The Columbia Encyclopedia Essay Example for Free

The Columbia Encyclopedia Essay Camera inventions multiplied speeds pictures can become available. Someone explored the possibilities of different ways to use many pictures at one time. The amazing invention was moving photography, motion pictures, short for pictures in motion. The first motion pictures made with a single camera were by E. J. Marey, a French physician, in the 1880s, in the course of his study of motion. (The Columbia Encyclopedia) Art historians document the camera obscura was invented dating as far back as 200-300 B. C. but it is Aristotle who popularized the item, finding many useful purposes for it. Film, television and movie programs use light shinning through a miniature circle narrowing the focus of the object, reflected on a huge screen. This technical invention allowing high quality moving pictures to be possible began when Aristotle used the invention to study science, specifically the sun. To explain the camera obscura in simple terms, it is a box, with a pinhole, and light reflects through the tiny pinhole. The amount of light allowed to shine through the pinhole is controlled, giving the objects more detailed precise pictures, more focus. The next step camera technology was the Kinetoscope. In 1889 Thomas Edison and his staff developed the Kinetograph, a camera using rolls of coated celluloid film, and the Kinetoscope, a device for peep-show viewing using photographs that flipped in sequence. (The Columbia Encyclopedia) The Kinetoscope was to the camera obscura what the digital camera is to the Polaroid camera. It allowed a series of pictures to be produced and flipped through faster, giving illusion of continuous smoothly flowing pictures. Moving pictures, studying of motion, were making rapid advancements. The camera obscura allowed one person to view through the pinhole, the Kinetoscope showed moving pictures to groups of people, further encouraging exploring different ways of connecting pictures. The admission for shows cost one penny. In France the LumiA? re brothers created the first projection device, the CinAÂ ©matographe (1895). (The Columbia Encyclopedia) It was not long before moving pictures were in great demand. People loved the entertainment, and movie houses were being built at an alarming rate. Today, movies and movie technology shows no signs of slowing down. The camera served as a link between art paintings and audio recordings. It is the middle point that transformed paintings into multiple copies of still photographs and added sound to it, eventually named film and television movies. Recordings Paintings existed from the beginning of time. The camera was used by artists to view possibilities of looking at their paintings. During the time the camera was continuously being experimented with, musicians were fine tuning audio recordings. Someone found a way to put a combination of photographs into an aesthetic flowing sequence, in a pattern that tells a complete story. After the photographs became a series of one long continuous moving picture, someone added sound. Paintings, cameras, scriptwriting and recordings are the historical events that created film and television entertainment. All films, videos, and most television programs are, before they become anything else, recordings. (Watson 1990, 14) Film and television are photographs that move adding singing or talking audible voices. Sound quality used in film and television are equally important to putting together a show that is visually pleasing, holding audience as much as the lighting, designing, blocking, wardrobe, makeup and sequence of films. In the early 1900s, recordings were external devices played along with the film or television. Technologys ability putting motion into a series of photographs, showing the pictures in motion were not yet capable of recording the actors voices. Some television companies were using this technique as late as the seventies. If the actor’s prerecorded audio voices were offset from the video only fractions of a second, the inaccurate timing was visible to the audience. The actor was speaking and the words the actor was saying were heard before or after the audience could see him or her saying it. The popular Broadway musical, Singing in the Rain, released in the 1950’s shows audible One of the main points of the play tells how recordings were first incorporated into making complete films and television, how movies went from silent films to speaking films. One of the main characters was a very attractive dumb blonde lacking vocal skills. The studio gave her only nonspeaking roles, later attempted to work with her on her voice, experimenting with frustrating recording techniques. The point was to show how nonvisible audio determines visuality of the movie. External prerecorded devices are used, of course exaggerated into entertaining comedy, resulting in the woman’s voice getting mixed up with the acting parts of the male actors voice. The importance of sound quality to film and television comes together at the end of the movie, when a voice double is discovered. The first lesson one learns almost immediately after undertaking to write a comprehensive and critically weighed history of the American sound film is that one can never finish; one can only stop. (Sarris 1998, 3) Audible recordings were the last additions to completing the making of the films. Once added, limitations of film were lifted, allowing more options for visual enhancement for moving pictures. Voice projections, embellishments, sound effects give characters in the moving photographs personality, bringing the person shown in the picture or written in the book to life. Today, making silent full-length movies are not even considered. Art Consciously and unconsciously, artists borrow plots, characters, symbols, themes, interests, generic forms, ways of seeing, feeling and thinking. (Watson 1990, 98) Artist of today borrow from other artists, but the ones who invented art history are the masterminds and the reasons for the existence of film and television. Everything started with artists pictures, their drawings and probably the earliest story books. When someone decided to add movement to these pictures, it was determined music would give these pictures a stronger identity. The most popular films, television programs used borrowed themes from art legends. The most advanced filming techniques used today, originally began when there were no such thing as electricity, such as the camera obscura. The addition of sound to film originated with Pythagoras numbering system when studying the octaves of the universe. Impressions are not dependent on mathematical accuracy however, but intermittent imagery. (Watson 1990, 82) Images are indeed the visual effects carrying story lines from the beginning to the end in films, movies and television. When nonspeaking films were first invented in the 1920s, the audience had no idea of the visual affects produced by the background technology used to make the film. It was to the advantage to the technicians to study such techniques because it was cost effective. Today, the general public paying audiences may not understand the techniques behind movie making, but they can certainly see the lack of use of techniques. The first film and television developers were well aware of the importance of images to successful films and television programs. The whole idea behind films and television was moving images. Many of these moving images were borrowed from the artists from the past, or the theme of the movie implied a famous painting. Abstract art was considered to be a meaningless combination of colors. Use of coloring combinations makes images stand out and get noticed. Art paintings are the beginnings of the study of film and television productions. Finding a way to produce multiple pictures and putting these multiple pictures into motion pictures are the backbone of films and movies. Historical points sell. They give the audience a familiarity or a connection to the past. Perhaps, subconsciously historical images repeated in current films bring them back to a time in their life when they first studied these artists. Whatever the reason for the success, it works. Works Cited Camera. 2007. In The Columbia Encyclopedia 6th ed. , edited by Lagasse, Paul. New York: Columbia University Press. http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=od=112849953 (accessed March 16, 2008). Motion Pictures. 2007. In The Columbia Encyclopedia 6th ed. , edited by Lagasse, Paul. New York: Columbia University Press. http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=od=112874771 (accessed March 16, 2008). Sarris, Andrew. 1998. You Aint Heard Nothin Yet: The American Talking Film: History Memory, 1927-1949. New York: Oxford University Press. http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=od=24355309. Watson, Robert. 1990. Film and Television in Education: An Aesthetic Approach to the Moving Image. London: Falmer Press. http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=od=103505179.

