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

Assignment 1

Assignment 2

Final project

Is TV destroying our society? That is the question explored through my animation “The Danger of Leaving Your TV Unattended”. In this animation a television comes to life and people follow it as it rolls itself off a cliff. This could be interpreted in many ways; the TV leads people to destroy their lives, or, people choose to follow the TV and choose to destroy their own lives for the sake of this “virtual” reality. The main point for me in creating this animation is to illustrate the issue of TV being “the downfall” or a bad influence on society and I drew from several course readings, mostly Vilém Flusser’s article Line and Surface. Information can be received in either a written or visual medium, the visual medium being that of a surface, like a television. Surfaces and lines communicate differently and hold different implications for society. I believe surfaces can communicate in sophisticated and complex ways, justifying my use of a surface (animation) to critique another surface (TV). The animation could also be described as a hybrid; I use mostly my own created images from Adobe Photoshop in the form of a GIF image, but also incorporate some photograph images on the TV to make it seem “real”. This final animation has taught me a lot about what it means to be animated and the role animation plays in society; I hope you enjoy watching “The Danger of Leaving Your TV Unattended”.