Best Practices of Mergers and Acquisitions

Running head: BEST PRACTICES OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS Mergers and Acquisitions: Best Practices for Success Abstract Mergers and acquisitions have become a growing trend for companies to inorganically grow a business within its particular industry. There are many goals that companies may be looking to achieve by doing this, but the main reason is to guarantee long-term and profitable growth for their business. Companies have to keep up with a rapidly increasing global market and increased competition. With the struggle for competitive advantage becoming stronger and stronger, it is almost essential to achieve these mergers. Through research I will attempt to dissect the best practices for achieving merger success. Mergers and Acquisitions: Best Practices for Success When companies are acquired or merged, people almost immediately start to focus on the differences in the companies. They also begin to pay attention to who are the winners and who are the losers. It is typical in an acquisition for the acquiring company to see itself as the winner, and the acquired company as the loser. The controlling company wants to impose changes and view those in the acquired company as highly resistant to change. It is clear that most mergers and acquisitions are primarily based on strategic, financial, or other objectives. However, ignoring a potential mismatch of people and cultures can lead to strategic and financial failure. In most mergers, serious consideration should be given to cultural and leadership style differences. The success of a merger or acquisition can be defined as the creation of synergy. But every merger and acquisition is a unique event, occurring in a unique environment that is subject to various influences. Analyzing a merger should begin by understanding the culture and core values of the business that is being acquired. Ashkenas, DeMonaco, and Francis (1998) observed that â€Å". . . it is increasingly important that executives learn how to manage the integration of acquisitions as a replicable process and not as a one time only event† (p. 166). DiGeorgio (2002) has researched this topic extensively through the mergers and acquisitions of Cisco and GE Capital. Cisco approaches mergers by â€Å". . . (a) doing [its] homework to select the right companies and (b) applying an effective reliable integration process once the deal is struck†(DiGeorgio, 2002, p. 138). Cisco has in the past turned down deals with companies which did not fit within its strategy. Cisco looks at deals from the following perspective (DiGeorgio, 2002): 1. Are our visions basically the same? 2. Can we produce quick wins for shareholders? 3. Can we produce long-term wins for all four constituencies – shareholders, customers, employees, and partners? 4. Is the chemistry right? 5. For large M&A, is there geographic proximity? (p. 138) GE Capital, on the other hand takes a more process-based approach to handling mergers. Since GE has performed plenty of mergers and it learns and grows from each one. The crux of its process is â€Å"[g]etting the right integration leader [which] constitutes 95 per cent of the success of an integration† (DiGeorgio, 2003, p. 139). This study highlights the importance of being proactive in pre-merger planning and offers advice to help ensure that the merger process will be a success. Within this paper, I plan to discuss the best practices companies can use to ensure a successful merger. These practices include timely merger planning, choosing the right leadership, focusing on corporate culture, communicating effectively, and engaging the staff, human resources, and middle management. Timely Merger Planning There is a lot of time and effort spent on finding good merger candidates and courting them only to fall through on the follow-up integration activities. As soon as serious discussions begin with a potential merger candidate, the integration planning efforts should begin. It is essential that acquisitions be assimilated into the parent as quickly and as smoothly as possible to minimize any losses in productivity and maximize opportunities between the two organizations. â€Å"There is good agreement that the first 100 days after a merger change set the tone, signal the troops about the real direction of the organization and its vitality†(DiGeorgio, 2003,p. 266) A slow integration process can actually worsen problems. Merger integration should not be treated as an after-thought. It is something that needs to be addressed uring the merger search and negotiations phase while there is time to minimize any negative impacts. Choosing the Right Leadership Choosing the right leadership, not only for the merger integrations, but also for the new combined company is important in terms of vision, mission, culture, and expectations. A leader should focus on the larger design of the new corporation. A leader has to resist the temptation to take the easy way out. It is not pleasant to deliver bad news or to be a naysayer, but it is necessary at times. It is also important for a leader to promote and ensure good morale. This starts with treating people with respect and listening to their opinions, rather than telling them what to do. â€Å"Leaders set the tone for the culture and for how relationships are going to unfold in the combined organization† (DiGeorgio, 2003, p. 260). Effective working relationships and increased trust developed among the senior executives will carry throughout the organization as a model of how the newly integrated organization will work. Senior executives need to establish the cultural rules of engagement in the new entity quickly and effectively. Company leaders should strive to provide as much transparency as possible to decision making and address employee concerns such as changes to roles and responsibilities, compensation and employee benefits as promptly and practical as can be performed. â€Å"Integration management is a full-time job and needs to be recognized as a distinct business function. . . † (Ashkenas et al. , 1998, p. 169). The role of the transition merger leader cannot be taken lightly. This person must make critical personnel, process, and structural decisions quickly. This role requires the mental tenacity to endure long meetings, tough questions, and low morale. The G. E. Pathfinder model as presented by Stopper (1999) suggests that it find an integration leader to direct these merger activities and get the necessary results done to have a successful integration. Stopper (1999) also suggests a few other skills and qualifications necessary to look for in this person which include experience in project planning and management, communication planning and implementation, expertise specific to acquisitions, and corporate culture familiarity. Research by Ashkenas (1998), on the other hand, believes a merger leader should have ability to facilitate integration activities, to help the acquired business understand processes of the new company, and to help his or her company understand the business that is being acquired. Leadership also needs to be held accountable for the success of the merger (DiGeorgio, 2002). The leader should have a sense of purpose and responsibility not only for his or her job but also for the company as well as the employees who work there. When leaders don’t exhibit this accountability, they can take a nonchalant attitude which can hinder any progress which has been made. Ensuring the appropriate leadership is in place from the start will present a successful blueprint for the outcome of the merger or acquisition. Focusing on Corporate Culture When companies merge there can be a clash of cultures, conflicting beliefs, and different norms. Organizational culture is important because it has been shown to have a significant impact on organizational performance. Cultures that support the missions, goals, and strategies of an organization provide a means for dealing with change and conflicts when they arise. â€Å"Cultural integration is ignored in the majority of business combinations† (Pekala, 2001, p. 32). Research has shown that because of cultural aspects, mergers often encounter difficulties in achieving the goals of the merger. While due diligence is performed on all of the financial aspects of a merger, one major reason that so many mergers fail is a lack of â€Å"cultural fit† (DiGeorgio, 2003, p. 259). Understanding how things are seen in the other cultures, learning mutual respect, and being open to exploring different points of view are the keys to the people factor in any merger or acquisition. â€Å"A sound M&A integration strategic plan is as cultural as it is structural and entails both the welding of hard assets and a delicate/neurosurgery of minds† (Brahy, 2006, p. 54). Corporate culture tends to be viewed as a company having casual Fridays or working alternate work schedules. However, it runs deeper than the external characteristics. Pekala (2001) suggests that â€Å"merger partners need to zero in on the basic ways that decisions get made in their companies and how different approaches can be combined in harmony† (p. 32). The organization’s culture is simply how things are done in the organization. It could be as simple as putting the customer first or driving for excellence in safety. The challenges encountered when merging two different cultures are that either one or the other (or both) needs to change. The issue, then, becomes not just culture awareness, but culture â€Å"change management† (LaMarsh, 2006, p. 9) during the integration period. Building a new culture that combines the best of both previous cultures makes the new organization better, stronger, and more competitive than either of the organizations can be on its own. One way to build a new culture is by having representatives from both companies or organizations list the principles that currently guide its behavior and attitu des. Once this has been captured, both groups can then combine their efforts into a discussion of what type of cultural behavior is necessary to ensure that the best of both worlds is fairly represented. Brahy (2006) even suggest the acquiring company learn another language to help the merging companies feel more at ease and are accepting of their individual culture and traditions. Top management, however, must support this new combined culture. Management cannot force people to work together to build a new culture. As DiGeorgio (2003) notes â€Å"leaders set the tone for the culture and for how relationships are going to unfold in the combined organization† (p. 260). Control over the new corporate culture is critical to the success of a merger. Achieving cultural synergy is possible, but it takes work and effort especially on the side of leadership. Communicating Effectively Communication plays a very critical role at the time of a merger. Communicating with the employees is very important as they should not feel that they have been kept in the dark. It should be remembered that they are the most important assets of an organization and also major stakeholders. Most people understand that mergers and acquisitions take place for business reasons. But it is important to communicate the specific reasons and benefits of the merger. People may not like it, but if they see that it has a legitimate purpose, and the benefits are clear, then there is less resentment and employees are more likely to accept it. Mergers and acquisitions breed uncertainty, ambiguity, and fear among employees. Rumors often begin in organizations before the announcement of any impending merger is formally announced. â€Å". . . Trying to hide bad news such as layoffs by not revealing further details . . can damage morale and lead to turnover† (Messmer, 2006, p. 15). A good communication plan can help avoid complications by ensuring that employees understand the reasons for the deal, the objectives the organization is trying to achieve, and the potential benefits for everyone involved. In mergers and acquisitions, employees typically want answers to the following basic questions: †¢Will I have a job in the new organization? †¢Will my pay, b enefits and work locations change? †¢Will this merger be good for my career? These and other questions must be addressed soon after an announcement is made since productivity can suffer the longer employees have uncertainty. Straightforward, concise, and timely communication assists in building employee commitment and focuses employees on the day-to-day operations of the organization. â€Å". . . Communication minimizes the negative reactions of the acquired employees† (Brahma, 2007, p. 8). The faster employees feel connected to the new organization, the faster they will begin working toward the business objectives and understand what is expected of them. Research shows that organizations using effective communication strategies achieve the best results in productivity and shareholder returns. A good communication strategy is critical to a successful merger or acquisition. A successful plan cannot be reactive but proactive and it has to be included as part of the original merger plans. Nikandrou, Papaleaxandris, and Bourantas (2000) assert that â€Å"frequent communication does not imply that management should communicate every little detail of the process . . . t rather means that management communicates its concerns about employees . . . † (p. 336). An effective communication plan must take into account many elements such as the unique needs of various stakeholders, such as managers, employees, investors, customers, suppliers, and surrounding communities, need to be identified and addressed. Successful mergers only happen when upper managers make themselves visible and accessible to all employees affected by the merger. All e mployees need to experience the buy-in and support of their leaders for the merger or acquisition. Leaders need to be prepared to communicate the answers they do have and be open to stating what answers they do not have yet (Terranova, 2006). For leaders and managers to maintain credibility and trust with employees, they must be open and honest in dealing with these problems rather than choosing not to communicate at all. Engaging Staff and Middle Management People issues are often the most sensitive but also overlooked aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Organizations fail to realize that people have the capability to make or break the deal. It is important for organizations to address the viability of the integration on the human resources front. There are key resources within the organization that can help in handling people issues namely the employees, human resources, and middle management. Frequently there are a lot of people who get overlooked in the acquisition process; specifically lower-level employees who may be able to offer valuable input. They are the people who produce the profits, represent the company, and, ultimately, are the ones that will make the combined company succeed. Proactively engaging the employees can cultivate change agents for the acquisition making the entire process more desirable for all parties involved. â€Å"Managing change is a systematic process that requires moving through a series of action steps to predict and address the risk caused by potential resistance† (LaMarsh, 2006, p. 59). The best way for leadership to actively involve employees is to engage in active feedback sessions. This could involve setting up meetings with key people from various groups in the organizations and soliciting feedback from them (Messmer, 2006). Another suggestion could be to set up a website answer board where employees can ask the integration team or top management questions anonymously and view answers to other questions that have been proposed. Retaining and motivating employees is a major challenge for the human resource department of organizations. Actively engaging human resources early in the process can ensure merger success. Human resource leaders can play a key role in helping senior management identify, involve, and assess the key executives and other critical talent who will be vital for the success of the new business. Human resources can help facilitate employee question and answer meetings and are the most knowledgeable about current policies and procedures. Human resource skills are essential for the facilitation and negotiation processes regarding combining pay and benefits. Human Resource skills are also needed for supporting, counseling, and coaching line managers, who have to supervise their functions during very difficult times. Middle management also plays an important role in ensuring the success of a merger or acquisition. Communications with the middle managers will help to not only alm their fears and concerns but also help them understand what is in store for them. If middle managers are not kept in the information loop, it can lead to false information getting out that could damage morale as well as increase turnover. They need to fully understand the benefits not only to the organization but also to them as individuals. Once concerns have been dealt with, middle managers should be h eld accountable for implementation of the change. Without this accountability, they ultimately will not have a desire to change their behavior. Middle managers should become a positive part of the change process and they should not feel as if it is another program or process that is being forced upon them. Middle managers are the leaders that lower-level employees will look to for timely, accurate information. If approval of the merger is given at this level, then those under them will more than likely not give their approval either. Conclusion Several important lessons have been learned from the merger research conducted throughout this paper. When a merging with another company, managers should be focused on uniting the two companies as quickly as possible. Management should also be aware of the importance of starting the integration planning as soon as a definitive merger candidate is determined. Another important aspect of the merger process is a commitment to change on the part of leadership. Management needs to assign appropriate leadership resources to complete the transition successfully. Communication is also very critical even when there is nothing new to say. It is impossible to over-communicate throughout the merger process. Employees have an almost insatiable desire for information, and misinterpretation of silence and rumors are very common. Mergers are seen as a way to solve problems but it also creates a new set of problems as well as opportunities. Success in mergers and acquisitions rests not only on good strategic and financial planning, but also in the analysis of people issues. Making mergers work successfully is a complicated process which involves not only combining two organizations together but also integrating the people of two organizations with different cultures, attitudes, and mindsets. To ensure success in mergers and acquisitions there needs to be timely merger planning, the right leadership, cultural integration, effective communication, and the involvement of staff and middle management. References Ashkenas, R. , DeMonaco, L. , & Francis, S. (1998). Making the Deal Real: How GE Capital Integrates Acquisitions. Harvard Business Review, 76(1), 165-178. Badrtalei, J. , & Bates, D. (2007). Effect of Organizational Cultures on Mergers and Acquisitions: The Case of Daimler Chrysler. International Journal of Management, 24(2), 303-317. Brahma, S. , & Srivastava, K. (2007). Communication, Executive Retention, and Employee Stress as Predictors of Acquisition Performance: An Empirical Evidence. ICFAI Journal of Mergers & Acquisitions, 4(4), 7-26. Brahy, S. (2006). Six solution pillars for successful cultural integration of international M&As. Journal of Organizational Excellence, 25(4), 53-63. DiGeorgio, R. (2002). Making mergers and acquisitions work: What we know and don't know — Part I. Journal of Change Management, 3(2), 134. DiGeorgio, R. (2003). Making mergers and acquisitions ork: What we know and don't know–Part II. Journal of Change Management, 3(3), 259. LaMarsh, J. (2006). What mergers miss. Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance (Wiley), 17(2), 59-62. Messmer, M. (2006). Leadership Strategies During Mergers and Acquisitions. Strategic Finance, 87(7), 15-16. Pekala, N. (2001). Merger They Wrote: Avoiding a Corporate Culture Collision. Journal of Property Management, 66(3), 32. Stopper, W. ( 1999, July). Mergers and Acquisitions: Fulfilling the Promise. Human Resource Planning, 22(3), 6-7.

