Friday, November 15, 2019

The Concept Of Cinematic Illusion Film Studies Essay

The Concept Of Cinematic Illusion Film Studies Essay Ever since the advent of cinema, the human race has become more infatuated and intrigued by it and it has become more and more an integral part of our culture. In an age where the boundaries of realism are being pushed in cinema through the use of new technologies such as high definition and 3D, the film industry is constantly trying to create a more believable illusion of realism in film. If we strip the premise of cinema down to its most basic form of that of a series of images in sequence creating the illusion of a motion picture we can explore how we perceive this illusion and how it gave birth to the medium of cinema. One of the illusions still used in cinema today is the phi phenomenon. This was first seen in Victorian times with the popularisation of a toy called a  thaumatrope. This consisted of a disc or card with a picture on each side was attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the card rotates momentarily showing each of the two images. The two pictures appear to combine into a single image. This toy was said to be invented by John Ayrton Paris who in 1824 used it in a demonstration to the Royal College of Physicians in London the idea of persistence of vision. Persistence of vision said that there was a processing delay in the brain and when two images were flashed in front of the eye fast enough the delay caused the first image to remain in place for a fraction of a second longer causing it blend into the second one (Bazin 1967). In 1912 Max Wertheimer in his book Experimental Studies on the Seeing of Motion exposed this theory of persistence of vision as a myth. In its place Wertheimer devised the phi phenomenon along with beta movement help to describe the illusions of motion perception. Wertheimer was one of the founding members of Gestalt psychology and this discovery was a big breakthrough for this field of psychology. The phi phenomenon discovered by Wertheimer is a perceptual  illusion where the viewers mind fills in shapes to help link two images together. In his experiment Wertheimer shows an audience a series of two images. The first image is a line on the left side of the screen. The second image shows a line of the right side of the screen. At different timings Wertheimer observed that the viewers reported a sensation of motion in the space between and around the two lines. However the lines themselves did not appear to move, they simply saw what looked like two moving shapes of the background colour surrounding the flashing lines. Beta movement was described by Wertheimer (1912) as apparent motion. To prove his theory of beta movement Wertheimer preformed an experiment. He sat viewers in front of a screen where he then projected a two image sequence with varying gaps between them. The first image of a ball on the left of the screen was projected onto the screen followed by a second image with the ball on the right of the screen. The viewers described how they saw the ball move from one side of the screen to the other when in fact they only had seen two still images. This showed that the illusion of movement was created through the perception of the viewers linking the two images together according to one or more of Gestalts laws, such as the laws similarity and proximity. Another way we perceive motion is through stroboscopic images. Leighton (2008) explains that stroboscopic images are a series of static images that when viewed in sequence at a high enough rate; the static images appear to blend into one continuous motion. A simple demonstration of this is the idea of a flip book. If you have a series of pages with simple drawings on them and the drawings are slightly altering from one page to the next and we flip through these pages at speed we perceive them as one continuous picture in motion. However if you flick though the book slowly enough the eye isnt fooled by this illusion and perceives them as separate images. We must then ask at what point our eye sees this series of images as motion and not just still images. According to Cubitt (2005) critical fusion frequency is the rate at which stimuli can be presented and still be perceived as separate stimuli. To work stroboscopic images have to present visual stimuli such as images to the eye at a higher rate than the critical fusion frequency so that the eye cannot perceive each individual image separately. The critical fusion frequency differs from person to person and depends heavily upon many conditions such as light and contrast but as a general rule it is said to be anything less than a 7th of a second. This means that if we look at a series of images that are playing at anything above 10 images or frames per second we will see then as one continuous motion. From when the first commercial movie cameras were manufactured there was no standard frame rate of the cameras, they ranged from anything from 10 frames a second. This was seen unsuitable for cinema as the motion in the film was very jerky. By the 1920s a standard frame rate of 24 frames a second was set (Bazin 1967). This allowed the illusion of motion in film to be perceived by the viewer to be a lot more smooth and fluid. Through the use of stroboscopic images, the phi phenomenon and beta movement discussed here modern cinema exploits the visual perception of the viewer to create the illusion of motion which forms the bases for all films. As advancing technologies aid this process of illusion they stride to help cinema create the most realistic representation of what our eyes see and helps transport the viewer into the world of the film as if they where there.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

