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.