person, if properly clothed freezes to death in about fifteen to forty five minutes if they are conscious, and fewer than fifteen minutes if they are exhausted or unconscious at the temperate of 32 degrees Fahrenheit or less. In that situation, that scene is only seven minutes long, and is not possible to have gotten on top of the mountain, saving the princess, sliding down about a thousand foot mountain in seven minutes. So the scene is cut and should have been about at least half in hour to get all of those things done. And the characters, if they were real should have frozen to death because of their lack in clothing. Another suspicious action is in that scene is when one of the crew members jumps into the water to get away from the demon bird, he escapes successfully, however according to AFJROTC, swimming, or treading water can greatly shorten survival time by more than fifty percent and cold water robs the body’s heat thirty two times faster than cold air. And he is not properly clothed. In that situation, that crew member should have been pretty frozen since he just dove into the icy water and in that type of weather and in a thin jacket with fur trimming nonetheless.
In archery, an average person can shoot an arrow in about ninety pounds in draw weight. I am not certain that a draw weight of a bow has anything to do with the machine that Sinbad was using to launch his harpoon to the mountain to save Marina. But if the machine he used had a draw weight of 90 or higher, could that have been strong enough to bring Sinbad to the top of the thousand foot mountain? I think not. Even if the harpoon was shot at great speed, the rope that was tied to the harpoon is long and therefore should have slowed the harpoon down, also, Sinbad was grabbing onto the rope, slowing the harpoon down even more. In that scene, the harpoon made it from the ship that was about 250 feet away from the foot of the mountain and up the thousand foot mountain. It doesn’t seem possible. And when Sinbad reached the mountain short of a few feet from the top, he slid down a few feet with the daggers in hand and carved into the rock. However, if you pause in that part of the scene right after he slid down those few feet, you can see that there is just a hole that the dagger created, and not a line that was actually created when he slid down those few feet. After he settled down, he used his crew mate’s daggers to stab into the rocky cliff to the top of the mountain. The way he did that stabbing seemed like he was stabbing wood or something even softer. Because stabbing stone requires a considerable amount of strength and energy in both arms and legs, and in his body type, seems unbelievable that he can carry those actions so easily. Both his arms and legs were able to penetrate the solid rock of the mountain at least half a foot into the rock with each stab. Although stabbing into the rock to get to the top to save the princess is very heroic, it is impossible in reality.
When Sinbad gets to the top of the mountain to get Marina, the demon bird notices them and attempts to catch them for a meal. Sinbad has with him a round steel shield strapped to his back in which both of them ride on in the scene where they are escaping down the mountain. They jump off the side of the mountain and is falling, they hit the side of the mountain, and Sinbad pulls his shield away from his back to protect himself from the impact of hitting the side of the mountain. The shield’s straps were extended as if the strap was made of some kind of elastic material. But during that time and age, elastic was not invented, and the shield’s straps were most likely made of leather. As they continue falling, and are near the surface. Sinbad somehow was mysteriously able to take the strap of the shield off of his back without lifting is arm from behind the strap and into the front like you would when taking off a backpack. They land with the shield first hitting the snowy surface. They slide and bump along down the foot of the mountain. The demon bird attacks and Sinbad takes the shield from underneath his rear to protect Marina and himself, and he is now sliding at extreme speed with his back as the slide. If one were to do that, their coat would have been ruined and they would have been injured and the skin would have been considerably damaged. But in Sinbad’s case, he was perfectly fine with just a cold expression on his face. Another issue with this scene was when the ruins were falling all around them, and they were incredibly lucky to have escaped all of them falling, and just a small piece of rock landed in front of their path, and made them slide about twenty feet up. I believe that was a little exaggerated. Because even if it was a small rock in the way, they should have just slid up a little like a car when hitting a speed bump and kept going. Also, the thick snow and the pressure of two people on a shield should have easily pushed the little rock the size of a fist into the snow, but that didn’t happen. Instead they flew about twenty feet above the surface. Lastly, when they were sliding down the mountain, there was no trail even though they were sliding pretty fast; there should have been a trail. The snow could not have covered it up right away. Not only was there no trail, Sinbad was able to stop immediately while going really fast at the sight of a cliff inside the mountain, which looked unnatural. Both Marina and Sinbad came out of the mountain unscathed, by flying out from the mountain and onto their ship’s sail tearing the sail and landing “safely”. If a real person were to go through such an adventure, that person should have broken many bones, but both of them were in perfect condition, they weren’t even wet.
