sent from: London, UK. destination: Brooklyn, NY, USA

After listening to Mike Seymour’s empassioned criticism of the bad physics of swinging in ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ on the VFX Show, I thought about my own pet peeves where the laws of physics and dynamics have been broken. The first (but by no means the only) that sprang to mind was a shot in Star Wars Episode III, where 2 speeder bikes decelerate, taking them rapidly out of frame left, and as they do, they visibly lean INTO their seats. It seemed so wrong, and broke the reality of that shot – plus there’s almost the SAME shot in Return of the Jedi, when Luke and Leia are on speeder bikes and Luke decelerates, he leans forward as though his inertia is carrying him forward as the bike moves backward [see about minute 2:55 in this video]. I took my argument to Rob Coleman – this was during production of the film – and he listened politely as I pointed it out, and nodded in recognition of the Return of the Jedi reference. In the end, however, the shot stayed as-is. It wasn’t a big deal, but I think back to it from time to time when I hear VFX artists pick up some violation of Newton’s Laws, no matter how minor, and go on a Crusade.