Tuesday, March 31, 2020

The Girls in Their Summer Dresses free essay sample

â€Å"The girls in their summer dresses† by Irwin Shaw In the short story â€Å"The girls in their summer dresses† by Irwin Shaw, a couple’s marriage is in danger. A scene is played out from the early 1900’s of a middle aged couple going for a walk after breakfast on a Sunday morning. Michael, the husband is seen looking at a girl and Frances, the wife becomes emotional instigating a fickle dispute over Michaels actions. In their marriage Michael and Frances have different attitudes and expectations for a committed relationship; Michael is a stereotypical insensitive male who enjoys looking at beautiful woman and Frances is a stereotypical sensitive woman who’s actions are confused by feelings. Their marriage is in danger due to their different attitudes and expectations. Michael reasons it is fine to look at other woman and assuages Frances by stating I look at everything. God gave me eyes and I look at women and men and subway excavations and moving pictures and the little flowers of the field. We will write a custom essay sample on The Girls in Their Summer Dresses or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I casually inspect the universe. Frances eventually implies Michael want’s other woman You look at them as though you want them, Michael replies in a way thats true. â€Å" affirming Frances implication and furthering the altercation. Frances is emotionally confused Michael is looking at other woman, but Michael has been doing so before the marriage even started. This is clearly a cause for confusion as Frances did not bring up the issue until now. Michael is the stereotypical insensitive male who enjoys looking at beautiful women. Regardless of being married, Michael still desires other women and blatantly stares at them in front of Frances. Look out, Frances said, as they crossed Eighth Street. Youll break your neck. What starts out as an adverse acknowledgement turns out to be the epidermis of a much greater problem that is negatively affecting their marriage. Michael admits wanting to be free after Frances demands the truth, but does nothing to console Frances nor try’s to stop looking at other women in respect of their loyalty together. Upon hearing Michael’s sudden testimony Frances becomes emotional and no longer knows what to expect from their marriage. At first Frances planned on spending the day with just Michael â€Å"Lets not see anybody all day, but by the end of the dispute Frances wants to go into the country with the Stevenson’s Do you want me to call the Stevensons? she asked. Itll be nice in the country. Frances wanted Michael to be honest in the relationship Tell the truth. Michael goes on to reveal himself and Frances finally says Stop talking about how pretty this woman is, or that one. Nice eyes, nice breasts, a pretty figure, good voice, she mimicked his voice. Keep it to yourself. Im not interested. Frances and Michael have different attitudes and expectations of what marriage is supposed to be like and its eating away at their relationship. Frances is unable to understand Michael because of emotional instability. While Michael can’t see Frances’ distraught during the blunt testimony, Michael offers little consoling where Frances remains upset and the problem is not resolved.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Critically discuss how EU Law (as applied under Article 101 TFEU) identifies anti-competitive conduct between undertakings, and assess the extent to which such conduct is considered illegal. The WritePass Journal

Critically discuss how EU Law (as applied under Article 101 TFEU) identifies anti-competitive conduct between undertakings, and assess the extent to which such conduct is considered illegal. The WritePass Journal Introduction Critically discuss how EU Law (as applied under Article 101 TFEU) identifies anti-competitive conduct between undertakings, and assess the extent to which such conduct is considered illegal. rodrigo | October 24, 2016 WritePass - Essay Writing - Dissertation Topics [TOC]IntroductionMain BodyConclusionReferencesRelated Introduction It will be critically discussed how EU law identifies anti-competitive conduct between undertakings. In doing so, the extent to which such conduct is considered illegal will also be assessed by reviewing the case law and academic opinion within this area. Applicable textbooks, journal articles and online legal databases will be utilised by adopting a secondary research approach. This will enable a wider range of information to be collected that is considered suitable for this study. Main Body It is provided for under Article 101 (1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) that; â€Å"all agreements between undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices which may affect trade between Member States† shall be prohibited. This advances free competition within the EU’s economic market by prohibiting conduct that could disrupt free competition. Therefore, any behaviour involving the restriction of free trade will be sanctioned (Castendyk et al, 2008, p. 41). Much concern is thus placed upon â€Å"horizontal agreements and concreted practices because of the detriment to consumer welfare that results from co-ordination between competitors† (Colston and Galloway, 2010, p. 25). Despite this, vertical agreements are also cause for concern since they often contain clauses which provide for the exclusive distribution of trade as well as single branding. This can have a significant impact upon free trade and co mpetition within the common market is ultimately stifled. In Consten Grundig v Commission [1966] ECR 299; it was made clear that an agreement which aims to artificially maintain separate national markets so that the free flow of particular products can be restrained would violate Article 101. Therefore, undertakings which attempt to affect the free flow of products in any way will generally be deemed illegal (Wesseling, 1999, p. 427). In addition, as demonstrated in Procureur du Roi v Dassonville Case C-8/74, [1974] ECR 837, trading rules enacted by Member States must not contain any prohibitions on the free flow of products which are capable of â€Å"hindering directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, intra-Community trade.