The Path into Madness in The Yellow Wallpaper -- Yellow Wallpaper essa

The Path into Madness in The Yellow Wallpaper      Ã‚  Ã‚   In the late 1800's/early 1900's, when Charlotte Perkins Gilman experienced her episode of "temporary nervous depression" (Gilman 885), and wrote her autobiographical short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," the workings of the mind were mysteries that few medical people attempted to investigate. A patient who was poor and ill-educated and exhibiting signs of mental disorder was institutionalized -- ala Bedlam. The patient who was rich, educated, and/or from a "good family" was called eccentric and given a prescription for complete mental rest and controlled physical exercise combined with the consumption of phosphorus enriched tonics. This regimen was to be followed in an environment that allowed the patient to ingest large quantities of clean fresh air (Gilman 885, 886). In her retrospective, the author was able to present a frighteningly candid view of the ineffectiveness of this last pattern of treatment.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ms. Gilman's heroine's adventure into madness started with an onset of post partum depression. This fairly common side effect of childbirth comes at the time in her life when the woman (according to society) is supposed to be her happiest, most satisfied self. However, with her mind suffering from the effects of her body's frantic attempt to realign its chemical components into a balanced state, the new mother is confronted by moods that are the antithesis of the euphoria she is told she should be feeling. This juxtaposition of expected and experienced emotions can create tremendous guilt in a woman, even a very strong woman. To mitigate this guilt, the mind can develop a psychosis, such as delusional disorder. Ms. Gilman was very perceptive in looking at he... ... this case -- unenlightened) treatment, progressing into dementia. And she created this scenario years, if not decades, before medical science understood the relationship between the various parts of her heroine's -- and her own -- path into madness.    Works Cited Danford, Darla Erhard. "Pica and Nutrition." Annual Review of Nutrition Issue 2 (1982): 303 - 322. Decker, Chris J., MD, FRSCS. "Pica in the Mentally Handicapped: A 15 - Year Surgical Perspective." Canadian Journal of Surgery 36.6 (1993): 551 - 554. DSM - IV Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fourth edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1994. 290 - 301. Gilmore, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Being and Becoming. Anne Mills King, and Sandra Kurtinitis editors. New York, NY: McGraw - Hill Publishing Company, 1987. 886 - 892.   

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Whilst Lady Macbeth

In this essay I am will be analysing how Shakespeare and Duffy present madness in â€Å"Macbeth† and â€Å"Havisham†. Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare. It starts off with three witches who tell Macbeth that he will become the king. Macbeth kills the king and becomes king. Macbeth is beheaded by Macduff who was born by Caesarean section which was not considered to be born of a woman. The play was set in the Jacobean era. The Jacobean Era refers to the time in English and Scottish history that concurs with the reign of King James VI of Scotland, who also received the crown of England in 1603. Havisham† is a poem written by Carol Ann Duffy. This poem is spoken by Miss Havisham, a character in Dickens’ Great Expectations. Jilted by her scheming fiance, she continues to wear her wedding dress and sit along with the remains of breakfast for the rest of her life, while she plots her revenge on all men. She hates her spinster state – of which her unmarried family name constantly reminds her. In this section, I will tell you the similarities in Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham. Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham share some similarities in their madness. For example, Lady Macbeth shouts, â€Å"Out damned spot! Out I say! † This quote indicates that she sense that she is responsible for the murder of the king so she hallucinates and imagines that the king’s blood is still on her. Also Miss Havisham says, â€Å"Beloved sweetheart bastard. † This quote shows that she still cares for him but she also hates him. This Language device that is used is called an oxymoron. Another Similarity is that metaphors are used in both texts. For example, Lady Macbeth says, â€Å"will these hands ne'er be clean? † This quote suggests that she cannot get rid of her guilt like she cannot get rid of the blood on her hands. Miss Havisham says, â€Å"Ropes on the back of my hands†¦ † This quote represents her aging, as well as the years spent ‘wringing her hands’ with emotion, anger and nerves. In this section, I will tell you the differences in Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham. Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham also share some differences in their madness. For example, Lady Macbeth deserves her madness whilst Miss Havisham didn’t. You can see this when Lady Macbeth says, â€Å"What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? † This quote shows that she is feeling anxious about the killing of the king and is afraid that someone might challenge her authority. Whilst Miss Havisham says, â€Å"the dress yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe. † This quote indicates that time has passed and that she literally trembles when she looks at the clothes of her past as she was an innocent victim. Another difference is Lady Macbeth’s madness is rooted from her guilt of murder and repentance whilst Miss Havisham’s madness is rooted from revenge and the pain and sorrow she has felt. This can be seen when Lady Macbeth says, â€Å"Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him† This quote shows that Lady Macbeth has become delusional over the sin she has committed and is losing her mind and is going on a psychotic rant. Whilst Miss Havisham says, â€Å"Not a day since then I haven’t wished him dead. This quote shows that Miss Havisham is being tormented by a memento from her wedding dress which reminds her of the betrayal of her fiance. Havisham also uses enjambment to show the feelings of her past are ongoing and is reflected through the use of the run on lines. In my opinion, I think that Miss Havisham deserves more sympathy than Lady Macbeth as Havisham was jilted on her wedding day and I think that having your lover leave you on the most special day of your life can leave you traumatised and upset. I think that Lady Macbeth as an evil lady as she actually decided to kill Duncan when she saw Macbeth’s letter even though Macbeth didn’t decide to kill him and wasn’t ready to do it either. Lady Macbeth deserves to go mad since that is like her own punishment for her crime In conclusion, Shakespeare and Duffy both present madness in Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham in a number of ways, both similarly and differently. Readers are bound to feel more sympathy for Havisham then they are for Lady Macbeth due to the fact that Havisham is the victim in her story whilst Lady Macbeth is portrayed as the villain. Havisham is seen as the victim because she has been left by her fiance on the day of her wedding and then was left to suffer the rest of her life alone. Lady Macbeth is seen as the villain as she killed King Duncan with absolutely no remorse in her actions whatsoever at the time, she has just shown remorse after falling ill and ranting about the blood from the king being irremovable. It is common psychology that we feel more sympathy for Havisham as she has done no wrong and was betrayed. We view Lady Macbeth as evil as she killed a man out of greed and for her own gain.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Law Enforcement Research Design And Analysis Assignment 2 Coursework