Multicultural Issues in Counseling Essay

In the field of counseling and psychology, it is always necessary that the counselor understands the predicament that the patient is facing. This is because, this patient is coming for assistance because he or she is not in a position to do his activities right. Therefore in this case it is necessary that the supervisee and in this case Ann has all the attributes that are needed as this is the only way that she will be able to help Donald. As Barratt, E. et al, (1997) in their research found out, it calls for a good rapport between the counselor and the patient for the patient to receive meaningful treatment or help. This is not the case here as Donald is always complaining that Ann is not giving him enough attention. In real sense, it is the broken rapport that exists between them that is the problem. In the content of my informal assessment of Ann’s multicultural counseling skills, I would clearly indicate that Ann lacks the basic and crucial skills that are necessary for a counselor to execute his or her duties. I understand that the main reason for this is the background where Ann has grown. She has grown up in an area where there are no mixed races. This developed in her limited socialization skills when dealing with people. This is her new interaction with a person from a different race and due to this; it becomes very difficult for her to deal with the patient. As Gladwell, (2007) argues, it calls for a counselor to have good communication and socialization skills so that he or she can be able to assist a patient. In addition, the counselor should understand that the patient is not in the right frame of mind. The counselor should not give the comments that the patient gives the same weight as the way he or she would if the person was in the right frame of mind. These are some of the basic attributes, which Ann lacks, and I would include this in my informal assessment report. According to Dinn, W. et al, (2000), gauging the level of awareness has its basis on how well one executes the duties assigned to him or her. In this case, Donald is complaining that he is lacks appropriate attention and therefore he is contemplating on stopping treatment. On the other hand, Ann is claiming that she has done all that she could so to help the patient. This is a clear sign that Ann is giving up. The patient is already hopeless and the doctor or the counselor can only revive his hope. If the counselor loses hope, it means that there is no chance of recovering. It is also a clear indication of lack of commitment and objective by the counselor. The level of Ann’s self- awareness is therefore very low. The reason is that she is not fully aware that she is the counselor and that the patient really needs her assistance. She seems to forget her role in the whole process, which is to help the patient recover. In addition, Ann is complaining that Donald is over-dependent on her. She fully understands that Donald is suffering from Schizophrenia and dependency is expected. This is a clear indication that Ann happen to have very limited knowledge of the appropriate treatment interventions. For instance, it would be absurd for a surgeon to complain that he or she is encountering a lot of blood when he or she fully knows that this will be inevitable. If we receive such a complaint, it is a clear indication that the person has no or limited knowledge of what he is doing and what he is supposed to do. This is the case happening with Ann. At the same time, Ann is complaining of not having a good communication with the patient because he has difficulty expressing himself in English. As she was born and raised in only one region, there are chances that she did not have good socialization and communication skills and probably the problem is not the English but the access which she is having difficulty understanding. In conclusion, in my informal assessment, I would clearly indicate that the problem here is not the patient but Ann. She seems to lack the basic attributes of a counselor. A good counselor should be dynamic in all the activities that he or she is doing. He should not use a universal platform to treat his or her patients. He should take each patient individually, understand him or her and adopt a proper method in treatment. This is something that Ann needs to improve on. She also needs exposure as she has very little experience in dealing with people. For instance, she has very limited if any knowledge and experience with the African-American culture and all this is attributed to the way she was raised. ? References Barratt, E. et al. (1997). Neuropsychological & Cognitive Psychophysiological Substrates of Impulsive Aggression. Biological Psychiatry , 1045-60. Dinn, W. et al. (2000). Neurocognitive Function in Antisocial Personality Disorder. Psychiatry Research , 173-92. Gladwell, M. (2007). Blink: Power of Thinking Without Thinking . Irwin: Back Bay Books .

