Reverse Video Reference

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

For this assignment I used a lego tower thing I put together. Using a stationary camera on a timer, I photographed every frame. In the initial fall I made a rudimentary harness out of tape and attached the object to my arm. During the fall I held the object and later photoshopped my hands out of each image. Using AfterEffects I pieced it together and timed out the images.

Term Paper 1: Physics in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World

Physics is how everything in our universe moves and interacts, and it is often bent or changed in films to fit the cinematography. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World not only bends the laws of physics, but breaks them completely. There are people performing physical acts not possible for the human body, people are making things out of thin air, and one character even travels around Toronto by using a shortcut through another character’s brain. Clearly the laws of physics are fundamentally different in the Scott Pilgrim Universe; namely the limits and potential of the human body, generation of energy and mass from thin air, and overall everything has less inertia.

            Scott Pilgrim is partly homage to beat-‘em-up video games, so naturally it involves crazy physics defying fights which are a delight to watch. Part of why they are so amusing is that the stunts are well beyond the limits of the human body and are clearly exaggerated. When Scott fights the third evil ex, Todd, he takes a lot of damage that a human would not be able to take. He is flung high enough in the air to be off screen for twenty seconds, and survives the fall by landing on a pile of trash bags. Not only does he survive, but he does not seem to have any visible injuries or broken bones. In the same fight he is flung through a total of five brick walls, three of them at one time even. Again Scott shows signs of being hurt for a few seconds, but shakes it off. This could mean the human body is constructed of different materials that could absorb the forces put on it. The skin could be made of some cut-proof material such as Kevlar. Bones and other internal organs would have to be much more elastic, possibly made of rubber. The forces acting on the body would be very large as well, which brings us to the aggressor, Todd. Todd has telepathic and telekinetic powers attributed to him being vegan. While the science behind being able to control affect objects with the mind is indeed questionable, it is what Todd attributes his ability to that shows that humans are fundamentally different. He simplifies it down to the popular myth that we only use ten percent of our brains, and that vegans’ heads are clearer because of their diet and can use one hundred percent of their brain power. This has been scientifically disproven, and while the myth is still perpetuated today, it is very clear that this is a different universe. Todd is not just making it up either, as shown by the basic knowledge of the other characters in the scene. They know of vegans having super powers. So this is not something that is entirely exceptional and is common knowledge. The limits of the human body in this film are both physically and mentally higher.

            Another factor that may contribute to these events is that in the film’s physics, inertia, as well as air resistance, has a much smaller effect on mass. This would mean it would be much easier to change a moving object’s direction as well as making it easier for the characters to perform such amazing feats as they do in the film. In Scott’s fight with the second evil ex Lucas Lee, Lee throws Scott across a large film set and up a few stories. This could easily be explained by him having super powers, but he is a normal person like Scott, who has similar strength, although he is considerably scrawnier than Lee. This would mean the rest energy of mass is significantly lower than it normally is. It takes much less energy to move objects. This would also partially explain how he defeats Lee. Lee dies by doing a grind on his skateboard down a rail and reaching a top speed of 309 k/h (192 m/h). This speed is close to the top speed a human can attain while falling, and he’s doing it while grinding down an incline. Gravity does not seem to be greater in the rest of the movie, in fact it would seem to be less, but he accelerates to near top speed in a matter of seconds.  This would mean it takes less force to act upon his mass than normal. Of course in order for this to happen, friction and air resistance would have to be nearly negligible. His speed was not slowing down at all; in fact he was still accelerating before crashing, which means there was no air resistance at all to counteract the force of gravity. Had there been any, it would have counteracted gravity very fast due to less inertia and Lee would not have reached terminal velocity and Scott wouldn’t have defeated him.

            Throughout the movie characters are breaking the law of the conservation of mass and energy. Characters create masses and energy out of thin air in almost every fight. Most notably is the amp vs. amp band battle with the Katayanagi twins. Both bands summon large physical monsters with their music to do battle. These creatures seemed to be formed by the sound waves coming from the amplifiers and electricity. Even more fantastical is the swords used in the final battle. Both Scott and Gideon use swords they pull out of their bodies, though Gideon’s seems more like an energy sword. There is no apparent loss of mass in either of them when they perform this. While converting energy to matter is theoretically possible, it would take a great amount of energy to do so. Einstein’s famous mass-energy equivalence formula, E=mc², shows that mass is equivalent to a significantly larger quantity of energy. This principle seems to be flipped in the film. Characters are either creating mass out of small amounts of energy, or are simply just creating mass from nothing.

            It is quite evident that Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World takes place in some alternate reality from ours. In any other film the ridiculous fight physics and mass creation would break the suspension of disbelief, but in this film it works. The aesthetic is like that of a video game and comic book, which it is what it’s based off. Clearly it was meant as a tribute and somewhat of a parody of classic videogames, so the physics are even more exaggerated. Everything in this movie is exaggerated: the script, the characters, the story, and the animation; I love it for that. The physics in Scott Pilgrim really enhances the world and the characters that live in it. 

Outline of First Term Paper

I. Introduction
   A. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
   B. The laws of physics are fundamentally different in the Scott Pilgrim Universe. Namely the limits          and potential of the human body, generation of energy and mass from sound waves, and overall          everything has less mass.
II. Body
    A. Limits and Potential of the Human Body
        In all of the fights, the human body can take a lot of damage. In the fight against Todd, Scott                gets thrown through several walls, and seems only slightly winded after. Todd himself has                  "vegan powers" because he can use 100% of his brain. Humans in this world must use only                   10% of their brain, as the myth goes.
     B. Mass and Energy Creation
         When fighting the twins in the battle of the bands, each band's music takes physical form and                fights, ending with the twins being physically crushed by their own musical personification.
          Matthew Patel creates fireballs from just his hands.
          Gideon pulls a sword out of thin air.
          Scott pulled a sword which seemingly grew out of his chest.
     C. Less Mass Overall
          This can explain the stunts pulled off in every fight. Specifically when Scott fights the movie                star, Lucas Lee. Lee is easily able to pick up and throw Scott across a large set and 3 stories in            the air. Also he easily picks up speed when doing a grind, reaching a top speed of 200 mph,                which was still accelerating before he crashed.
III. Conclusion
   A. This is clearly meant to be a different universe from our own. The aesthetic is similar, but the             physics are very different. While the action and fights in a movie usually suspend disbelief to a           point, this movie goes way over the top with it's physics.

Video Analysis of Path of Action

Tracker Video Analysis of Falling

Shooting Video Reference

Picked a bit of a small ball...

video here: http://youtu.be/DfJt1PNRCmY