Music and Film

The use of music in film is a necessary element to understanding what the director wants you to see and feel. Without the element of Music in film we would simply float on through climatic and suspenseful scenes that are pivotal in building the characters and picture as a whole. Throughout film history the ways that music in movies has changed has adapted significantly making the role of music in a film increasingly important. Through the use of silence some directors have made tremendously captivating scenes by using no music at all while other movies certainly would never come close to suspenseful without the help of a tune. I would like to focus on how the art of music for the screen is in fact a necessity in most cases to conveying the "right" feelings for the viewer. And how in some cases silence can do the job just fine.
Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, would the film be better or worse with music or the silence that was originally used for it? Just to clear that statement up there are use of sound effects in The Birds that a composer did make but there is no music in a sense. I'm not sure if there is any way of knowing but either way I want to dig into the process of applying the music to a film. I feel that it is something that is definitely overlooked by many viewers and is taken for granted.
Some might argue that music is only a "filler" and doesn't play that large of a role in the overall viewing experience. I would instead argue for instance; that if Mike Myers would not have had his famous entrance song would he have been as scary? If you were to press mute how would the scene make you feel? You probably wouldn't be on the edge of your seat. While other scenes like in Silence of the Lambs where Clarice is in the basement of Buffalo Bills house and he is watching Clarice through his night vision goggles; she has no idea he is there and it is silent except for maybe her breathing; if there was music in that scene it would totally kill the eeriness of his presence.
Throughout the film directors have had their favorite composers some will only work with one while others try to change from movie to movie. We know that music is an important part of a film but how important? Would you not have the same experience if there had been different music? Would that music make the movie better or worse and can we be sure that you can even answer that?Do actors affect a directors or composers style or type of score they want to make. Can the actor influence something in this way? Can different shots provoke different sounds? And how can a composer know where to start and what will fit? (cont for paper)

Online gambling is a big issue that is currently being addressed in America. Many people think that it should be illegal or regulated. While just as many others would argue the opposite. So should online gambling be illegal or at least be regulated?
There are many parents that certainly think so. Many college students and even some high school students have access to these gambling sites. With online gambling you only have to be eighteen to play. Many of these teenagers are spending and borrowing money to play online. Once they have borrowed the money to play it is not certain by any means that they will win. The most popular online game is Texas Hold’em which is a type of poker. When playing Texas Hold’em many people if not the majority play no limit. Which means exactly what the name implies if you have the money in chips you can put them in the “pot” during any of the four rounds of betting while your in the hand. So for many inexperienced players this can mean trouble. But hey it's your choice right? If you want to gamble its your money.
One of the common arguments for banning online gambling is the age limit I spoke of earlier. For such young people to have what could be unlimited access to so many games and stakes is not settling for some people. A large concern from this is that the percent of gambling addictions will increase due to the young age of many players. Since the player is online they can log on virtually any time and play. The only thing that you need to access these sites which there are a plethora of is a log in name and password. There are many incentives to signing up that most of if not all the sites advertise. So many would argue that no person under twenty one should be able to gamble online. The legal age in casino in the U.S. is twenty one why should it be any different online. Well the main reason is that the sites are run and located outside of the U.S. and the legal age there is eighteen. Therefore they don’t have to be twenty one.
Another large problem is taxing online gambling. You are supposed to pay taxes on your winnings since it is an income but this is a hard thing for the government to keep up with and easy for players not to claim. The government also can't enforce existing tax laws on online gambling. So there are many people who argue to make online gambling completely legal and taxable so the U.S. can tax it and generate revenue from the massive amounts of money that is being transferred in the online gaming industry. In an article written by Rep. Jim McDermott he states that by" regulating Internet gambling could generate between $3.1 billion and $15.2 billion in federal revenues during the first five years, and between $8.7 billion and $42.8 billion over the first 10 years." That is a substantial amount of money that would be put back toward government programs and to our state's economies.
Should online gambling be illegal. I would have to say no. The regulation of online gambling is the best bet, pardon the pun. With online gambling illegal people are still playing the same as before with very little consequences. If Rep. Jim McDermott and Rep. Barney Frank's Internet Gambling Tax Act were passed there would be gaining tax revenues that are being currently lost because of offshore betting.

