Generation Gap Essay Example for Free

Generation Gap Essay Do you know what a generation gap is? Even if you dont know the particular definition, you are aware of this problem, basing on your own experience. Generation gap is a popular term used to describe serious differences between people of two generations. To realize how to deal with it, you should keep in mind that generation gap includes several aspects: children must know as much as possible about their parents and parents — about the world outlook of their children, about relations between brothers and sisters, and also about the attitude to them of close relatives on both sides — fathers and mothers. Children demand a great deal of attention, time and patience, so, if you are not ready to devote all that to your baby, it is better not to hurry There are many families where both parents keep working after giving birth to their baby It is similar to the situation with a single-parent family, when a father or a mother hardly have enough time and neglect their childrens upbringing. In such cases most of the time the child has to spend on his own or with his friends. Due to the fact that he has not got any guidance from his parents he may be involved in some bad companies which commit violence or even crime and become alcohol or drug addicted. When the parents discover that, its usually too late to change anything. On the other hand, there is a different situation when the parents treat their children too strict and dont give them any freedom at all. In this case the children may become pariahs among their peers. Constant bans may increase the risk that the child will grow up insolent and defiant. This causes another big problem — lying. The child is forced to lie to the parents because of the fear to be punished. It can be anything from putting on make-up in the girls room at school to stealing. Some children rebel against discipline and family values. They listen to a loud music, wear inappropriate, to their parents mind, clothes, dye their hair in inconceivable colours, have all their bodies pierced and tattooed trying to show their ind ependence and establish their identity. They want to be treated as adults, but they are not ready to take all the necessary responsibilities. It doesnt mean that your child is bad and he will become a criminal. Of course, not! It only means that your child is in his transitional age and he is in need of your understanding and support. But how to handle such behaviour? Parents should become his close friends. First of all they should learn to respect his interests. Try to speak with him as often as possible, offer some parent-child activities like shopping or going in for sports. It is worth involving the child in discussing some family questions, just to show that he is a full member of the family. Moreover, children in their teens are very vulnerable when they are criticized in public, so try to avoid it. Parents should always be honest and sincere with their child; otherwise it would be unfair to require the same from him. Too authoritarian parents cant do any good to their children as well as parents who overindulge all the childs caprices. Overindulgence may lead to the same results as negligence. There are parents who are afraid of hurting the child by banning something when it is necessary. Such parents risk becoming powerless in the family and losing control over their children who may become spoiled and capricious. It demands to make a great effort from both parents and children to reach mutual understanding. There are many different opinions on the question of treating children if they disobey their parents, but every parent should decide for himself what will be best for his child and set him on the right path.

Tasks Carried Out During The Internship Media Essay

Tasks Carried Out During The Internship Media Essay Phoenix Satellite Television is a  Hong Kong-based  Mandarin Chinese  and Cantonese   television broadcaster that serves the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong along with other markets with substantial Chinese viewers. It has 7 different television channels including Phoenix InfoNews Channel, Phoenix Chinese Channel, Phoenix Movie Channel, Phoenix Hong Kong Channel, Phoenix Emerald Channel, etc. Phoenix Television provides news, information, entertainment programme. It is one of the few privately owned broadcasting companies in mainland China able to broadcast information about events not covered by the government media. The companys head office locates in Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong, it also has correspondents offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The channel where I worked in is The Phoenix InfoNews Channel, which was established on 1 January 2001. It was the first Chinese-language channel that covered news from the regions of Greater China, including mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. There is 24-hour broadcasting on financial news, stock market information as well as news headlines worldwide. In addition, it provides comments and analysis prepared by analysts on current issues and topics. My role at the company When I first began my job as an intern student, my role was rigidly defined. I had certain tasks that I was to complete the first week along with direction from the other experienced staff. (Making rolling subtitles the first week) The teacher told me exactly what I shall do, what news shall I pick, where shall I replace the news on the software. As I became more accustomed to my work routine, the group leader let me do the thing by my self. She gave me the power to select news and make decision for where to place them and when to broadcaste the news. I was encouraged to generate some of my own ideas to the workplace to make unique contributions to the team. Beside the rolling text, I also helped to a program name à ¥Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ©Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã¢â‚¬ ¹, this program is about popular ting from the internet. Within weeks, I came up with creative idea about the program topics and created ideas and inventory management strategies that were broadcasted. I was lucky to have a boss that I had, she let me do the editing job indenpendentlu after 3 weeks time, thus I attribute my ideas to my managers encouragement to come up with my new ideas. Because of it, I feel I have eventually grew apathetic toward my job. After I was given the freedom to take ownership of my role, I became a much stronger resource to my company and my increased performance is proof of that.   when an I was got the opportunity to determine and define my own roles, it lead to much better performance. Given the ability to define their own role, I will feel more ownership of their responsibilities and gain a deeper understanding of their job function Because the company give me the freedom to shape my own role in a company, I felt just like a staff in the company, and perceived my self as a part of the company, it did will increased my productivity and job satisfaction.  Ã‚  I truly believe employees will perform better when given a say in defining their role within a company Tasks carried out during the internship I found my internship to be rewarding, fulfilling, challenging, and enjoyable. For me, it was enjoyable to participate in news production. I enjoy many aspects of the production process from start to finish-activities such as composing scripts, editing voiceovers, and editing the news footage. Broadcasting the news to the public, I feel is an important duty and I learned that the process of broadcasting to the public is an enjoyable process and feeling for me. My internship had a duration of six weeks. This internship was at a television station that produced broadcast news. While interning, my official title was Student Intern. My specific duties involved working with the rolling subtitles that appear underneath and simultaneous to broadcast content. I additionally participated in the post production aspects of the program, working with other editors. I researched material, made drafts or rough cuts, typeset content, and sent my work to be seen and used by the news anchors. My internship allowed me to develop skills in a specific area of production while also providing me opportunities to interact with various departments and individuals. While I did have my primary focus of work (subtitling), the internship gave me opportunities to learn and participate in aspects of the production process in which I was not always directly involved. There was both specificity and variety. These aspects helped make the internship enjoyable. I had the opp ortunity to develop a routine and a work process that I could practice, and at the same time there was a sense of unpredictability because there were plenty of times I did other things besides subtitling. It was also very exciting and interesting to interact with so many people who collaborate to make the news happen. Learning experience During the summer internship I realized that collaboration and cooperation are things which are absolutely crucial to production work happening. Media production is definitely a group effort. Having social and communication skills are just as important as having production skills. If a person cannot get along well with others, that person will have a short-lived and likely unfulfilling career in media production. Media and news production appeals to my fundamental need and ability to communicate and tell stories to people. I am a storyteller. Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of media in human history. Media and news production are simply derivations of storytelling. The news, television shows, and movies are all just modern versions of one of the oldest forms of communication human beings have. There must be some instinctual need in humans to tell stories and listen to stories. There is something about storytelling that has a strong and deep appeal to human beings all throughout the world for as long as humans have existed, so far as documented history tells us. I feel a connection to this need to share stories. It is within me. Therefore, my internship at the production studio has personal and professional implications for me. I certainly enjoyed my work and my experience there, which influences the trajectory of my study and my plans after graduation. During the internship, I discovered that News and media production play very well into some of my natural skills and abilities. I am a person who is patient. I learned about just how much patience and discipline are required for research, editing, and presentation. I am fortunate that I already retain some of the qualities necessary to do well in such activities and processes. People who are not as patient or meticulous would have a very hard time in production. I am also a person whose has the ability to achieve and maintain focus. When I have a task at hand, I know how to achieve and maintain focus from the start of the task until the task is completed. Media production cannot work without people who know how to focus. Some of the aspects of production are extremely delicate both technically and artistically. In order to produce a quality piece of media, production teams must be able to focus. I knew this before my internship started, but after the experience of the internship, I h ave a new kind of appreciation for some of my character traits. As a student, it is fairly unknown how one would fair in the real professional world. We never know which qualities about ourselves will help us or hurt us professionally. My experience as a production intern gave me a clearer sense of what about me lends itself to this kind of work as well as what about me should be improved upon to be a better professional whenever my next production opportunity may be. In this way, the production internship gave me confidence in myself as well as motivation to be better. News production is already a challenge in of itself; lacking personal traits that lend themselves to the work only makes the work all the more arduous. These are some ways the internship connected to my personal and professional lives. My understanding for media after intern My previous courses in advertising and marketing in prior semesters in combination with my work in media personally influences my thinking now, which is that media is a truly significant aspect for people in the 21st century world. In todays local and global societies, media is a fixture. I have a deeper understanding of the range of affects media has upon people, especially with regard to have media affects peoples perceptions. I also see how media affects international relations. Media can be used as part of international relations. In fact, a production with an international production crew is in itself an exercise in a kind of international relations. Because media has such an influence on perceptions and international relations, I see how much responsibility media producers and media professionals have to the subject matter and to the audiences that consume the content. This is an aspect of media that appeals to me now. The international aspects, the potential to influence audie nces, and the chance to demonstrate social responsibility or professional integrity are things about a career in media that cause me to want to contribute myself. What I contribute to the company Again, my internship lasted for six weeks total. During the first three weeks of my internship, I contributed to the production of the scrolling marquee or rolling subtitles that appear underneath the anchor during broadcasts. My jobs was to perform acquire information that appears as content for the marquee. There are many news networks and news programs that practice putting a scrolling marquee of other news while there is news content on the screen. I would go online and search a variety of websites. I would do my best to locate the most controversial, most interesting, and most newsworthy news. After I assembled an adequate amount of news information from my research, I would rewrite the information I found, input into the system, and then the information would be broadcast. I would have to have twelve items of news of the list for the marquee. My duties not only included research and writing, but it also included prioritizing. I had to put the news items I found in an order that made sense and showcased all the information gathered in the best way possible. There was also an element of timing because I had to additionally change which news items appeared on the marquee periodically, usually changing two items every fifteen minutes. In addition to current events and world news, I also had to include stock news, which was new for me as I am not an expert in the stock exchange. During the remaining three weeks of my internship, I spent time working exclusively with the editors. I worked with the editor for a program called à ¥Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ©Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¢Ã‚ «Ãƒ §Ã‚ ½Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃƒ §Ã‚ ½-. With the assistance and supervision of the editor, I would perform research. The research had to be quality and current content that was amusing, important, controversial, or otherwise noteworthy. I located images, videos, and text using only the Internet. After I gathered my content, I composed a rough draft summarizing the content and its potential significance. After I wrote a draft, the editor would send my draft to a news anchor. The anchors would read my work and then report upon it in a casual or informal manner. The anchors would actually use work that made part of their on-air discussion and commentary. à ¥Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ©Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¢Ã‚ «Ãƒ §Ã‚ ½Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃƒ §Ã‚ ½- is a program with a running time or approximately 38 minutes. As part of my teams research for this program, we had to locate approximately ten pictures, ten news texts, and eight videos. There were times when it was necessary to cut or edit the videos for length. The editor would make or approve of every draft and every draft would go to the anchor. Altogether, there was a small team behind this program, so that was interesting to be a part of large teams and small teams during my internship experience. There were times when the specific forms of research were delegated to one person. For example, one team member may only perform research for images. Another person may only research for relevant videos. In my experience, I had the chance to research for all three types of necessary content. I now have experience researching images, videos, and text. After I located the appropriate material or content, I wrote my drafts. After they were approved, there were instances where I could help the anchor directly as well as assist in the recording of the program. From my internship I learned that I have strong time management skills. I had no problems completing my work within a specific time frame or by a specific deadline. I also was able to utilize the resources provided to me very well and on time. For the scrolling marquee job, I always had to update the content slightly before fifteen minutes elapsed to be prepared. Thus, my rolling subtitles were always very fresh. All of the news I compiled was the latest news and the most important. The news marquee is updated quite frequently; therefore, late or old news is unacceptable. If the number of an item has increased, I updated the number immediately. Furthermore, as part of my time management skills, I always made time and got into the habit of double and triple checking my work before sending it off for approval or broadcast. These traits contributed to my level of productivity during the internship. For the program à ¥Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ©Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¢Ã‚ «Ãƒ §Ã‚ ½Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃƒ §Ã‚ ½-, I looked through many different websites and gathered many good materials. I made sure there was variation in the style to make sure the program is suitable for a broad spectrum of audience members. I wrote a draft for the material immediately after the material was found, with accurate, simple, and clear language. The time spent on the draft is normally no more than fifteen minutes. Thus, I must have had good time to find good material. I