Examine and compare the ways in which Pat Barker in Regeneration and Es

Examine and compare the ways in which Pat Barker in Regeneration and Wilfred Owen in his poetry explore the nature of life in the trenches. Pat Barker and Wilfred Owen are both successful writers in delivering an insight into trench life from the perspective of a soldier, although in different ways. Owen, being a soldier himself, has had first hand experience of trench life and describes the pity of war, in that war is a waste of young, innocent lives, and the bitterness of the soldiers towards the people who do not have to fight. Whereas Barker recreates trench life through the nightmares, hallucinations and memories of the soldiers. Despite the fact that Barker is a modern woman writer she still manages to write a realistic view of the effects of war on soldiers. We forget that she would have had to do extensive research to get her information so detailed, especially as she combines real characters such as Graves and Sassoon, with her fictional creations. There are several themes explored in the work of both writers, the force of nature and the dangers in the trenches, explored in "Exposure." The hatred and bitterness towards shirkers explored in "The Dead Beat." The torment and terrible conditions that the soldiers had to put up with, in "Dulce Et Decorum Est," and how the soldiers began to think that it would be easier to end their lives in war than to live through another day of horror, explored in "Aterre." The title "Exposure" says enough about the dangers in the trenches, the risk of death and exposure to the enemy and exposure the natural elements. Owen describes the intensity of the "merciless iced east winds" that cut through the soldiers like a knife. Creating a vicious imagery of trench c... ...his poem "Wild with All Regrets" Owen describes how "here in this coffin of a bed," his regret is that after so much time being trapped in the trenches with so much time to just sit and think, it is only now that he appreciates life and how important it is. The comparison with "Regeneration" is that Prior, Sassoon and the others are still trapped and still have hours to think of what it is they have and are missing by being locked up in Craiglockhart. The work of both Barker and Owen captures the realism of what these soldiers actually went through, without actually trying to sugarcoat it for the audience back at home. We are able to understand a little better why the soldiers got so close in war and why they hated the civilians so much. I can say that after reading "Regeneration" and Wilfred Owens work I will never think about war in the same way again.