Being that the scene I chose to analyze was an action scene that lasted a total of about seven minutes, many of the loop holes were not noticed if the movie was watched for the reason of entertainment. The animation was well done as well as the timing. I had to look hard for the mistakes throughout the scene. The clothing question, the plan that Sinbad executed to get to the mountain top and where both Marina and Sinbad were making their way down the mountain has many loop holes in them. Many of the loop holes were there for the reason that it was an action scene, and without the “mistakes” or choices of the director I believe would have changed the dramatic quality of the scene. Sinbad the Legend of the Seven Seas is truly a delight to watch and is a well made traditional animation.
He has a bare chest, I guess his hat is keeping him warm.
What kind of snow clothes are these?
He just slid down a few feet.
There is no slid mark, only a hole.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Outline for the Second Term Paper
Real or Pushing it in Sinbad
Introduction – Science fact or Cinematic Fiction?
• Scene where Sinbad and the woman is sliding down the cliff to get away from the bird.
• The Sliding – how fast is it going?
• Impacts of jumping and landing
• How fast is the monster bird flying?
• Thesis statement
The Sliding
• How fast is it going?
• What is the action path? Is that correct? The way they are sliding down the mountain?
• Where’s the imprint in the snow from their sliding?
Impact
• How much pressure is there during the jumps and landings?
• Should there be any flips and injuries from the falling of the high altitude?
• The Shield
Monster Bird
• How fast is the monster bird flying?
• Is it possible that the monster bird which is that size be flying slower than Sinbad?
• Flying of the monster bird
Conclusion
• Summation of points
• Restate thesis
Introduction – Science fact or Cinematic Fiction?
• Scene where Sinbad and the woman is sliding down the cliff to get away from the bird.
• The Sliding – how fast is it going?
• Impacts of jumping and landing
• How fast is the monster bird flying?
• Thesis statement
The Sliding
• How fast is it going?
• What is the action path? Is that correct? The way they are sliding down the mountain?
• Where’s the imprint in the snow from their sliding?
Impact
• How much pressure is there during the jumps and landings?
• Should there be any flips and injuries from the falling of the high altitude?
• The Shield
Monster Bird
• How fast is the monster bird flying?
• Is it possible that the monster bird which is that size be flying slower than Sinbad?
• Flying of the monster bird
Conclusion
• Summation of points
• Restate thesis
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Mid-semester Survey
"This is to certify that I completed the anonymous mid-semester survey for Art/Physics 123 and am requesting the five points of extra credit.
As a student at San Jose State, I understand the university's Academic Integrity Policy (http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/catalog/rec-2083.html)."
As a student at San Jose State, I understand the university's Academic Integrity Policy (http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/catalog/rec-2083.html)."
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
First Term Paper
Anna Wong
Art 123 MW
October 14, 2009
Analysis of Physics in Howl’s Moving Castle
In Howl’s Moving Castle, the laws of gravity are obeyed. The movement of the characters on land, water and air are correct. Even the blob monsters, which appear to be some sort of liquid composition are behaving like liquid should in reality. All elements in this movie falls as it should fall in reality, and float as if things should float in real space. The only time gravity is altered is when Howl, the male protagonist uses his magic and if any other magical being is using magic to distort time and space. That’s when there are illusions and gravity is still present, however, it is altered by the removal of the ground. The animation is very believable, successfully creating a world that can belong in our reality. When Howl flies, he flies as a bird should fly and walk on air like we walk on land in real life. The falling of objects large or small is consistent and follows the set of physics laws, but is slowed down for the purpose of entertainment.
Illusions in the movie are a little off from reality, that’s why they are call illusions. Because the movements of some things are made to be a little faster, it gives a better effect to the scene. At the palace, Madam Suliman, the court-appointed sorceress of the king creates an illusion after meeting Howl, and seeing that he will not fight under her leadership, she attempts to trap Howl and drain his magic powers. The illusion starts when Suliman pierces the floor with her staff and creates a new dimension and water comes pouring out. The water traveled about 5 inches within 1 ½ second then fills the room with water and then turns into the sky, and then they are left floating in that alternative dimension. Using the timing equation; (Distance in inches) = (Number of Frames) x (Number of Frames) x (1/3 inch), the water travels about 60 feet in 1 ½ seconds. That’s about 68.86 miles an hour! This seems too fast, however assuming that the water that came from a different dimension was compressed, the pressure was high and came out to this dimension which currently is dry, causing the water burst out of the portal to achieve equilibrium and that can be a reason to explain why it is faster that it is supposed to be, and also this directing choice is more entertaining to watch. Although it is just an illusion, Howl is the only one that seems to have his grip on standing on the real ground which has now become an illusion of air. Sophie is being held up by Howl and seems to be floating and does not have a foot hold, meanwhile the Witch of the Waste has succumb to the illusion and is falling into Suliman’s illusion desperately whimpering and grabbing onto Sophie’s dress. This signifies that there is no ground or that the illusion is very powerful, and whoever believes that it is an illusion will be trapped in the alternative dimension. In this illusion, there are star children that Suliman summoned. They surround Howl, Sophie and the Witch of the Waste. Although they are currently in mid-air, the star children projects their shadows on where the ground should be, but there is no ground. The shadows somehow show the weakness of the illusion and that the characters are still standing on solid ground. As Howl gets entranced in the illusion, he begins to change into a monster. Sophie breaks him out of it, and Howl uses the ground to jump up, pushing onto the ground for a bigger re-action giving him an unbelievable ability to jump up about 20-25 feet into the air and out of the palace greenhouse they were in.