Week 4 Assignment Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 4 Assignment Paper - Essay Example Of the points raised in the readings, I agree that inclusion issues dealing with disability differ from country to country, expressed in Chapter 10. However, these differences are caused by more than just prejudice, being strongly influenced also by economics and legislation. On the other hand, I disagree with the point made by Steve Bucherati in Chapter 9, that community involvement is evident when a firm manufactures a good that is patronized by all segments of the market. For me, this simply means the firm has adopted the mass production strategy. These insights into community involvement, social responsibility, and diversity and inclusion, will help me, as a sales representative and agent of St Jude Medical, to create stronger and more meaningful bonds between my company and the public it relates to. In Chapter 10, I agree that inclusion issues dealing with disability differ from country to country; however, these differences are caused by more than just prejudice. There are economic considerations, such as in those countries where the population is large, labor is cheap, and the great number of able-bodied, qualified and skilled workers is more than enough labor supply for the existing industries. With the high rate of unemployment and largely manual production processes, it is not so much that the disabled are discriminated against, but that it is likewise an injustice to turn down more capable, equally jobless, workers who would be more useful to the business. There are also legal considerations; some governments provide wage subsidies for businesses which employ the disabled (Europa, 2008; EBU, 2012), but in other countries there are no such provisions. Ultimately, therefore, the decision to hire disabled applicants does not proceed solely from some sense of altruism, but to avail of government incentives for businesses which do so – thereby reducing costs and enhancing profits. Multinationals might therefore practice diversity where it

Nature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nature - Essay Example Such is the case for the two stories examined here. As it is well known in literary circles, not everything that the writer intends to tell is told directly. Some messages are indirectly conveyed. Such is the case with these two stories – Stephen Crane’s â€Å"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets† and â€Å"The Open Boat.† Before one starts to make any point about these two stories, it must be emphasized that there is really no story which nature is not inherent. No matter where the physical setting of any story is, it would also be within the confines of nature. Hence, one must mention that one of the most significant scenes in â€Å"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets† is set by the edge of a river. This is where the â€Å"huge fat man† Maggie eventually takes her. The scene is important because it is where Maggie is believed to have lost her life (Crane 36). Similarly, the setting of â€Å"The Open Boat† is a ship on the seas. Like in â€Å"Mag gie: A Girl of the Streets†, the setting again has something to do with water (nature) (Crane 189). The only difference is that this time, water is not only a symbol; it may also be interpreted to directly affect the lives of the human race. One gets to learn that in life, we all undergo certain issues from time to time, and we, not others, are the best to help ourselves out. Nature would remain fair to all. Whenever one discovers the level to which some persons lack the milk of human kindness, one is often amazed. This most time makes one to just re-examine one’s life and the ethos which one has imbued over time. For instance in â€Å"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets†, one cannot but wonder why it seems that characters like Jimmie and Blue Billie just seem to be so bellicose that they desire to be in a brawl at the slightest provocation (Crane 13). At such times when the bellicosity of these characters is at its peak, one also wonders if they ever had elderly ones to direct them. It is very obvious that Jimmie had someone who is in the place to put him through the best way to behave in the society. But from the look of things, it is either that they were never taught or that he rejected what they were taught. From what one discovers in the story, what may turn out to be third possibility is very unlikely. This third possibility is that the parents themselves do not possess strong moral standings to be able to teach their children the ethos which they need to know. The same thing applies to â€Å"The Open Boat.† Everyone is supposed to have been brought up in such a way that would be able discern when a person is seriously in need of their help or not. In the case of the people whom the shipwrecked men appeal to come for their help, they were simply unable to discern when people seriously need their help and when they don’t. Besides the fact that one, as a reader, is taught indirectly to learn from the bad examples of some charac ters, one is to learn not to tow their way. While readers learn from the flaws of some of these characters, some emotions are evoked in them. In the long run, these are the emotions that would come to play in stopping from taking the wrong decisions in life. One other feature which one learns from the two stories is that, no matter how much one tries to cover up the truth, it would eventually come out. One also discovers that one’s true characters only come to the fore when facing some trying times. For example, in â€Å"

Anthropology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 12

Anthropology - Essay Example The middle class was able to support the growth of the cities. As such, industrialization is a required prerequisite for ensuring the growth of Mega Urban Region (MUR). When we consider the rate of growth of the cities, it becomes evident that Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City experienced the highest growth rates, which do not seem to reduce in the future. The analysis of the two cities reveals that they have a highly dynamic inner zone. The area experienced the highest growth rate in terms of employment opportunities and population. The dynamism and development of the inner zone become driven by both the de-congestion process of the urban residential and production functions emanating from the core of the cities. As such, the inner zones have a higher chance for advancement, which may mean that the Shanghai MUR may continue with its expansion. When encouraging the growth of the Mega Urban Regions, I believe that the people should relocate businesses and people out of the core. Such a move will also encourage the development of the rural areas in the periphery of the cities, leading to further

Individual Report on Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Individual Report on Management - Essay Example It includes development of abilities and skills, building up of education and management, improving of self awareness and standard of life, and realization of aspirations. The concept of personal development is not limited to individual level but it also refers to the organizational level in terms of improvement in system, equipment, technology, method, practices and appraisal considerations in organization to support the personal development plan at individual level. A middle level manager needs to recognize his / her current and future role in Tesco Inc. Primarily the purpose of personal development plan is to assist the individuals to achieve their targets more effectively. A personal development plan offers several options to manager to improve his career and management style. Tesco is an international firm and mid-level managers effectively contribute at functional level. Therefore, PDP enables the Tesco’s mid level managers to list a variety of goals and steps for their development with respect to the analysis of their strengths and weaknesses and identifies the areas they need to emphasize with additional knowledge and better understanding. Tesco management can get short and long term aspirations to catch their strategic goals and have evidence regarding the progression towards the set target. Through PDP, Tesco management not only can improve their existing operations but it also facilitates them to review their existing and future plans. 1.2 Management Style In fact a management style is an overall application of leadership which the managers have to perform in terms of their role and tasks in Tesco. The handling of routine work and particular contingencies depends on the managerial styles. Lewin et al (1939) suggested a continuum theory of leadership that identified three basic styles which are used as management styles by managers at their level. Management styles vary from manager to manager in all organizations. Same is the case in Tesco. Th ere are some autocrat managers in Tesco who have little trust in group members and believe that money is the only reward that will motivate workers. At the other end of the continuum is the laissez-faire managers who have little or no self-confidence in their managerial role, they set no goals for the employees, and minimize the communication and interaction. Autocrat Democrat Laissez-faire Benevolent Autocrat (Fig. 1) The democratic management style can be the most effective and productive style for Tesco. The style encourages the subordinates by providing an opportunity to share their views in decision making process. Democratic style explains the reasons to the group for decisions when necessary and objectively communicates criticism and praise to subordinates. This in turn motivates the employees and feel them importance in organizational structure.

Enterprinureship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Enterprinureship - Essay Example s / her desired outcomes Thus from an overall perspective, innovation can be described as an engine that drives the functionality and growth of a business process either small or large. Looking at the present market scenario, it can be stated that business process has turned its innovation and technology level as a competitive factor in terms of proving their efficiency and superiority over other competitors (Kakouris, 2010; Annan, 2013). Rapid development and attainment of technology by Entrepreneurs gradually provide them with one specific factor through which they can express themselves in an effective manner. This specific factor can be termed as ‘uniqueness’. Taking reference from the marketing concepts, it can be stated that uniqueness is actually what that ensures the survival of a business process along with decreases the level of market competition. As a result of all these, the discussion will remain majorly focused towards evaluating the necessity of innovatio n in terms of supporting the business processes as established by the Entrepreneurs. Furthermore, elaborations regarding these aspects have been provided in the later portions of the discussion. The aim of this paper will be towards evaluating the role of innovation in supporting the business establishment and business continuation of the Entrepreneurs. In an associated manner, this discussion will also aim towards understanding how innovation can be used as a major tool for business processes that expects a better position within the global market. Okpara (2007), in context to innovation has elaborated about the necessity of creativity within Entrepreneurship. Creativity as per Okpara (2007) is the root of new business ideas, which has the potential of providing an entrepreneur, the required career development opportunity. The misalignment of this creativity factor can also be found within major causes of large scale business failures. Speaking from the marketing point of view, one can say

Paper on the film Amelie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Paper on the film Amelie - Essay Example Paper on the film Ameli is dicribing this film and stories, realated with main hero.At first glance this may not be the case because of the way the movie has been produced; it isn’t just the plot that must be considered, it is everything from cinematography to lighting to direction itself. It would appear that the contemporary feel is ‘in’ and traditional is ‘out’ in this movie as the director used elements from the French new wave cinema to construct some of the scenes of the movie (Vanderschelden, p.14) for e.g. Strowzykowski writes about Jeunet’s technique, â€Å"In Amelie, Jeunet had actress Audrey Tautou break from the sealed world of the narrative to talk directly to the audience† (Strowzykowski). The disagreement with conventionalism ends here, however.It is only at a deeper look that one realizes the way Amelie’s character itself has been written, promotes a very sexist image of women. It isn’t obvious and there is a lack of large details that can help the audience see through this, instead there are subtler details that must be carefully picked up and analyzed.Amelie finds meaning and fulfillment in life only in helping others and in her love for a man whom she idealizes. In this framework of a stereotypical image of womanhood, Amelie is hegemonically granted the agency to gaze at others, to transform their lives, to escape sexualized masculine gazes, and even to choose her own prince; all because she is a non-threatening â€Å"good girl† who is just looking for love... Such spectators find pleasure in watching Amelie take action and â€Å"trespassing† the passive sexualized object role that she was supposed to play. Amelie is a fine example of contemporary French cinema. The ideals it portrays, however, are not entirely contemporary in terms of a feminist perspective. The movie presents the stories of a woman who has been constructed on patriarchal terms rather than feminist on es. The mere fact that the movie was such a colossal success proves that the actual identity and concept of females and femininity haven’t changed much over the years. While the production methods and techniques may have evolved a great deal, the representation of women is much the same, albeit in a different manner altogether.

