Master of Suspense Essay Example for Free

Master of Suspense Essay Alfred Hitchcock has been called the Master of Suspense, considering Psycho state how effectively he achieves the element of suspense in this film. Alfred Hitchcock is known as the master of suspense. After the shocking triumph of his 1960 masterpiece Psycho, there was much demand for the classic stalk and slash horror film. The real question is: What is Suspense? The dictionary definition of suspense is:- 1. The condition of being insecure or uncertain 2. (i) Mental uncertainty (ii) anxiety 3. Excitement felt at the approach of a climax Collins English Dictionary Suspense can be shown in many ways. Music can psychologically affect the way we think of this. The pitch and line frequency of music affects the way that our brain thinks about certain situations. For Example: If you were watching a horror film, such as, Psycho you would be more afraid if the background music was a high pitch shrieking sound rather than if it was a calm pleasant tune. We associate different sounds with different moods. A piece of music played in a minor key is considered sad, compared to the same piece played in a major key which would then be considered happy. Hitchcock selected high pitch, shrieking music, which is mostly played in minor keys. This promotes the audience to become terrified as the shrieking symbolizes screaming. By choosing such dramatic and emotional music Alfred Hitchcock has created a gripping and beguiling film. Hitchcocks film Psycho is about a young girl called Marion who steals $40,000 in hope to pay off her boyfriends debts. She stays the night in The Bates Motel and is brutally murdered by an anonymous killer. The story line quickly changes from a thriller about Marion stealing the money to a stalk and slash horror film. Marions disappearance is investigated by private detective Arbogast who is murdered later on in the film by what looks like an old woman. Marions sister then sneaks into the house to investigate. She snoops round the rooms until she comes across the fruit cellar where she finds Norman Batess mothers corpse which had been down there for at least a decade. Norman Bates turns out to have a spilt personality of which he plays both himself and his mother. He is then locked in a mental institution. The shower scene is probably the key scene in Hitchcocks movie. This is the point were the movie starts to divide itself into two separate story lines. Hitchcocks moral beliefs are reflected in his films. At the beginning of the film, Marion is seen in white underwear, which symbolizes purity and innocence. During the shower scene this is changed to black underwear, which means to the audience that she has committed a crime and will be punished. In truth, Janet Leigh should not have been wearing a brassiere. I can see nothing immoral about that scene and I get no special kick out of it. But the scene would have been more interesting if the girls bare breasts had been rubbing against the mans chest. Alfred Hitchcock 1962 This quotation shows that there are huge moral differences between today and back in 1962 and it tells us that censorship at the time was very strict and were not able to have blur effects to conceal any unwanted images. Alfred Hitchcock used 70 different camera set-ups for 45 seconds of footage. These sharp and short images create an effect to which the audience doesnt know what theyre going to see next. This effect creates an enormous amount of suspense for the audience. The shrieking music yet again adds to the feeling of suspense that is created during the scene. Throughout the scene the killers face remains carefully concealed thus increasing fear and suspense as the true nature of the scene is left in the audiences imagination. During the footage each cut of the knife seems to coincide with cut in the film. The effect of this on the audience is intriguing. It draws the audience into the film thus creating a visual effect on the viewers mind. Hitchcocks intention for the shower scene was to suggest and not to show. During the stabbing incident you never actually see the victim (Marion) being stabbed. You assume that she is being stabbed due to the movement of the knife and the blood dripping in the bath and the stabbing sound, which is actually a knife being stabbed into a melon. and not an actual bare breast or plunging knife is to be found in the final cut, just illusion through montage. The Hitchcock Collection Hitchcock used thousands of different camera shots. In Arbogasts murder he used a High Angle shot when the killer approached Arbogast and murdered him; this stopped the audience seeing the killers face, making the scene more exciting and intriguing. When Arbogast is walking up the hill towards the house, the background music continuously goes up an octave each one or two steps he takes up the hill. This effect simulates walking. You could listen to the film and not watch it and still know that there was a ascending camera shot.. Hitchcock had to make the house and the surroundings look disturbing in order to convince the audience that the film and the overall setting is disturbing. The weather coincides with the setting and the mood of the act. Each time when something grim or bad was about to happen, it would either rain or a storm could be heard in the background. This builds tension into the audience The architectural contrast between the vertical house and the horizontal motel makes a pleasing sight to the eye. It adds to the eeriness of the house and shows how disturbing the house is compared to a basic structure such as the motel. I chose that house and motel because I realized that if I had taken an ordinary low bungalow the effect wouldnt have been the same. I felt that type of architecture would help the atmosphere of the yarn.