† Therefore, Member States must also ensure that their practices comply with the provisions in Article 101, yet as noted in Societe Technique Miniere Case C-56/65, [1966] ECR 235; â€Å"the competition in question must be understood within the actual context in which it would occur in the absence of the a greement in dispute.† Since not all anti-competitive conduct between undertakings will be considered illegal. This is because; there are certain agreements which will be permitted under Article 101 (3) and section 9 of the Competition Act 1998. This is provided that they can fulfil certain conditions under Commission Regulation No’s 2790/1999 and 1400/2002. In effect, it is manifest that anti-competitive conduct between undertakings is largely considered an illegal practice within the EU. However, because there are certain exceptions to this rule, it is likely that anti-competitive undertakings will still be adopted in certain instances. An example of this can be seen in the Wouters, Savelbergh, Price Waterhouse Belastingadviseurs BV v Algemene Raad van de Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten Case C-309/99, [2002] 4 C.M.L.R. 27 case when a Regulation which was created through an association of undertakings within the meaning of Article 101 (1) was deemed necessary even though it prohibited partnerships. The Regulation in this decision clearly effected competition within the common market an d thus violated Article 101, yet because it use could be justified the Regulation was permitted. Consequently, it will depend entirely upon the circumstances as to whether anti-competitive conduct between undertakings will be permitted or not and â€Å"where the restriction is ancillary to some desirable, pro-competitive agreement it is likely to qualify for exemption† (Woods and Watson, 2012, p. 594). This may consist of either a research and development agreement or a specialisation agreement between small and medium sized firms and such agreements will thus qualify for either automatic exemption or block exemption under Article 101 (3). In Re Vacuum Interrupters Ltd [1977] 1 CMLR D67 the parties were provided with individual exemption on the basis that the agreement was for research and development. Regardless of this, however, it is often very difficult to determine whether anti-competitive conduct between undertakings will be considered illegal or not since the term ‘undertaking’ remains ill-defined (Craig and de Burca, 2011, p. 961). Still, it was held in Hofner and Elser v Macroton GmbH Case C-41/90 [1991] ECRI – 1979 that the term undertaking will generally cover â€Å"any entity engage in economic activity.† Therefore, any organisation found to have entered into an anti-competitive agreement will be capable of being subjected to the provisions contained in Article 101. Nevertheless, it will depend entirely upon the way in which the undertaking operates in order to decide whether it can be rendered permissible; Kattner Stahibau GmbH v Maschinenbau – und Metall – Berufsgenossenschaft [2009] ECR – I 1513. Bailey (2012, p. 559) believes, nonetheless, that there are four different ways an anti-competitive agreement will be exempted from the provisions contained under Article 101 which are; 1) that the context of an agreement can exclude a prima facie finding of restrictive object; 2) that the undertakings can plead an objective justification for a prima facie object restriction. 3) where the restriction does not have an appreciable effect on competition between Member States; and 4) that a restriction should be permitted under article 101(3). Therefore, rather than merely relying on the provisions under Article 101 (3) it is believed by Bailey that there are other situations which may give rise to an exemption under Article 101 (1). Again, this will require close inspection of the undertaking in question in order to decide whether or not it can be justified. Conclusion Overall, whilst it is provided for under Article 101 (1) that anti-competitive conduct between undertakings is illegal, it is clear after reviewing the case law that there are many available exceptions to this provision. Consequently, it will thus depend upon the particular facts of the case as to whether an undertaking is considered reasonable or not and although conduct which affects the free flow of trade should always be prohibited, this is not always the case in reality. Hence, there will often be times when a restriction of competition is required which illustrates that anti-competitive conduct between undertakings is not always rendered illegal. References Bailey, D. (2012) Restrictions of Competition by Object under Article 101 TFEU, Common Market Law Review, vol. 22. Castendyk, O. Dommering, E. J. and Scheuer, A. (2008) European Media Law, Kluwer Law International. Colston, C. and Galloway, J. (2010) Modern Intellectual Property, Taylor Francis. Craig, P. and de Burca, G. (2011) EU Law: Text, Cases and Materials, OUP Oxford, 5th Edition. Wesseling, R. (1999) The Commission White Paper on Modernisation of EC Antitrust Law, European Competition Law Review, vol. 20, no. 427. Woods, L. and Watson, P. (2012) Steiner Woods EU Law, OUP Oxford, 11th Edition. Cases Consten Grundig v Commission [1966] ECR 299 Hofner and Elser v Macroton GmbH Case C-41/90 [1991] ECRI – 1979 Kattner Stahibau GmbH v Maschinenbau – und Metall – Berufsgenossenschaft [2009] ECR – I 1513 Procureur du Roi v Dassonville Case C-8/74, [1974] ECR 837 Re Vacuum Interrupters Ltd [1977] 1 CMLR D67 Societe Technique Miniere Case C-56/65, [1966] ECR 235 Wouters, Savelbergh, Price Waterhouse Belastingadviseurs BV v Algemene Raad van de Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten Case C-309/99, [2002] 4 C.M.L.R. 27

