Stop Motion Character Animation

          For this stop motion assignment I used non-drying modeling clay for everything that would be animated. The clay made the character extremely easy to pose. I had to have my hand in some of the frames, so I went back in to paint my hand out.

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

            Jumps have set principles that are often broken or pushed too far in the medium of film, television and video games. It is seen in both live action motion pictures and in animated pictures. A jump that feels stretched, a time in the air that has to be a second too long to be real, or the missing body mechanics of how a person is able to spring up in the air. These are some of the problems to be addressed as this skeptic looks at three different examples of bad jump reproductions in motion pictures and video games.

In the movie The Mask (1994), there is a scene where the main character, a Stanley Ipkiss granted god-like powers upon wearing a magical mask, breaks into song and dance and jumps off a wooden plank with inconsistent angles from takeoff to landing. The next example is found in Moonrise Kingdom (2012), when the character Scout Master Ward jumps over a strong, river-like stream of water running in between him and a flaming cabin with his superior trapped inside; in this example we see some flawed arcs of jumps. In the last demonstration, we change gears from live action film to a video game. NBA Hangtime (1996) is a basketball game that features lots of amped up action and (as one would expect) lots of hang time in the jumps and a great amount of twists, flips and dunks.

The first scene, from The Mask, features a zany character leaping into the air in a cartoonish motion. The angle at takeoff and subsequent path of action is of about thirty-five to forty degrees. It seems as if the jump would not have much airtime and distance as it does. Because the jump is split into two shots, it is possible for the director of the film to make it seem as if it is possible for the jump to have much more height, air time, and distance than it actually would have. In the second shot, the character comes in at about seventy-five degrees  near the apex of the jump before he takes a hold of a street lamp. Therefore, one can see that the jumps are two completely different leaps since there is no way the character could have gained that amount of height and distance from the takeoff in the first shot to the extravagant leap seen in the next shot. Besides the problems in the continuity of the jump, the character does not make a believable anticipating push down motion required to do any kind of jump. However, this mistake could be attributed to the director’s intention to make the character feel as zesty and cartoonish as possible.

The next scene comes from the movie Moonrise Kingdom, in which one of the principal characters, Scout Master Ward, jumps over a running stream of water to get to a cabin across the way. He then takes another leap to get back over the stream whilst carrying someone on his shoulders. The fundamental flaws with the jumps in this scene are the irregular paths of action that are not parabolic; a path of action for a jump must be parabolic in order to be considered realistic. In the first jump, the arc seems great and authentic for most of the way until the last few frames before landing. The end of the jump is noticeably extended by a foot to get the character to land on a platform across the water safely. On the way back, the character takes another leap which has problems with the arc as well. While the arc seems more consistent than the first, there is still some noticeable problems near the apex. The character reaches his maximum height for the jump but does not follow through with the arc. Instead, he moves more horizontally for a few frames after the apex which makes it feel like he begins to float a bit more than he should.

In the game, NBA Hangtime (1996), the playable characters are able to jump in extraordinarily, super-human ways. However, whether it is an average jump or a super jump,  they do not perform an anticipating motion beforehand to prepare. It looks to be more believable for the more powerful jumps since the push time for jumps of high magnification is usually very little. But the absence of the push motion looks really odd when the player makes the character jump to a normal height. Another problem with the jumps in this game happens to be of a titular aspect; the hang time of a jump. The amount of time is not so much the problem with the jumps, instead the problem lies with the timing and the spacing. There is a wholly even feeling to the character’s leaps from the point of takeoff to the landing. A good principle used for the correct rise and fall of anything is “Fourth Down at Half-Time.” This principle shows how something will fall slower at first after being dropped or falling from an apex then speed up until reaching a maximum speed; falling one-fourth of the way down in half the time it takes to reach the ground. This principle works inversely as well; objects will slow as they go up. The characters in the game do not demonstrate this rule.

            In The Mask and NBA Hangtime, the broken principles of the jumps were implemented to bring a light, zesty and extraordinary feeling to the characters. The looney Stanley Ipkiss and the superhuman basketball stars would not bring about the same reaction without them. In the tense scene from the movie Moonrise Kingdom, however, the unrealistic paths of action reveal the mechanics of stunts in movies and take the audience out of the moment. This goes to show that flawed actions, such as jumps, can either help or hurt the impact of a movie, show or video game.

Outline for Second Term Paper

Introduction

1. Intro to some common ways the principles of a jump are broken in films.

2. Introduce the scenes from the films, The Mask and Moonrise Kingdom. As well as the video game, NBA Hangtime.

3. From the shapes of an arc, misshapen arcs, to the inconsistencies between push time and jump time, it is plain to see how video games and movies take liberties with the principles of an authentic jump.

Body

1. The Mask (1994) - “Cuban Pete” scene

     - At a certain point in the scene, Stanley (with the powers of the mask) jumps off a plank of      wood at an angle of about 30 degrees out of screen. In the next shot, the arc seems to be over   60 degrees before he clings onto a street lamp.

    - To emphasize the cartoonish aspects of the character, he is just able to launch off without any anticipating push motion before the jump.

2. Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - “Cabin Fire” scene

    - Scout Master Ward jumps over a running stream. The arc is noticeably extended (perhaps by wires tied around the actor) near the end of the leap.

    - On the way back, he takes another leap. This time around the arc is extended around the peak.

3. NBA Hangtime (1996)

    - The characters in the game do not seem to push off of the ground before a jump.

    - The jumps are also very even in spacing which make them feel as if they are less affected by gravity. No Fourth Down at Half Time.

Conclusion

1. In Moonrise Kingdom, the inconsistent path of action for the jump seems to be accidental and not in aid of the scene. In the other two examples, there was definitely a zanier and/or lighter effect that was sought after to contribute to the experience.

Reverse Video Reference

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