Stop-Motion Character Animation

I had a few ideas floating around in my head before I decided to do a coca cola themed stop motion. I wanted the bear to move around a lot so I figured I would have him look for Coca Cola bottles. Then have him become surprised after finding one (and then two) bottles suddenly roll towards him. I wanted to show that he was surprised and a little freaked out. As for the bottle that falls on his head, I kind of wanted to make it a little bit comical at the end. Overall, it was a fun project.

Reverse Video Reference of Walking

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

Spirited Away

            Spirited Away is a 2001 award winning animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The film follows the adventures of a young girl named Chihiro as she enters a fantasy world filled with various spirits and monsters. While finding their new house, Chihiro and her parents come upon a tunnel that brings them to an alternate world. When her parents are suddenly turned into pigs she is helped by the mysterious Haku, who is able to get her a job at a bathhouse run by Yubaba, while at the same time trying to figure out a way to save her own parents before it’s too late. Since this film takes place in a fantasy world, a lot of the physics within it are exaggerated but not too much that it becomes cartoonish. Miyazaki is able to bend the physics of this world just enough to keep it looking natural and flowing while giving it a magical quality. 

            The first example of exaggerated action begins in the start of the film, where Chihiro’s parents are driving on a beaten path, trying to find their new house.  As the road gets rougher, Chihiro’s dad starts driving faster and faster. The camera focuses on the moving car through flashes of trees and branches showing the increasing acceleration as he is driving down the road. In parts of this scene, the acceleration of the car doesn’t match up with the speeding view of the trees in the background. In one shot, the car is driving slowly on a slight curve but the view from inside the car suggests that he was going much faster. In another shot, we see a statue as the car drives by it and it seems like the timing is a little off because while the trees were passing by very quickly, the shot of the statue almost looked like we were seeing it in slow motion. Despite that, the director may have wanted the viewer to focus on it since Chihiro and her parents were talking about the little shrines/statues lined along the road in the previous part of this scene.

Another example, taking place on the same road, is when the dad is driving (still at a high speed) and he suddenly sees a tunnel up ahead. With only a short distance before he reaches it, he stomps on his brakes and is able to do a complete stop right in front of a small statue (placed in front of the tunnel), there is no follow through at all. In reality, based on the speed he was driving, his car would have slid on the dirt gravel and collided with the statue and the whole family would have likely been killed instantly. This is very noticeable because right before he makes the stop, he is clearly driving too quickly to stop suddenly like that.

 As characters of a fictional world, the speeds of their movements are changed slightly from reality to reveal a kind of story for each unique character. For example when Chihiro and Haku are trying to enter the bathhouse, one of the monsters notices that she is a human. Haku, who is a dragon spirit, quickly distracts him and he grabs Chihiro’s hand and both fly (close towards the ground) through the other spirits/monsters feet. With flashes of color moving past them, it clearly shows how fast Haku and Chihiro are moving. Then both suddenly stop in front of a small hidden door in order to escape from the crowd. Based on how fast they were flying, both Chihiro and Haku would have fallen, or even tumbled, over each other after suddenly stopping like that. Again, this scene has no follow through and is just like the previous example with Chihiro’s dad and the tunnel.  

  Another example of this theory is when Haku tells Chihiro how to go to the boiler room, in order to get into the bathhouse unseen. He tells her that in order to get there she needs to wait till things calm down, then to enter through the back gate, and go all the way down the stairs through a door. In this scene, the staircase is at least three stories down and very steep.  She is hesitant at first due to the steepness of the stairs so she goes one step at a time, but suddenly one of the steps collapse and she freaks out and runs full speed down the stairs. She reaches the bottom in less than nine seconds, which is extremely fast given that the stairs are three stories long. Also, there is a concrete wall three feet in front of the bottom of the stairs. Since she was moving so quickly, she would have been unable to stop herself in time to keep her head from slamming into it, or even being able to run down these types of stairs without falling off the edge (there are no handrails). 