Sorry we don't accept cash.

Have you seen the new visa commercials? I’m sure you have you know the ones with everyone juggling everything and having what seems to be the time of there life. If not here is a quick summary of what takes place. In the commercial the mother and son walk into a toy store and join in on the fun that everyone seems to be having. They reach the check out counter and the mother attempts to pay. She pulls out her checkbook and everything and everyone stops. The toys that were being tossed and juggled fall to the floor and the mother is left to blame. The check book appears to be rather taboo having seen the expression of the employee at the register and the reaction of the crowd. The mother and son are now being looked at by all the other shoppers. It seems that the fun will not commence until this is taken care of. So the women reluctantly pulls out her Visa and all is well.
There are two other variations to this commercial that follow the same theme. Which is while your worrying about and “juggling” everything that’s on your proverbial plate why not “pay easy.” Which is not a bad idea. But the other version uses cash instead. I can understand someone not wanting to write a check but to insinuate that cash is no good to pay with or at least so inconvenient rubs me the wrong way.
I’m also sure there are some fathers out there that don’t want there wife or teenage daughter seeing this. The last thing he probably wants is encouragement for them to continue to swipe that precious piece of plastic. Although the commercial does deal with a check card and not necessarily a credit card I’m sure Visa would not be opposed to the mix up. As for me I would like to think all forms of my money are still good.

Parking at Ole Miss is not a new subject of controversy. Everyone seems to have their own complaints when the subject comes up. After all the complaints about it there is seemingly nothing done. It has become just a platform that candidates use to run for office. There are many reasons for the parking situation. These reasons range from laziness to bad zoning to an insufficient number of spaces. So is the parking as bad as it is said to be?
To start off there are two common arguments. The first being that people are too lazy. Ole Miss has a relatively small campus and it’s no large feat to ride a bike or walk to where you need to go. So we should stop complaining and suck it up and walk or ride your bike. I agree with this for the most part. A little exercise isn’t going to hurt anyone and if this is an option than it should be taken advantage of. This is the best option for people living on campus. As far as classes go you should never need to take your car if you are a on campus resident. This may seem to be a given but I knew quite a few people who lived on campus and drove to their classes. The farthest someone should need to walk is probably Scruggs the music building, with the exception of maybe one or two buildings. Here are a few reasons this pays off. While I was in the dorm my car could stay put for a week before I really needed it. By using my car so little I was able to keep a decent space which can be hard to do. Second you can save a lot of gas money and I know I could always use the extra cash. The last is you don’t get tickets. This is big since the ticket patrol seems to have some incredible employee of the month prize or has some ridiculous quota to meet. So if you live on campus there really isn’t much you can argue about the parking.
The second argument is I don’t live on campus and the parking sucks. Which I agree with for the most part. Students who live off campus don’t have very good options when it comes to parking. Some might argue that you should get up earlier and get a spot. Well unless you want to wake up an hour or more earlier just so you can get a spot than go for it. As for me on the other hand an hour earlier out of my sleeping time, I don’t think that is going to happen. That’s very precious time that will not be wasted due to lack of parking spaces. I think the thirty minutes I set aside should be sufficient and it usually is but its not always and I can live with that.
Others would argue that the parking isn’t zoned well enough. There seems to be about one hundred faculty parking lots to about ten student lots. This of course is an exaggeration but I’m sure some of there faculty lots could be rezoned to accommodate more student spaces. There are also time limits on the lots. I understand that the lots by class buildings don’t need to be taken all day because other commuters need to use them too and that you can’t post your car up in a space all day. But some of these time limits just don’t make sense. For instance the small parking lot by Connor and Holman. The one that everyone who takes a business class tries to park in. The limit in this lot is forty five minutes. I was just given a ticket for over time parking last week in this lot. The least amount of time a student will be in class is fifty minutes. How much sense does that make? Could the parking lot not be set up any better to screw you? I came out and looked at the ticket and laughed not realizing that the lot had a limit and even more that the limit was forty five minutes. How could the parking services or UPD put a forty five minute time limit on a lot without anyone else noticing and saying “you know this just isn’t right”.
So is the parking at Ole Miss as bad as it is said to be? On a grading scale I would give it a D+. There are many improvements than can be made and I hope to see some of them soon.

