The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

In the computer animated Pixar short Presto, a professional magician gets into a fight with his rabbit while on stage. The story gives unique and interesting opportunities for the characters to interact in a world where magic is real. 3D animation tends to lend itself to a more realistic look and feel for the viewer, because the characters and the environments tend to look photo realistic. In Presto the animation style, timing, and gags pay great homage to classic traditional 2D animation and the physics in the Presto Universe do the same.

The laws of balance are bent in Presto for comedic value. Both the magician and the rabbit hold posses that in our universe would make the individual fall over or have to catch their balance. After being electrocuted the magician holds a pose where his weight is off. His center of gravity is too far to the left making his center of pressure outside of his right foot. Holding this posse longer adds to the comedic effect of the character being electrocuted just prior. The magician goes once again into a striking pose after the final crash of the stage props. The pose he goes into puts all of his weight on the tip of his left foot. In our universe this would be difficult to accomplish for just a few seconds, but he holds his pose for just over 10 seconds without flinching. In this universe the center of gravity for humans is different than our own. The center of gravity may also be different for animals as well. When the rabbit sees the magician falling from the rafters he holds his posse just pass the passing position in a walk cycle. In this pose his center of gravity is very far forward. During this pose his ears that are ¾ his size drop down and this has no effect on his balance. In this universe the characters have complete control of their body over gravity, this includes extended hang time when in the air as well as holding poses that in our universe would not be held.

Objects in this universe are also effected by gravity differently than in our universe. The Laws of gravity in Presto are different from our own in several parts of the film. These changes in gravity aide in the viewer being able to see what is occurring as well as adding extra anticipation for increased entertainment value. In the beginning of the ladder sequence in the film the rabbit removes the ladder from the hooks that it is resting on. The hooks are pointed upward and the ladder with gravity pulling on it is pushing downward. The rabbit lifts the ladder off the hooks in two frames time with ease. The ladder then goes up to its apex in a diagonal and rests there for three frames and goes straight down through the magical hat without any parabolic arch. Gravity acts on the ladder differently throughout this sequence. This is a tall ladder and when resting on the hooks it seems to be abiding to gravity from our universe. When the rabbit acts upon the ladder, the ladder moves quickly and seems to be very light do to the quickness that the rabbit moved it in. The ladder then stays at its apex longer than an object would be at its apex in our universe which makes for an easy read for the viewer, but also makes the object feel very light. Once leaving the apex the ladder launches downward rapidly which is in direct conflict with the long hang time and the easy unhooking of it from the wall. This sequence gives the ladder a fun 2D look and feel but gravitationally doesn’t make sense. In the next shot the ladder doesn’t follow gravity in the Presto universe again. The ladder first comes through the hat and finds a resting point when coming in contact with the magician. The Magician then pushes the ladder into the hat to shoot out at the Rabbit. If he could shoot out the ladder so far and quickly than the ladder wouldn’t have stopped shooting out of the hat when it came into contact with him. The ladder continues shooting out of the hat even when contacting the wall emphasizes this point. The ladder in this world may be being manipulated be unknown forces of magic in the hat. The hats are used as a means of teleportation for objects in the Film so possibly the hats contain properties not of our universe.

Later in the film gravity is shown to be different from our own when the Magician and several stage props are falling from the rafters above the stage. He falls for a total of 17.75 seconds for a distance of 40 feet. This is far too long, but this makes for great anticipation and allows for the viewer to watch and see what will happen. In our universe this fall would be so quick it would be hard for the viewer to know what happened. Gravity in the Presto universe acts differently at different time towards objects. In most cases objects tend to have an extended hang time and a longer apex than in our universe lending itself for an easier read of the scene by the viewer and greater anticipation of what will occur in the scene soon after.

Anticipation and bending reality occur again when the Magician is electrocuted. The magician puts has fingers in an electrical outlet and is electrocuted for thirteen seconds. During this time his right arm is going through one magic hat and getting electrocuted out the other. When the electrocution stops the hat flies off his arm like a rocket and hits the ground. In this universe it seems electricity can be gathered up and used to propel objects. At the same time the electrical currents are going up the magicians hair like a Jacobs ladder without any electrical conductors in the hair. Electricity in our universe would ground itself but in the Presto universe electricity follows other rules. By the end of the scene electricity has traveling up the characters head to his hair and has shot off his arm making his hat shoot from his arm. He then collapses and jumps up to his feet. In our universe, being electrocuted for that long would most likely kill an individual or severely injure them. Seeing him getting up so quickly makes the scene comedic at the end or else watching such a human looking character being electrocuted would be sad or receive an undesirable response from the crowd. Considering how electricity interacted with the magician’s body and exited his body, electricity behaves very different in the Presto universe compared to our own.

The physics in Presto’s universe is very cartoony and has a traditional 2D look and feel. The characters are stylized and yet look realistic and believable. 3D animation lends itself to realistic timing and poses because it doesn’t look as much like what many people would think of as a cartoon. Presto uses a fun 2D style in several aspects and succeeded. When reality is broken only a few times it looks strange to the viewer, but if you consistently break the rules than it is established to the audience that this is normal in this universe and this is what the makers of Presto did. The strong held poses by the characters didn’t feel strange to the viewer because this was constantly happening. Gravity in Presto followed the same rule. Gravity was changed in the Presto universe compared to our own, but because they made good choices of when to do this the creators kept the viewer in the film.