 As an animated film, sometimes the director messes with the gravity of falling or moving objects in order to emphasize the mood of the scene. An example of this happens after Chihiro discovers the bathhouse and meets Haku for the first time. He warns her that it isn’t safe to be there since the bathhouse is about to be opened so he urges her to leave immediately (and during this time her parents have begun turning into pigs). As Chihiro runs away, Haku does some kind of spell that releases a gathering of cherry blossom petals, which moves along with the wind. Observing Haku’s hair and the falling movements of the petals, they should be moving at about the same speed. But instead they seemed to move in slow motion. Although, if they were moving very fast (as it would in reality), it would have changed the mood of the scene because it is such a beautiful shot, that having them move too quickly would erase the magical quality.

In various parts of the film, there are objects that move with an invisible force. Such as the scene with Yubaba and Chihiro after Yubaba’s child throws a tantrum and destroys most of the room. To fix it, Yubaba uses her magical powers to put the mess back to order; it involved having papers, pens, books, etc to fly through the air and placed back to their rightful places. Gravity doesn’t seem to affect these objects and only seem to move by the rules of Yubaba’s spell. At times, some objects move quicker than others (such as lightweight objects), which might mean that gravity does play a role in how each objects moves through the air. 

Most of the objects in the film act as their real life counterparts although there are some examples that disprove that. An example would be when Chihiro’s parents have just turned into pigs. In this scene, they are shown sitting on tiny wooden stools, which are somehow able to hold up to a few hundred pounds. The stools themselves also acted like gelatin rather than wood because as her parents are moving on these stools, they squash and stretch rather than stay stiff. In reality, based on the weight applied on the stools, they would have broke and shattered under her pig parents’ weight. 

Another theory that deals with weight is when Chihiro first enters the boiler room and she sees these soot balls carrying large black rocks. By the looks of it, they seem to have no trouble carrying these to the furnace. But when Chihiro carries one of these rocks, she has trouble carrying it. It almost looks like the rock is very heavy (possibly 40-50 pounds). Kamaji, the boiler man, has stated that these sootballs are under his spell, which again proves that with magic, the laws of physics don’t really apply. Since these sootballs move like feathers, they are somehow able to carry these rocks 100+ times their own weight. 

Just like the sootballs, there is another character (turned into a fly), who is able to hold up a very fat mouse while in flight. It seems that magic has given it extraordinary strength as well because the mouse is at least 50 times it’s own body weight. Although, there are instances where it gets tired and has to take a break, in reality, a fly would be unable to carry such a heavy object let alone carry it. 

As an animated film, taking place mostly in an alternate world, physics just isn’t as important as the message shown in the film. Hayao Miyazaki was able to bend the rules of physics just enough to make it seem more natural and enchanting rather than cartoonish. It helped create a mood for each scene and if he had kept it too close to reality, it would take the viewer out of the film. As one of my favorite films, Miyazaki made a great film with a relatable message and created a world that I wanted to be a part of. 

The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe Outline

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A.     Introduction

a.     Introduce Spirited Away

b.     Briefly summarize plot

c.      Hypothesis

B.     Exaggerated actions/reactions

a.     When Chihiro’s father is driving through the woods at high speed but manages to do a complete stop in a short distance

b.     Characters move in abnormally fast speeds (ex. When Chihiro is running down the staircase outside of the bathhouse)

C.     Gravity

a.     Falling objects/people seem to fall slower than in real life, almost like they are floating

b.     Objects moving by themselves

D.    Weight

a.     Objects that seem to be able to hold tons of weight when in real life they would break instantly, such as when Chihiro’s parents are turned into pigs and are sitting on very tiny wooden stools

                                               i.     Although there are instances where this isn’t true such as when Chihiro is running across a thin pipe and it breaks under her weight

b.     Characters are able to carry heavy objects that are nearly 100 times their own weight (ex. Soot balls carrying coal to the furnace)

E.     Conclusion

a.     Since the story is mostly fantasy, the physics in it is acceptable because it gives it a more magical quality to the film