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Critical Evaluation of a Journal Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Critical Evaluation of a Journal Article - Essay Example e.g., young children at home and many housework hours) and spousal support would demonstrate a stronger correlation with the F 3 W conflict for individuals in the family profile than for individuals in the work profile. For the first hypothesis, the authors have anticipated that four different groups would appear based on high versus low importance attributions to work and family roles. For the second hypothesis, participants belonging to the dual profile were expected to exhibit a high level of W 3 F conflict and F 3 W conflict because of their desire to invest time and energy in both roles. With regard to the third hypothesis on family-related stress and support variables, the researchers said research has linked high levels of F 3 W conflict to the presence of small children in the home (Lewis & Cooper, 1988) and to many hours invested in housework (Voydanoff, 1988). However, spousal support was found to moderate the F 3 W conflict (Matsui, Ohsawa, & Onglatco, 1995). Finally, no explanation was mentioned about why the fourth hypothesis was derived. The paper says in the end that the findings generally supported the main hypotheses of the research. According to Creswell (2003), the research question is the statement being examined in the study in its most general form. The way the paper was organized, it was hard to locate the research question or questions. Yet, when a question was found, the paper was not committal. It starts with the words, â€Å"However, these studies investigating†¦. analysis. Thus, the following question remains unanswered: Are work-related stress and support variables similarly related to the W3F conflict among persons belonging to the work profile and individuals belonging to the family profile? There remains evidence†¦.† If this is the research question, it is not comprehensive enough to cover all that the research had studied. In other words, the paper can still be said to have presented no adequate research question. At best, any

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Professional Articles Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Professional Articles Review - Essay Example In my discussion, I also provide a connection to today’s educational practice provided in each of these articles. The first article talks about adoption of an appropriate ELL program that would promote English learning among the students who do not have English as their first language. This article talks about the five-program models, which are English-language monolingual program, English-monolingual-plus ESL program, Transitional bilingual educational program, Maintenance bilingual education program, and structured immersion program (Hanigsfeld, 2009). The article also talks about how these programs were used in promoting English language learning among ELL students and also gives the situations in which each of the programs was applicable. This article also introduces another set of four programs that can be used with students who have ELL status. According to Hanigsfeld (2009), these programs are structured English immersion program, English as a second language program, b ilingual education program and dual language program. The programs have been more applicable and practiced in our today’s educational practices compared to the previously mentioned programs. ... The second article talks about some of the strategies adopted by different state to overcome challenges encountered in giving instructions to ELL students. The article starts by talking about the challenge of equitable education for ELLs and how it result due to practices that privilege some groups. According to this article, equitable education for ELLs should incorporate understandable language and curriculum that offers a variety of cultural perspectives as well as offering opportunities for parents to participate in the learning process of their children (Smith, 2008). It continues to talk about the instructional considerations for ELLs that can promote English language proficiency among ELL students. The article continues to talk about a case of the state of Massachusetts in which it talks about how diversity among ELLs in this state has made the task of instituting policies and practices to be rather more complex. In terms of instruction delivery to ELLs, the article talks abou t the use of Sheltered English instruction as a major way of promoting English language proficiency among ELL students. According Smith (2008), this kind of instructions are given in three main ways which include â€Å"sheltered† content instruction, English as a Second Language instruction, and bilingual (native language) instruction. The lesson created using these sets of instructions are always tailored towards the specific needs of English Language Learners’ needs. The article also talks about various training that has been done to the teachers in various stated to give them the capacity to give these kind of instructions to ELL students and also the kind of training that is yet to be done. The article shows that this kind of approach has been very applicable in today’s