always finished locating the items I need to find before the time limit expired, and used the rest of time to prepare material for the following day. Sometimes with my leftover time, I would double check the draft, consulting my colleagues on what they think about the news, if they have other comments; I appreciate the commentary and would consider integrating it into my work. These are other ways my traits contributed to my productivity. As far as my output, with regard to the scrolling marquee, I located and used a minimum of forty news items per day, which is higher than average. Again, the news items were updated every fifteen minutes. Two items were updated for every few minutes. I had to follow the rules for updating information quite strictly. I used less than five minutes for every news item, and subsequently located more items. For à ¥Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ©Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¢Ã‚ «Ãƒ §Ã‚ ½Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃƒ §Ã‚ ½-, I had five hours to locate items and write drafts for the materials I found. I always finished on time. I had no problem with punctuality and quality of my work. I realize that my internship shows me some of the gaps in my knowledge structure or base. As aforementioned, I need to know more about editing and about producing. I want to know more about how to organize and lead people during production. I could always use more development as a writer. Study and internship From this experience, I learned about the necessity of both school experiences and work experiences. I think that to be a truly success professional, people should have formal educational experiences in their fields, and they should also have worthwhile professional experiences. The two different kinds of experiences complement each other very well. Having both kinds of experience can only help a professional get better or be his or her best. In school, there is stress on theory and concepts, which is good and necessary to have a theoretical knowledge about the work. In the professional world, a person has a chance to prove or disprove the theories learned in school. The professional world provides students important opportunities to apply what they have learned in the classroom to see what is really relevant, useful, and/or true. From my university coursework, specifically a course called Writing for Media, I learned that media professionals must write in a specific way. I learned that in every industry there is a specific format and style of writing that is appropriate for that industry. In the media industry, professional must write in a succinct manner, with great clarity and accuracy. The lessons I learned from that course helped me very much during my internship. There was a clear connection between the courses I have taken and the work that I did during my internship. I applied the lessons from Writing for Media over and over during my six-week internship. I composed drafts for programs. Therefore I practiced writing for media in general. I wrote drafts that were brief, yet very clear. I did my best to represent the information in my drafts as accurately as possible. Another course called I took called Fundamentals of Persuasive Communication proved to benefit me during my internship as well. My communi cation skills increased because of the course and because of the application of lessons learned from the course during the internship. Communication must include listening to others. I had to listen to others during the internship. I was working in teams and I am inexperienced, so I would listen to my team members and I would listen when people would give me instructions and/or feedback. I also learned the differences between listening and listening carefully. My listening skills improved and I became more discriminating about what information is useful to me and what is not. This is how my coursework prepared me for the internship experience. I still have a ways to go until graduation, so I will take the focus and direction I acquired because of my internship has influenced my current and upcoming choices regarding my remaining coursework. I feel that because of my internship, I will select courses in news editing, news journalism, and broadcasting in the upcoming year. On the other hand though, there were things that I learned in the internship that I would have never been able to learn just from the classroom experience. I learned much more intensely about my strengths and weaknesses personally and professionally. One weakness is my lack of experience to problem solve during emergency or otherwise intense situations. In the working environment, there is a real, palpable tension that I was not prepared for. The internship highlighted my lack of agility and strength under very serious pressure. This is something upon which I must improve because a lot of media production, especially news media, is very intense and move fast. I need more practice working effectively in this kind of environment. The internship highlighted many of my strengths including my intense concentration. I concentrate very well on my work. I am also good at listening and over communication with different kinds of people. Another strength I learned I have is my ability to adapt to new situations, circumstances and more. After years of studying media theory, I have my own real life experience with the production process of news, and television situation comedy. I know what it feels like to deliver messages to the public in those formats. Those are things I could not learn from a book or in a classroom. This is one way in which my internship proved invaluable. Difficulties experienced during the internship My problems during the internship were few. I had troubles working with pieces of production software. I was unfamiliar with them and I found them to be very different from the software I used at school or for school normally. That was a setback because production work is heavily predicated on software. Almost every department in production has its own kind of software to learn. Something else that was a problem or issue was accuracy. There was a lot of pressure to be accurate. Everything I wrote, in terms of the subtitles, would be read by millions. I felt a lot of responsibility, especially to be accurate, clear, and have correct spelling. I never experienced that kind of pressure at school. I had some adapting to change, after all the internship was a new environment with new people. Mostly, I had to deal with the unexpected. I am inexperience in problem solving and working on my own. In school, I have an instructor to ask for guidance; in the workplace, its own me. From a group perspective, my internship could have been improved with a bit more support from other members of the crew. I already had an interest in media before my production, and even before I chose my major. After having some coursework and internship in media, my desire to work in media has definitely solidified. I want to work as a professional in the media industry for many years to come. My production internship experience specifically has shown to me in what direction I will go after my impending graduation next year.

Role Of 3d Animators In Motion Capture Film Studies Essay

Role Of 3d Animators In Motion Capture Film Studies Essay In the world of upcoming technologies and innovations it has become hard for traditional techniques to withstand. Same is the case here in terms of 3d animation which is become an integral part of the film industry here for a long time and the motion capture which is upcoming and is here to stay. Motion capture being the favourite of every live action movie director is gaining attention in the film industry. In producing entire feature films with Computer animation, the industry is currently split between studios that use Motion Capture, and studios that do not. Out of the three nominees for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, two of the nominees (Monster House and the winner Happy Feet) used Motion Capture, and only Pixars Cars was animated without Motion Capture. In the ending credits of Pixars latest film Ratatouille, a stamp appears labelling the film as 100% Pure Animation No Motion Capture! For 3D animations, objects are built on the computer monitor and 3D figures are rigged with a virtual skeleton. Then the limbs, eyes, mouth, clothes, etc.of the figure are moved by the animator on key frames. The differences in appearance between key frames are automatically calculated by the computer. To gain more control of the interpolation, a parameter curve editor is available in the majority of the 3D animation packages. The parameter curve editor shows a graphical representation of the variation of a parameters value over time (the animation curve). Altering the shape of the curve results into a change in interpolation and therefore into a change in the speed of motion. By changing the interpolation it is possible to avoid surface interpenetration (such as fingers intersecting each other) when transitioning from one hand shape to the next. The realism of keyframe animations depends largely on the animators ability to set believe keyframe (realistic hand shapes) and on his abil ity to control the