HUM 203: The World in Motion, Animation in Theory and Practice

Assignment 1

Assignment 2

Final project

The story is about a girl named Noodle who is afraid of change. She was once the most popular girl in her school. The anime ended with Tofu’s advice for Noodle and us to ponder. By teaching Noodle a lesson that things around her do not always stay the same, and changes are inevitable, the audience also learn that we must deal with changes around us. If she wants to fit in with her classmates, she has to change just like everyone else. It reflects the reality, and incorporates the concept of time and change from the reading Aristotle’s Physics.

The story was heavily influenced by a close friend’s real life story. As a whole, the movie’s main theme is change defines time, and this story can be applied to many people’s real life situations. Not only the setting of the animation is a mixture of Eastern and Western culture, the story itself has materials from both cultures. The cuteness of the main character Noodle is obviously from Asian culture, however, her desire of become a popular girl is from Western culture. Moreover, there are six songs in parts played in this animation; the origins of the first, second and forth songs are from Japan, the third song is from Georgia (the country), and the last song is a Chinese rap song.

With the help of technology, I was able to differentiate the way I portray past and present in the story. When Noodle was in middle school, the scenes were presented with old video recording effect, which gives a sense of change over a period of three years. The mixture of cultures in the animation reflects all the influences they had on me.

The programs used were mainly Photoshop CS2, ImageReady and Windows Movie Maker. Instead of tweening, there are a lot of small detail changes from frame to frame.