Creating 3D Stereoscopic Images

This assignment was insanely fun. I throughly enjoyed your class. Thanks for a great semester!

All of my photos can be viewed with green/magenta glasses

Recreating cameras and lights in maya

IMG_5907.jpg

Maya Recreation

45 degree turn

Creating a Scene in Maya

I was a little hungry when I did this...

Scene Created in Maya:

Extra Credit One Point Lighting:

Extra Credit Two Point Lighting:

Extra Credit Three Point Lighting:

Scientific Truth or Cinematic Fiction?

Decibel Levels and the Effects of Sound on the Body

I would like to discuss the use of sound in movies. Specifically the effects they have on the ears and body between the extremes of the decibel levels: threshold of hearing to threshold of pain. The three clips I would like to use are from Horton Hears a Who, Iron man, and Bass Cannon (a music video by Flux Pavillion). These three clips have extreme examples of audible levels found within the decibel scale, and use them in different ways.

The first movie I chose was Horton Hears a Who. This entire movie is about microscopic people that live on a flower and communicate with the only character who can hear their tiny voices, an elephant named Horton. Animals, in our universe, are known to have more advanced hearing relative to humans. According to a wildlife preservation site, elephants can communicate long distances via low frequency sounds called infrasound (taken from www.upali.ch/communication_en.html).

There is not much information on the lowest possible decibel level an elephant can hear, but if you were to look at a decibel (dB) level chart, the lowest recognizable noise for humans is at about 10 dB, which is quiet whispering or leaves rustling in the wind. The scale begins at zero, which is the lowest volume of a sound the human ear can hear. Since animals’ hearing is more acute than humans, we can safely assume they are capable of hearing noise at 0 dB.

For sound to travel great distances it would need a lot of force behind it or, in other words, it would need to begin at a high volume.  Another way to assist the distance sound travels is if certain wind speeds are at play while the sound waves are traveling.

To sum everything up: elephants are in fact capable of hearing infrasound which is noise that is inaudible to other animals and humans, most other animals have more acute hearing relative to humans, and to perpetuate sound over a great distance, it would need a lot of force behind it. With all of this in mind, let’s look at the plot of the movie: an elephant named Horton, who only differs from the other animals in his world by the fact that he has massive ears, is able to hear extremely low dB levels produced by the microscopic Whos’ in Whoville living on a flower that Horton carries around. The primary character that Horton communicates with is the Mayor of Whoville who does at times speak into a sort of megaphone tool when talking with Horton, but will most of the time move around and speak at a normal conversation level (about 60-65 dB).

Due to the size difference in these two beings, the volume of sound produced by each would be dramatically different. For instance, Horton’s voice would be far beyond the threshold of pain for the Mayor, and, conversely, the Mayor’s voice would be too soft for Horton to hear. Even if Horton did have super sensitive hearing and was able to pick up the sound waves produced by the Mayor’s tiny vocal chords, he would not be able to communicate with the animals in his world in the same manner. The voices and noises of things in his world would seem to him to be a much more intense volume that we would see him collapse in pain every time a character spoke to him in the normal 60-65 dB level range. Being that this is a children’s movie, this would have been most inappropriate. For sheer continuity and aesthetic reasons, the director decided that the elephant’s massive ears would be enough to catch the miniscule sound waves produced by the Mayor or Whoville, without effecting the way his ears perceive natural noises in his own world. From a cinematic stand point, these were wise decisions, they just do not mix well with what is plausible in our universe and therefore stand out as being a cinematic fiction.

The next movie I chose was Iron Man. This movie is about a man who is an exceptionally brilliant scientist and engineer, Tony Stark. He creates and builds weapons that are meant to be used by the United States Army. After being kidnapped and he finding out that his company has been selling weapons to the enemy forces as well, he creates a suit that allows him to fight the terrorist forces and help the people he has put in danger. The whole feel of the movie revolves around the fact that this man is far superior knowledge wise to anyone in our universe, and can create amazing machines that are more advanced than any technology we have yet to encounter.

At the climax of the movie, the character Obadiah Stane, who was thought to be a mentor figure to Stark, turns against him and reveals himself as the true villain of the movie. He “stuns” Stark with high frequency device that he says was considered to be “too inhumane” for the army to use. The result of the extremely high frequencies to Stark’s bare ears temporarily paralyzes him. Other effects that can be seen throughout Stark’s body are that blood appears to rush to his head, and he appears to be in immense pain.

These effects appear to be realistic to an extent, however, Stane then continues to speak to Stark and unfold his villainous plan. Stark moves his eyeballs which signifies that he does indeed hear what Stane is saying. Effects of this intense frequency would result in hearing loss, and, perhaps if the technology is advanced enough, could potentially cause paralysis. The key here is that afterwards, the victim would not be able to hear what the attacker was saying to them. So while Stark appeared to be in pain and lost control of his nervous system are plausible to our laws of physics, the idea that he could still have the ability to hear is a little preposterous.

It is understandable why the director would have made the choice to merely cause paralysis on Stark rather than permanent hearing loss. This turning point in the movie was meant to be the climax and lead up to the victorious triumph of Iron Man versus Stane. At this particular point in the movie, he was meant to appear powerless. The director achieved this by using the same kind of technology that caused the conflict, action, and resolution of the movie. Had this device permanently handicapped Stark, it would have been extremely dramatic, but also an extremely disappointing ending as there would be nowhere to go from having a useless, deaf superhero. So while this scene does fit in nicely to the rest of the movie, it does not coincide with our real world laws of physics.

