Analysis Of The Opening Scene Of American Beauty (1999) essays

Analysis Of The Opening Scene Of American Beauty (1999) essays I decided to analyze the opening section of American Beauty. The film starts straight into Jane being filmed by her neighbour who she is having a conversation with. By starting the film with the use of a hand held video camera effect, it makes the film seem much more authentic. Jane is lying on a bed and does not show the whole of her body; this may suggest that she is not the main character but a significant player in the main characters life. She is dressed in black and blue colours, which suggests her character to be quite dark and mysterious. The lighting is dark and muted, which expresses a melancholic mood. Her make up is plain and there is no emphasis on particular features. Jane is staring into the camera, which is meant to engage the audience. The scene then cuts to the title of the film in red text on a black background that are colours associated with death. The next scene is showing the whole neighbourhood in which the family live. The lighting is bright and real, in contrast to the scene before. The camera does not give a focus on any particular house yet, as it is trying to come across as though this is an average family from an ordinary suburb. The next scene is of Lester lying in bed and the camera is looking down on him as to when the camera was at level with his daughter in the previous scenes. This shows how the character is interpreted by sections of society whereas many people would be on literally the same level as Jane, many people would look down on Lester. The camera shows the whole bed and there is nobody lying next to Lester. This shows that even in the beginning of the film that the relationship between him and his partner is not that close. However, the arrogant body language that he has shows that he does not care about the relationship. The lighting of this scene is convincing because it is real daylight. This emp hasizes the fact that the props and setting is genuine. In bed, Les...

The Prevalence of School Violence

The Prevalence of School Violence As teachers, parents, and students prepare for school each day, we hope that fears of school violence is not their major concern. Sadly, violence of one sort or another is part of many schools today. In a study of the class of 2000, CBS News found that, while 96 percent of students felt safe in school, 53 percent said that a shooting was possible in their school. 22 percent of students knew classmates who regularly carried weapons to campus. Are student perceptions accurate? How common is school violence? Are children safe at school? How can parents and teachers ensure safety for everyone? Rates of School Violence According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there was an average of 47 violent deaths at schools from the 1992/1993 school year through 2015/2016. Thats over a thousand deaths in under 25 years. The following information comes from the NCES commissioned a survey of Principals in 1,234 regular public elementary, middle, and high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia for the 1996/1997 school year. The good news is that 43 percent of public schools reported no crime, and 90 percent reported no serious violent crimes. Still they found violence and crime to be far too common in the school setting. 57 percent of public elementary and secondary school principals stated that one or more incidents of crime or violence were reported to the police.10 percent of all public schools had one or more serious violent crimes (murder, rape, sexual battery, suicide, physical attack or fight with a weapon, or robbery).The most reported crime was physical attacks or fights without a weapon.Most of the serious violent crimes occurred in middle and high schools.A greater percentage of violent crimes occurred in city schools and in large schools with over 1000 students. When asked about their personal experiences, a quarter of students surveyed in 1999s Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher reported having been a victim of a violent crime in or around the school. Scarier still, one in eight students had at some time carried a weapon to school. These statistics indicated increases from the previous 1993 survey. Even so, teachers, students, and law enforcement officials all revealed that their overall perceptions were that violence was decreasing. How do we address this complacency and make our schools safer in fact as well as in feeling? Combating School Violence School violence is everyones problem to solve. The community, administrators, teachers, parents, and students must come together and make schools safe. What forms of prevention and punishment are schools relying on? Some schools have a low security system in place, meaning that they have no guards or metal detectors, but they do control access to school buildings. Others rely on moderate security, which means either employing a full-time guard with no metal detectors or controlled access to the buildings, or a part-time guard with controlled access to the buildings. Still others have stringent security which means they have a full-time guard, use metal detectors, and control who has access to the campus. Almost no schools have no security measures at all. One correlation is that the schools with the highest security are the ones that have the highest instances of crime. But what about the other schools? Neither Columbine, Sandy Hook, or Stoneman-Douglas were considered high risk schools. Schools across the country have instituted violence prevention programs and zero tolerance policies. One step schools take to increase security levels is issuing name badges which must be worn at all times. This may not stop students from causing violence, but it allows teachers and administrators have to more easily identify the students who cause disruptions. Furthermore, badges could prevent outsiders from invading a campus. What Can Parents Do? They can pay attention to subtle and overt changes in their children. Many times there are warning signs well in advance of violence. They can watch for these and report them to guidance counselors. Some examples include: Sudden lack of interestObsessions with violent or hateful games or videosDepression and mood swingsWriting that shows despair and isolationLack of anger management skillsTalking about death or bringing weapons to schoolViolence towards animals What Can Teachers Do? Worries about school violence should not hamper the job educators must perform. Remain aware of the possibility that violence could erupt anywhere. Strive to work together to create a safe academic environment. Teachers are in a tough situation, because if they step in physically to address violence or fights, they may themselves be targeted by defensive or abusive students or parents. Still, teachers are often in the best position to prevent classroom violence. Similar to parents, watch for the above warnings signsTalk to parents about concerns they might haveRemember to keep the lines of communication open with students and parentsBring concerns to guidance counselors and administrationBe consistent in enforcing classroom and school policiesCreate a prejudice-free classroom policy from the first day, and enforce itTeach anger management skills as the need arisesModel healthy behavior and responsesCreate a plan to handle emergency situations with your students What Can Students Do? Look out for and take care of each otherRespect others and their feelingsRefuse to succumb to negative peer pressure, especially when violence is involvedReport any knowledge of weapons on campusTell your teachers about suspicious behaviors of other studentsWalk away from confrontations Resources and Further Reading Binns, Katherine, and Dana Markow. â€Å"The Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher, 1999: Violence in Americas Public Schools- Five Years Later.† Institute of Education Sciences, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 30 Apr. 1999.Center for the Study and Prevention of ViolenceNational Center for Education StatisticsNational Crime Prevention CouncilNational School Safety CenterOffice of Safe and Healthy StudentsSafe Supportive Learning