Monday, January 27, 2020

Challenges And Prospects For The Asean Economic Community Economics Essay

Challenges And Prospects For The Asean Economic Community Economics Essay Free trade is a significant stimulus to regional production, linkages and competitiveness.   ASEAN has made significant progress in that regard since the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) from 1993.   The AFTA initiative has been particularly successful in reducing tariffs in the trade in goods. Currently, some 99.8 per cent of the products in the Inclusion Lists of ASEAN-6 (Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) have been brought down to the tariff range of 0-5 per cent, with about 65 per cent of those products having zero import tariffs.   Meanwhile, 91 per cent of the products traded by the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam) under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff package have been moved into their respective Inclusion Lists.   About 77 percent of those products are already within the 0-5 per cent tariff band. However, regional free trade alone is not sufficient to release the full energies and the inherent potential of ASEAN.   All of us now have to take a further step forward.   Deeper economic integration is necessary for ASEAN to cope effectively with the unprecedented opportunities as well as the unprecedented challenges, on both scale and depth, unleashed by globalisation. China and India have altered the global economic landscape through huge market openings and greater competition, too.   Meanwhile, interlinked supply networks have proliferated all over the world, among many other innovative and more efficient ways in value creation and industrial organization.   Last but not least, there are the freer and often instant movements of new ideas, people and resources across national boundaries. The ASEAN Economic Community.   In the midst of two giant economies, ASEAN Leaders made a historic resolution in December 1997 to leverage the regions potential by building an economic community (ASEAN Vision 2020).   Henceforth, ASEAN is to be transformed into a stable, prosperous, and highly competitive region with equitable economic development, and reduced poverty and socio-economic disparities.   Notably, that resolution took place in the midst of a severe financial and economic crisis in ASEAN.   This underscored once again ASEANs common perception of the critical importance of greater regional cohesion and complementation in coping with good as well as bad times.   Subsequently at the Bali Summit in November 2003, ASEAN Leaders declared that the AEC would be the end-goal of regional economic integration (Bali Concord II).   This Community shall weld together 10 separate entities as a single market and production base by 2020.   The ASEAN Economic Ministers have recently recommended that the target year be sped up to 2015. Put it simply, there will be a free flow of goods, services, investment and a freer flow of capital in the AEC.   This is to be complemented by freer movements of skilled human resources including regional business persons, professionals, and cultural and artistic talents.   The consequent gains from deeper and broader integration are substantial in ASEAN.   They are estimated by McKinsey and Co to cut as much as one-fifth of production costs of consumer goods in the region.   As such, the AEC building process will empower ASEAN to remain a dynamic and competitive player in the regional and global supply chains.   But the same process is also predicated on wide-ranging adjustments and reforms to be carried out by Governments and the business sector, among other stakeholders in the region.   The commitments so far made include, to name just a few, the ASEAN Free Trade Area of 1992; the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services of 1995; the ASEAN Agreement on Customs and the ASEAN Customs Vision 2020 of 1997; the Framework Agreement on the ASEAN Investment Area and the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Mutual Recognition Agreements, both of 1998; the Initiative for ASEAN Integration of 2000; the ASEAN Framework Agreement for the Integration of Priority Sectors of 2004; and the ASEAN Policy on Standards and Conformance of 2005. ASEAN has three key strengths in the economic arena.   We have abundant natural resources in our region.   We have large supplies of professionals and talented people.   And, we have the capability to adopt, adapt and advance technology.   By leveraging on these strengths the AEC is likely to be realised sooner than later. ASEAN Charter.   A key development complementing the AEC work is the process to establish the ASEAN Charter.   A Charter is certainly not a panacea. But at a minimum, it is going to facilitate the transformation of ASEAN into a rules-based regional organization with a legal personality.   Provisions in the Charter to establish robust mechanisms for monitoring implementation and ensuring compliance would contribute greatly to ASEANs effectiveness. Through the Charter, ASEAN will be able to enshrine the values and principles that shaped by our history and experiences in the last 39 years.   It will virtually become our new and official birth certificate in the sense that we are re-born as the ASEAN Community. Such a Charter would also serve to make ASEAN a more responsive, dynamic and integrated regional organisation. In short, the Charter will define ASEANs future. The ASEAN Eminent Persons Group (EPG) has been working on its recommendation for the drafting of the Charter.   In a few days, the EPGs report will be considered by the ASEAN Leaders during the 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu, the Philippines, from 11-12 December 2006.   