interpolation between the keyframe i.e., the speed and fluidity of motion. Rendering takes place in the animation finally. History of 3D animation In the year 1824 Peter Roget presented his paper The persistence of vision with regard to moving objects to the British Society. In 1831 Dr.Joseph Antoine Plateau (a Belgian scientist) and Dr.Simon Rittrer constructed a machine called a phenakistoscope. This machine produced an illusion of the movement by allowing a viewer to gaze at a rotating disk containing small windows; behind the windows was another disk containing a sequence of images. When the disks were rotated at the correct speed, the synchronization of the windows with the images created an animated effect. Eadweard Muybridge started his photographic gathering of animals in motion. Zoetrope (series of sequential images in a revolving drum) when the drum is revolved the slits in the drum creates the illusion of motion and becomes first movie- similarly film creates this illusion by having one image then black then image then black again. Thaumatrope twirl it and the two images superimpose on each other. Two frame animation . In 1887 Thomas Edison started his research work into motion pictures. He announced his creation of the kinetoscope which projected a 50ft length of film in approximately 13 seconds. Emile Renynaud in 1892 combining his earlier inventions of the praxinoscope with a projector opens the Theatre Optique in the Musee Grevin. It displays an animation of images painted on long strips of celluloid. Louis and Augustine Lumiere issued a patent for a device called cinematography capable of projecting moving pictures. Thomas Armat designed the vitascope which projected the films of Thomas Edison. This machine had a major influence on all sub-sequent projectors. J.Stuart Blackton made the first animated film which he called Humorous phases of Funny faces in 1906. His method was to draw comical faces on a blackboard and film them. He would stop the film, erase one face to draw another, and then film the newly drawn face. The stopmotion provided a starting effect as the facial expressions changed b efore the viewers eyes. Emile Cohl makes En Route the first cut-out animation. This technique saves time by not having to redraw each new cell, only reposition the paper. Winsor McCay produced an animation sequence using his comic strip character Little Nemo. John R Bray applies for a patent on numerous techniques for animation. One of the most revolutionary is the process of printing the backgrounds of the animation. In 1914 Winsor McCay produced a cartoon called Gertie. The trained Dinosaur which amazingly consisted of 10,000 drawings. In 1914 Earl Hurd applies for a patent for the technique of drawing the animated portion of an animation on a clear celluloid sheet and later photographing it with its matching background (Cell animation). Cell and Paper Animation Technique: By the mid-1910s animation production in US already dominated by the techniques of cell and paper. Cell animation was more popularized in America than in Europe because of Assembly line Taylorism that had taken America by storm. Cell Animation was most appropriate to the assembly-line style of manufacturing because it took a whole line of persons working on very specific and simple repetitive duties. On the other hand, in Europe where the assembly-line style of work was not encouraged, clay animation and other forms of animation that required only a few individuals working on the set at a time was more popularized. Because the actual set could only afford a limited amount of individuals working at one time together and no more this style and other alternative forms of animation became more widely accepted. Disney-cell animation draw each image one at a time using onion-skinning technique. Traditional cell animation drawings created one by one animators create the keyframe and assistances create in-betweens; onion skinning process used to make easier the reference drawing of each additional image. The international feature Syndicate realised many titles including Silk Hat Harry, Bringing up Father and Krazy Kat. In 1923 the first feature-length animated film called El Apostol is created in Argentina. 1923 saw the discovery of Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio by Walt and Roy Disney. Walt Disney extended Max Fleischers technique of combining live action with cartoon characters in the film Alices Wonderland. Warner Brothers released The Jazz Singer which introduced combined sound and images. Ken Knowlton working at Bell Laboratories started developing computer techniques for producing animated movies. University of Utah, Ed Catmull develops an animation scripting language and creates an animation of a smooth shaded hand. Ref: E.Catmull,A system for computer generated movies, Proceedings of the ACM National Conference, 1972. Beier and Neely, at SGI and PDI respectively publish an algorithm where line correspondences guide morphing between 2d images.Demo is Michael Jacksons video Bla ck and White.Ref: T.Beier and S.Neely,Feature-Based image metamorphosis. Computer Graphics July 1992. Chen and Williams at the apple publish a paper on view interpolation for 3d walkthoughs.Ref: S.E.Chen and L.Williams,View Interpolation for image Systhensis. Computer Graphics Proceeding, Annual Conference Series1993. Jurassic Park uses CG for realistic living creatures. The stars of this movie directed by Steven Spielberg were the realistic looking and moving 3d-dinosaurs, created by Industrial Light and Magic. With each new step into the next generation of computer graphics comes new and more believable CGI characters such as those found in Dinosaur. In Dinosaur the creation and implementation of realistic digital hair on the lemurs is included. After seeing it, George Lucas, director of the Star War series, concluded the time was there to start working on his new Star Wars movies. In his opinion 3d-animation was now advanced enough to believably create the alien worlds and characters he already wanted to make since the early late seventies. In the year 1995 Toy Story the first full length 3D CG feature film. The first CGI feature-length animation and Pixars first feature film. The primary characters are toys in the room of this six-year-old boy Andy, and is mostly told from their point of view. On entrance of computers and 3d driven software feature length films of high polish can be created virtually in 3d. Toy Story is considered to be a first animated feature ever generated completely on computers. Disney and Pixar partnered up to create this film. Star Wars, almost every shot of this movie is enhancing with 3d-animation. It features very realistic 3d-aliens and environment. Lord of the Rings: Two Towers was the first Photorealistic motion captured character for a film; Gollum was also the first digital actor to win an award (BFCA), category created for Best Digital Acting Performance. MOTION CAPTURE Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement onto a digital model. For medical applications and for validation of computer vision and robotics, and it is used in military, entertainment, sports too. To recording actions of human actors, and using that information to animate digital character models in 2d and 3d computer animation is how it is termed in film making. Performance capture is referred when it includes face, fingers and captures subtle expressions. Movements of one or more actors are sampled many times per second, although with most techniques motion capture records only the movements of the actor, not his/her visual appearance, in motion capture sessions. This animation data is mapped to a 3d model so that the model performs the same actions as the actor. Although there are many different systems for capturing motion capture data, they tend to fall broadly into two different categories: One contains optical systems, which employ photogrammetry to establish the position of an object on 3D space based on its observed location within the 2d fields of a number of cameras. Data is produced by these systems within 3 degrees freedom from each marker, and rotational information must be inferred from the relative orientation of the sensors with respect to a transmitter. Collecting of motion data from an image without using photogrammetry or magnetic equipment is referred to as motion tracking. In The Lord of the Rings in 1978, animated film where the visual appearance of the motion of an actor was filmed, then the film used a guide for the frame by frame motion of a hand-drawn animated character; the technique is comparable to the older technique of rotoscope. The camera movements can also be motion captured so that a virtual camera in the scene will pan, tilt, or dolly around the stage driven by a camera operator, while the actor is performing and the motion capture the camera and props as well as the actors performance. By doing this, it allows the computer generated characters, images and sets, to have the same perspective as the video images and sets, to have the same perspective as the video images from the camera. The actors movements are displayed through the computer process, providing the desired camera positions terms of the objects in the set. Match moving or camera tracking is referred