New Social Media Vs Traditional Media Media Essay

New Social Media Vs Traditional Media Media Essay Can you spot the difference between new media and traditional media? The traditional media consists of prints and broadcasts such as newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasting books and CDs etc. On the other hand, social media, which grows with technology, includes the use of Twitter, social networks as well as blogs -using internet as a platform. Not only has advanced technology facilitated internet consumption, it has also promoted new media to the extent that majority now believe new media will one day succeed traditional media. New media has the foundations of traditional media in serving the same purpose, similar procedures in gathering information and sharing the same audiences; however, it may succeed traditional media due to the differences in the freedom of speech, coupled with social networking services entitled to users and the hastened speed broadcasting. The purpose of new media is very much built on the traditional media. Both new media and traditional media have the same objective to keep you informed. It does not matter if you read a newspaper or magazine, or even webzines, also known as e-newsletters. Both media platforms serve to provide news and articles to inform you of the happenings around the world. Books you find in libraries and online communities like Wikipedia offer you bits of facts for your general knowledge, providing basic knowledge on certain topics. We are also alerted about fashion trends through both media platforms. The television programme, Entertainment Channel, is no different from the fashion website, Chictopia, in providing insights to the latest fashion trends. (The Peoples Fashion Destination Chictopia, 2010) Besides global news, the information both new media and traditional media provides extends to advertisements as well. Both media platforms provide advertorial information for readers of prints, br oadcasts and the online community. When you flip through a consumer magazine, you will notice advertisements on jewellery, cosmetics and even clothes on different pages. Similarly, banners and pop-ups on various websites you visit are methods of advertisements on the internet. Even though advertisements account for 70% of the revenue produced by newspapers, there has been a declined in the printing of newspapers due to lack of advertisements. (G. E. Belch M. A. Belch, 2004, p. 392) The truth is technology has made internet a better alternative for marketing and advertising. Thus, companies tend to use internet platforms over print or broadcast media to achieve branding. Based on website Clickz, each one of us receives an estimate of 5000 commercial messages daily. (Massey, 2010) However, it is impossible to view 1000 advertisements from the number of newspapers or magazines that we read, inclusive of advertisements on televisions and radios. Therefore, new media might exceed old media with the use of technology, as can be seen from the ease of advertising. Another similarity in traditional media that extends to new media is the tedious method of gathering information, drafting and proofreading. In order for the newspaper readers and e-newsletter viewers to obtain only the correct news, newspaper companies engage reporters, journalists and editors in order to print a factual article without mistakes. (U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, 2010) Similarly, to uphold reputation as well as to ensure that the electronic sources tally with the printed media, a piece of article has to go through the same procedure in order to be published. (Simmons, 2009) The strenuous practice of gathering information is also used in broadcast media to produce drama serials and videos of new media. Television programmes and videos posted online require many takes and much editing for the final product. (Duncan, 2010) Television series as well as short clips online from BBC News, National Geographic etc, have to go through a long process of inspection before it i s ready to be broadcasted on air or uploaded on their websites. In an interview on George Negus Tonight, it was estimated that a television advertisement may take up to three months, requiring 100 people. The process includes generation of concepts, pitching the idea, developing a script and writing a storyboard before filming can take place. (George Negus Tonight, 2003) Despite the problematic procedures, technology has smoothened these processes, making new media superior to old media. An example would be Google Docs which allows users to share their work online and make revisions together with others at the same time. This saves time as a report can be completed faster. However, this requires internet as a platform and tends to promote new media, emphasizing its functions over old media. Both media platform serve the same target audience be it online, in print or broadcast. As mentioned, each form of media has an objective which is to disseminate a particular message and keep the masses informed. However, for those whom purposes resemble each other, they have same target audience to cater to and thus, garnering the same audience. Readers of fashion magazines such as Style or Vogue are most likely to be the avid viewers of fashion sites like Lookbook. In a similar way, readers of forums and the home section of local newspapers are most likely to be blog-hoppers. Furthermore, ardent fans of the broadcast media such as television and radio are likely to be audiences of new media such as Youtube. If you find yourself watching music videos on MTV, you are most likely to subscribe to Youtube or Hulu channels like Vevo that plays music videos online for fans. Both new media and traditional media serving the same purpose would therefore engage the same target audience. In addition, technology has made replaying, fast-forwarding and rewinding of videos much easier. Imagine trying to rewind the music video that you are currently watching on MTV, you would probably have to purchase the pay-per-view offer, also known as On-Demand. The next best alternative would be to watch the video on Youtube and have it replayed over and over again, or just that particular segment that you like. The ease of video watching can be seen from the 2 billion views daily based on Youtube statistics. (Website Monitoring, 2010) Such flexibility in technology generates more audience towards new media even if both media platforms were providing the same video, song or news article. Although new media shares similarities with traditional media, new media appears to be an improved version of old media. Out of the many differences, an obvious one is the magnitude in freedom of speech exercised in new media versus traditional media. Before the print media is disseminated to the masses, the editors would have vetted and censored, following strict laws that applies. In Singapores radio broadcasting network, deejay duo also known