Character Animation

I created this stop motion animation using a clay model. The arms and head were allowed to swivel on metal wire, but I could not get the model sturdy enough to walk on legs. I don't have a tripod so I had to do my best with keeping the camera steady. After shooting I compiled the animation in Premiere.

The Laws of Physics in an Animated Universe - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

The Laws of Physics in an Animated Universe - 

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Plenty can go wrong in a world of monstrous insects and the poisonous forests. In Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, a hand animated film by Studio Ghibli released in 1984, even physics has to go awry in order to achieve amazing flying scenes and gigantic assailants. Flying in Nausicaa's world is generally the same as in ours since the director is a long-time fan of aviation, but other effects of gravity are not followed as strictly. Falling is timed for effect and story even when it's not perfectly accurate, and planes or gliders can sometimes defy the normal laws of gravity in order to take off in a difficult space. The giant insects which haunt Nausicaa's world also push aside the laws of gravity in order to simply exist. Their bodies' strength, structural integrity, and weight do not match up according to certain laws of physics in our world. But in Nausicaa, we see that large organisms can not only thrive, but walk, run and fly. Nausicaa's world is close to ours, maybe even set in our future, but some physical laws of gravity and scale have to be set aside for effect and story.

The Ohmu, the largest of all the insects in Nausicaa’s world, are an impressive sight to see, especially because there is no way their exoskeletons could support their weight in our world. The Square Cube Law states that as an object, or body, grows proportionally, it’s weight is proportionally cubed, while it’s surface area is only proportionally squared. This means that every time an Ohmu doubled in length and width, it’s surface area would be four times larger, but it’s weight would be eight times larger. If something comparable, like a beetle, grew to the size on an Ohmu, it’s weight would be hugely disproportionate to the structural integrity of it’s body. The exoskeleton is not able to hold in this kind of weight, which is the reason why the largest creatures on our planet have internal skeletons. Hayao Miyazaki, the director and writer of Nausicaa, allows this to slide by. Audiences have seen enough B horror films with giant insects and animals to suspend their disbelief of the impossibly large Ohmu and other insects of Nausicaa’s world. And the choice of giant insects is an excellent one. Insects are unrelatable and creepy to most people, and making them so large increases how threatening they appear. Another creature in Nausicaa’s world, the Giant Warrior, would also not be able to exist, much for the same reasons. Even though it has an internal skeleton, there is a limit to the amount of weight a humanoid skeleton can bear. The Giant Warrior near the end of the film is premature, and suffers because of it, but the others we see from the history of Nausicaa’s world are as impossible as the Ohmu.

If we assume the Giant Insects of Nausicaa’s world are somehow able to contain their weight within their exoskeletons, there is also an issue with their locomotion. Their joints are similar to that of a crab, another creature with an exoskeleton, and in our world these structures certainly don’t have the strength to propel the Giant Insects along, particularly at a high speed. But in Nausicaa’s world these weak external joints have the capacity to move the Giant Insects and move them quickly. The wings of the Insects are also far too small to support their weight in our world , and none of them would be able to fly here. Even a Giant Insect with four wings would not have enough lift to get off the ground. But Miyazaki has chosen story and mood over the actual biomechanics and physics of the Giant Insects. Nausicaa has many scenes which take place in the sky, and it’s important to have Insects who can fly as well. And the Ohmu need to run in order for the story to progress, since their stampedes are a significant part of the plot. 

Falling in Nausicaa’s world is a little more convenient than in ours. Not only do characters jump higher and fall slower than the normal laws of gravity would permit in our world, but they are tend to favor certain characters. Nausicaa is the first one to show some high jumps and slow falls, when she backflips during a fight with some soldiers. She arcs high into the air and is suspended for longer near the top than any gymnast could achieve in our world. A quick clip of her landing shows a believable descent to the ground, but compared to a gymnast’s backflip, she has far too much time in the air. Nausicaa hits her apex in the right position, but her center of weight would probably be about where her head is while standing. Obviously, as seen in the stitched together image, her apex is much, much higher. Lord Yupa also seems to have unique abilities when it comes to gravity. When he falls strategically from one airplane onto another, he doesn’t seem to have kept the inertia of the first plane. As his airplane flies by, a soldier on board the second plane even has time to react to the oncoming warrior. Lord Yupa would have to be travelling very fast to hit a speeding plane after being propelled by the first one. Additionally, the second plane seems to stand still for a moment so that he can board. In our world he would hit the second plane a lot faster and with far less grace, if he even manages to land on the plane at all. Of course, being the heroes of this film, Nausicaa and Lord Yupa have to have some cool tricks in order to create more spectacular fight scenes.