to retroactively obtaining camera movement data from the captured footage. History of Mocap: The mocap technology of the modern day has been developed by the led in the medical science, army, and computer generated imagery (CGI) where it is used for a wide variety of purposes. Mocap had successful attempts long before the computer technology had become available. Early attempts: The invention of zoopraxiscope was because a of a bet of $25,000 on whether all four feet of a horse leave the ground simultaneously or not. Endeared Muybridge (1830-1904) who invented the zoopraxiscope was born in England and became a popular landscape photographer in San Francisco. Muybridge proved the fact that all four feet of a trotting horse simultaneously get off the ground. He did so by capturing a horses movement in a sequence of photographs taken with a set of one dozen cameras trigged by the horses feet. The earlier motion capture devices are considered to be zoopraxiscope. This technology was perfected by Muybridge himself. His books, Animals in motion (1899) and The Human Figures in Motion (1901) are still used by many artists, such as animators, cartoonists, illustrators, painters as valuable references. Muybridge is a pioneer of a mocap and motion pictures. In the same year a physiologist and the inventor of a portable sphygmograph was born in France and his name is Etienne Jules Marey. Sphygmograph is an instrument that records the pulse and blood pressure graphically. Modified versions of his instruments are still used today. Marey met Muybridge in Paris in the year 1882 and is the following year he invented the chronophotographic gun to record animal locomotion but quickly abandoned it, this invention was inspired by Muybridges work. He invented a chronophotographic fixed-plate camera with a timed shutter that allowed him to expose multiple images on a plate in the same year. The camera initially captured images on a glass plate but later he replaced glass plates with film paper, by this way film strips where introduced to the motion picture. Mareys subject wearing his mocap suit shows striking resemblances to skeletal mocap data in the photographs. Research subjects of Marey included cardiology, experimental physiology, instruments in physiology, and locomotion of humans, animals, birds, and insects. Marey used one camera in motion capture comparing to Muybridge who used multiple cameras. After the year in which Muybridge and Marey passed away Harold Edgerton was born in Nebraska. In the early 1920s Edgreton developed his photographic skills as a student while he studied at the University of Nebraska. While working on his masters degree electrical engineering at the Massachusetts in 1926 at the Institute of Technology(MIT), he realized that he couldnt observe the a part of his motor which is rotating as if the motor were turned off by matching the frequency of the strobes flashes to the speed of the motors rotation. Stroboscope was developed to freeze fast moving objects and capture them on film by Edgerton in 1913. Edgreton became a pioneer in high-speed photography. The first successful underwater camera in 1937 was designed by Edgreton and made many trips abroad the research vessel Calypso with French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. The design and building of deep sea flash electronic equipment in 1954 was done by him. Edgreton passes away in 1990 where his long career as an educator and researcher at MIT. Rotoscoping: Max Fleisher and art editor for Popular Science Montly who was born in Vienna in 1883 who moved to the U.S with his family, he came up with an idea of producing animation by tracing live action film frame by frame. Fleisher filmed David his brother, in the year 1915 in a clown costume and they spent almost a year making their first animation using rotoscope. He obtained a patent for rotoscope in 1917.In the year 1918 when World War I ended he produced the first animation in the Out of the Inkwell series and he also established Out of the Inkwell,Inc.,which was later renamed as Fleischer Studio. In this series the animation and the live action was mixed and Fleischer himself interacted with animation characters, Koko the clown and Fitz the dog. Before Disneys Steamboat Willie, in the year 1924 thats 4 years before he had a synchronised soundtrack. Characters such as Popeye and Superman were all animated characters from Fleischers studio. Betty Boop first appeared in Fleischers animati on and later became a comic strip character. In 30s early animations were filled with sexual humour, ethnic jokes, and gags. When the Hays Production Code (censorship) laws became effective in 1934 it affected Fleischer studio more than other studios. Betty Boop lost her garters and sex appeal as a result. After almost after 4 years of production Walt Disney presented the first feature length animation, Snow White and Seven Dwarfs. Snow White was a huge success. The distributer of Fleischers animation Paramount pressured Max and David Fleischer to produce feature length animations. The two feature films Gullivers Travel (1939) and Mr. Bugs Goes to Town (1941) were produced by the money borrowed from Paramount. Both of the films were a disaster in the box office. The failure of Mr. Bug made Paramount fire the Fleischer brothers and changed the studios name from Famous Studios. Max Fleischer sued Paramount over the distribution of his animations. He signed a Betty Boop merchandising deal for King Features, a unit of the Hearst Corporation before he died in the year 1972. The use of Rotoscoping can be seen in the Disney animations, starting with Snow White. Later Disney animations characters were highly stylized and Rotoscoping became a method for studying human and animal motions. Comparison between film footages and the corresponding scenes in the animations reveals skilful and selective use of Rotoscoping by Disney animators. They went above and beyond Rotoscoping. Snow Whites can be attributed to Walt Disneys detailed attention to the plot, character development and artistry. Both Max Fleischer and Walt Disney were highly innovative individuals; however, it is said true that Disneys memory belongs to the public; Maxs to those who remember him by choice (Herald son, 1975). Beginning of Digital Mocap: In the 1970s the research and development of digital mocap technology started in pursuit of medical and military applications. In 1980s CGI industry discovered the technologys potentials. In the 1980s there were floppy disks that were actually floppy and most computers were equipped with monochrome monitors; some with calligraphic displays. To view color images, for example rendered animation frames, images had to be sent to a frame buffer, which was often shared by multiple users due to its cost. Large computers were housed in ice cold server rooms. Offices were files with the noise of dot matrix printers. In the 1980s ray tracing and radiocity algorithms were published. Based on these algorithms renderers required a supercomputer or workstations to render animations frames in a reasonable amount of time. Personnel computers werent powerful enough. CPUs, memories, storage devices, and applications were more expensive than today. Wavefront technologies developed and marketed the firs t commercial of the shelf 3D computer animation software in 1985. At that time only a handful of animation production companies existed. Most of the animations that they produced were flying logos for TV commercials or TV programmes opening sequences. The pieces were 15 to 30 seconds long. In the 1980s the readers who saw Brilliance probably still remember the astonishment of seeing a computer generated character, a shiny female robot, moving like a real human being. Brilliance being the first successful application of mocap technology in CGI,Total Recall was the first failed attempt to use mocap in a feature film. The post production companies contracted to produce effects for the 1990 science fiction film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone, Metrolight Studio being one of them. Metrolight decided to use mocap to create an animation sequence of moving skeletons for the scene in which Schwarzeneggers character goes through a large airport security X-ray machine, along with other people and a dog. Operator from an optical mocap equipment company was sent out to a location with mocap system. A team from metrolight followed the operators instruction while capturing performances by Schwarzenegger and other performers. They went home believing that the capture session had gone well and the mocap company would deliver the mocap data after cleaning and processing. What so ever metrolight never received usable data and had to give up using mo cap for the scene. Metrolights unfortunate experience teaches us one lesson that we should hire only a service provider with a good track record and references. In 1995 FX Fighters released its first real-time fighting with 3D characters in 3D environments. Its also one of the first video games that used mocap technology to give realism to 3D characters movements. By the user input using a set of motion captured actions, game characters are animated in real time. The pieces of actions are played in such a way that the player does not notice the transition from one action to another giving an impression that the player is fully in control of a game characters movement. Seeing the success of the game, other game companies were encouraged to use mocap in their games. In the 1980s and 1990s these pioneering efforts have shown remarkable development and achievement in digital mocap. In the recent years, in addition to medicine, and entertainment, mocap applications have been found in many other fields. Mocap is used by various sports to analyze and enhance the athletes performances and prevent injuries. Designers use mocap to understand users movements, constrains, and interactions with environments and to design better products. Mocap is used by engineers to analyze human movements and design robots that walk like us. Mocap is also used by art historians and educators to archive and study performances by dancers and actors. For instance, in 1991 an intricate performance by legendary French mime Marcel Marceau (1923-2007) was captured at the Ohio State University to preserve his arts for future generations. 