The Reel Life Of A Genius essays

The Reel Life Of A Genius essays In the movie A Beautiful Mind, Russell Crowe played John Nash, a brilliant mathematician who developed the game theory of economics, for which he later won the Nobel Prize in 1994. At the age of 31 he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and suffered a mental breakdown. Because of his hallucinations and bizarre behavior, he was institutionalized and put on anti-psychotic drugs. He stopped taking them however, after he discovered that they reduced his sex drive, confused his emotions and prevented him from being able to think clearly and effectively. Instead, he attempted to take control of the disease though extreme willpower. As he became older he did take newer medications that helped him live a more normal life while still allowing him to work to his full potential. The film, for the most part, accurately showed the devastating effects that schizophrenia can cause in a persons life; the terror of living through experiences that seem so real, and the agony that both Nash and his loved ones had to go through. In the movie many of Nashs classmates treated him with disrespect and made fun of him, knowing that there was something different about him. This accurately showed the various stereotypes and derogatory attitudes that exist in the world today. He was not seen as being normal and therefore was labeled as crazy and strange because of his anti-social behavior. When Nashs condition worsened he was placed in a mental institution and treated with insulin coma therapy in which patients were given insulin to induce a comatose state. The results of the therapy, as shown in the movie are horrific. Insulin coma therapy has since been discredited and is no longer used, due to its severe side effects. Also, with the introduction of anti-psychotics, which were safer and more effective, there was no longer the need to put patients through the torture of insulin therapy. A...

Free Video Editing Programs for Journalists

Free Video Editing Programs for Journalists With more and more news outlets incorporating video onto their websites, learning how to shoot and edit digital video news reports is a must. But while a digital video can now be shot with something as simple and inexpensive as a cellphone, professional video editings software programs like Adobe Premiere Pro or Apples Final Cut can still be daunting for beginners, both in cost and complexity. The good news is that there are plenty of free alternatives. Some, like Windows Movie Maker, are probably already on your computer. Others can be downloaded from the web. And many of these free video editing programs are pretty easy to use. So if you want to add digital video news reports to your blog or website, here are some options that will allow you to do basic video editing quickly and cheaply. (The caveat here is that if you eventually want to produce professional-looking news videos, youre probably going to want to master Premiere Pro or Final Cut at some point. Those are the programs used by professional videographers at news websites, and are well worth learning.) Windows Movie Maker Windows Movie Maker is free, easy-to-use software that will let you do basic video editing, including the ability to add titles, music, and transitions. But beware: Many users say the program crashes frequently, so when youre editing a video save your work frequently. Otherwise, you may lose everything youve done and have to start again. YouTube Video Editor YouTube is the worlds most popular video upload site, so it makes sense that it offers a basic video editing program. But the emphasis here is on BASIC. You can trim your clips and add simple transitions and music, but thats about it. And you can only edit videos that youve already uploaded to YouTube. IMovie iMovie is Apples equivalent of Windows Movie Maker. It comes installed free on Macs. Users say its a good basic editing program, but if you dont have a Mac, youre out of luck. Wax Wax is free video editing software thats a bit more sophisticated than the other programs mentioned here. Its strength is in the array of special effects options offered. But its greater sophistication means a steeper learning curve. Some users say it can be tricky to learn. Lightworks This is a feature-rich editing program that comes in both free and paid versions, but people who have used it say even the free version offers lots of sophisticated features. Of course, as with any of the more versatile editing programs, Lightworks takes time to learn and may be intimidating for neophytes. WeVideo WeVideo is a cloud-based editing program that comes in both free and paid versions. Its both PC and Mac-compatible and offers users the ability to work on their videos anywhere or to share and collaborate on video editing projects.