as The Muttons were suspended due to their participation in No Bra Day. It was an activity that required young female models to remove their bras in the shortest possible time. The video taken in the studio was posted on YouTube and the station was fined due to inappropriate content. (98.7FM Encyclopaedia Topics, 2008) On the contrary, it is almost impossible to censor all articles or advertisements on the website; only users in social media can be banned. Youtube reports hundreds of thousands of videos are being uploaded every day. (Youtube, 2010) With videos being uploaded at such an alarming rate, it stresses the difficulty in censoring contents. Undeniably, technology has improved almost every aspect of media development. Its failure to make censorship across the board available, however, allows netizens to speak up. Yet, this apparent freedom of speech which is only made available through internet appears to promote opposition of various political stances and an eye-opener to liberal views. Especially with people more acceptable of liberal mindsets, freedom of speech is censored in old media will result in technology will garnering more supporters of new media. Although both media platforms serve to keep you informed of news, social media has an added feature that allows users to network. With traditional media, there is no room for networking. You would have noticed advertisers leaving their contact number. However, you would only contact them to only engage or enquiry about a deal. Seldom would you notice an ad which purpose is to look for a friend or a wife. More importantly, you would not publish your address for snail mails or provide your contact number for interested members of the public to call you. There is no opportunity to discuss or socialised since everything is publicised. On the other hand, based on references gather by the website Pingdom, there are 350 million people on Facebook as of January 2010. (Pingdom, 2010) Facebook, similar to Friendster has not only made social networking easier as users can add friends whom share common interests but has also improved the search for long lost friends. Furthermore, there is a priv acy setting which you can adjust, allowing you to provide information to only people whom you want to. This allows you to form a connection with a stranger before committing in a friendship. New media also offers interactive activities such as game communities or internet chat relays. Through these game communities, players can gather teammates for online gaming and establish stronger relationships with strangers. Whereas chatting alone helps introverts make friends without having to meet people in the real world. (Whats New Media?, 2010) Although these contributions by technology are seemingly beneficial, social networking through new media has increased crime rates, often acted against minors. Paedophiles are known to use social network sites to prey on victims. They are able to do so as they can remain anonymous or adopt false personalities that would not be validated. (William-Thomas, 2009) Perhaps, social networking is the only bane of new media which most internet users embrace as reason for new media to succeed traditional media. Lastly, another improvement can also be seen from the extremely shortened publication time for new media. Publication time differs from the aforementioned methods of gathering and refers to the time it takes for the end product to reach out to the masses. As mentioned, it takes reporters, journalists and editors to create an article on the newspaper, making the process of getting a written article printed very long. Even if the information is ready for dissemination, the newsletter has not been printed and thus cannot be distributed. Furthermore once erred, it takes half or a day to correct the error and send an apology letter for the mistake or post an article the next day. If a mistake is made on a newspaper article, the journalist has to prepare an apology letter or a new article for the paper tomorrow, informing readers of the errata. On the contrary, with new media, it only takes the author a click of the button to have any information disseminated around the world on the World Wide Web. Although there are specific rules to follow if a reputable site makes an error, it does not require more than a day to have its entry edited on the site. When an error is made, the author can simply press edit and post again. Or in Twitter, you can simply delete your Tweet, another name for your entry, and post again. The convenience can be experienced when you upload a video on Youtube. After all the tedious filming and editing, all you need to do is to click on your computer screen is the word upload. Similarly for online news articles, a simple click is all it takes to have it published on a website. Moreover, the internet has become more mobile with technology and people around the world are choosing to read news online instead. If you do recall the 2007 Burmese anti-government attacks, had it not been for the internet, history would have repeated and we would have been misinformed of the total death toll, similar to the uprising in 1988. (Sai, 2008) The use of the internet through blogging of pictures taken in Burma allowed traditional media in other countries to cover the attacks. Similarly in todays context, information is readily available to us with the shortened publication time in new media compared to old media, all thanks to technology. The new media and traditional media are similar in their purposes, procedures and target audience. However, they differ in publication time, availability to networking and censorship. Both serve to keep their viewers informed and involve tedious procedures before getting the end product. Also, serve the same target audience be it electronic or print. However, with the drastic increase in internet users, social media has minimal censorship as it is unachievable with the vast volume of websites, unlike traditional media. Furthermore, new media tends disseminate messages faster than traditional media due to the short time needed in posting. Lastly, it provides opportunities for users to socialise and network. New media has its foundations built on traditional media and definitely has improved services and caters to the generations born in the era of technology. They key success, if new media is to ever succeed traditional media, is advanced technology in internet. Although social networking through new media has increased crime rates, it is one of the shortcomings that can be eradicated. With technology, new media has definitely exceeded the abilities of traditional media as an advertising alternative and smoothened the process of gathering concrete information for news articles. Ease in obtaining information and flexibility has also encouraged traditional media followers to convert to new media. With technology backing new media, is it possible traditional media will one day cease to exist?