3D ANIMATION PRODUCTION PIPELINE Sales pitch Convincing the big jobs to work on the story. Story plot solid summary What the films about, what happens in it and extra variations that may or may not appear in the final product. Storyboards Basic sketches of the scenes. (Time usually taken = 6 months) Voice recording At first the artists themselves do the voice acting to put a connection from the story board to the script to give an idea of the film, later on celebrities are paid to be the character voices. Storyboard reel Pictures in a timescale with voice recordings playing in conjunction, basically a really basic film. Concept art Artists try to create the look and feel of the scenery and the characters from the scripts, voice talent and the basic drawings, the artists get first crack at how lighting sets the mood too Modelling The characters, props and landscape have started to be created in 3d; hinges have been added to them to give them movement. Everything is still in frame form, no textures have been added yet (think skeletons). Dressing The models and props are skinned according to the mood and feel the team wants for the film to portray. Shot layout The Basically skinned objects and characters are set into positions to work out camera angles and movement, nothing is truly animated or skinned yet, the recordings of these final cuts are passed onto the animation team. (Time Usually taken = 4 weeks) Animation The models are animated, everything such as the skeleton is already there so they are basically choreographers (think puppeteers). They move the mouth and ligaments according to the sounds and the scripts. (Time usually taken 4 weeks) Shading shading changes surfaces according to the lighting on it, it affects the models colour depending on the lighting situation e.g. light bouncing off a shiny metal surface is successfully done thanks to a shader. Shaders are added to the landscapes, models and props. Lighting Lighting is added to the scenes, Lighting is what actually makes everything look great. Lighting is based on the mood scripts. (Time usually taken = 8 weeks) Rendering The final product is rendered; this can take a hell of a lot of time to render one frame depending on the quality of the graphics put into. Touch-ups Things such as music scores, special effects and sound effects are added, the film is also recorded to an appropriate format. MOTION CAPTURE PRODUCTION PIPELINE Pre-Production Storyboard development Shot analysis It is important to work out exactly what action is needed at this stage, plus any restrictions which may impede the actor. There are several factors which need to be addressed: Does the actors size correspond to that of the character. Should the actor have any props, or costume (for example having the actor where horns for your demon character in your mocap session, will prevent the arms going through the horns at the implementing stage) The spatial surrounding should be a factor. Will the motion need to be blended (e.g. A running motion, as the motion capture studio will only capture a fragment of the run). Character Rigging Develop a character rig, which involves the following: Matching the actors size as much as possible. Constraining the joints. Problems may include exporting out of your animation package into the correct format (e.g. .xsi into fbx) Several different export formats should be tested to realize which suites best with the character rig (e.g. .bvh, .fbx, etc). Actual Motion Captured This can be viewed on a rig in real time. There are several different forms of Motion Capture devices. The most commonly used are: Mechanical, Optical, and Electromagnetic (magnetic) Cleaning Data This involves several data manipulators being applied to the motion capture data. In optical motion capture systems, for example, after you capture the movements of your actors, the data is stored as raw 2D data. Reconstruction process will convert it into continuous 3D trajectories. Label process will label all the trajectories and so on. Additional processing may be needed when there are data gaps, jitters and other data-noises. Implementing data This is simply the process of applying your data to your skeleton rig provided at the initial stages. There can be several problems at this stage depending on the formats and animation package chosen. For example there is an issue with UVs, materials, scaling etc. It is suggested you follow each package pipeline to minimize these issues. APPLICATIONS OF MOTION CAPTURE The process of recording movement and translating that movement onto a digital model is called as motion capture, motion tracking or mocap. Its applications are used in the military, entertainment, sports, medical applications and for validation of computer vision and robotics etc. Games The largest market for motion capture is game development. Games are drawing as much revenue as movies; it is easy to see why game development often calls for enormous quantities of motion capture. There are basically two types of 3d character animation used in games: real time playback vs. Cinmeatics. Real-time allows the game player to choose from pre-created moves, by controlling the characters moves in real-time. Cinmeatics are the fully rendered movies used for the intros and cut-scenes. Often the last part of game production, or a process that is sub-contracted to a separate studio,cinematics are generally not essential to game-play, but do add a lot of appeal to the game, and help immensely with story development and mood generation. Video and TV Performance animation In live television broadcasts real-time motion is becoming popular. Using motion capture we can place a virtual character within a real scene, or to place live actors within a virtual scene with virtual actors, or virtual characters with a virtual scene. For real time broadcasting mocap requires mocap-up of any non-standard physiology to keep the performers motion from causing the characters limbs to interpenetrate its body. Joints limits on the shoulders and knees also help maintain believability of the character. A real-time adaptation feature such as motion builders real-time motion mapping is essential when the character body is very different from the actors body. While combining live elements with virtual elements the real and virtual cameras must share the same properties otherwise the illusion looks strange. Daily features Producing daily 3d animated features becomes easy with use of the phasespace optical motion capture system combined with motionbuilder.,allowing TV stations to keep their content fresh and exiciting,and giving viewers yet another reason not to touch that dial. Post-Production for ongoing series using motion capture for ongoing series is gaining popularity. The result of creating a weekly show without motion capture invariably causes shows to be late or production studios to go bankrupt. Having an efficient motion capture pipeline is essential to the success of an ongoing character animation based series. Film The use of motion capture in the films is increasing day by day. For creating character based animation motion capture is essential that move realistically, in situations that would be impractical or too dangerous for real actors.eg. Titanic were characters falling down off the ship. Motion capture was used extensively in Titanic for filler characters. Many of these shots would have been difficult or impossible to do with real cameras and a real ship, or real models, so virtual models, actors, and cameras were used. Some film characters require the use of motion capture, otherwise their animation seems fake. More and more independent companies are starting to put together desktop studios-the idea of two or three people creating an entire movie are not far off, if motion capture is used correctly. Motion capture animation can be done very quickly and inexpensively, without scheduling expensive motion capture sessions in a studio. Web Motion capture is ideal for the web, whether used to create virtual hosts or greeting cards. Motion capture brings a human element to the web as the web becomes more sophisticated and bandwidth increases, in the form of characters that viewers can relate to interact with. Live events Motion capture generated performance animation can be thought of as Improvisation meets Computer Graphics (CG). A good improviser acting through a CG character in real-time can create a very intriguing lass sting experience for the viewer at trade shows, meetings or press conferences. Integrating with live actors father helps create a fascinating experience. Scientific research While doing perceptual research motion capture is useful. By presenting test subjects with abstract movements, distilled from motion capture data, repeatable experiments can be developed that provide insights into human perception. Biomechanical analysis Motion capture is relied by biomechanical analysis for rehabilitation purposes. Motion capture can be used to measure the extent of a clients disability as well as a clients progress with rehabilitation. Motion capture can also help in effective design of prosthetic devices. Engineering For producing ergonomically practical product designs motion capture is essential, as well as designs for physical products that are comfortable and appealing. When it comes to working in an enclosed space, the gypsy has tremendous advantages over optical or magnetic systems, such as a car inter