Law Enforcement Research Design And Analysis Assignment 2 Coursework Law Enforcement Research Design And Analysis Assignment 2 – Coursework Example Running head: LAW ENFORCEMENT RESEARCH DESIGN AND ANALYSIS Lecture’s Introduction Law enforcement is a study that is meantto help get information based on law. This can be done by lawyers, law enforcement, defense and security sectors among others (University of Surrey, 2014). Law enforcement research design and analysis is a research design that is meant to help the researcher come up with a viable study that will help all the variables be captured and give response based on the research study. In this case multi of the data collection methodologies personality measures, performance, content analysis and questionnaires. Example of the questions used in the study research includes:a) What is the number of staffs involved in the crime management in the NSIS unit?b) How many individuals are involved in the decision making on crime management?c) How many lawyers took place in the decision making process?According to Gorard (2013) qualitative research is an education research that deals with views of the respondents. This asks general question, describes and analyses the words and later carries out enquiries on a biased and subjective manner. The example of the data collection methods includes observation, interviews, open ended questionnaires, focus group and content analysis.Examples of the qualitative questions include:a) What is the level of education that the field officers have on crime management?b) Who is the person in charge of the crime management?ReferencesCohen, N. & Arieli, T. (2011) Field research in conflict environments: Methodological challenges and snowball sampling. Journal of Peace Research. 48 (4), pp.  423–436.Freshwater, D., Sherwood, G. & Drury, V. (2006) International research collaboration. Issues, benefits and challenges of the global network. Journal of Research in Nursing, 11 (4), pp 9295–303.Gorard, S. (2013) Research Design: Robust approaches for the social sciences, London: SAGE.University of Surrey. (2014). La w enforcement defence and security research network. Retrieved April 2, 2014, from University of Surrey: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/leds/.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Hero essays

Hero essays The English dictionary defines a hero as a person who is noted or admired for courage, outstanding achievements, etc. Is this really the meaning that a person should go by? Is a wealthy person who donates large amounts of money a hero? A hero really is: a person who perseveres despite adversity, a person who tries to perform beyond expectations, a person who is level-headed in a crisis and risks himself for the sake of a better society. To begin with, let us consider a person who perseveres despite adversity. A great example would be Mahatma Gandhi; it is amazing that a person as old and frail was the leader of one of the largest non-violent war in history. Gandhi was thrown in jail time after time, and what did he do? He refused to yield and was willing to be back in jail. This person persevered despite great adversity because he was loyal to the cause that he was fighting for. Furthermore, a heroic person needs to be a person who is levelheaded in adverse situations. What would Martin Luther King Junior done if he was being given a hard time by, say, a racially biased police officer? Would he have tried to reason with him, or take beatings? Since he was level headed he would not have struck back. Being levelheaded is a quality every person needs to have whether they aspire to be a hero or not. If one stays cool in a high-pressure situation, one will be able to reason out to the maximum of their abilities. If noticed closely, many of the most brilliant people have been levelheaded. That also indicates that they are focused. Most of all, a heroic person must be willing to sacrifice himself for the better of people close to him and society. This is a characteristic that really distinguishes him or her because there are relatively few people who would be willing to give themselves up. This is pretty much the point at which a person recognizes that worldly things such as wealth do not matter, but the joy of helping does. Th...

