How Neorealism before 1950 Affected Film History Essay

How Neorealism before 1950 Affected Film History - Essay Example Instead of overblown and idealistic propaganda films celebrating the ideals of a fascist state, film makers turned to the simple lives of rural peasants, and the struggles of ordinary workers in the cities. The three most famous neorealist directors are Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica and Luchina Visconti. One critic notes that the neorealist movement is widely regarded to have started with Rossellini’s gritty and unsentimental about a resistance prieced Rome, Open City in 1945. This kind of film became famous for â€Å"a sparse style of shooting on actual locations, with mostly nonprofessional players, and emphasizing themes of basic human problems and issues.† (Hamilton, 2006, p. 61) Children often feature, as in the film Shoeshine by Vittorio De Sica, which tells the at times harrowing tale of two boys who dream of owning a horse and fall into the hands of some corrupt policemen. The realistic portrayal of the sufferings of the boys in prison, raises issues abou t the kind of society that Italy can and should be setting up now that the war is over. Another critic notes: â€Å"neorealism became the repository of partisan hopes for social justice in the postwar Italian state.† (Marcus, 1986, p. xiv). The films of Rossellini deal with the devastation that has been caused by the war in Europe, and he made a trilogy which explored how the poorer people in Italy and German came to terms with the turmoil. These films do not have a traditional narrative line, but show episodes which between them build up a picture of life in those difficult days. Small visual items can have symbolic meaning far beyond the immediate context of the film, and the skill of Rossellini and others was to use the camera to illuminate deeper issues through images. The camera work is the opposite of Hollywood’s slick and artificial interiors, preferring the rather stark and ugly landscape of the war-torn countryside, and the dirty streets where people have to s cratch a living any way they can. The films were popular at the time, despite their lack of a clear plot. People learned to look at the films in a new way, as a window on life itself: â€Å"Even the Italian neorealist directors, who stress everyday reality in their films and deny the validity of invented stories, argue that their particular brand of everyday reality is not boring because of its complex echoes and implications† (Boggs and Petrie, 2000, p. 37) Another feature of the neorealist directors’ work was that it had universal appeal, despite being very firmly tied to local scenery. Rossellini’s vision of a bombed and derelict Berlin in Germany, Year Zero, for example, juxtaposes a blond child and the colossal ruins of the city, with tragic consequences. The overwhelming message of the film is the destruction and futility of war. Heaps of rubble obliterate the civilization that was there before, leaving the boy adrift and hopeless, with no past and no futu re. The second film in Rossellini’s trilogy, Paisan, depicts the American soldiers’ encounter with demoralized Italian rural people in different regions, distilling the experiences of the war years in to the faces and conversations of unsophisticated farm workers. The human cost of the war is depicted starkly, and there is newsreel footage interspersed with the fictional episodes. The director makes every effort to present the material in a clear, unadorned way, so that

Money Management Midterm-1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Money Management Midterm-1 - Essay Example It is imperative to note that, the insurance companies are obliged to make regular and lifelong payments until the holder dies (Brealey & Myers, 1997). Consider the formula of calculating life annuity returns Payout= P*R*(1+R) exponent N/ (1+R) Whereby P is the principal, R interest rate and payout refers to the periodic payment. Take a percentage interest of 6% and use the annuity calculator for easy calculation. For a single life annuity, fixed amount to be paid is 3,333 per month. This adds up to EUR 39,996 annually. Therefore, annual periodic payment would be: A = EUR 39,996 Now I believe that I would need more money than EUR 39,996 annually. There would be different factors that would reduce the value of EUR 39,996 at that time like inflation. Therefore, when I retire and I think EUR 45,000 should be a valuable amount that I would need every year to spend my life happily. In order to have this amount every year, the interest rate should be 7% as calculated using Goal Seek option in Microsoft Excel. The life expectancy and retirement age considered in this context is 70 and 55 years respectively. PART II- SHARE ANALYSIS This part intends to examine and analyze two companies from the investment analysis. Various financial ratios will be applied to analyze the performances of the company. The implication created by the ratios will be used to recommend a suitable company for investors to invest. The two companies intended for analysis for this report are Lockheed Martin Corporation and Altera Corporation. Lockheed Martin Corporation Background information about the company Lockheed Martin is a global leader in providing aeronautics and defense security services. The company is the world’s largest federal contractor of the agency with unique product portfolio. Headquarter of the company is situated in Bethesda, Maryland in Washington Metropolitan Area. The company is present in more than 75 countries. The company has partnership with more than 300 indust ry players across the globe. It employs around 120,000 employees worldwide who include 80,000 scientists, engineers and IT professionals. This research establishes that, Lockheed reported $46.5 billion revenue in 2011 through its portfolio that includes aeronautics, electronics system, IT and global services, and space system. Net Income of the company is $2.65 billion in 2011. Presently, its share price is $93. Financial Ratios of Lockheed Martin Earnings per Share The Earnings per share shows how much return a shareholder is earning for each share (Friedlob and Plewa, 1996). The earnings per share of the Lockheed Martin were 7.81 in 2011. However, the average 3-year EPS growth rate of the stock is zero. Price Earnings Ratio Price Earnings ratio is the calculated by the following formula. Price earnings ratio = the market price per share/ annual earnings per share. A higher P/E of the stock implies that, investors are paying more for earning every dollar consequently; the share bec omes more expensive compared to the