An empirical investigation of earnings restatements by UK Firms Essay

An empirical investigation of earnings restatements by UK Firms - Essay Example For example, in recent years, the frequency of US earnings restatements has increased, attracting considerable attention from academics. Much of that attention has been focused on the relation between earnings restatements and shareholders’ wealth. Moreover, research found that, due to the accounting errors, there was a negative market reaction of earning restatement. There is a very little evidence on the market’s valuation of earnings restatements due to accounting policy changes, and the effect of restatements on financial performance measures, other than market returns. (Richardson et al. (2002). It is apparent that the restatement amount is significantly associated to future earnings, suggesting that earnings restatement is value relevant in both contemporaneous and inter-temporal settings. whether attributes of restating firms differ from those of non-restating firms in the same industry and from those from various industries included in our samples. After a preliminary examination of the data, the inquiry has motivated concern, as well, over possible accounting abuse due to a lack of study using samples of 200 UK listed companies in the London Stock Exchange. The financial data for all companies will be collected from Financial Analysis Made Easy (FAME) and conclusions drawn from the analysis of the results. A US study documents an increase in restatement frequency because of errors (Wu, 2002). While giving evidence at the US Senate in January 2002, Paul Sarbanes commented that â€Å"frequent restatements of earnings raises questions about the reliability of published financial statements because it threatens to undermine investors’ confidence in the securities markets (comments on the floor of the US Senate, 23 January 2002)†. It is not surprising that in the case of accounting errors, restatements seem to cause significantly downgraded assessments of firm

Identity theft and fraud Essay Example for Free

Identity theft and fraud Essay Identity theft and credit card fraud are two of the fastest growing white collar crimes in society today. Identity thieves and credit card fraud perpetrators are aided by todays continually developing technologies and low technology and crude methods like Dumpster diving or trash retrieval. However, more often than not, it is their victims own carelessness and public lack of awareness that often turn out to be these criminals biggest ally. On November 2007, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report that put the number of cases of Identity theft reported in 2005 at 8. 9 million American adults or approximately 3. 7 percent of the US adult population. (FTC Releases Survey of Identity Theft in the U. S. Study Shows 8. 3 Million Victims in 2005) What is Identity theft? By definition, identity theft is what happens when someone other than ones self and without their knowledge uses his/her personal information such as social security and credit card numbers. With this information, it is easy for thieves to run up bills by ordering items on line or even apply for credit cards in the victims name. They of course get the benefit of spending while their poor victim is left with stacks of bills for purchases they did not make on cards they do not own. Some of these victims have even gone to jail and made to pay up debts they were not even aware existed (Identity Theft: How to, 24. ) There are a number of ways by which identity thieves and credit card frauds can victimize unsuspecting and hardworking citizens. The growing number of reports of instances where people are penalized for bills and financial charges they were not even aware of is alarming. What is even more alarming however is very few people are aware of how such incidents may be prevented by simple common sense measures. Detroit based Attorney and president of the American Bankruptcy Institute Richardo Kilpatrick stresses the importance of quick action saying that the longer the victim waits to dispute bills raised through fraud, the fewer rights they can expect to have. If not done properly, victims may be made responsible for the credit card charges. (24) To avoid credit card fraud and identity theft, the FTC along with other law enforcement and consumer advocacy groups recommend the following common-sense guidelines (Facts for Consumers) to protect themselves from identity theft and credit card fraud: 1. Keep your credit card in sight every time you use it. Make sure it is returned as quickly as possible. Unscrupulous people may easily write down your card number as well as other pertinent information found on your card. There are also electronic devices called skimmers (Shannon) that can not only read and copy card information embedded in the cards magnetic strip but also the verification codes that are needed by merchants to validate cards electronically from the issuing card companies. All the data downloaded by the skimmer are all a card counterfeiter needs to produce perfect duplicates of credit cards. 2. Keep identification, licenses and credit cards separate from your wallet. In case you are out shopping and your wallet gets snatched, at least your Ids and credit cards remain safe. Jason King, a spokesman for the American Association of Motor Vehicles Administrators (AAMVA) says that there are many ways an identity thief or common burglar may use a stolen drivers license and credit card. Access to someones drivers license, for example, leads to an amazing number of other opportunities in our society, he says, such as obtaining financial and health services, and everything else from renting a car to cashing a check and boarding an airplane. (Boulard) In a case cited in the US Department of Justice web site, a woman in the Southern District of Florida plead guilty to counts of federal charges on her applying for an obtaining a drivers license in the name of her victim. The said license was used by the woman to withdraw more that $13,000 from her victims bank account as well as applying for and receiving five department store credit cards in her victims name which she the used to rack up bills amounting to $4,000. (Identity Theft para. 16) In some cases, where ID cards have been stolen, thieves have been known to break into the homes of their victims stealing from them a second time. 3. Ignore emails that request for credit card information for verification purposes. Never entertain e-mail messages asking you to go to a web site to verify your personal and credit card information. There is a scam called phishing where computer-savvy identity thieves construct mirror web sites of legit companies such as PayPal or banks, that trick customers into divulging their personal and financial information. (OSullivan) 4. Sign credit cards as soon as you receive them. 5. Shred and dispose all credit card applications you receive in the mail. If thieves can get these applications it means they could also have gotten or have access to mail containing your personal information. Some thieves also resort to low-tech and old fashioned methods such as swiping mail from mailboxes, diving through trash cans and dumpsters, or working in league with employees of postal and card companies. At times, they also work with employees at restaurants, hotels and establishments that accept credit card payments warns Johnny May, an independent security consultant and author of Johnny Mays Guide to Preventing Identity Theft: How Criminals Steal Your Personal Information, How to Prevent it, and What to Do if You Become a Victim (Security Resources Unlimited L. L. C. ) (Young) The FTC also advises bank clients to tear up the change of address: forms that come with bank statements. In some cases, mail, pre-approved credit cards and other financial documents have been diverted by identity thieves to another address simply by filling out the banks change of address form that they dug out of your dumpster. 6. Never write your PIN numbers on ATM and credit cards. Once the card is stolen, the readiness of information on the card will just make it easier for thieves to bypass whatever validation or verification processes done by the card companies. When it comes to it, dont put slips of paper containing these PIN numbers in your wallet either. 7. Avoid leaving credit card receipts, bills and documents containing personal and financial information lying around even in familiar surroundings. In the magazine article Stolen Lives: Identity Theft Is the Countrys Fastest Growing Crime. Heres How to Protect Your Most Valuable Asset-You! by Stephanie Young, she details the experience of Tahira Scott who was victimized by her housemate who was also her cousin. We started getting bills in someone elses name. Then two employees from a car dealership came to Scotts job to see if the person who had tried to purchase a vehicle in her name was actually her. Although she was a little suspicious, Scott says she had no idea about her cousins misdeeds. I just thought it was a mistake, she says. (Young) 8. Keep an updated record of all bank and credit card account numbers with their expiration dates. Make sure that you also take note of the address and contact numbers of the bank and issuing card company just in case your cards get misplaced or stolen. There are people who realize that they cannot report credit card theft or losses simply because they have no record of their account and card numbers. 9. When using your credit card in public, it is better to be paranoid and shield your card from other peoples view just in case they manage to take pictures of your card face with all the info and numbers counterfeiters need. 10. Never carry around more credit cards than you need. The more cards a thief can get from you, the bigger the balances they can spend. 11. Do not delay opening your credit card bills. This may be crucial in determining whether you can still contest the charges made on your card. In my friend Brians case, his parents were away for months and therefore only got to open the bills when they got back. By then, it was too late to do anything but pay up or else suffer marks against their credit rating. 12. Keep receipts of purchases made with credit cards. That way, it will be easy to balance out credit card bills with purchases made. Any charges made without corresponding hard copies of receipts may necessitate a call to the card company to verify the charge. Always keep tracks of your monthly financial statements. The reason why most thieves get away with their activities is because some people just do not scrutinize the monthly statements from their banks and credit cards. 13. Never sign a blank credit card receipt. If such a receipt is presented to you, draw a line on the blank spaces to make it impossible for anyone to fill in amounts later on. Do not just sign anything absent-mindedly. As with contracts, signatures mean approval. And unfortunately, carelessness is not an acceptable reason in disputing bill payment collections. 14. Do not be taken in by calls from people offering prizes or credit cards with higher limits when they start asking for personal information. Social Security numbers, birthdays, mothers maiden name or credit card number, it is most likely a scam to get information out of you. Try to ask for a written application form or notice. Do not do over-the-phone transactions with people offering these kinds of things.

