Outline for the Second Term Paper

Unrealistic Jumps; Action and Reaction


INTRODUCTION

• In today’s films, there is an ever-growing demand to make the impossible come to life.
• Animators and visual effects artists are getting better at their jobs, and they make it harder and harder to differentiate between fact and fiction.
• Often times, movies break the principle of action with an equal reaction.

BODY

• “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”
• The Jell-O house should not have been able to bounce them.
• If they are able to simply walk through it, then jumping on it should have broken the surface and they would have fallen through.
• Sam cannon-balled into the Jell-O pool, but Flint’s belly flop didn’t break the surface of the Jell-O.
•  The texture in the timing of their jumps were added for entertainment value.
• Their paths of action are greatly exaggerated.
• “The Croods”
•  When Eep jumps onto Grug, Grug doesn't move much.
• Eep is fairly heavy, so there should have been a bigger reaction from the unexpected weight.
• Eep's path of action when she flips from Grug's back onto the rock is incorrect.
• She begins traveling mostly vertically before she moves horizontally.
• Eep should not have been able to scale the wall with such ease.
• She was not traveling fast enough horizontally for there to have been enough force to hold her against the wall.
•  "The Incredibles”
• During the final battle scene, Mr. Incredible should not have been able to knock over the Omnidroid.
• In order to knock over the Omnidroid, Mr. Incredible would need to either weigh more or travel faster. At his current weight and speed, the Omnidroid should have stopped him in his tracks because he does not have enough momentum.
• Mr. Incredible should not have had enough traction to hold on to the Omnidroid. He should have slipped across its surface
• If things fall at the same rate, Mr. Incredible should not have separated from the Omnidroid as they were falling.
• Falling from such a high distance, Mr. Incredible should not have landed unharmed.

CONCLUSION

• Although there are many instances in which animators do not accurately follow the principle of action and reaction, these scenes are still believable, and the audience does not question it.
• A basic knowledge of physics makes it easier to tell which shots are fiction and which are fact.