Language Is A Virus :: essays research papers

Language Is A Virus A written work, whether it is a story, a poem or a song, can be as vague and indeterminable as a painting and given to many different interpretations. It gives an opportunity for the reader to use his imagination and his emotions in absorbing the writing and comprehending its meaning. The interpretation of written work varies with circumstances, such as different cultures, religions, historical times or just personal feelings. Folk tales and legends are stories that have been passed throughout generations and are being told in many parts of the world in different languages. These stories, originally written as local tales, pass the boundaries of their localities and become absorbed into the folklore of other religions and countries through publication in other languages. In many cases they are being altered to suit the tastes, customs and modes of behavior of the population to which the readers belong. In other instances the written works are absorbed in different localities, in their original forms, but even then their meaning varies in accordance with the cultural, religious and economical conditions of the country as a whole and of the reader as an individual. Obviously, a written work is a product of the period in which it is written. Unless it is a historical tale, the subjects, characters and events described, would be of a temporary nature or have a temporary outlook and appeal. Many writings are of a controversial nature and as such they appeal to some but can meet with a violent disapproval by others. Salman Rashdie has been lucky to survive the violent anger of the Muslim world. But at the same time he became popular with many segments of the population, not necessarily due to the greatness of his writing, but primarily because of the controversial subject he touches upon, the fact that he criticizes his own and that his criticism appeals to a non Muslim reader. Language is like a

The Ineptitude Of The United S :: essays research papers

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Those are the opening lines to the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776. Yet, slavery continued in the United States for nearly ninety years after this document declared that "all men where created equal," and those "unalienable rights" are still not shared by everyone in the United States. The U.S. has been lacking in its responsibility to its citizens. The state responsibility for human and civil rights must be expanded in the United States. In December 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The thirty articles of the UDHR were developed to provide a clear definition of human rights. It then became the responsibility of the states of the United Nations to protect those rights. This is where the United States is lacking. The U.S. is one of the founding nations of the United Nations and one of the most influential, yet it has failed to take adequate state responsibility for human rights. Before the ineptitude of the United States can be discussed, the concept of state responsibility for human and civil rights must be clearly defined. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines state as "a politically organized body of people usually occupying a definite territory," and responsibility as "moral, legal, or mental accountability." These definitions of state and responsibility can be interpreted and combined to provide a literal definition of state responsibility. The definition of state responsibility could then be seen as "the moral and legal accountability of a government." A concise notion of state responsibility for human and civil rights would then be congruent to "the moral and legal accountability of government for life, liberty, security, and any other finite right of a person." With the concept of state responsibility for human and civil rights having been defined, the extent of state responsibility in the United States can be discussed. Rhonda Copelon once noted, "†¦the most limited conception of state responsibility [in the United States] has been essentially dismantled." Copelon also made a statement to the effect that rights in the U.S. are limited to constraints on government and that they do not reach private conduct or include the most basic social and economic needs.

Sport Psychology Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To fully understand sport psychology, we must ask ourselves two very important questions, first, what is sport psychology and second, who is it for? Put in the most sim-ple way, sport psychology can be an example of psychological knowledge, principles, or methods applied to the world of sport. "Two psychologists, Bunker and Maguire, say sport psychology is not for psychologists, but is for sport and its participants." (Murphy & White, 1978:2) However, it can be argued that sport psychology, can be for psycho-logy, just as it can be for sports scientists, managers, teachers, administrators, coaches and last but by no means least, the athletes themselves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is sport psychology that has stood apart from the discipline of psychology as a whole. "Its history is different, its concerns are often different, its centres of learning and teaching are often different, and its professional training is different." (Garfield, 1984:34) Yet despite this, sport psychology remains permanently bonded to psychology through its common interest in the fundamental principles of psychology, human behavior, and experience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No one can deny the significant role which sport and recreation plays in every cul-ture and society across the globe. In the western and eastern worlds alike, sport and lei-sure continue to support huge industries and take up massive amounts of individual time, effort, money, energy, and emotion. Within the media, competitive sport has gotten enor-mous attention and despite this, the public's appetite for more sport never is stated. "It has been estimated that around two thirds of all newspaper readers in Great Britain first turn to the sports pages when they pick up their daily paper." (Butt, 1987:65) When one con-siders the number of people who actually engage in sport or even take regular exercise, then the significance of sport to all our lives cannot be denied.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A common problem with sport psychology research lies in its somewhat myopic or short-sighted appreciation of present day accumulated psychological knowledge. As we look into sport psychology, we are confronted by a landscape of knowledge which rises and falls often suddenly and dramatically. "At certain times, massive peaks of understand-ing rise up before out eyes yet at other times, huge tracts of psychology remain untouched to the horizon." (Garfie... ...d of sport, something that cannot be ignored with the growing number in athletic participation by young people. "With each new year comes an increase in new developments dealing with sport psychology." (Murphy & White, 1978:9) However, there is still much work to be done in sport psychology. There are still many unresolved questions and even some new questions and even some new questions that have arisen over the years dealing with sport psychology. Take anxiety for instance. Psychologists have found ways to reduce anxiety but not eliminate it. Maybe there is no way to eliminate it since everyone has it. Another example is aggression. Wherever there are sports, there is aggression. Psychologists have stated that sports are a way for people to release their aggression. However, they still have not been able to fully eliminate the violence in sports. Psychologists are also working on new methods for motivating athletes because some athletes are harder to motivate that others. Even though there are these unresolved issues in sport psychology, the future of psychology in sports, especially youth sports, looks to be on a very progressive track with many new discoveries.