Digital Composite in Special Effects

Digital Composite in Special Effects INTRODUCTION A massive spacecraft hovers over New York, throwing the entire city into shadow. A pair of lizards, sitting in the middle of a swamp, discusses their favourite beer. Dinosaurs, long extinct, live and breathe again, and the Titanic, submerged for decades, sails once more. Usually the credit of all these fantastic visuals given to CGI (computer generated imagery) or computer graphics. Computer graphics techniques, in conjunction with a myriad of other disciplines, are commonly used for the creation of visual effects in feature films. Digital compositing is an essential part of visual effects that are everywhere in the entertainment industry today: In feature films, television commercials, and many TV shows, and its growing. Even a non effects film will have visual effects. Whatever will be the genre of the movie there will always be something that needs to be added or removed from the picture to tell the story. It is the short description of what visual effect are all about adding elements to a picture that is not there, or removing something that you dont want to be there. Digital composite plays a key role in all visual effects. It is the digital compositor who takes these disparate elements, no matter how they were created, and blends them together artistically into a seamless, photorealistic whole. The digital compositors mission is to make them appear as if they were all shot together at the same time, under the same lights with the same camera, then give the shots a final artistic polish with superb color correction. I mentioned earlier that digital compositing is growing. There are two primary reasons for this. First is the steady increase in the use of CGI for visual effects, and every CGI element needs to be composited. The second reason for the increase in digital compositing is that the compositing software and hardware technologies are also advancing on their own track, separate from CGI. This means that visual effects shots can be done faster, more cost effectively, and with higher quality. There has also been a general rise in the awareness of the film-makers in what can be done with digital compositing, which makes them more sophisticated users. STRUCTRURE Introduction Phase I will deal with the history and introduction of compositing. Olden compositing techniques such as optical compositing, in camera effect, background projection, hanging miniatures etc. Apart from all that I will focus on how they were creating ground breaking effects during optical era. What are the advantage and disadvantage of optical compositing? Information hub Phase I will deal with the core concept of live action and Multipass composting with a brief introduction of stereoscopic composting. Under live action compositing I will discuss the basics and core concept of live action compositing such as rotoscopy, retouching, motion tracking with more emphasis on keying. Inside multipass compositing section simply I will focus on core concept of passes, different types of passes, use of passes. Finally a brief introduction of Stereoscopic compositing an emerging technology in the world of computer graphics. Incredible masters Phase I will discuss upon the contribution of pioneers of this sector to develop it up to this extent and also give a brief introduction of the new technologies being used and developed. Case study Phase which is also the last segment of my dissertation proposal I will discuss on the ground breaking effect techniques used in the Hollywood blockbusters such as Terminator, Golden compass and Finding Nemo etc. History of compositing In the summer of 1857, the Swedish-born photographer Oscar G. Rejlander set out to create what would prove to be the most technically complicated photograph that had ever been produced. Working at his studio in England, Rejlander selectively combined the imagery from 32 different glass negatives to produce a single, massive print. It is one of the earliest examples of what came to be known as a combination print. Motion picture photography came about in the late 1800s, and the desire to be able to continue this sort of image combination drove the development of specialized hardware to expedite the process. Optical printers were built that could selectively combine multiple pieces of film, and optical compositing was born. Introduction of Optical compositing Not to be confused with laboratory effects done on an optical printer these use optical attachments which go in front of the lens. The intention of such apparatus is to modify the light path between subject and lens. There are many such accessories available for hire or purchase but frequently they will be constructed for a particular shot. Techniques of Optical compositing Glass Shot Otherwise known as the glass painting, Hall Process or (erroneously) glass matte or matte painting, the glass shot takes the mask painted on a sheet of glass to its logical conclusion. The next stage of complexity is to make these additions to the frame representational instead of purely graphic. For example, lets say that we have a wide shot of a farm with fields stretching off into the distance and require a silhouetted fence in the foreground. If the camera is focused on the distant hills then, with a sheet of glass positioned at the hyper focal distance (near point still in focus when focused on infinity), we can actually paint the piece of fence on to the glass. This is made possible by the two-dimensional quality of motion pictures. So long as nothing passes between the glass and the lens, and the glass is in focus, then an object painted to be the correct size for the scene when viewed through the lens will appear to be actually in that scene. Thus the silhouette of a fence pa inted on the glass will appear totally believable, even if a cowboy and his horse pass by in the scene beyond. This minor change actually represents a fundamental leap in our effects capability, for now our mask has become a modification to the picture content itself rather than just an external decoration. However, once we have made this philosophical leap it is a small step to move on to creating photorealistic additions to the scene. The next stage is to light the camera side of our glass and paint details into the image thereon. In the example of the fence we now paint in the texture of the wood and expose it as required to blend in with the scene. Glass painting is a fundamental technique of VFX and can be applied to the latest digital equipment just as easily as it was to film prior to the First World War. Basically, if opaque paints are used (or are painted over an opaque base paint) what one is effectively doing is covering over detail in the real image with imaginary additions. This is a replacement technique and is the first of many in the VFX arsenal which permits falsification of real images. Rotoscopy Frequently, it comes to pass that a character or object that was not shot on bluescreen needs to be isolated for some reason, perhaps to composite something behind it or maybe give it a special color correction or other treatment. This situation requires the creation of a matte without the benefit of a bluescreen, so the matte must be rotoscoped, which means it is drawn by hand, frame by frame. This is a slow and labor-intensive solution, but is often the only solution. Even a bluescreen shot will sometimes require rotoscoping if it was not photographed well and a good matte cannot be extracted. Virtually all compositing programs have some kind of rotoscoping capability, but some are more capable than others. There are also programs available that specialize in just rotoscoping. Each frame of the picture is put up on the monitor and the roto artist traces an outline around the characters outer edge. These outlines are then fi lled in with white to create the familiar white matte on a black background, like the example in Figure 1-12. Large visual effects studios will have a dedicated roto department, and being a roto artist is often an entry-level position for budding new digital compositors. There has even been a recent trend to use rotoscoping rather than bluescreen shots for isolating characters for compositing in big-effects fi lms. I say big-effects films because it is much more labor-intensive, and therefore, expensive to rotoscope a shot than to pull a bluescreen matte. The big creative advantage is that the director and cinematographer can shoot their scenes on the set and on location naturally, rather than having to shoot a separate bluescreen shot with the talent isolated on a bluescreen insert stage. This allows the movies creators to focus more on the story and cinematography rather than the special effects. But again, this is a very expensive approach. Rotoscoping is the process of drawing a matte frame-by-frame over live action footage. Starting around the year 50 B.C. (Before Computers), the technique back then was to rear project a frame of fi lm onto a sheet of frosted glass, then trace around the target object. The process got its name from the machine that was used to do the work, called a rotoscope. Things have improved somewhat since then, and today we use computers to draw shapes using the splines we saw in Chapter 5. The difference between drawing a single shape and rotoscoping is the addition of animation. Rotoscoping entails drawing a series of shapes that follow the target object through a sequence of frames. Rotoscoping is extremely pervasive in the world of digital compositing and is used in many visual effects shots. It is also labor intensive because it can take a great deal of time to carefully draw moving shapes around a moving target frame by frame. It is often an entry-level position in the trade and many a digital compositor has started out as a roto artist. There are some artists who fi nd rotoscoping rewarding and elect to become roto kings (or queens) in their own right. A talented roto artist is always a valued member of the visual effects team. In this chapter, we will see how rotoscoping works and develop an under standing of the entire process. We will see how the spline-based shapes are controlled frame-by-frame to create outlines that exactly match the edges of the target object, as well as how shapes can be grouped into hierarchies to improve productivity and the quality of the animation. The sections on interpolation and keyframing describe how to get the computer to do more of the work for you, and then fi nally the solutions to the classic problems of motion blur and semi-transparency are revealed. ABOUT ROTOSCOPING Today, rotoscoping means drawing an animated spline-based shape over a series of digitized fi lm (or video) frames. The computer then renders the shape frame-byframe as a black and white matte, which is used for compositing or to isolate the target object for some special treatment such as color correction. The virtue of roto is that it can be used to create a matte for any arbitrary object on any arbitrary background. It does not need to be shot on a bluescreen. In fact, roto is the last line of defense for poorly shot bluescreens in which a good matte cannot be created with a keyer. Compositing a character that was shot on an uncontrolled background is illustrated beginning with Figure 6-4. The bonny lass was shot on location with the original background. A roto was drawn (Figure 6-5) and used to composite the woman over a completely new background (Figure 6-7). No bluescreen was required. There are three main downsides to roto. First, it is labor intensive. It can take hours to roto a simple shot such as the one illustrated in Figure 6-4, even assuming it is a short shot. More complex rotos and longer shots can take days, even weeks. This is hard on both schedules and budgets. The second downside to roto is that it can be diffi cult to get a high quality, convincing matte with a stable outline. If the roto artist is not careful, the edges of the roto can wobble in and out in a most unnatural, eye-catching way. The third issue is that rotos do not capture the subtle edge and transparency nuances that a well-done bluescreen shot does using a fi ne digital keyer. If the target object has a lot of very fi ne edge detail like a frizzy head of hair, the task can be downright hopeless. SPLINES In Chapter 5, we fi rst met the spline during the discussion of shapes. We saw how a spline was a series of curved lines connected by control points that could be used to adjust the curvature of those lines. We also used the metaphor of a piano wire to describe the stiffness and smooth curvature of the spline. Here we will take a closer look at those splines and how they are used to create outlines that can fi t any curved surface. We will also push the piano wire metaphor to the breaking point. A spline is a mathematically generated line in which the shape is controlled by adjustable control points. While there are a variety of mathematical equations that have been devised that will draw slightly different kinds of splines, they all work in the same general way. Figure 6-8 reviews the key components of a spline that we saw in Chapter 5, which consisted of the control point, the resulting spline line, and the handles that are used to adjust its shape. In Figure 6-8, the slope of the spline at the control point is being adjusted by changing the slope of the handles from position 1 to position 2 to position 3. For clarity, each of the three spline slopes is shown in a different color. The handles can also adjust a second attribute of the spline called tension, which is shown in Figure 6-9. As the handles are shortened from position 1 to 2 to 3, the piano wire loses stiffness and bends more sharply around the control point. A third attribute of a spline is the angle where the two line segments meet at the control point. The angle can be an exact 180 degrees, or fl at, as shown in Figure 6-8 and Figure 6-9, which makes it a continuous line. However, a break in the line can be introduced like that in Figure 6-10, putting a kink in our piano wire. Figure 6-10 Adjusting angle. Figure 6-11 Translation. Figure 6-12 Mr. Tibbs. Figure 6-13 Roto spline. Figure 6-14 Finished roto. In addition to adjusting the slope, tension, and angle at each control point, the entire shape can be picked up and moved as a unit. It can be translated (moved, scaled, and rotated), taking all the control points with it. This is very useful if the target has moved in the frame, such as with a cam era pan, but has not actually changed shape. Of course, in the real world it will have both moved and changed shape, so after the spline is translated to the new position, it will also have to be adjusted to the new shape. Now lets pull together all that we have learned about splines and how to adjust them to see how the process works over an actual picture. Our target will be the insufferable Mr. Tibbs, as shown in Figure 6-12, which provides a moving target that also changes shape frame-by-frame. Figure 6-13 shows the completed shape composed of splines with the many control points adjusted for slope, tension, and angle. The fi nished roto is shown in Figure 6-14. One very important guideline when drawing a shape around a target object is to use as few control points as possible that will maintain the curvatures you need. This is illustrated by the shape used to roto the dapper hat in Figure 6-15, which uses an excessive number of control points. The additional points increase the amount of time it takes to create each keyframe because there are more points to adjust each frame. They also increase the chances of introducing chatter or wobble to the edges. ARTICULATED ROTOS Things can get messy when rotoscoping a complex moving object such as a person walking. Trying to encompass an entire character with crossing legs and swinging arms into a single