Outline of First Term Paper

Laws of Physics in Fantastic Mr. Fox

Introduction

A) Introduce Animated Feature Film: Fantastic Mr. Fox

B) Stop Motion Animation

C) Hypothesis: Film does not follow our laws of physics, but instead has its own skewed version to add to the comedy and overall at style to the film.

Body Paragraphs

1. Exaggerated Paths of Action Arcs

- When Mr. & Mrs. Fox are on a mission to steal chickens from the chicken coop their jump arcs are not accurate. They also pull acrobatic jumps over the fence that if were to be attempted in our world, would be impossible.

- When the young animals are playing whack-bat they throw a pine cone, the arc of pinecone flying through air does not have correct spacing and arc.

- When the tree that the fox family lives in is being uprooted, Mr. Fox panics and jumps up wall and flips over.

-When Mr. Fox is giving a toast, he opens a bottle of apple cider. The arc of cork flying into air and falling is inaccurate.

-When Ash runs and jumps from his current location to the locked door, the arc in which he jumps is too long, making it seem as though he is floating in air.

2. Weightlessness

- Overall many of the characters move as if they don’t weigh much.

- When Mr. and Mrs. Fox are jumping over a wheel barrow they cause it to tip over, the tipping and falling motion of wheel barrow to too fast.

- When the squirrel crew is working on the tree home, they lower a pail attached to a rope. It is implied, by the way the squirrel on the end of the rope hoisting it down, that the pale is heavy, yet it moves down as though it does not have weight.

- When the squirrel crew are carrying large objects such as a desk, holds and move the furniture as though they does not weigh anything.

- When stealing goose and ducks, Mr. Fox and the opossum carry them in a comically large sac. The sac appears to be huge in comparison to Mr. Fox and the opossum, although as they run uphill with them they don’t seem to weigh much.

- The humans use heavy machinery to dig up the tree that the fox family lives in, although they move about much fast than usual machinery does, making it seems as though they have little weight.

-Kristofferson flips the bully using martial arts over his shoulder. The bully seems to be weightless.

3. Timing

- Overall timing of movement either too fast or too slow.

- When Kristofferson and Ash jump off the tree into the kiddy pool, they spend too much time in the air falling.

- When Mr. Fox and Kylie are trudging through the river, they move too quickly.

- When the rat is jumping and flipping on the bar he flips 3 times, each flip is much faster than a flip should take.

- When the fox family are digging to escape, the dig underground at alarming rates.

-Ash jumps up and does several flips in the air and unlocks the door by hitting it, pausing as he hits. He stays in the air for too long.

4. Air Resistance

- When Mr. Fox and Kylie are stealing chickens, the feathers that fall off don’t resist air on the way down.

-When Mr. Bean has a temper tantrum he throws his paper work off the table, there is not enough air resistance.

-Overall clothing seem stiff.

Conclusion

The film does not seem to take the laws of physics to seriously. The medium (stop motion animation) also adds to this effect. The film seems to be more interested in telling a good story with interesting characters with stylized motion and timing.