In that report, the EPG will recommend what should go into an ASEAN Charter. And at the upcoming Summit, a High-Level Task Force is expected to be mandated by the ASEAN Leaders to start drafting an ASEAN Charter, taking into account recommendations of the EPG, among other things. This achievement would not only become a benchmark for the region to further enhance its cohesiveness and coherence, but also would venture forth a new cooperative spirit for the community building in the region.  Ã‚   To be sure, there is a lot more work to do, especially in converging the different levels of ambition.   Yet, I am optimistic ASEAN is on the threshold of a quantum leap in collective development and growth. ASEAN-EU economic interaction. Against that backdrop of dynamic changes and developments within ASEAN, the EU has remained, among other roles, an important partner in trade and investment and a major source of technical assistance to ASEAN. The EUs valued roles will continue to be very helpful to AEC building efforts in the coming decade. As a market, for example, the EU-15 economies took in some US$ 78 billion worth of ASEAN exports in 2005, a steady growth of 5 per cent a year since 2000.   The EU was the third largest trading partner, with an average share of 12 per cent of ASEAN trade in the last two years (or just about one percentage point behind Japan and the U.S.A. during 2004-2005).   Germany, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and France are the most important EU traders with ASEAN. Likewise, the EU-15s foreign direct investment (FDI) in ASEAN has been significant, with the largest share of 57 per cent of the FDI hosted by our region in 2000 (totalling US$ 23.5 billion).   However, this share fell to 19 per cent of the FDI flows to ASEAN (US$ 38.1 billion) in 2005.   Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Viet Nam and Thailand were the main destinations of FDI from the EU. http://www.aseansec.org/19001.htm 30 MAC 2011

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Filmmaking Process

The filmmaking process is an extremely important, long, and complicated process. It usually takes between several months and several years. A film always starts with an original story idea, then a screenplay gets written, and then they shoot it. After that they edit the film and direct it. Then they distribute the film to its intended audience. There are also many people involved in the filmmaking process, from the directors to the cast, to the stage crew. The first step is coming up with the concept of the film, which is the idea. It could be an original story, or a remake. It could be part of a series. It could also come from a book or a play. Then they have to make an outline which describes the dramatic structure in each scene, called a step outline. This tells who will be where, what’s going to be said, and pretty much everything that happens in the film. They also set up all the scenes in the correct order. Then they make a twenty five to thirty five page paper describing the characters of the story and the mood. This is called a treatment. It contains stage direction and a little dialogue. It also has pictures so they have something to look at showing what the movies are going to do. This is the first step of the filmmaking process and really helps when it comes time to develop the screenplay. After this they start the screenplay. Writing the screenplay can take several months. They usually have to rewrite to improve things the dialogue, dramatization, characthers, structure, style, and to make it more clear. They develop screenplays in which the investers and other interested parties assess a process called script coverage. They have a film distributor look at it, and depending on how promising it looks, they guess how much financial help the film needs and how much it will get. Then they figure out the genre of the film, the target audience, success of films that were similar, and the success of the actors, actresses, and directors in previous films. These factors show how much the film will appeal to the target audience. Then they come together and form a film pitch. If the film pitch goes through and is successful, then they have financial backing to make the film. Then they make up contracts for everyone involved. At this time, only the second step, they’ve already developed their marketing strategy, which is how they advertise the film. They also have their target audience. Next is pre-production. During this stage every part of the filmmaking process is designed and planned out. The production is also storyboarded, in which the visual helps the concept artist and the illustrators. Then they have to make up a production budget. This is how much they plan on spending, and it includes insurance in case there is an accident. Then they start hiring their crew. The amount of people varies. If it is an important movie, like a Harry Potter movie, it would have over one hundred people. If it was a smaller film it could include just eight or nine people. The first member of the crew is the director. The director is responsible for all the creative decisions and story telling, as well as the acting. The director yells out action and cut. After the director there is an assistant director, who manages the logistics of the film, including the shooting schedule. There is also a casting director who auditions actors for the characters, deciding who embodies which character best. The photography director supervises the photography during the film. The audiography director makes sure all the sound in the film is correct. The location manager takes care of where the film is located. Although most parts are shot in a