shape like the one used for the cat in Figure 6-13 quickly becomes unmanageable. A better strategy is to break the roto into several separate shapes, which can then be moved and reshaped independently. Many compositing programs also allow these separate shapes to be linked into hierarchical groups where one shape is the child of another. When the parent shape is moved, the child shape moves with it. This creates a skeleton with moveable joints and segments rather like the target object. This is more effi cient than dragging every single control point individually to redefi ne the outline of the target. When the roto is a collection of jointed shapes like this, it is referred to as an articulated roto. Figure 6-17 through Figure 6-19 illustrates a classic hierarchical setup. The shirt and lantern are separate shapes. The left and right leg shapes are children of the shirt, so they move when the shirt is moved. The left and right feet are children of their respective legs. The light blue lines inside the shapes show the skeleton of the hierarchy. To create frame 2 (Figure 6-18), the shirt was shifted a bit, which took both of the legs and feet with it. The leg shapes were then rotated at the knee to reposition them back over the legs, and then the individual control points were touched up to complete the fi t. Similarly, each foot was rotated to its new position and the control points touched up. As a result, frame 2 was made in a fraction of the time it took to create frame 1. Frame 3 was similarly created from frame 2 by shifting and rotating the parent shape, followed by repositioning the child shapes, then touching up control points only where needed. This workfl ow essentially allows much of the work invested in the previous frame to be recycled into the next with just minor modifi cations. There is a second, less obvious advantage to the hierarchical animation of shapes, and that is it results in a smoother and more realistic motion in the fi nished roto. If each and every control point is manually adjusted, small variations become unavoidable from frame to frame. After all, we are only human. When the animation is played at speed, the spline edges will invariably wobulate (wobble and fl uctuate). By translating (moving) the entire shape as a unit, the spline edges have a much smoother and more uniform motion from frame to frame. INTERPOLATION Time to talk temporal. Temporal, of course, refers to time. Since rotos are a frameby- frame animation, time and timing are very important. One of the breakthroughs that computers brought to rotoscoping, as we have seen, is the use of splines to defi ne a shape. How infi nitely fi ner to adjust a few control points to create a smooth line that contours perfectly around a curved edge, rather than to draw it by hand with a pencil or ink pen. The second, even bigger breakthrough is the ability of the computer to interpolate the shapes, where the shape is only defi ned on selected keyframes, and then the computer calculates the in-between (interpolated) shapes for you. A neat example of keyframe interpolation is illustrated in Figure 6-20. For these fi ve frames, only the fi rst and last are keyframes, while the three in-between frames are interpolated by the computer. The computer compares the location of each control point in the two keyframes, then calculates a new position for them at each in-between frame so they will move smoothly from keyframe 1 to keyframe There are two very big advantages to this interpolation process. First, the number of keyframes that the artist must create is often less than half the total number of frames in the shot. This dramatically cuts down on the labor that is required for what is a very labor-intensive job. Second, and perhaps even more important, is that when the computer interpolates between two shapes, it does so smoothly. It has none of the jitters and wobbles that a clumsy humanoid would have introduced when repositioning control points on every frame. Bottom line, computer interpolation saves time and looks better. In fact, when rotoscoping a typical character it is normal to keyframe every other frame. The interpolated frames are then checked, and only an occasional control point touch-up is applied to the in-between frames as needed. KEYFRAMES In the previous discussion about shape interpolation, the concept of the keyframe was introduced. There are many keyframing strategies one may use, and choosing the right one can save time and improve the quality of the fi nished roto. What follows is a description of various keyframe strategies with tips on how you might choose the right one for a given shot. On 2s A classic and oft used keyframe strategy is to keyframe on 2s, which means to make a keyframe at every other frame—that is, frame 1, 3, 5, 7, and so forth. The labor is cut in half and the computer smoothes the roto animation by interpolating nicely in between each keyframe. Of course, each interpolated frame has to be inspected and any off-target control points must be nudged into position. The type of target where keyframing on 2s works best would be something like a walking character shown in the example in Figure 6-21. The action is fairly regular, and there are constant shape changes, so frequent keyframes are required. Figure 6-21 Keyframe on 2s. On shots where the action is regular but slower, it is often fruitful to try keyframing on 4s (1, 5, 9, 13, etc.), or even 8s (1, 9, 17, 25, etc.). The idea is to keep the keyframes on a binary number (on 2s, on 4s, on 8s, etc.) for the simple reason that it ensures you will always have room for a new keyframe exactly halfway between any two existing keyframes. If you keyframe on 3s (1, 4, 7, etc.) for example, and need to put a new keyframe between 1 and 4, the only choice is frame 2 or 3, neither of which is exactly halfway between them. If animating on 4s (1, 5, 9, etc.) and you need to put a new keyframe between 5 and 9, frame 7 is exactly halfway between them. Figure 6-22 shows the sequence of operations for keyframing a shot on 2s in two passes by fi rst setting keyframes on 4s, then in-betweening those on 2s. Pass 1 sets a keyframe at frames 1, 5, and 9, then on a second pass the keyframes are set for frames 3 and 7. The work invested in creating keyframes 1 and 5 is partially recovered when creating the keyframe at frame 3, plus frame 3 will be smoother and more natural because the control points will be very close to where they should be and only need to be moved a small amount. Bifurcation Another keyframing strategy is bifurcation, which simply means to fork or divide into two. The idea is to create a keyframe at the fi rst and last frames of a shot, then go to the middle of the shot and create a keyframe halfway between them. You thengo mid-way between the fi rst keyframe and the middle keyframe and create a new keyframe there, then repeat that for the last frame and middle frame, and keep subdividing the shot by placing keyframes midway between the others until there are enough keyframes to keep the roto on target. The situation where bifurcation makes sense is when the motion is regular and the object is not changing its shape very radically such as the sequence in Figure 6- 23. If a keyframe were fi rst placed at frame 1 and frame 10, then the roto checked mid-way at frame 5 (or frame 6, since neither one is exactly mid-way), the roto would not be very far off. Touch up a few control points there, and then jump midway between frames 1 and 5 and check frame 3. Touch up the control points and jump to frame 8, which is (approximately) mid-way between the keyframes at frame 5 and frame 10. Figure 6-24 illustrates the pattern for bifurcation keyframing. While you may end up with keyframes every couple of frames or so, bifurcation is more effi cient than simply starting a frame 1 and keyframing on 2s, that is, assuming the target object is suitable for this approach. This is because the computer is interpolating the frames for you, which not only puts your shapes control points close to the target to begin with, but it also moves and pre-positions the control points for you in a way that the resulting animation will be smoother than if you tried to keyframe it yourself on 2s. This strategy effi ciently recycles the work invested in each keyframe into the new in-between keyframe. Extremes Very often the motion is smooth but not regular, such as the gyrating airplane in Figure 6-28, which is bobbing up and down as well as banking. In this situation, a good strategy is to keyframe on the extremes of the motion. To see why, consider the airplane path plotted in Figure 6-25. The large dots on the path represent the airplanes location at each frame of the shot. The change in spacing between the dots refl ects the change in the speed of the airplane as it maneuvers. In Figure 6-26, keyframes were thoughtlessly placed at the fi rst, middle, and last frames, represented by the large red dots. The small dots on the thin red line represent where the computer would have interpolated the rotos using those keyframes. As you can see, the interpolated frames are way off the true path of the airplane. However, in Figure 6-27, keyframes were placed on the frames where the motion extremes occurred. Now the interpolated frames (small red dots) are much closer to the true path of the airplane. The closer the interpolation is to the target, the less work you have to do and the better the results. To fi nd the extremes of a shot, play it in a viewer so you can scrub back and forth to make a list of the frames that contain the extremes. Those frames are then used as the keyframes on the fi rst roto pass. The remainder of the shot is keyframed by using bifurcation. Referring to a real motion sequence in Figure 6-28, the fi rst and last frames are obviously going to be extremes so they go on our list of keyframes. While looking at the airplanes vertical motion, it appears to reach its vertical extreme on frame 3. By placing keyframes on frame 1, 3, and 10, we stand a good chance of getting a pretty close fi t when we check the interpolation at frame 7 (see Figure 6-29). If the keyframe were placed at the midpoint on frame 5 or 6, instead of the motion extreme at frame 3, the roto would be way off when the computer interpolates it at frame 3. Final Inspection Regardless of the keyframe strategy chosen, when the roto is completed it is time for inspection and touch-up. The basic approach is to use the matte created by the roto to set up an inspection version of the shot that highlights any discrepancies in the roto, then go back in and touch up those frames. After the touch-up pass, one fi nal inspection pass is made to confi rm all is well. Figure 6-30 through Figure 6-32 illustrates a typical inspection method. The roto in Figure 6-31 was used as a mask to composite a semi-transparent red layer over the fi lm frame in Figure 6-32 to highlight any discrepancies in the roto. It shows that the roto falls short on the white bonnet at the top of the head and overshoots on the side of the face. The roto for this frame is then touched up and the inspection version is made again for one last inspection to confi rm all the fi xes and that there are no new problems. Using this red composite for inspection will probably not work well when rotoscoping a red fi re engine in front of a brick building. Feel free to modify the process and invent other inspection setups based on the color content of your personal shots. MOTION BLUR One of the historical shortcomings of the roto process has been the lack of motion blur. A roto naturally produces clean sharp edges as in all the examples we have seen so far, but in the real world, moving objects have some degree of motion blur where their movement has smeared their image on the fi lm or in the video. Figure 6-33 shows a rolling ball of yarn with heavy motion blur. The solution is an inner and outer spline that defi nes an inside edge that is 100% solid, and an outside edge that is 100% transparent as shown in the example in Figure 6-34. The roto program then renders the matte as 100% white from the inner spline graduating off to black at the outer spline. This produces a motion-blurred roto such as the one shown in Figure 6-35. Even if there is no apparent motion blur in the image, it is often benefi cial to gently blur the rotos before using them in a composite to soften their edges a bit, especially in fi lm work. One problem that these inner and outer splines introduce, of course, is that they add a whole second set of spline control points to animate which increases the labor of an already labor intensive process. However, when the target object is motion blurred, there is no choice but to introduce motion blur in the roto as well. A related issue is depth of fi eld, where all or part of the target may be out of focus. The bonny lass in Figure 6-4, for example, actually has a shallow depth of fi eld so her head and her near shoulder are in focus, but her far shoulder is noticeably out of focus. One virtue of the inner and outer spline technique is that edge softness can be introduced only and exactly where it is needed so the entire roto does not need to be blurred. This was done for her roto in Figure 6-5. SEMI-TRANSPARENCY Another diffi cult area for rotoscoping is a semi-transparent object. The main difficulty with semi-transparent objects is that their transparency is not uniform as some areas are denser than others. The different levels of transparency in the target mean that a separate roto is required for each level. This creates two problems. The fi rst is that some method must be devised for reliably identifying each level of transparency in the target so it may be rotoscoped individually, without omission or overlap with the other regions. Second, the roto for each level of transparency must be made unique from the others in order to be useful to the compositor. A good example of these issues is the lantern being carried by our greenscreen boy. A close-up is shown in Figure 6-36. When a matte is created using a high quality digital keyer (Figure 6-37), the variable transparency of the frosted glass becomes apparent. If this object needed to be rotoscoped to preserve its transparency, we would n eed to create many separate roto layers, each representing a different degree of transparency. This is usually done y making each roto a different brightness; a dark gray roto for the very transparent regions, medium brightness for the medium transparency, and a bright roto for the nearly solid transparency. While it is a hideous task, I have seen it done successfully. Motion tracking and Stabilizing MOTION TRACKING One of the truly wondrous things that a computer can do with moving pictures is motion tracking. The computer is pointed to a spot in the picture and then is released to track that spot frame after frame for the length of the shot. This produces tracking data that can then be used to lock another image onto that same spot and move with it. The ability to do motion tracking is endlessly useful in digital compositing and you can be assured of getting to use it often. Motion tracking can be used to track a move, a rotate, a scale, or any combination of the three. It can even track four points to be used with a corner pin. One frequent application of motion tracking is to track a mask over a moving target. Say you have created a mask for a target object that does not move, but there is a camera move. You can draw the mask around the target on frame 1, then motion track the shot to keep the mask following the target throughout the camera move. This is much faster and is of higher quality than rotoscoping the thing. Wire and rig removal is another very big use for motion tracking. A clean piece of the background can be motion tracked to cover up wires or a rig. Another important application is monitor screen replacement, where the four