Flying in this movie is abnormal, because we really can’t fly, but if we were all able to fly, this is what it should look like. Early in the movie, when Howls takes Sophie into the air to loose the blob monsters from following them, Howl starts out with a jump, and then both Howl and Sophie’s gravity becomes abnormal. They are floating in the air, and there is a resistance of wind going up her dress. They both settle on a layer of air and start walking. Their “walking” on the air is slowed because they are lacking a solid ground to give a re-action to push them to go forward at a normal speed of walking if they were on the ground. The “walking” on the air’s purpose is to slowly propel them through the air. There is a resistance of the wind going the opposite direction. When Howl and Sophie land on a rooftop pole, they are given a re-action and are pushed forward like a normal dash on the ground. Howl sets Sophie down and leaves her at her destination and jumps off the building to disappear. He jumps about 3 inches (a story) in about half a second. Using the timing equation, that is about 12 feet from the apex. Compared with the result of the actual time of falling in ½ a second, the character should have only fallen 4 feet in half a second. Howl jumps off the balcony he stays in the air for a split second (slowing in and apex) and then falls 3 inches in about half a second more.
After Howl’s dispute with Madam Suliman, Howl and the gang escapes from the palace greenhouse using a stolen flying kayak. The Flying kayak is flying about 2.5 inches per second at full speed that is about 20 feet per second, and 13.63 miles an hour. How is that possible that she is at full speed of about 14 miles per hour and crash lands on the moving castle able to break a brick wall with so little momentum? That was unrealistic. Not only was the brick wall completely destroyed, a couch the size of a love seat was thrown about 3 feet into the air and flew about 5 feet from its original point. However unrealistic it may be, the movements are still consistent, and everything is still following the laws of physics in terms of the gravity, as a result can fool the viewer. This directing choice makes this crashing scene more interesting to watch even if it’s a little ways off from reality.
As Howl was presenting Sophie with his gift of his portal to his old study, a large war blimp passes by. It is flying about an inch per second. That is about 8 feet per second, 5.45 miles an hour. According to Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, their Blimp is 132 feet long, 44 feet wide and 37 feet tall. That’s about as tall as a three story building and 1/3 the length of a football field and can fly about 25-30 miles per hour. The blimp in this movie is twice as large, and the bigger the mass, the slower the object moves, however, the blimp in this movie is going very slow. It could be that making something of that size go so slow creates a bigger intensity and fearfulness of the war blimp.
In the early parts of the movie, Howl is transformed as a black sparrow in his black portal warring against the war blimps. In the black portal, many war blimps were being attacked by Howl, the war blimps fall about 2 inches per second from the sky at in unknown altitude. Using the timing equation, that is about 16 feet per second, 110.76 miles an hour. That’s really fast. Although it seems fast it looks believable in the movie, so I have no complaints. Another example of falling is when Howl, Sophie and the Witch of the Waste falls from Howl’s jump from the greenhouse to the flying kayak. After Howl jumps out of the greenhouse, he stays in the air for a little bit for the apex slowing in and out effect and then Falls about 3 inches in 1 second from the roof of the greenhouse and onto the flying vehicle in perspective. They fall about 44 feet from the roof to the ground, and the estimated roof is about 20-25 feet, so that is pretty accurate.
As Sophie and Howl lands on the remains of the moving castle near the end of the movie, Sophie takes Calicfer, the fire demon and asks him to give Howl back his heart. When the spell of Howl and Calicfer is broken, the last remaining piece of the castle stops functioning, and the castle falls down a steep 45 3.5 inches 1 second, 28 feet per second, about 19 miles per hour, that’s about a good amount of speed when falling from a really steep side of a mountain.
Miyazaki and his team made Howl’s Moving Castle a believable world. Miyazaki created a world comparable to our own because he followed a consistent set of laws in physics. Gravity was present and the movements were accurate. Although magic of that caliber does not exist in our world, we could still see it, and believe it. Some things were exaggerated much like the crash landing, but it was to give a greater effect on the scene. Overall, Howl’s Moving Castle was a pleasure to watch.
