Are Visual Effects Improving or Damaging Film Fro Essays - Film

Are Visual Effects Improving or Damaging Film? From the very inception of film visual effects have been employed by numerous photographers and film makers to enhance, to realise and create new meaning. The very early days of film took great advantage of visual magic' to create illusions and trickery which have impressed countless audiences. Over a century ago when photography was emerging as an art form some unscrupulous commercial photographers would capture portrait shots using an ordinary exposure but then as soon as the subject was removed from the studio a collaborator would be positioned within the same setting, a quick exposure would be taken so as to leave a faint image trace on the film. The unsuspecting customer would then be handed a positive copy of their image with what appeared to be a ghostly figure in shot. A more subtle variation involved the customer being placed with numerous props around him or her, the props would be removed for the second exposure of the ghost character, so as they wouldn't appear too deliberately double exposed. The ghost character would usually be wearing black clothing as film does not see' black due to the chemical process in the emulsion of film which identifies light only, therefore only the ghost would appear in the second image. And herein began the industry of special effects. This ghost trick was the starting point for what is now known as the matte process where unrequired objects are removed from the exposure by masking them so they do not register on the film. One of the first uses of this process in a moving image sequence was witnessed in Alexander Korda's Things To Come (1936) in which the upper levels of a futuristic underground city have been double exposed above footage of live actors, matte masks prevented one image showing on the other image. This film provides one of the earliest examples of special effects being adopted to positively improve the aesthetics of a film. Of course since fil m's early experiments with visual effects the industry has today developed into a very sophisticated, digitally driven and technically ultra-advanced visual medium. Computers have taken special effects to an entirely new level and as computers continue to update and improve their spec so too will the film industry develop around these advances; quite simply computers and digital technology have enabled films to be produced which otherwise would not have been. However despite the often profound visual success of special effects in certain cases some people argue that film is now placing an over reliance on special effects, they argue that visual effects in some films are counter productive as they come across as ineffective and some times unnecessary. Some also question the performance of the actors if all they are doing in a film is running in front of a green screen shouting at an imagined alien' clutching an imagined prop. Others raise concerns regarding the films quality and the processes of putting a film together where much of it is CGI constituted. So is it really the case that films being produced now would be better received by audiences if they did not make so much use of visual effects? Or is it that some studios and directors simply can't adjust effectively to modern day film making? And who is to blame for this? Man or machine? As visual effects artist Piers Bizony points out: One of the greatest misconceptions about modern movies is that visual effects are generated by computers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Human inventiveness is the most important ingredient and it always will be. Computers offer amazing new possibilities, but the underlying challenges of movie illusions are the same today as they were nearly a century ago when the industry was young . Chapter 1: The Profound Benefits of Using Visual Effects in Film Digital effects have significantly impacted on mainstream films, indeed digital technology is now synonymous with exceptional visual effects. Michael Bailey's sci-fi film Armageddon (1999) provides a good example of a director engaging with digital visual effects which achieves an impressive and hugely successful end product. The disaster film depicts the efforts to prevent Earth being destroyed

cloning2 essays

cloning2 essays Cloning, the process of creating a copy of a plant or animal that is genetically identical to the original through asexual means, has sparked some interesting moral and ethical debate. For years, cloning has been used to produce a greater number of a specific type of plant, such as the Macintosh apple trees, which have all been derived from single mutated plant . Now, however, upon the discovery of a method to clone animals, even humans, people are beginning to become aware of the benefits and consequences of cloning, as well as the ethics involved. Cloning has had a fairly long history. In 1952, the first successful cloning experiment took place. Scientists Robert Briggs and Thomas King successfully removed the nucleus from a frog egg and replaced it with the nucleus of an undifferentiated cell from another frog. The egg, then placed in a nutrient solution, eventually developed into a healthy tadpole. In 1962, ten years later, a similar experiment took a differentiated intestinal cell and allowed the tadpole created to develop into a healthy, fertile toad. Later, in 1981, a scientist from Cambridge University then combined two embryos, one of a sheep and the other of a goat, making the first mosaic animal ever artificially created-the geep, with the body of a goat covered with patches of sheeps wool. Then 1984, the first cloned mammals were produced from embryonic nuclei transplanted into unfertilized sheep eggs. Soon after, cloned calves and rabbits, both from embryonic nuclei, and just recently, the first mammal cloned f rom a fully differentiated adult sheep cell was created. The process of cloning an animal, especially a mammal, is not an easy one. In fact, there are multiple ways to go about accomplishing the task, depending on the source of the DNA used for cloning. If a differentiated cell, one that has certain genes expressed or unexpressed, is used, certain genes must first be forced to ...

Final reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Final reflection - Essay Example A well-established democratic society requires citizens, who should be active and well aware of their roles and responsibilities for betterment of their society as well as for maintaining their own living standard in the society. In this paper, we shall discuss roles and responsibilities of good citizens living in a democratic society. Discussion Typical definition of a good citizen states that a good citizen needs to represent values, moral and models of responsible attitude and democratic values solely for the growth and improvement of society. To do perform the assigned roles and responsibilities of a good citizen, people are required to gain knowledge concerning social, political, economical and legal and other institutional roles and issues. Up to date knowledge and a good understanding of all rights and roles of social institutions can help a citizen to understand his own responsibilities and actions he/she can take to improve societal condition. Additionally, knowledge or unde rstanding of a good citizen should not be confined to roles and issues raised by societal institutions, but he should be aware of all current happenings that take place in the society and ultimately result in good or bad for the people. Carroll has discussed in his work that responsibilities of a good citizen should be identified as corporate social responsibilities (CSR). These responsibilities involve economic, legal, ethical and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time (Sison, 2008). The core understanding of corporate social responsibilities implies that institutions that are involved in the process of socialization should have moral, philanthropic, and ethical responsibilities. However, from the broader spectrum Carroll as emphasized on the fact that corporate social responsibilities should not be solely viewed in a traditional way. But, citizens should be provided with an opportunity, where they can enjoy a number of constituencies such as from employees, local state or community, environmental groups, suppliers, clients and other special interest parties (Sison, 2008). According to Loeb, responsibilities of a citizen in a democratic society have been defined for the making society more lively, safe and potential place for the people to live in. Author has strongly focused on the role of citizens to bring positive social change in the country, every time when a society suffers any critical social, political or economical issue. Additionally, apart from understanding the roles and responsibilities, a citizen needs to have such feelings and enthusiasm for the society that led him/her to participate actively in all activities and social works that aim to improve living conditions in a democratic community (Loeb, 2011). Also, Loeb highlights that it is not only important to work in a group or with any organization for the betterment of social issues, but it should be noted that each and every effort is worthy and individual efforts of citizens can also contribute to make a considerable difference in a democratic society. It is because, in democratic system all citizens are all equal and they have freedom of speech or thoughts that can even bring a revolution on a national level. Liu has mentioned five core responsibilities