The Role of African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement Essay

The African American Civil Rights Movement was a series of protests in the United States South from approximately 1955 through 1968. The overall goal of the Civil Rights Movement was to achieve racial equality before the law. Protest tactics were, overall, acts of civil disobedience. Rarely were they ever intended to be violent. From sit-ins to boycotts to marches, the activists involved in the Civil Rights Movement were vigilant and dedicated to the cause without being aggressive. While African-American men seemed to be the leaders in this epic movement, African-American women played a huge role behind the scenes and in the protests. When discussing the American Civil Rights Movement, the names that seem to come up are those of prominent black men. While these men did enormous amounts of good during this movement, there are many women who seem to be poorly represented or credited. Black women had a huge amount of influence during the Civil Rights Movement. While many of the protests and movements were led by men, the women were behind the scenes organizing and promoting and popularizing the ideas themselves. Many women were heavily involved in political organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and many others. Even if they were not directly involved in organizations, however, many black women became informal leaders of movements and/or enthusiastic participants. A few famous example of black women’s involvement are: Citizenship Schools in South Carolina, the Montgomery B us Boycott, And various women’s involvement in political groups and organizations. One of the most influential women i... ...rica? Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party." Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965. By Vicki L. Crawford, Jacqueline Anne. Rouse, and Barbara Woods. Vol. 16. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Pub., 1990. 27-37. Print. Robinson, Jo Ann Gibson, and David J. Garrow. The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: the Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson. Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1987. Print. Ransby, Barbara. Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: a Radical Democratic Vision. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2003. Print. Standley, Anne. "The Role of Black Women in the Civil Rights Movement." Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965. By Vicki L. Crawford, Jacqueline Anne. Rouse, and Barbara Woods. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Pub., 1990. 183-202. Print.

The Semiotics of the Encore :: Concert Music Audience Papers

The Semiotics of the Encore Introduction In this reflexive paper, I wish to add a brief addendum to the literature about the semiotics of performance by examining the semiotic acts that surround the ritual of the encore in a live concert performance. I will bring to my analysis of this phenomena my twenty-some years of experience witnessing rock concerts in venues of all sizes and with a wide variety of audiences and performers. I will argue that there are specific elements to this ritual that are of particular interest to semioticians. I am going to attempt an admittedly incomplete semiotic analysis of the encore based on Daniel Chandler's guidelines for "D.I.Y. Semiotic Analysis," as found at http://www.aber.ac.uk/~dgc/sem12.html. The Umwelt of the Encore What are the important signifiers and what do they signify? - What is the system within which these signs make sense? - What connotations seem to be involved? (Chandler, based on Berger, 40-41) The Umwelt of the concert goer, or semiotic 'stage' of this event, includes: the literal stage, which is raised to a greater or lesser degree above the seats on the main floor of the concert hall; the levels of seating--the class structure, to put it in Marxist terms; the ushers and/or security; the tickets which are required to gain admittance; as well as the background of prior experiences that the concertgoer brings with him or her, and an infinite number of other aspects. Of course, this Umwelt, like all Umwelten, is not identical or universal for all of the concertgoers. Each individual member of the audience builds up their own particular knowledge structures of this kind of event; these structures form their own particular Umwelt. The more experiences of concerts, the more complex the Umwelt constructed around them. For instance, the Grateful Dead often performed two sets without an opening act. Most concerts feature two acts with an interim between them. A friend of mine, unfamiliar with the way the Dead's music and the way they structured their concerts, went to her first Dead show and in the intermission between sets, said loudly, as it had been twenty minutes or so since the band had left the stage, "Gee, when are the Dead coming on?" This was greeted with howls of derision from her surrounding neighbors, whose Dead-concert Umwelt was more developed. The most important aspect of the rock-concert Umwelt, I would argue, isn't directly observable: the invisible ring or wall around the stage which separates the performers from the audience.

The Moon :: Essays Papers

The Moon The Moon is the only natural satellite of Earth: orbit: 384,400 km from Earth diameter: 3476 km mass: 7.35e22 kg Called Luna by the Romans, Selene and Artemis by the Greeks, and many other names in other mythologies. The Moon, of course, has been known since prehistoric times. It is the second brightest object in the sky after the Sun. As the Moon orbits around the Earth once per month, the angle between the Earth, the Moon and the Sun changes; we see this as the cycle of the Moon's phases. The time between successive new moons is 29.5 days (709 hours), slightly different from the Moon's orbital period (measured against the stars) since the Earth moves a significant distance in its orbit around the Sun in that time. Due to its size and composition, the Moon is sometimes classified as a terrestrial "planet" along with Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The Moon was first visited by the Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 in 1959. It is the only extraterrestrial body to have been visited by humans. The first landing was on July 20, 1969 (do you remember where you were?); the last was in December 1972. The Moon is also the only body from which samples have been returned to Earth. In the summer of 1994, the Moon was very extensively mapped by the little spacecraft Clementine and again in 1999 by Lunar Prospector. The gravitational forces between the Earth and the Moon cause some interesting effects. The most obvious is the tides. The Moon's gravitational attraction is stronger on the side of the Earth nearest to the Moon and weaker on the opposite side. Since the Earth, and particularly the oceans, is not perfectly rigid it is stretched out along the line toward the Moon. From our perspective on the Earth's surface we see two small bulges, one in the direction of the Moon and one directly opposite. The effect is much stronger in the ocean water than in the solid crust so the water bulges are higher. And because the Earth rotates much faster than the Moon moves in its orbit, the bulges move around the Earth about once a day giving two high tides per day.