Trade Diversion and Trade Creation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Trade Diversion and Trade Creation - Essay Example The concept of trade creation and the trade diversion is based on the cost of production and the value of the outcomes among countries or regions. Trade creation arises because of trade deals that occur between different countries that are involved in a spending shift by the domestic consumers. The agreement aims at moving local consumer expenditure from higher cost source domestic spending to a lower cost source partner spending (El-Agraa and El-Agraa, 2007). To clarify the concept of trade diversion, take an example of two countries within the EU that have signed a trading agreement. Taking in country A and country B. Country A households can switch their spending on insurance and cars supplied by its domestic suppliers at a higher cost to those provided by country B suppliers at a lower cost operating in the same market. The primary essence of trade creation is to encourage an upsurge in trade among countries that enter an agreement by signing the trade accord (Laine, 2011). The trade creation also leads to an efficient allocation of limited resources and raises gain in user and manufacturer welfare. Below is a diagram showing both the domestic supply and the internal demand for trade creation in the European Countries. The diagram demonstrates that access to cheaper supplies allows a lower price, which benefits the final consumer. The diagram also shows that a reduction in price that leads to an expansion in demand thus an increase in consumer surplus. The incurred surplus further leads to a net improvement in the country’s economic welfare. On the other hand, trade diversion is best defined as a change in local customer speeding from a zone of lower cost source to an area of higher partner cost source. It occurs because of the removal of tariffs on the imports acquired from the other partner countries. Trade diversion is commonly based on the existing tariffs on the external imports of the goods and services.