Monday, November 4, 2019

Envision the sustainability city Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Envision the sustainability city - Essay Example The trees grown at an equal distance of San Gabriel Valley portrayed a view of an entrance gate with street lamps replaced with trees. A big tractor-like vehicle would come and water the flower-pots in front of each house. The water would wake them up from their slumber. In Rowland Heights the buildings were not very huge which would easily let the sunshine fall into the streets. I used to spend my time and would roam around in California Hacienda Heights, downtown, shopping malls, which had sparkling ponds in which rare fishes of different kinds would swim. The water was crystal clear and one could easily see the movements of fishes beneath the water surface. Their swift movements and struggle to live life out of their habitat enabled me to think of sustaining the life I had. I the mall, I used to meet immigrants from China, Taiwan and Korea and was able to widen my vision of diverse cultures to some extent. The shopping malls had green bushes growing in the corners and from the top of their ceilings, which made it more natural and ever alive. Next to the city area was the small region known as ‘mini safari’. One could find a wide variety of animals including tigers, elephants etc. There they happily roamed around. All the species of animals were available in their natural habitat. The people who lived there were very social and used to arrange social gatherings every week. Also, there were marathons every month, NO-Tobacco campaigns and Zumba Classes every week, which made the people healthy and they lived longer. Part 2 A few blocks away were the houses built in circular dome shape so that all sunshine would concentrate on it for the production of electricity. These circular domes were numerous and they were surrounded by green belt. The tiny trash bins were available at every step and anything thrown inside would automatically be recycled. There were some robots, which with their laser visions would search for the dirt and remove it if they fou nd any. The silent electric cars would pass by without signalling their arrival and had black solar cells covering their whole body. Covered with silicon solar glasses all over, the people working inside would park their bicycles in a parking lot and start working. From a distance, one could see the gigantic windmills moving with the speed of wind on lofty mountains. Alongside the roads were the street lamps which were quite high with pitch-black solar cells attached to them. At night, they gave a beautiful view of a dark city sunk in a river of illumination. Under the ground were the sewage pipes totally invisible to the people, which transported the sewage from the houses to the specific depressions in a far off city so that the filth can be converted into recycled manure to be used by farmers. Cleaner air meant that the ecosystem was healthy and the animal habitat survived longer. No doubt, people used to live ages more than 100 years. Although, technological advancement has gene rated communication gap by offering virtual identity and life style, the city I envision would be a habitat of diverse ethnic groups living closely together. The community would adapt old fashioned social norms to communicate and live. Close knitted family system would enable people to cherish the joy of living together and would enliven the sentiment of compassion towards others’ sorrow and pain. My vision is not impossible to achieve but requires a little

Friday, November 1, 2019

Leader Analysis Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Leader Analysis Paper - Essay Example A good leader should be able to persuade and motivate the juniors working under him in tough times to ensure that they are always focused and full of vigor. Organizations are run on set goals and objectives, therefore a good leader will be able to draft good objectives and incorporate all the stakeholders involved in the production or achievement of the goals so that they can work as a team. The leader should bridge the gap between him and the employees so that they can feel as part of the overall plan and pledge to offer their best. The leader should possess good listening skills and be ready to address the problems arising in a supportive and diligent manner. Constructive criticism is welcome in any given situation. This is important when one feels that one of the employees or any staff is not delivering his/her mandate in the expected way. It is therefore wrong to victimize an employee instead of using positive corrective measures that are needed in creating a good environment for the staff and the customers. The leader should be assertive so as to portray a positive image of himself to the employees and also to the society they are interacting with. Presenting a positive personal image ensures that the people looking up to you in the organization trust you and believe that you will be able to accord them the leadership they yearn for. It is important to delegate certain tasks to the juniors in the organization as this creates trust and increases responsibility among the workers. On top of these, a good leader should always have a positive attitude and an optimistic way of addressing problems as the approach he gives may be what it entails to make the projects or the goals achievable or not. An organization often goes through tough times which calls for tough measures to ensure that it does not close its business. In such cases, the leader or the manager should be persevering