Works Cited Page
Horizon, "Blimp Q & A". Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. October 10, 2009.
Art 123 MW
October 14, 2009
Analysis of Physics in Howl’s Moving Castle
In Howl’s Moving Castle, the laws of gravity are obeyed. The movement of the characters on land, water and air are correct. Even the blob monsters, which appear to be some sort of liquid composition are behaving like liquid should in reality. All elements in this movie falls as it should fall in reality, and float as if things should float in real space. The only time gravity is altered is when Howl, the male protagonist uses his magic and if any other magical being is using magic to distort time and space. That’s when there are illusions and gravity is still present, however, it is altered by the removal of the ground. The animation is very believable, successfully creating a world that can belong in our reality. When Howl flies, he flies as a bird should fly and walk on air like we walk on land in real life. The falling of objects large or small is consistent and follows the set of physics laws, but is slowed down for the purpose of entertainment.
Illusions in the movie are a little off from reality, that’s why they are call illusions. Because the movements of some things are made to be a little faster, it gives a better effect to the scene. At the palace, Madam Suliman, the court-appointed sorceress of the king creates an illusion after meeting Howl, and seeing that he will not fight under her leadership, she attempts to trap Howl and drain his magic powers. The illusion starts when Suliman pierces the floor with her staff and creates a new dimension and water comes pouring out. The water traveled about 5 inches within 1 ½ second then fills the room with water and then turns into the sky, and then they are left floating in that alternative dimension. Using the timing equation; (Distance in inches) = (Number of Frames) x (Number of Frames) x (1/3 inch), the water travels about 60 feet in 1 ½ seconds. That’s about 68.86 miles an hour! This seems too fast, however assuming that the water that came from a different dimension was compressed, the pressure was high and came out to this dimension which currently is dry, causing the water burst out of the portal to achieve equilibrium and that can be a reason to explain why it is faster that it is supposed to be, and also this directing choice is more entertaining to watch. Although it is just an illusion, Howl is the only one that seems to have his grip on standing on the real ground which has now become an illusion of air. Sophie is being held up by Howl and seems to be floating and does not have a foot hold, meanwhile the Witch of the Waste has succumb to the illusion and is falling into Suliman’s illusion desperately whimpering and grabbing onto Sophie’s dress. This signifies that there is no ground or that the illusion is very powerful, and whoever believes that it is an illusion will be trapped in the alternative dimension. In this illusion, there are star children that Suliman summoned. They surround Howl, Sophie and the Witch of the Waste. Although they are currently in mid-air, the star children projects their shadows on where the ground should be, but there is no ground. The shadows somehow show the weakness of the illusion and that the characters are still standing on solid ground. As Howl gets entranced in the illusion, he begins to change into a monster. Sophie breaks him out of it, and Howl uses the ground to jump up, pushing onto the ground for a bigger re-action giving him an unbelievable ability to jump up about 20-25 feet into the air and out of the palace greenhouse they were in.
Flying in this movie is abnormal, because we really can’t fly, but if we were all able to fly, this is what it should look like. Early in the movie, when Howls takes Sophie into the air to loose the blob monsters from following them, Howl starts out with a jump, and then both Howl and Sophie’s gravity becomes abnormal. They are floating in the air, and there is a resistance of wind going up her dress. They both settle on a layer of air and start walking. Their “walking” on the air is slowed because they are lacking a solid ground to give a re-action to push them to go forward at a normal speed of walking if they were on the ground. The “walking” on the air’s purpose is to slowly propel them through the air. There is a resistance of the wind going the opposite direction. When Howl and Sophie land on a rooftop pole, they are given a re-action and are pushed forward like a normal dash on the ground. Howl sets Sophie down and leaves her at her destination and jumps off the building to disappear. He jumps about 3 inches (a story) in about half a second. Using the timing equation, that is about 12 feet from the apex. Compared with the result of the actual time of falling in ½ a second, the character should have only fallen 4 feet in half a second. Howl jumps off the balcony he stays in the air for a split second (slowing in and apex) and then falls 3 inches in about half a second more.
After Howl’s dispute with Madam Suliman, Howl and the gang escapes from the palace greenhouse using a stolen flying kayak. The Flying kayak is flying about 2.5 inches per second at full speed that is about 20 feet per second, and 13.63 miles an hour. How is that possible that she is at full speed of about 14 miles per hour and crash lands on the moving castle able to break a brick wall with so little momentum? That was unrealistic. Not only was the brick wall completely destroyed, a couch the size of a love seat was thrown about 3 feet into the air and flew about 5 feet from its original point. However unrealistic it may be, the movements are still consistent, and everything is still following the laws of physics in terms of the gravity, as a result can fool the viewer. This directing choice makes this crashing scene more interesting to watch even if it’s a little ways off from reality.