studio, there are some things that need to be shot off location. There is also a composer who decides when music should play, how loudly, and what to play. The production designer takes care of the visual conception of the film while the art director manages the building of the set and props. The costume designer creates the clothing for the actors and actresses, and usually ends up having to work closely with them. There is also a hair and makeup designer, who styles each of the actors, making sure they look the same each time. There is also a choreagorapher. As is usual for a choreagorapher they create dances and fight scenes, as well as regular movements. After all of these people are hired they are ready for production. The next part is production. Production is the most grueling part of filmmaking. The cast and crew can frequently spend 12 or more hours on the set, filming only three or four pages of script, often in very uncomfortable ocations. This goes on for days, weeks, months with the same schedule day after day, review dailies (the footage shot yesterday), shoot today’s footage, prepare for tomorrow’s filming. For many people though, this is the most exhilarating part of production and this is indeed where â€Å"the magic happens. † Yet to some people it sometimes seems strange that a movie that will eventually only occupy two hours onscreen could take months to film. However, it does, and here’s just a few of the reason why. The first reason is lighting. One of the single most important elements to a film’s visual appearance is lighting. However perfect lighting does not exist and takes time to create. Lighting must be made consistent (or inconsistent depending) and mood-enhancing, yet remain unobtrusive. It takes a great deal of planning and then man-hours by electricians and their assistants to create a light set-up for even a small set. The next reason is location. Sometimes it is possible to film an entire movie on a sound stage, however, more than likely it requires some traveling. Since science has yet to create a teleportation device and all the magicians who know how to do it won’t reveal their secrets unless televised on broadcast television, it can take huge amounts of time to transport the cast and crew to even one location per day. There are probably close to 100 people involved in a major film, excluding crowd scene extras and so on, as well as literally tons of equipment to go along with them. Another reason is weather. Mother Nature doesn’t really care about Hollywood and can quite frequently hamper production. Usually it is no more than a rain storm that stops production for a day or two, or a heat wave that causes shorter work days. But sometimes weather can be extremely costly. Such was the case of Kevin Costner’s Waterworld that saw entire sets destroyed and sunk by sea storms that not only seriously delayed the production, but also pushed the budget sky-high. Previously I mentioned that lighting is one of the most important elements in a movie. In addition to lighting, and of course the actors, cinemotography is the key element in a film’s visual appearance. Though it takes years of either schooling or job experience to truly learn how to film well, there are a few basic pointers that anyone with a camera and eye towards making something better than a jerky home movie should know (because seriously, those â€Å"How to Film† videos they hand out now when you buy a camcorder are really just a twenty minutes session in which they try to sell you all the accessories). After production there is post-production, which is basically editing. Post-Production involves every step after primary filming, editing and corrections, and reshoots. The process of reshooting is simple enough in concept (though perhaps not in actual process) that we can skip that one which leaves editing and corrections. Editing serves two purposes. First, the logistics of production often make it impossible to film in sequence. And even in the extremely rare case where a story is filmed in order, there are still numerous takes and unnecessary footage between the good shots. Thus, editing serves to eliminate this unwanted footage and to place the events in a coherent order. Second, even simple actions take up a great deal of time on film. For example imagine a sequence of a person getting dressed. In real life this process takes about five minutes. Five minutes in the course of the human life is insignificant, but five minutes in the course of a two hour movie is a horrendous amount of time to spend on meaningless action. If that same person pulled clothes out of a closet and in the next shot walked into the kitchen, the obvious conclusion the audience will make is said person got dressed. Thus editing can serve to eliminate tedious and unnecessary footage so that the audience may focus on the story. Editing can also serve to create. The human eye, when viewing a scene does not remain stationary. Watch two people talking, your eye will jump from person to person to watch speech or gauge reaction. You’ll find it extremely difficult to watch both at the same time and you could end up cross-eyed. Editing also serves to mimic this action of selective viewing. When a conversation between two people is put on film, it is filmed (usually) by switching back and forth between the characters to again, watch speech or gauge reaction. The natural switching back and forth is unobtrusive because in reality, you do it all the time. Thus editing serves to place shots into a coherent storyline, eliminate unnecessary footage, and create better flow. Other examples of techniques in which the editing serves more interesting purposes are parallel editing and montage. Parallel editing is a technique in which two separate scenes are