Just One Song?

Most of us if not all of us have downloaded music off the internet. There are plenty of options to do this itunes or free sites such as kazaa. It is a very convenient way to get to the music you enjoy. Even better finding music that you have never heard. This is just one of the many things that social networking has done through the internet by sharing files whatever format they may be. However it tends to make people download only certain songs that appeal to them. On many occasions in the past I would just download one or two songs from an artist. I have stopped this for the most part. Although there are always exceptions. There are sometimes songs in genres or by artists that I don’t normally listen to that appeal to me.
One of my friends said (weather he read it or was his on statement I can’t be sure) that we are taking a small piece of what the musician wants us to hear. To elaborate its somewhat like watching one scene from a movie. If you like that scene the way it was shot, the acting and other elements. There is a decent chance that you would like the rest of the movie. Aside from the fact that the ending my ruin or leave a sour taste in your mouth. Your not just going to be content and press stop or change the channel after seeing the scene. The scene is a piece of the whole body of work. The track which you have picked is a piece of the whole album. The album could be telling a story or experience so why "read one chapter".
One might say that you can’t compare the two. A movie is telling a story and the scene might not make sense without the rest of the movie. While on the other hand a song can stand alone without the entire album. But do songs on albums not follow a similar narrative? You can tell they are from the same musician. They tend to follow the same mood and feel. The instruments usually remain the same. So why cherry pick which songs you want. Give the musician the attention it deserves and purchase, download, or listen to the whole album not just certain songs. Surely if the musician didn’t think they were as good as the other tracks they wouldn’t have put them on the album.
One might also think that if the artist felt that way why would they allow the option to purchase single tracks on sites such as itunes music store. The answer is simple they want people to listen to their music. If you have to buy the whole album to listen to one track this will discourage many buyers from buying. Which means no money.
So lets do them and ourselves a favor and start listening to what was meant to be listened to and that’s the entire piece of work.

This past fall Stephen King’s The Mist directed by Frank Darabont was released. This is the third film adaptation that Darabont has directed with King. The first film was Shawshank Redemption and the second was The Green Mile. Almost all movie goers are familiar with these two films. They were both widely successful at the box office.
The Mist is set in a rural town in present day Maine. The Army has been conducting experiments on a nearby mountain when something goes wrong. Creatures from another dimension spill into our world and descend on the town in a fog like “mist”. The creatures then reek havoc on the small town and its residents. The movie focuses on a group of locals who hole-up in a grocery store once the mist has settled on the town. From there on the creatures seem to kill anything that goes into the mist.
After watching the movie my friends and I discussed what we thought about it. One of my friends said that it sucked and that the special effects weren’t that good. While my other friend said that it was completely unbelievable (You have to remember that it is a sci fi movie and there is some suspension of disbelief that needs to take place while watching it. Obviously my friend failed to see that.) and that it wasn’t scary at all.
I disagreed with their interpretation of the movie. They were only seeing the obvious elements of the movie. They didn’t see the underlying theme. The movie wasn’t just about the creatures killing the people, the special effects and the gore. It was about how people react when they are put in dangerous situations that they don’t understand and fear.
As the movie progresses the citizens grow more and more irrational. Mrs. Carmody a religious zealot begins to preach to the group in the grocery store like a congregation. You can easily tell that there are some screws lose with Mrs. Carmody and that she isn’t your garden variety religious buff. She then persuades the now growing “congregation” into sacrificing one of the Army privates to the creatures. They believe that this will appease the creatures appetites and that this is what God wants. The followers do this without hesitation. The butcher in the grocery store then fatally stabs the boy and locks him outside. He is quickly eaten by a large crablike creature. You can see here that the majority of the seemingly normal group of people before, have been transformed by their fear and uncertainty into monsters themselves. Since Mrs. Carmody claims to have the answer they follow her even to the point of murder. The people don’t know what’s happening. They are completely confused looking for answers to what will save them, what is happening and why its happening. Their fear takes over all rational behavior and thinking. The few people left outside of Mrs. Carmody’s group of followers now have to make a decision between the monsters inside the store or outside.
In the final moments of the movie, David Drayton the main character and his pre teen son, along with Laurie Holden a new nurse in town and an older couple get to their car and drive till they run out of gas. Still in the mist, Drayton convinces himself with the support of Laurie and the older couple to shoot and kill them with the gun Drayton got form the store owner. With the last four bullets, Drayton takes the gun and kills them all starting with his son leaving only him in the car. They had become so petrified by their fear of the creatures that they would rather die now than wait for some kind of help. I wont disclose what happens in the few minutes left in the movie so I don’t ruin the whole thing for you.
For most of the film we watch the group of people and how they change. We see an increasingly hostile group of people trying to cope with what is happening around them and the fear that grips them. We watch as that fear manipulates the peoples actions and judgments. Except for the handful of scenes where people are attacked by the creatures the movie concentrates on these changes.