Incident of Morales video Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Incident of Morales video - Assignment Example When Phaust’s management is confronted by the ethical issues involved in hiring a critical person from the rival business the person in charge Chuck replies that Fred is under no non-disclosure agreement with Chemitoil. The ethical implications of such a decision are clear and should be avoided as far as possible. In a similar manner the management at Phaust finds out that Chemitoil is about to release a new paint remover known as â€Å"Easy Strip† so they decide to brand their own product as â€Å"Strip Teasy† which sounds similar to the original product’s name. The contention is to promote sales by blurring out the customer’s brand distinction so that customers going for Chemitoil’s product may accidentally buy Phaust’s product too. This is an ethically repugnant method to boost sales and represents an ethical dilemma even if the legal department allow it. Once the plant was cleared for construction, it was situated in Mexico in orde r to take clear advantage of the more lax environmental laws. The implementation of less stringent environmental laws would allow Phaust to construct the plant at a far lower cost than the cost of construction in the United States. While this would benefit Phaust in the short and long run but such a decision would be very detrimental to the interests of many stakeholders in Mexico such as labour unions, people living in the adjacent localities, workers working at the plant amongst others. It was Phaust’s ethical responsibility to evaluate its decision and to match up salaries, environmental protection and the like before creating a plant in Mexico because ethical constraints demand as such. As the construction of the plant proceeds the construction team is faced with the decision of lining the evaporating ponds in order to discourage the infiltration of hazardous substances to drinking water nearby. There are no environmental protection laws in Mexico to supplant or require s uch a commitment but it was the ethical responsibility of the construction team to ensure that the local drinking water supply was not affected by their actions. Failure to comply with ethical standards in order to curb costs reflects on the low ethical standards employed at Phaust. Moreover Phaust is represented as possessing a culture of speed over safety. Though upper management might feel that this stratagem would promote efficacy and reduce waste but the implications are opposite to the desired effects. The promotion of speed forced Fred to design a conventional plant using conventional design pressures and temperatures. Forcing the design team beyond their means in order to save time was an unethical violation of norms at Phaust. This in turn forced the construction and design teams to work up a design that was not up to the job as the new product from Chemitoil was analysed. The construction phase of the plant was filled up with unethical conduct as well. The procurement of e xpensive control systems from a person related to the higher management at Phaus is a clear violation of the code of ethics for engineering procurement. Utilising the money in one such section would drain the construction in other places and the video shows this clearly as it proceeds. Similarly the uncalled for budget cuts across the board were uncalled for and unethical to say the least as not formal assessments or evaluations were undertaken to determine the amount of cuts required. The removal of

The Channel Tunnel Project and the Way in Which It Was Planned and Essay

The Channel Tunnel Project and the Way in Which It Was Planned and Expected To Be Carried Out - Essay Example This essay explores the Project Management Process which is made up of three stages namely; Project Initiation, Control, and Closure. Generally, the Project Initiation Stage is described as a sequence of steps which include the Kick-Off Stage, the Project Objective and Scope, Project Schedule and Budgeting, Stage Schedule and Budgeting, Project Organization, Project Control Procedures, Business Case, and Project Initiation Stage Assessment. Project Control-This stage involves arranging of various project activities into a series of steps. These steps fall into four categories, namely; a step to initiate the stage, steps that are continuously undertaken throughout the stages. There should be clearly recognized control measures for all the processes. The project control procedures should be incorporated into the project plan. Such procedures include quality, progress, change and version controls alongside issue resolution. In the project control, there should be a proper administration system, detailing the role that each person is going to undertake in order to ensure the success of the project. There needs to be a quality control procedure. The management should have in place mechanisms sable in ensuring the quality products from the project. There need to be change control procedures for the project. This should be taken into account to avoid it impacting on the schedule, costs, and quality of the final product. There should also be established issue resolution procedure to tackle any issues that may arise during the project control process. Finally, there should be a regular review of the project control procedures. This should ensure that the Project Controls are in place. Project Closure- This stage helps formally close the project in a way that institutes instruments for the continuous development and upgrading of the final project product standard process for this project by updating the models of estimation so that the project resources can be re-deploye d. Projects are normally designed to end at some point. The lessons learned on how to undertake similar projects better in the future should be captured for future use. These will help the project management team have a better idea of how long the various activities on this type of project will take to do. There will be a lot of data generated in the process of undertaking a project, and this should be stored with diverse degrees of the procedure by the team.