shown to take place at the same time. To do this, the editor cuts the two scenes together switching from one to the other. This is often used in scenes where the character is racing against time, such as the bomb’s clock counting down as the character tries to get out of the building. A montage sequence is another technique in which extremely short shots are edited together in quick succession to create general emotion. Editing is not the entirety of post-production however. Once the picture is edited into its final narrative form, there are hundreds of tiny elements that need to be tweaked. Occasionally, different light schemes will produce different colors between shots, the differences are always slight, however, they need to be corrected to create continuity between shots. This process is called color-correction. Titles and credits, a key part to any movie, are also designed and added. Also at this stage any computer generated effects are added to footage, though in truth this will happen before the scene is edited. While these visual components are polished, the audio portions of the film are tweaked elsewhere. Very rarely are the audio components you hear in the theater the sounds recorded during footage. Audio is recorded onto a separate track, which is kept in time with the footage via a sync machine (this is so your movie doesn’t end up looking like a cheap dubbing job). The microphones used to record the actors voices are extremely precise in their range, they pick up sound only from the air immediately in front of the actor. This keeps the voice quality as high possible. Later on, background is added in when it can be adjusted to suitable levels. So if two characters are walking amidst a midnight orchard replete with singing nightbirds, the dialogue is really the only noise recorded at the time. The other noises, the crickets, nightbirds and the wind, are either recorded at the same location or elsewhere and then added in so that the night wildlife only adds to the mood of the scene, rather than drowning out the speech of the characters. The final steps are distribution and release. They either sell the movie to a company who will release it in cinemas, or to one who will make it go out on DVD. They create movie trailers, posters, and other things to advertise the upcomoing film. The night the film is realeased it is celebrated with a launch party, and then if it is in cinemas, it will get released on DVD a few months later. In the end the distribution and production companies split the profit. As you can see, filmmaking is a very complicated process.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

17th Century Masters of Dutch Painting Essay

The Baroque Art Style Movement started in the 17th century. This period was characterized by complex art style which is stimulated by the urge to tap the different â€Å"emotional states† which is dramatically shown â€Å"by appealing to the senses. † The dominant characteristics of this period were â€Å"grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, vitality, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur distinctions† ( Pioch, 2002, â€Å"Baroque†). The Dutch were one of those who perfected this particular style and they have generated some of the critically acclaimed Baroque masterpieces in art history. Jan Vermeer, Jan Steen and Gabriel Metsu were just three of the masters of Dutch painting who have immensely contributed to the development of the arts in the Netherlands. Vermeer’s Woman Holding A Balance, Steen’s The Drawing Lesson and Metsu’s Young Woman Reading A Letter were some of the noted creations that have embodied the â€Å"novelty of genre Dutch paintings. † These art pieces were immediately accepted by the public because they resembled an â€Å"honest and materialist art† that highlighted art as an â€Å"end in itself and not as a mere vehicle for emphasizing values from other realms of human thought. † More so, these paintings focused on a common theme which is the depiction of domestic daily life wherein women where the central characters. The artists used this theme to emphasize that the homes were not merely structures but also the foundation of morals in the society. In addition, the role of women in the paintings was intended to help bring serenity to the viewers in order for them to easily adapt to the overwhelming changes that were introduced in the 17th century (cited in Janson, 2008, â€Å"The Subject Matter of Dutch Domestic Interiors†). See more: Analysis of Starbucks coffee company employees essay Jan Vermeer was an artisan who is known for his trademarks of crafty play with light and color, inclusion of graphics with poetic quality and the exploration of spatial relationships. The camera obscura was the tool he used add a realness factor to his paintings (Pioch, 2002, â€Å"Vermeer, Jan†). In Woman Holding A Balance, Jan Vermeer illustrated a young woman holding a pair of empty weighing scales who was probably going to measure the mass of the valuable materials placed on the table. Moreover, other elements were also harmoniously integrated in the artwork such as the painting of the Last Judgment which signified a Christian biblical event; the weighing scales which symbolized justice; the light coming from the window suggested spiritual enlightenment and the mirror in front of the woman represented conceitedness. All of these elements exemplified the significance of resisting temptation of material things and living moderately in order to obtain salvation (National Gallery of Art, 2008, â€Å"Vermeer†). Meanwhile, Jan Steen was branded as one of the most productive painters of the Dutch art scene. He was known for his â€Å"versatility, richness of characterization, inventiveness in composition, skillful manipulation