The Four Way Stop Mentality

I was on my way to class the other day when I pulled up to one of the many four way stops that are on our campus. This particular intersection was located on the corner of Paris Yates Chapel and the tennis courts. As I pulled to a complete stop the truck to my right proceeded through the intersection. The blue prism to its immediate right began to pull out on his turn determined by the time when he pulled up relative to the other cars. As the car began to inch forward for the first couple feet (which signifies that yes it is my turn and I am pulling out this usually discourages impatient drivers form going out of turn) A nice looking Cadillac who had just appeared on the scene without even the tap of a brake light went right on through leaving the blue prism in his dust.
Now this situation is my pet peeve and this was one of the more blatant times I had seen this. The driver of the Cadillac didn’t not only go out of turn but never even entertained the idea of stopping and waiting. I can only imagine what was going through his mind (look there’s an opening they’ll never know what hit them as he then probably convinces himself to yes go for it) or the driver didn‘t have any idea what he was doing. Meanwhile here I am sitting in my car bewildered that the driver had the audacity to think they are above the rules of the four way stop. Which are: A FOUR-WAY STOP sign means that there are four stop signs at this intersection. Traffic from all four directions must stop. The first vehicle to reach the intersection should move forward first. If two vehicles reach the intersection at the same time, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right.*
So I decided to address this since it seems that it happens nearly ever time you are at a three or four way stop. Some rogue driver is determined to oust you and go through what is supposed to be an rotation with rules. This occurs more frequently on the college campuses. Reasons being there are more opportunities since there are no traffic lights within the campus which of course is regulated by stop signs. And the fact that your dealing with college students whom the first thought is not how much there already paying for insurance let alone anything happen.
Back to the guy in the Cadillac though. What is the reason for a driver disregarding the other drivers and simply going when they feel like it. Were all guilty and even though I hate it I still do it sometimes. The large part is that the driver is in his or her car. There won’t be a confrontation of course unless he hits the person who is “suppose” to be going. So they feel that they are really getting away with it which they are. Or you have the oblivious driver the one who is texting or talking while shuffling their ipod and eating a five course meal and just doesn’t know what order they arrived and thinks there “suppose” to go which is possibly worse. I would rather have someone who has made up their mind that I have to get to class and I think that by cutting all these people off I will save all 15 seconds, so I will make sure that I can go and just do it. Than the I’m not sure who’s turn it is, so I’ll just start going and see if anyone else goes. Which usually ends up with about three failed attempts then you all sit there because you have confused everyone at the stop and finally after about a minute someone goes usually it being the correct person to begin with. Now this approach is different that they “inch forward” that I described earlier. The slow inch which everyone identifies with, secures that your going, if not now usually next and does not look like you’re a race car revving up your engine off the line waiting for the flag to drop.
So what is the root of my pet peeve is it self motivated reasons or simply circumstances. I can’t be sure, all I know is I sure did get a laugh seeing the driver of the prism give their regards to the gentleman in the Cadillac.


* (Pa.) Department of Transportation Driver and Vehicle Services, Pennsylvania Driver’s Manual, English Ed. (Pub. #95, May 2000), 10.
*commentary Lionel E. Deimel The Four Way stop.11/29/01