Parts of Speech Essay

Traditional grammar classifies words based on eight parts of speech: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection. Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but how the word is used. In fact, the same word can be a noun in one sentence and a verb or adjective in the next. The next few examples show how a word’s part of speech can change from one sentence to the next, and following them is a series of sections on the individual parts of speech, followed by an exercise. Books are made of ink, paper, and glue. In this sentence, â€Å"books† is a noun, the subject of the sentence. Deborah waits patiently while Bridget books the tickets. Here â€Å"books† is a verb, and its subject is â€Å"Bridget.†We walk down the street. In this sentence, â€Å"walk† is a verb, and its subject is the pronoun â€Å"we.†The mail carrier stood on the walk. In this example, â€Å"walk† is a noun, which is part of a prepositional phrase describing where the mail carrier stood. The town decided to build a new jail. Here â€Å"jail† is a noun, which is the object of the infinitive phrase â€Å"to build.†The sheriff told us that if we did not leave town immediately he would jail us. Here â€Å"jail† is part of the compound verb â€Å"would jail.†They heard high pitched cries in the middle of the night. In this sentence, â€Å"cries† is a noun acting as the direct object of the verb â€Å"heard.†The baby cries all night long and all day long. But here â€Å"cries† is a verb that describes the actions of the subject of the sentence, the baby. An adjectiveAn adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun by describing, identifying, or quantifying words. An adjective usually precedes the noun or the pronoun which it modifies. In the following examples, the highlighted words are adjectives:The truck-shaped balloon floated over the treetops. Mrs. Morrison papered her kitchen walls with hideous wall paper. The small boat foundered on the wine dark sea. The coal mines are dark and dank. Many stores have already begun to play irritating Christmas music. A battered music box sat on the mahogany sideboard. The back room was filled with large, yellow rain boots. An adjective can be modified by an adverb, or by a phrase or clause functioning as an adverb. In the sentenceMy husband knits intricately patterned mittens. for example, the adverb â€Å"intricately† modifies the adjective â€Å"patterned.†Some nouns, many pronouns, and many participle phrases can also act as adjectives. In the sentenceEleanor listened to the muffled sounds of the radio hidden under her pillow. for example, both highlighted adjectives are past participles. Grammarians also consider articles (â€Å"the,† â€Å"a,† â€Å"an†) to be adjectives. Possessive AdjectivesA possessive adjective (â€Å"my,† â€Å"your,† â€Å"his,† â€Å"her,† â€Å"its,† â€Å"our,† â€Å"their†) is similar or identical to a possessive pronoun; however, it is used as an adjective and modifies a noun or a noun phrase, as in the following sentences:I can’t complete my assignment because I don’t have the textbook. In this sentence, the possessive adjective â€Å"my† modifies â€Å"assignment† and the noun phrase â€Å"my assignment† functions as an object. Note that the possessive pronoun form â€Å"mine† is not used to modify a noun or noun phrase. What is your phone number. Here the possessive adjective â€Å"your† is used to modify the noun phrase â€Å"phone number†; the entire noun phrase â€Å"your phone number† is a subject complement. Note that the possessive pronoun form â€Å"yours† is not used to modify a noun or a noun phrase. The bakery sold his favourite type of bread. In this example, the possessive adjective â€Å"his† modifies the noun phrase â€Å"favourite type of bread† and the entire noun phrase â€Å"his favourite type of bread† is the direct object of the verb â€Å"sold.†After many years, she returned to her homeland. Here the possessive adjective â€Å"her† modifies the noun â€Å"homeland† and the noun phrase â€Å"her homeland† is the object of the preposition â€Å"to.† Note also that the form â€Å"hers† is not used to modify nouns or noun phrases. We have lost our way in this wood. In this sentence, the possessive adjective â€Å"our† modifies â€Å"way† and the noun phrase â€Å"our way† is the direct object of the compound verb â€Å"have lost†. Note that the possessive pronoun form â€Å"ours† is not used to modify nouns or noun phrases. In many fairy tales, children are neglected by their parents. Here the possessive adjective â€Å"their† modifies â€Å"parents† and the noun phrase â€Å"their parents† is the object of the preposition â€Å"by.† Note that the possessive pronoun form â€Å"theirs† is not used to modify nouns or noun phrases. The cat chased its ball down the stairs and into the backyard. In this sentence, the possessive adjective â€Å"its† modifies â€Å"ball† and the noun phrase â€Å"its ball† is the object of the verb â€Å"chased.† Note that â€Å"its† is the possessive adjective and â€Å"it’s† is a contraction for â€Å"it is.†Demonstrative AdjectivesThe demonstrative adjectives â€Å"this,† â€Å"these,† â€Å"that,† â€Å"those,† and â€Å"what† are identical to the demonstrative pronouns, but are used as adjectives to modify nouns or noun phrases, as in the following sentences:When the librarian tripped over that cord, she dropped a pile of books. In this sentence, the demonstrative adjective â€Å"that† modifies the noun â€Å"cord† and the noun phrase â€Å"that cord† is the object of the preposition â€Å"over.†This apartment needs to be fumigated. Here â€Å"this† modifies â€Å"apartment† and the noun phrase â€Å"this apartment† is the subject of the sentence. Even though my friend preferred those plates, I bought these. In the subordinate clause, â€Å"those† modifies â€Å"plates† and the noun phrase â€Å"those plates† is the object of the verb â€Å"preferred.† In the independent clause, â€Å"these† is the direct object of the verb â€Å"bought.†Note that the relationship between a demonstrative adjective and a demonstrative pronoun is similar to the relationship between a possessive adjective and a possessive pronoun, or to that between a interrogative adjective and an interrogative pronoun. Interrogative AdjectivesAn interrogative adjective (â€Å"which† or â€Å"what†) is like an interrogative pronoun, except that it modifies a noun or noun phrase rather than standing on its own (see also demonstrative adjectives and possessive adjectives):Which plants should be watered twice a week?Like other adjectives, â€Å"which† can be used to modify a noun or a noun phrase. In this example, â€Å"which† modifies â€Å"plants† and the noun phrase â€Å"which paints† is the subject of the compound verb â€Å"should be watered†:What book are you reading?In this sentence, â€Å"what† modifies â€Å"book† and the noun phrase â€Å"what book† is the direct object of the compound verb â€Å"are reading.†Indefinite AdjectivesAn indefinite adjective is similar to an indefinite pronoun, except that it modifies a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase, as in the following sentences:Many people believe that corporations are under-taxed. The indefinite adjective â€Å"many† modifies the noun â€Å"people† and the noun phrase â€Å"many people† is the subject of the sentence. I will send you any mail that arrives after you have moved to Sudbury. The indefinite adjective â€Å"any† modifies the noun â€Å"mail† and the noun phrase â€Å"any mail† is the direct object of the compound verb â€Å"will send.†They found a few goldfish floating belly up in the swan pound. In this example the indefinite adjective modifies the noun â€Å"goldfish† and the noun phrase is the direct object of the verb â€Å"found†:The title of Kelly’s favourite game is â€Å"All dogs go to heaven.†Here the indefinite pronoun â€Å"all† modifies â€Å"dogs† and the full title is a subject complement. Bibliography: 1.Adjective order in English2.Adjectives and Adverbs3.Adjective article on HyperGrammar4.Pratheep Raveendrabathan – List of Adjectives5.Learn English – Categorized Adjective Listings