of colors† (Janson, 2008, â€Å"Seven Dutch Masters: Jan Steen†). The Drawing Lesson captured the scene of an art instructor teaching a young male and a beautiful young lady most likely about drawing. The art studio was filled with a variety of art paraphernalia that were strewn all over the place. There were nude sculptures, paint brushes, easels and other art materials. Vanity was also represented through the presence of â€Å"a laurel wreath, a skull, wine, a fur muff, a book, a lute, and a pipe† to impart Steen’s message that popularity and life are not permanent in the physical world. This uncomplicated ordinary scene is a symbolic representation of the lives of artists and the nature of their profession (J. Paul Getty Trust, â€Å"†The Drawing Lesson†). Moreover, another Dutch painter who made a mark in the field of Baroque art was Gabriel Metsu who was also a son of a painter. He founded the Leiden painters guild where he learned to create genre scenes that showed the â€Å"influences of Nicolaes Maes, Gerrit Terborch and the Delft school. † More so, â€Å"his technique evolved from the quite broadly painted Leiden works to the meticulous fjnschilder manner of his later Amsterdam years† (Janson, 2008, â€Å"Seven Dutch Masters: Gabriel Metsu†). In Metsu’s painting of Woman Reading a Letter, shows a woman reading a letter probably from a suitor or a male correspondence. Actually, this painting is a continuation of another Metsu painting called Man Writing a Letter and when these two pieces are interconnected, a story of courtship between a man and a woman is established. Meanwhile, â€Å"the maid’s momentary movement contrasts with the concentration of the young woman who, one senses, will not move until she has finished reading the letter. † Love was also cleverly symbolized in the painting which is in the form of the seascape painting mounted on the wall which probably was directed to represent the risks involved in having relationships (Web Gallery of Art, 1996, â€Å"Metsu, Gabriel†). In terms of aesthetic qualities, the three paintings showcased a variety of distinct elements including color, light, texture, lines, and brushstrokes. In Woman Holding A Balance by Vermeer, the artist combined all aesthetic elements to produce one exquisite picture. Vermeer employed darker shades of color but accents of blue, yellow and white were visible to avoid monotony. More so, the light came from only source which was at the window that directly illuminated the serene face of the woman. Since this painting symbolically suggests living a balanced life, the compositional lines proportionally dissected the whole picture that emanated uniformity and a sense of space. The technique used by Vermeer for his brushstrokes was impasto wherein he densely put paint on the canvas to make strokes using a paintbrush finished by thin glazes. In addition, played with camera obscura â€Å"to create a specular highlight† as seen on the pearls on the table which were painted with two layers of color. Overall, these elements: the dark colors, the orthogonal lines, impasto brushstrokes, the objects that surround the woman like the balance and painting of the Last Judgement , all â€Å"reinforced the theme of spiritual moderation†(National Gallery of Art, 2008, â€Å"Vermeer†). Many different objects and elements were incorporated in The Drawing Lesson by Steen. Every object has a corresponding meaning and significance. The colors of brown, pink, grey, blue and red were delicately subdued to seamlessly mesh the variety of objects in the picture. In addition the colors, lighting and the placement of the objects were very strategic that despite the many elements present, the painting did not look cluttered. More so, each object included in the painting suggested a symbolical meaning, the viewer just needs to look closely and try to comprehend the message of Steen. â€Å"Typically Steen gives a degree of information about individual characters, but leaves the viewer to ponder the specific twists of the narrative, and to admire the artist for his clever allusions† (Wiseman, â€Å"Dutch and Flemish Art†). The focal point of the painting was the teacher and his pretty young student. The pastel colors of pink and blue contrasted by the gold and dark red colors emphasized the young woman and her dress which suggested that she is aristocratic in nature. While the art teacher was depicted in an ordinary attire to show that he is a commoner trying to break into the exclusive circle of the rich by teaching their children how to make art. In the position of the artist, the young woman and the boy, it could be drawn that there exist a special relationship between the teacher and his pupil and that the other student notices their secret â€Å"love affair. † However, this interpretation was not confirmed by Steen. He wanted his artworks to insinuate different messages depending on the viewer’s perception. For Woman Reading a Letter Metsu wanted to tell a story of love, drama and anticipation. This painting was clearly the continuation of Metsu’s other painting called Man â€Å"Writing a Letter. † Compared to the two previous artworks, this one had been brightly illuminated and the dominant colors were of light shades and hues. At first glance, one may think that this is a sublime scenario but if one would look closely and analyze the objects that surround the woman, one can realize that this painting suggests otherwise. The tranquil face of the woman reading the letter is contradicted by the chaotic seascape painting on the wall. Also, the dropped shoe and the worried position of the maid support the theory that something bad might have happened to the man who sent the letter. Every aspect of this painting had been craftily incorporated to tell a provoking story.