The last cinematic clip I chose was the music video for Bass Cannon by Flux Pavilion. This music video can be found on youtube from this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htm_956k5ps. It features two scientists preforming experiments on several different subjects. The experiment appears to be testing the audible tolerance levels of the subjects. The physical effect it has on the subjects bodies’ is what gives this clip away as being cinematic fiction. When the tests begin, the sound coming from the amplifiers appears to be so impressive, that it not only creates massive sound waves, but also propels the air in front of the speakers which can be seen in the movement of the hair and mouths of the subjects.

As the scientists increase the intensity of the speaker volume, the effects in the bodies of the test subjects include bloody noses, eyes rolling to the backs of their heads, appearance of being in extreme pain, and large gusts of wind blowing past them. All of these effects are meant to convey that the sound coming from the speakers is so intense that it can manipulate the air resting in front of it and push it at the test subjects. We visually see the effect of this when their hair and faces are blown backwards.

At about 1:45 minutes in, the tests pause momentarily and then begin again, but this time, the test subjects appear as though they are being exposed to volume close to the threshold of hearing. This is when their noses bleed, eyes roll to the back of their heads, and one even begins to have body spasms. Along with these side effects, one could also expect loss of hearing if the dB level was truly this loud. So these aspects make the scene plausible to our laws of physics, but the volume pushing the air at this great magnitude give it away as cinematic fiction.

The point of the video is to give the audience the sense that the sound is truly impressive and visually, all that is conveyed. The only piece that doesn’t work is the notion that sound waves have the ability to move air particles at that speed and scale.

Looking at each of these scenarios and how they were used give completely different impressions of the decibel level from the threshold of hearing to the threshold of pain. They also give false accounts of what is possible at these extreme levels for cinematic drama and to make for more interesting footage. Through this investigation we’ve seen cinematic use of highly acute hearing with Horton Hears a Who, extremely high and dangerous frequencies in Iron Man, and the extreme of the dangers of the threshold of pain with Bass Cannon. Looking at these uses of sound and their effects on the body give each scene and cinematic clip a different feel while still maintaining their own aesthetic specific to each one. I feel that each director was successful in selling their perception of sound to the audience and it definitely did take a closer look to see that there were errors in what they had portrayed. 

Outline of Second Term Paper

Introduction

I would like to discuss the use of sound in movies. Specifically the effects they have on the ears and body between the extremes of the decibel levels: threshold of hearing to threshold of pain. The three clips I would like to use are from Horton Hears a Who, Iron man, and Bass Cannon (a music video by Flux Pavillion). These three clips have extreme examples of audible levels found within the decibel scale, and use them in different ways.

General Ideas for Body

Horton Hears a Who: The first movie I chose was Horton Hears a Who. This entire movie is about microscopic people that live on a flower and communicate with the only character who can hear their tiny voices, an elephant.  Elephants in our world are known to communicate long distances via low frequency sounds called infrasound (http://www.upali.ch/communication_en.html). While animals do have relatively better hearing than humans, the of the elephant having super naturally acute hearing as the movie suggests is unlikely and therefore, a cinematic fictional device used to perpetuate the aesthetics of this movie.

Iron man: The character Obadiah Stane “stuns” Tony Stark with high frequency device that paralyzes him. He then continues to speak to Stark and unfold his villainous plan. Stark moves his eyeballs which signifies that he does indeed hear what Stane is saying. Effects of this decibel level would result in hearing loss, and, perhaps if the technology is advanced enough, could potentially cause paralysis on, but then the victim would not be able to hear what the attacker was saying to them afterwards.

Bass Cannon: This music video can be found on youtube from this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htm_956k5ps. It features two scientists preforming experiments on several different subjects. The experiment appears to be testing the audible tolerance levels of the subjects. The physical effects it has on the subjects bodies’ is what gives this clip away as being cinematic fiction. When the tests begin, the sound coming from the amplifiers appears to be so impressive, that it not only creates massive sound waves, but also pushes the air in front of the speakers which can be seen in the movement of the hair and mouths of the subjects.

            After discussing each movie and clip specifically, I will go in to detail and discuss why this is incorrect according to our laws of physics and why it would work the aesthetics of the movie.

Conclusion:

Looking at each of these scenarios and how that were used give completely different impressions of the decibel level from the threshold of hearing to the threshold of pain. They also give false accounts of what is possible at these extreme levels for cinematic drama and to make for more interesting footage.

Stop Motion Character Animation

This assignment was fun. I found that having the experience with the previous stop motion assignment helped tremendously when doing this assignment. I spent less time trying to figure out how to put together my animation and more time on the animation itself. I had some issues trying to get my mannequin hand to stand on its own so I had to hold it in place for some shots and then later photoshop my hand out (as shown below). I am satisfied with how my animation came out and quite enjoyed this assignment.

Reverse Video Reference

Walk Reference for Clip A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpQnk_3JrL8&feature=youtu.be

Walk Reference for Clip B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oisA7GjALSU

Walk Reference for Clip C: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez0442iEnIQ&feature=youtu.be

Walk Reference for Clip D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4o2iFfXbtY