Falling in Nausicaa’s world is also convenient in less flashy ways. Sometimes in order to get a character to safety, or from just one place to another, some laws of gravity have to been overlooked. The audience might not even notice sometimes. When Nausicaa and two other characters escape a plummeting airship (calling it a “plane” would not demonstrate it’s size) they are still able to walk on the floor. The interior they move through is tilted to show the downward progression of the plane, but they can stand as if a force was still pushing back up on their feet. In our world, with normal laws of gravity, they would also fall, and have to move through the airship almost like astronauts in the space station. This would probably be very difficult to animate believably, and gathering reference would be dangerous. So it’s understandable by Miyazaki chose not to have characters move realistically through the falling airship. 

The most amazing flying machine in Nausicaa’s world is her glider, called mehve, meaning “seagull”. With her mehve she soars on the winds of her valley, for which it is named, and rescues people, cities, and even Insects. It’s flying capabilities may be a little exaggerated but they are pretty convincing. However, the mehve’s method of take off, when not thrown hang-glider style, is far less in line with normal physics. Nausicaa’s glider can take off straight up, a highly elusive ability in our world. It’s thrust is sufficient enough to launch it several feet in the air before boosting forward. However, unlike our world where this requires a large amount of force, Nausicaa’s glider can leap up into the air with minimal thrust and accurate handling. This can be seen when she takes off from the wing of a seaplane parked in a lake. The thrust required for her take off should tip the plane down on that side, but it only wobbles a little. Perhaps this was oversight, or perhaps having this scene play out more realistically was too much trouble.

Another quality of Nausicaa’s mehve is it’s ability to hang in the air. After taking off from that iconing stand-still, the glider’s engine cuts and seems to rest mid-air as Nausicaa turns around toward the direction she’s headed. With normal laws of gravity the mehve would begin to fall again once it hit its apex, wings or no. A set of wings are good for gliding, but hovering is a different matter. Even if not consistent with our world, the way the glider moves is consistent throughout the film, from it’s effortless stand-still take-offs to it’s ability to defy gravity for several seconds. This type of movement helps contribute to the fantasy of Nausicaa’s world where things can be a little more graceful, a little more weightless. At one point it is said that Nausicaa flies like she can read the wind, a line which illustrates her purpose as a bridge between humans and nature. Fitting with her role, she should appear to float, soar, and glide; not fly.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is an epic story with epic visuals. The reality of the Giant Insects hardly comes to mind when watching them stampede cities, chase heroes, or finally show emotion. They’re design may not serve gravity or mathematics, but it serves it’s emotional purpose. The slow falls and high jumps of characters like Nausicaa and Lord Yupa create intriguing fight scenes that are fun to watch. While anyone can see that a young woman cannot possibly jump that high, we suspend our disbelief because it looks amazing. And the glider is more than a machine, it is a way to show how Nausicaa is more in tune with nature. It’s effortless movements and seeming weightlessness are a visual representation of her ability to bridge the two worlds of her story; the world of Insects and the world of man. Without these exaggerations of movement and size, Nausicaa’s world would be flat and uninteresting, and so Miyazaki chose to break a few laws in order to tell a better story. 

Outline - The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe: Nausicaa

Outline of: "Falling from the Valley of the Wind" by Allena Hail

I. Intro

A. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

B. Thesis - The Square Cube Law and the Laws of Gravity are bent in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, in order to create a fantastic world with amazing creatures and machines. 

II. Body

A. Size and the Square Cube Law

1. Omu, and other large insects in Nausicaa, would not be able to move at that size. Their tiny legs and wings relative to their huge weight  would prevent them from moving. (10:08) and (27:04) But we must have insects which move quickly in order for the the plot to move along. (1:39:40)

2. The large insects of the film would not even be able to exist. Scaling up their exoskeleton would put too much pressure on their joints of their exoskeleton and they would never be able to reach that size without being crushed. (See 10:08 and 27:04 again.) But without this huge size the insects would not be as threatening. 

3. The Giant Warrior, without more structural integrity, succumbs to the fate that the insects normally would. (1:46:46)

B. Falling and Gravity

1. Both Nausicaa and Lord Yupa can fall for quite a longer time than most people after jumping. They also seem to get more height in a jump than most. (33:21) (1:30:30) This is of course to create amazing fight scenes. 

2. Even when in a falling aircraft, people seem to move as if in normal gravity, as if they are not also falling. (49:43) Probably this is employed to prevent confusion in these sequences, and so the characters can escape.

3. In Nausicaa's world, barges full of comic relief elderly characters always fall slower than airships with a more proportional wingspan, but full of bad, unnamed characters. (51:20) 

C. Flying and Gravity

1. Nausicaa's small glider has must have unique properties, as it seems to defy gravity when taking off. The thrust needed to get it into the air from a straight take off would surely at least rock a boat. (58:02) Out of necessity, the glider's power and aerodynamics are very unreal. 

2. The glider, in addition to amazing propellent getting it off the ground, falls much slower to the ground than other objects. (9:31) Where it hovers even after the boost seems to have stopped. This, of course, is for looks. Who wouldn't want to ride that glider?

III. Conclusion

A. The possibility of such large insects is played with in order to to create a fantastic setting.

B. Falling and flying in the film are manipulated to create better drama and more amazing flying machines.