Brown Tufted Capuchin

Brown Tufted Capuchins are New World primates from South America. They are one of the most widespread species of primates in the neotropics. Like other capuchins, these are social animals, forming groups of eight to ten individuals, and are led by a dominant male. The Tufted Capuchin is more powerfully built than the other capuchins, with rougher fur and a short, thick tail. In the wild they spend most of their time in trees. The goal of my study is to determine whether Brown Tufted Capuchins in zoos spend more time on the ground or off the ground.I did my observations on the Capuchin Troop, which is composed of 7 monkeys, 4 males and 3 females, ranging from the ages of 20 to 23 years old. Their enclosure contains different types of logs, ropes, boxes, rocks, and other materials that are part of their behavioral enrichment. Its measurements are 3. 81L, 3. 8W, 4. 57H and 8. 84L, 3. 8W, 4. 57H. Their diets consist of New World Monkey Chow and mixed vegetables. They are fed every mornin g before 10:30 a. m. and every afternoon after 2:30 p. m. My observations started on September 15th, 2010 and ended October 7th, 2010.I conducted them using the instantaneous sampling method, in which I recorded behaviors in three-minute intervals every 1 minute over an hour. I observed a different monkey every day, recorded every time it got on or off the ground and how much time they spent in each. After concluding my 30 hours of observations and carefully analyzing them, I determined that the capuchin troop spends more time on the ground than off the ground. They spent 10 hours, 31 minutes, and 29 seconds off the ground and 11 hours, 13 minutes, and 31 seconds on the ground. The results I obtained are much different than the ones I would have obtained doing observations in the wild. Although they spend much time foraging on the ground, Tufted Capuchins spend most of their time on trees.REFERENCES1. Article: Hass, M. , Buzzell, C. , Konick, A. J. , Phillips, K. A. 2003. â€Å"Soc ial learning and the acquisition of tool use in brown capuchin monkeys† The Ohio Journal of Science pA-7.2. Internet: Gron KJ. 2009 April 17. Primate Factsheets: Tufted capuchin (Cebus apella) Taxonomy, Morphology, & Ecology . . Accessed 2010 October 13. http://www. rollinghillswildlife. com/animals/c/capuchinbrowntufted/index. html

The Birthday Party

â€Å"Birthday Party† Love can fade away or be lost by even the strongest of couples in the view of society. The â€Å"Birthday Party,† by Katharine Brush relates the relationship of two â€Å"unmistakably married† couple, out for a small celebration, which goes wrong as an example of love that can not always be sustained by age. As couples get older it is harder to sustain love in front of society, and Brush shows the idea by incorporating symbolism, tone, and point of view to the story.Brush uses the tone to build up the audience’s emotions toward the married couple and also identify why the situation occurred. In the begging she mentions that they looked â€Å"unmistakably married† which emphasizes the bond of love that appears on the outside. The physical aspect of their relationship is good to show because it lets society know that there is a strong bond, making it easier for the audience to react in the shocked way that they did when the incid ent occurred. The contradicting choice of words of Brush when describing the incident also gives the confusion that something is not right.By using fadingly pretty, beamed with shy pride, unmistakably married, hotly embarrassed and not pleased you can see a foreshadowing of what may happen according to the mixed signals. In a way, it has the reader thinking back and fort whether this is love after a long period of time. What seems to be an ordinary day out, turns into a small celebration in which we can compare the minor events as symbolism to their love. The cake that was brought out showed the wife’s affection for her husband, therefore simply signified her love to him.When the cake was rejected by the husband, it meant that the husband had little interest in her love. This reveals that the strong physical relationship that the audience saw in the beginning is false now that they see the husband hotly mad. It shows that their love is slowly decaying in front of society. The fact that they are out in public illustrates the judgment of all to what love truly is, difficult to manage as time goes on. People will always be judgmental of couples and their relationship which is why Brush describes the wife as wearing a â€Å"big hat. The big hat that she wears, after she has been humiliated by her husband, represents what most girls do during emotional tolls. They use them to cover up their emotions so that they are not pitted on by others. This attempt to hide does not work very well because Brush describes the scene where the narrator shows a sign of pity for the lonely sobbing woman. In this short story love has shifted the couple’s relationship in a serious way which gives the audience an opinion of how they should react according to their point of view.There are many biased forms to interpret who is to blame for a fallen relationship. The way that Brush describes the story and from what point of view she portrayed the situation it seems as thoug h there is a feminist background on who is to blame for this relationship. Describing the woman more dramatically, â€Å"fadingly pretty† and â€Å"in a big hat,† than the man, it implies that she finds the woman to be more presentable to society; therefore carrying more about how people see her. There is evidence of acting dramatically.When she cried inside the restaurant, it can most likely show that from the point of view of the audience she was the helpless one with a broken heart and the man was very rude. Throughout life the bond of love is seen in society in different ways than they are seen in the inside. Society can change the view of love as Brush shows that love is can’t be predicted and that hopeless love is possible. If there is no hope for love as an older couple that it shows us what couples of today’s generation will go through. The Birthday Party Have you ever been so afraid that you have felt that even your hair trembled? When a delightful day starts and you are full of life but suddenly you think you are not going to tell your friends and family how much you love them, and how much you miss them before you die. At 7 o'clock in the evening I went to the cinema with some friends to celebrate my birthday. I knew that something was going wrong. I knew that, that night wasn't an ordinary night. I knew I had to go home on foot and not by car. Everything and everyone was different. My friends arrived and we decided to watch a horror movie, â€Å"Gothika†. We entered the screen but something strange happened. There weren't any other people! In the middle of the movie somebody was calling me. I did not know the number, so I did not answered but whoever it was, he kept calling. I answered. A creepy voice whispered, â€Å"It will rain tonight.† I told my friends about it, and they laughed. â€Å"Leoni don't be crazy! It's just a joke! This morning the sun was shining it will not rain! â€Å"Come on do not be afraid. Calm down Leoni!† Peter soothed. â€Å"The movie we have chosen is a bit scary and she is afraid. Calm down Leoni!† Epaminondas whispered. â€Å"She is just not in a good mood.† Maria said. â€Å"I am telling you there was something scary with those words, something strange.† I whispered. At about 11:25 everybody left and I started walking back home. There was a full moon. A terrifying wind made the trees rustle. The wind whistled through the leaves like a wining sound. I was so frightened. I felt like someone was coming after me. I saw a narrow road and I decided to go home from there. Suddenly, it started raining. I panicked. A howling voice whispered, â€Å"I told you, it will rain.† Blood boomed in my ears. I wanted to run away or close my eyes and be at home but it could not happen. While I was thinking about any ideas dealing with my scariness I saw an old lady. She was a short, fat lady and with grey hair. Was she behind this bad joke? She seemed like an ordinary woman with droopy eyes and short hair. I started walking towards her when a black figure appeared. Who was he? Was he someone she knew? Was he the one that phoned me? What was this night about? The man had long, black hair and almond eyes. He was carrying something. A knife! I wanted to warn her but I couldn't move. I was stuck and I couldn't move my legs. I called Maria she was sleeping. Jane was sleeping too. What shall I do? Who shall I phone to come and help me? What if it was all my imagination? I phoned Chris, I didn't say much. I just told him to come to the narrow road, near the cinema. The woman was still there. She seemed to be looking for something. The man was still behind her. I told Chris to pull me just to try and move my legs. I could walk! I could run! But I couldn't run for long until I stopped in front of the old lady. While trembling I asked, â€Å"What are you looking for?† â€Å"My umbrella, child, didn't anyone tell you it would rain tonight? You are all wet. Come, take my jacket!† she said. I looked behind me and I saw the man walking away. The figure became one with the dark night. When I turned around I saw him. My heart was beating so fast and I could hardly breathe. It missed a beat! He opened his mouth to say something and I noticed that he was missing a tooth. He was very scary. He whispered, â€Å"Didn't I tell you it would rain? You thought I was joking. You did not believe me! I will make you believe me!† â€Å"Chris! Chris! Where are you?† I shouted. I opened my eyes. Chris and my friends were next to me. They were all smiling but you knew they were upset. â€Å"†Was the film so boring that you slept while we were watching it?† Chris asked. â€Å"It was a nightmare! Thank God!† I called. â€Å"You have a missed call from an unknown number.† Epaminondas said. â€Å"Oh no!† I shouted. â€Å"What's wrong?† Maria asked. â€Å"I saw a nightmare. Don't tell me to explain it because I cannot. Please can somebody do me a favour?† I asked. â€Å"Whatever you want! We will always be there for you!† Joanna shouted. â€Å"Can you phone this number back?† I asked. â€Å"Sure.† Joanna said. She phoned. She waited. She phoned another time. Nobody answered. She phoned from her mobile. Again. No answer. â€Å"Leoni are you sure this is the right number?† She asked. â€Å"Yes. This was the number that phoned me.† I whispered. â€Å"But†¦Ã¢â‚¬ She mumbled. â€Å"But what? What is wrong? Tell me!† I cried. â€Å"This number is not in use.† She whispered. â€Å"It is! Look it is calling me again.†Ã¢â‚¬  I complained. â€Å"Answer it.† Maria suggested. â€Å"I t will rain tonight!† A creepy voice whispered. â€Å"Oh no! This cannot be happening! Can you take me home? Please?† I asked desperately. â€Å"Hello? Can you hear me? Maria? Joanna? Chris? Epaminondas?† I shouted. But nobody could hear me. It seemed that I was trapped somewhere and nobody could hear me or even see me. Yes†¦I was dreaming!!!!!!!! I opened my eyes and suddenly the lights went on, a chorus of happy voices yelled happily happy birthday to me!