Socrates An Essay On Morality, Misdeeds, And A Martyr

Socrates: An Essay on Morality, Misdeeds, and a Martyr Few names in history have withstood the test of time, remaining currently studied and discussed to the point of familiarity. Socrates is one such unique name. A man of ethics and reason, Socrates would change history forever, creating a love of reason and knowledge unestablished by his predecessors. Despite the admiration and respect Socrates found in most Athenian circles, his revolutionary methods and inquisitive mind would eventually be his undoing. Socrates pursuit of the truth directly conflicted with the ideas of moral and social conformity, ultimately leading to his conviction under the very laws he deemed fair and just. I intend to argue that Socrates, though unfairly†¦show more content†¦They often found themselves at odds with Socrates because where the Sophists believed there were no one standard for truth or justice, Socrates believed moral excellence was attained through the active seeking of self-knowledge (Socrates). Also, Socrates found that often those more morally skewed and â€Å"foolish† were the elite and noble, the social class normally taught by the Sophists. As he continued to teach the youth of Athens newer more secular ways of thinking, he ostracized himself from some of the most powerful families in Athens with long Sophist ties, threatening their power. It was his threat to political power that eventually landed Socrates in court charged with the corruption of the Athenian youth and the promotion of his own gods rather than the gods of the state. Socrates defense was well executed, planned, and proved to be the stronger and more supported side of the trial. He begins by asking, Which is better, to live among bad citizens, or among good ones? as well as, Is there anyone who would rather be injured then benefitted by those who live with him?(Plato). He then goes on the offense. If he corrupted the youth of Athens, making them bad citizens, they would do harm to himself and others which isn t the case. Socrates was not a violent man despite having served in war and his followers were philosophers not criminals.