Outline For Term Paper 2: Cinematic Fact or Fiction?

Research Paper Outline

Introduction:

The amount of speed in which characters stop or have a force acted upon them in a fantastical cartoon world would leave them as splattered mush in the real world.

Paragraph 1: Tangled Example

When Flynn and Rapunzel are escaping from Maximus, they fall down a rickety bridge and Flynn simply does a graceful barrel roll and is left completely unharmed.

Paragraph 2: Lilo and Stitch

At the beginning of the movie Stitch is hit by an eighteen wheeler truck, and is pristine even to the surprise of the other movie characters.

Paragraph 3: Where it is actually shown realistically.

Lilo and Stitch when Nani is hit by Mr. Bubble’s car, she reacts and the weight and timing is incredibly lifelike.

In UP when Carl falls down as he is struggling to hold down the house, he has a realistic weight and the forces acted upon him are believable.

Conclusion:  

It is incredibly entertaining to watch the laws of physics be broken, and even if they don’t work in our world, that doesn’t mean that it takes away from the world of the story. After all, we watch movies in order to escape in a way, so why not break a few rules.

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

         I had such a blast when I was making this specific stop motion animation. I was inspired years ago by seeing Kina Grannis accomplish this amazing video where it was a stop motion of her over animated jellybeans and wanted to recreate a smaller scale version of the project. 

         There was a lot of planning involved, first I had to go out and obtain 5 family pack of skittles and sort through them in order to have my color pallette solidified. Then, I went frame by frame and mimicked a ball bounce animation that I found online, and did the best I could to replicate it in the bird.

         Overall, I am pretty happy with the product, and would definitely play with this medium again sometime!!

Term Paper 1: Kubo and the Two Strings

  In any realm, there is always a fine line between magic and mystery. In the animated feature film: Kubo and the Two Strings, this remains to be true. As you enter the magnificent and imaginative world that encompasses Kubo, the sense of adventure will lure you into the belief that the physics are completely natural. Even if they are anything but. As you embark upon your journey, you are immediately met with the sense that there is immense history and texture to the world you've been submerged in. We follow the journey of our unlikely protagonist, Kubo, as he struggles to find his place in the world along with himself.

  To simply orient ourselves though, let me guide you in the daily routine of our young hero. Kubo, a young boy of 13 wakes up every morning in the cave in which he resides, and walks several miles into town. There he is met with many friendly faces as he makes his way through the crowds. Then, in the very center of the village, he begins spinning magical tales of valiant warriors and moon kings using his string instrument (a shamisen), and pieces of paper that fly up from the ground as they weave themselves into the living embodiment of his words. Now, this is our first glimpse of the wondrous magic that is used in the movie and definitely isn't our last.

But that brings about the question, how does this type of magic exist in his world?

  There are several plausible theories as to why this phenomenon occurs, however the one that seems the most solidified is if the matter in this universe has some connection with being manipulated by the human mind. The frequencies of the note progressions that Kubo plays in his beloved shamisen could indeed be amplified by the air, causing it to fold the paper into elaborate origami structures. This is a theory called forced vibration, which is basically the increase of the amplitude in a note, creating more distinct and powerful sound waves.

  This is not the only time that we witness Kubo use this ability either. He uses his instrument to create a small soldier which later becomes a friend who guides him throughout his adventure.

In another instance, he uses this power to mimics a small bird, and later annoy his companion, Monkey by turning them into mosquitos.

  However, with each time he uses this gift, his reliance on the instrument slowly fades. This is what indicated to me that select people in this world have the ability to manipulate their surroundings. For example, when he is mimicking the bird and creates a whole flock to follow it, he stings monkey with a whole swarm of mosquitoes. While he sheepishly admits to sending one after her, he mentions that the entire swarm was merely a thought he had and not a direct order.

 This ties into the mystery of his little origami soldier who seems to have a mind and life of his own. My theory is that he is the subconscious thought process of Kubo, who is just expressed in a very visual way without even Kubo understanding what is happening. Throughout their entire journey, this little soldier continually points the way to each place they are meant to go as if he were an inner compass of some sort.

  This is just one of the many ways in which the story unwraps to reveal such fantastical abilities. Some things we see throughout the journey we could only dream of acquiring, such as levitation. The sisters float and levitate as they attack, they are never grounded which is physically impossible, but the way that particles in this world work show that there’s a connection between the human mind and the ability to manipulate matter. They could very well be creating increased molecular density in the air, which makes the air surrounding their ethereal bodies would be colder, allowing for the effect of being lifted into the air. This also works in contingency with the film, because as soon as the sisters make an appearance, they are turn everything around them cold, and even in the fight scene on the boat they seem to have some abilities with controlling the weather.

   Another way we see increased molecular density at work is when we witness the grandfather moon king practically swim and glide through the air. One of the interesting metaphorical visuals in this movie are the ideas behind flying. I've noticed that in this film, the less grounded the characters are in their sense of self, the lighter they are in this world. The evil sisters not only glide in unison, but they wear a mask in order to hide their imperfections. The same trend goes for the moon King, but simply in a larger scale, because he is literally blinded. The entire motive for the moon King is to take Kubo’s other eye so he won't have to deal with the pains of the world and can be accepted into their family, clarity is one of the most coveted commodities in Kubo's world.

  However, Kubo realizes that no matter how much pain life is, it's better to be dragged down by it and to find strength in your community and friends rather than to allow yourself to shrink inward. A literal moment in which he deals with a struggle like that could be easily related to the gravity in his world. He finds moments in which there are great amounts of distress to either flourish, or is saved by a companion.

  Instead of using the mind to increase the molecular density in the air, another theory is that the there may just be less of a gravitational pull on their planet. For example, there was a point in the movie where Kubo manipulated the leaves to create a grandiose boat out of autumn leaves. However, in a realistic setting the entire contraption would have crumbled if it weren't for the vibration frequency continually holding it together with Kubo's power, as well as the lessened gravitational pull in their world.

  In another instance, Kubo and monkey find themselves falling to an inevitable death, but then out of the blue Beetle rushes to their aid, just discovering his ability to fly. The average gravity in that world must be less because Beetle is able to fly even though he is wearing a full suit of armor and was carrying Kubo and Monkey. Either that, or Beetle is just insanely strong, which in an epic-type movie may actually be the case. Nonetheless my interests were still captivated by not only the beauty of the film, but also the rich amount of imagination that was woven into this film.

  Overall, no matter how crazy the magic powers had gotten within the realm of this movie, it continually has a way of tying in and feeling like it is exactly in place. If you haven't had the chance to view this film, I highly recommend it because there is something so rare and unique about the message. It has a feeling of this very fantastical world, and yet it only focuses on a very small sphere of it. Kubo is definitely a movie that has invoked a paradigm shift within me, and remains to be one of my newest favorite movies.