Diary of Wimpy Kid Evaluative Essay Essay

Abstract The Diary of a Wimpy kid is a book about adolescence who have dealt with emotional struggles and social acceptance in middle school. The book highlighted areas of struggle which included: bullies, emotional responses in both positive and negative ways, friendship, and family dynamics. The book was intended was readers of age seven and older but could be used a discussion book with children and dealing with social issues. The book genre is comedy and humor and is full of illustration to help the reader understand the concepts and lessons of the book. It is written in simple words and would be a good read for children and early adolescence. The book, The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, written by Jeff Kinney discussed many literary elements while its ultimate theme was humor. The book included topics about friendship, family, middle school, peer pressure, social acceptance and faux pas, and morality issues. The book had been written in the genre of comedy and was intended for readers between the ages of seven and older. The book approached adolescence from a relatable standpoint with kids who attempted to gain a sense of value and self worth through social acceptance. The book was written very well and taught several valuable moral lessons that could be used for children to gain understanding about peer issues and consequence of actions. The book had several strong characters that influenced the main character’s life. The first main character was Greg Heffley and the second was his best friend Rowley. The story began with a diary that Greg had received from his Mother. Although he had been embarrassed by the gift, he decided to write down the stories of his daily life so that he could share it with people once he became rich and famous. Greg was portrayed as an extremely insecure kid who was desperate to be recognized and gain popularity. His insecurity manifested into his closest friendship and relationships through arrogance,  criticism, lying, jealousy and pride. An example of this was when Greg befriended Rowley. He reached out to him under the pretense that Rowley would be so blessed to be friends with him and befriended him out of a place of pity. Greg treated Rowley as a lesser and often times would do things to put him down just like his older brother would do to him. Rowley was completely the opposite. He happened to be very naive and childlike in many ways. He was a kid that was very secure in who he was and was not concerned with fitting into anything. He was genuinely loving and humorous, and because of that it attracted friendships and sometimes the occasional uninvited ridicule.The boys lives intertwined and eventually their friendship was tested. Greg lied to Rowley which had been motivated by jealousy because Rowley had become popular while Greg continued to go unnoticed. The author included the real emotional high’s and low’s of adolescent friendship through the two main characters. The author wrote the book in a way that expressed the dynamics of friendship and social acceptance through comedy. Kinney made the characters very relatable and expressed the problems with adolescence trying to make sense of their emotions and solving their own problems (Kinney, 2010). In the story, Greg wanted to become popular and was doing everything he could to make that happen. With many failed attempts, constant bullying, and social ridicule he eventually joined the safety team with Rowley. Once they were on the team together they had been given the responsibility to to walk children home from school. The boys took ownership in there jobs but circumstances had interrupted Rowley’s service to the team. Rowley was not able to walk the kids home that afternoon but lent his jacket to Greg and insisted that he do it. Later a kindergartener had been chased down while on Greg’s shift, but because he had worn Rowley’s jacket, it had been reported back to the school that Rowley was the problem. Later, Rowley received punishment and was no longer allowed to be a safety patrol kid. Greg was blinded by jealousy and so desperate for acceptance he figured he would do the â€Å"right thing† by covering his mistake and allowing his friend to take the fall (Kinney, 2010). His need to be accepted resulted in him betraying Rowley to maintain his small portion of position in the social scene. Later he  confessed to Rowley that he had been the one to blame and did not apologize for what he had done but justified it. Greg felt entitled to his position and because they were friends he felt he could use Rowley and that would be accepted (Kinney, 2010). The safety story did an excellent job of portraying how emotions can rule a person in a negative manner. It also demonstrated the desire for social acceptance and how people are willing to sacrifice the most valuable relationships to to gain popularity. The particular story was written in a way that really gave an accurate portrayal on the depth of the heart of adolescence when they are not properly guided and taught by the parents to help them understand the emotional issues of the heart (Park, 2009). The author used the portion of the story to help the reader discern good friendships from bad friendships and what character attributes friends should look for in one another. Once Rowley was informed of the truth he discovered that Greg was not a good friend. He recognized that Greg was selfish, jealous, prideful, and a person that would betray him. The revelation resulted in Rowley walking away from their friendship. The unveiled truth about friendship left the reader to ponder the questions about their friendships and also the question of what kind of friend they are to other people. As the story continued the author showed the power of standing up for your friends and the power of forgiveness. The story picked up where Rowley and Greg were about to fight but were cornered by bullies that were going to force the boys to eat the slimed cheese from the basketball court. To touch the cheese would be social suicide to any student, but to eat it meant far worse. The bullies forced Rowley to eat the cheese but were chased off from a teacher before Greg had too (Wimpy greg, 2004). Once the students on the campus saw the cheese they began to crowd around Rowley to judge him and make fun of him. At that moment, Greg stepped up and took the fall for Rowley by telling the classmates that he had been the one that had touched the cheese. The kids fled from Greg but his relationship with Rowley was restored. Once Greg was free from trying to fit in was when he became a real friend  and a person of good character. The final portion of the story brought redemption to Greg’s character and demonstrated to the reader that it is never to late to do the right thing. As a result of making the right choice, Rowley forgave Greg, and Greg received the lesson that one good friend is more important that crowds of superficial people (Family, 2010). The portion of the story left the reader with the moral lesson that it is better to be yourself than trying to fit into a crowd and be someone you are not. The book would be very appropriate for middle school kids because it discussed relatable issues and conflicts that could arise from trying to fit in or become popular. It gave several moral lessons to help the reader understand the dynamics to friendship and insecurities with school and growing up. The author did a great job of keeping the reader engaged by the comical illustrations and dialogue that happened between characters. He also portrayed the reality of common struggles in middle school and how critical it was to be true to oneself. The author summarized the book by having the two main characters resolve their conflict and accept who they were. This book is a perfect example of societies condition. The story line may have been intended for middle school children, but society is the same way as adults. There is a need to be accepted, powerful, recognized, feeling entitled to things, people have used others as scapegoats, betrayal, jealousy, strife, revenge, and many other negative things. However, there was also the reality of forgiveness. Even today, when people forgive others, defend them, take accountability and ownership for mistakes, gain the wisdom that what they chase is not as important as money or fame, there is a place of resolution and resolve in peoples lives. While trying to chase after fame and sacrificing what is important there is a misery that follows, but the contentment comes after forgiveness and the understanding of what it important. I think this book is a good read for kids. There are character issues and sin issues that I did not like, but it is a book that kids could read and grasp the moral roots of it. I think it would be beneficial for a parent to discuss the moral failures of the main character and give insight into what  they should do to handle situations with similar circumstances. With older children, this would be a great book to read as a family and have a book study that would help kids recognize their own areas of weaknesses and temptations. I think the author did an excellent job adapting himself into the adolescent world while bringing humor and practical ways to make right decisions. Bibliography: Kinney, J. (2010). Diary of a wimpy kid: a novel in cartoon. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/diary-wimpy-kid Family, F. (2010). Focus on the family: thriving family. Retrieved from http://www.thrivingfamily.com/Family/Media/book-reviews/d/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid.aspx Park, A. (2009). Diary of a wimpy kid: concept analysis. Retrieved from http://novelinks.org/uploads/Novels/DiaryOfAWimpyKid/Concept Analysis.pdf Wimpy greg. (2004). Retrieved from http://wimpygreg.weebly.com/index.html