As Howl was presenting Sophie with his gift of his portal to his old study, a large war blimp passes by. It is flying about an inch per second. That is about 8 feet per second, 5.45 miles an hour. According to Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, their Blimp is 132 feet long, 44 feet wide and 37 feet tall. That’s about as tall as a three story building and 1/3 the length of a football field and can fly about 25-30 miles per hour. The blimp in this movie is twice as large, and the bigger the mass, the slower the object moves, however, the blimp in this movie is going very slow. It could be that making something of that size go so slow creates a bigger intensity and fearfulness of the war blimp.
In the early parts of the movie, Howl is transformed as a black sparrow in his black portal warring against the war blimps. In the black portal, many war blimps were being attacked by Howl, the war blimps fall about 2 inches per second from the sky at in unknown altitude. Using the timing equation, that is about 16 feet per second, 110.76 miles an hour. That’s really fast. Although it seems fast it looks believable in the movie, so I have no complaints. Another example of falling is when Howl, Sophie and the Witch of the Waste falls from Howl’s jump from the greenhouse to the flying kayak. After Howl jumps out of the greenhouse, he stays in the air for a little bit for the apex slowing in and out effect and then Falls about 3 inches in 1 second from the roof of the greenhouse and onto the flying vehicle in perspective. They fall about 44 feet from the roof to the ground, and the estimated roof is about 20-25 feet, so that is pretty accurate.
As Sophie and Howl lands on the remains of the moving castle near the end of the movie, Sophie takes Calicfer, the fire demon and asks him to give Howl back his heart. When the spell of Howl and Calicfer is broken, the last remaining piece of the castle stops functioning, and the castle falls down a steep 45 3.5 inches 1 second, 28 feet per second, about 19 miles per hour, that’s about a good amount of speed when falling from a really steep side of a mountain.
Miyazaki and his team made Howl’s Moving Castle a believable world. Miyazaki created a world comparable to our own because he followed a consistent set of laws in physics. Gravity was present and the movements were accurate. Although magic of that caliber does not exist in our world, we could still see it, and believe it. Some things were exaggerated much like the crash landing, but it was to give a greater effect on the scene. Overall, Howl’s Moving Castle was a pleasure to watch.
Works Cited Page
Horizon, "Blimp Q & A". Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. October 10, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Outline
Outline - Howl’s Moving Castle Animation vs. Reality
I. Introduction
• Laws of gravity are obeyed
• Gravity in illusions
• Gravity in flying
• Gravity of falling machines
• Thesis statement
II. Laws of gravity are obeyed
• The walking Castle
o (weight, balance, speed)
• The flying scooters going against the wind
o (opposing force)
• The falling of the last piece of castle
o (correct speed?)
III. Gravity in illusions
• Gravity is the same except there is no ground
• Gravity of water is imitated
• Gravity is of space while Howl “moves” his castle
IV. Gravity of falling machines
• The falling of the castle
• The crushing of the flying scooter
• The falling of the war blimp
V. Conclusion
• Summarize points
• Restate thesis
I. Introduction
• Laws of gravity are obeyed
• Gravity in illusions
• Gravity in flying
• Gravity of falling machines
• Thesis statement
II. Laws of gravity are obeyed
• The walking Castle
o (weight, balance, speed)
• The flying scooters going against the wind
o (opposing force)
• The falling of the last piece of castle
o (correct speed?)
III. Gravity in illusions
• Gravity is the same except there is no ground
• Gravity of water is imitated
• Gravity is of space while Howl “moves” his castle
IV. Gravity of falling machines
• The falling of the castle
• The crushing of the flying scooter
• The falling of the war blimp
V. Conclusion
• Summarize points
• Restate thesis
Friday, September 25, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Extra Credit: San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum: Art of Sleeping Beauty
Me with Don Rias, the background artist for Sleeping Beauty on opening night. He signed a book for me. ^_^ It was a wonderful exhibit.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Video Reference
I really did not have a ball. So I dropped my Party Animal on the floor instead. It ended up bouncing almost like a baseball.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Mini Portfolio - ART 123
Bowl of MisoThis is drawing that I did on Adobe Illustrator during the summer of this year. It was for my friend's boyfriend's new sushi place. But I never printed out and gave it to him. so it's still in my computer...maybe one day...
Saturday, August 29, 2009
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