Southeast Asia in the US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Southeast Asia in the US - Essay Example For Ricky, the sea journey was difficult as explained by Hai, one gang member who gave their account while on a sea travel with pirates said that he was only ten years old and his mother was beaten up and thrown into the vast seawaters an experience he will never forget. Most of the Vietnamese had other painful stories to tell about their experience during the war. For instance, they state that on their way to U.S.A, pirates attacked them.. For a period of two years, the South East of Asia became the home for many ‘boat people’ refugees before they were taken to United States. In the camps, there were many crimes and they engaged in survival tactics.In our close association with Ricky, we felt that there were unfamiliar faces either from the gang or from the others who lived in the house at one time. He also informed us that many of their recruits were coming down from Minneapolis. He did not explain the condition they were in at that time. Johnny, a friend of his was a victim who was on the run. His foster father had beaten him and he adapted slowly to the conditions. He seemed to very cautious and afraid of the group members. His friends were cool with him and allowed him to adapt slowly. Though their experience varies, they had similar themes. Most of the members gave their experience as school dropouts, they had language barrier between them, and they could not assimilate it successfully. After two years, they were two years adrift and their parents were forced to adjust their birth dates. In similar life experience, Tam a victim focuses on the family unity that existed in Vietnam that was dismantled by the war. The split families found it difficult to adjust with the transitional life in United States. This has caused a change in the gender roles of most

NBA Lockout Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

NBA Lockout Paper - Essay Example They two parties could not come to a consensus regarding the division of revenue and the proposed structure of the salary cap and taxation of the player’s luxury. During the period of the lockout, the player could not access NBA team facilities, trainer or staff; they could not make any trades, sign or contact the players. This led to player signing other contract in countries like Asia and Europe and left a possibility of returning to the NBA after the conclusion of the NBA lockout. A tentative deal was eventually reached in November 26 2011 and allowed for the start of the season shortly thereafter. Following a previous lock in the 1998- 99 season, a six year contract was agreed between the owners and the players. This meant that the CBA was set to expire by 2005. A new agreement was meant to take place but, there were several issues that blocked a new contract. The issues include the age limit for the rookies that were to be drafted in the NBA, limiting the length of the lo ng term contract that many teams had to sign with their players and the toughening of the existing drug testing program. The two parties reached an agreement that prevented a lock out in 2005. This deal was meant to grant the player 57 percent of the Basketball Related Income (BRI). This deal was also meant to last six years. Due to the economic crisis, eight officials of NBA asked the Commissioner David Stern to address the issue on Large market and Small market teams (Rosner 78). He said the current economic system only worked for the large market teams which made them successful but, those small teams were facing major losses. The two parties under the CBA began to look for a possible solution to this issue that seemed to get out of hand. The league declared that it was losing close to 300 million dollars in a year. This meant that out of a possible 30 teams, 22 were counting losses. Therefore, they proposed that the player’s salary was to be reduced to 40 %, which came to about 800 million. They also recommended for the salary cap to be reduced to $ 45 million opposing the current one at 58 million. These recommendations were not taken lightly as the union disputed the figures and were steadfast to oppose these changes. Billy Hunter, the director of the union advised the player for a lockout. Negotiations continued regarding the salary cap, and the newest proposal known as the flex cap was meant to limit the payroll at 62 million but reprimand on the event that the team’s payroll exceeded the average league payroll of the season. The Union still felt that this was a hard cap (Washington post ). Players offered a salary reduction cut an estimate of about 500 million over the next five years from 57 to 54.3 Percent. However, the owners proposed a 2 billion cut for the next ten years. On June 30 2011, both side tried to resolve the key issues of the BRI splits and salary cap but, there were no able to come into an agreement. The owners demanded a bigger portion making claims of losing money whereas, the players were willing to make special considerations, but they refused to completely cave to the demand of the owners. This eventually to a break off and the CBA expired. With the NBA player deciding to reject the latest offer, the mutli billion dollar game ended in a crash. The players disclaimed their union and ended its right to negotiate on their behalf.