Mindless Humans Essay -- essays research papers fc

Humans have been socially networked with each other since the time they have been created. Civilization was fashioned by humans interacting with one another. With this interaction with others and communal peers, â€Å"social man is a somnambulist† (Asch 61). In other terms, when humans become social, they are really â€Å"sleep walking†, or following the crowd, even though belief in the western world has it that people are â€Å"free† to choose for themselves. This sleepwalking factor then turns individuals into mindless ants. It only occurs because a human is a social animal and with that comes, social pressures and authoritative figures. Stanley Milgram studied at Harvard University and tested how social humans would react in a certain situation. Milgram tested how certain individuals would respond to inflicting harm onto another person because another figure told them to. He was interested in why regular day people would actually do such horrific things to the victim. In the experiment there was no physical consequence for the individual pushing the button if they said no. People in this situation believed in that the scientist knew what he/she was doing so they assumed that what they were doing was acceptable even though in actuality they believed it was not right. Subjects gave up their free will to choose because a higher authority told them to do so. This is similar to ants in that the majority of ants are worker ants; they obey the authority of the queen and will act out every wish she wants. Even though the ants can think for themselves, they follow the authority. Originally the theory was that many would stop the experiment being aware that the person that they were shocking is indeed being harmed, but that was proven wrong (Milgram 41). A different scientist who redid this experiment found that 85 percent of his subjects were obedient (Milgram 42). As a result it was evident that individuals will succumb to authoritative figures. Strudler and Warren explain that the subjects acted the way they did because of authority heuristics, which is the reliance on an authority figure (57). In Milgram’s experiment, the scientist was the authority figure in the experiment and the subject trusted his/her judgment because they believed that the scientist knows what he/she is doing. Even though the subject believed they have â€Å"free† will in their choices, the pressures of t... ...ately, disinterestedly, without emotions† (38). To do so would allow us to think for ourselves and not be swayed in any other direction by any other factors. As humans we are naturally social creatures. That is how civilization began, by humans interacting with each other. We need to be able to understand ourselves and trust ourselves so that we can make the decisions for ourselves and not me mindless ants just following the crowd. In the end the main person that is affected by decisions is the one who is making the decision. Works Cited Lessing, Doris. â€Å"Group Minds.† Writing Two Reader. Grafikarts: Santa Barbara. 37-38. 2000 Milgram, Stanley. â€Å"The Perils of Obedience.† Writing Two Reader. Grafikarts: Santa Barbara. 39-50. 2000 Nssani, Moti. â€Å"Review on Stabley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience.† Writing Two Reader. Grafikarts: Santa Barbara. 51-54. 2000 Strudler, Alan. â€Å"Authority and Excuses.† Writing Two Reader. Grafikarts: Santa Barbara. 55-60. 2000 Asch, Solomon. â€Å"Opinions and Social Pressure.† Writing Two Reader. Grafikarts: Santa Barbara. 61-66. 2000 Fromm, Erich. â€Å"Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem.† Writing Two Reader. Grafikarts: Santa Barbara. 67-71. 2000

Water Pollution Must Be Stopped :: Environmental Pollution Essays

Water pollution must be stopped. Pollution of lakes rivers, streams, and oceans has been killing land and water animals for years. Polluting water is a horrible act and will be stopped. Water pollution kills all kinds of animals every year. Just the EXXON VALDEZ oil spill near anchorage Alaska caused over 3,000 otters to die 36,000 different kinds of seabirds were killed and over 100 eagles. Oil spills are one of--if not the worst types of pollution. They happen most often in the ocean and then get spread around by tides and currents where they enter streams and rivers and cover everything. They kill life and pollute more in a short amount of time than pesticides and human waste combined in about 1 year. (See graph on page 2 for more inf.) Radioactive Waste is a very serious problem polluting the lakes and oceans. Submarines release some radioactivity into the water. If a submarine ever crashed enough radioactivity would be released to destroy a region of about 300 sq. miles (this happens because of the nuclear engines) Human waste is when people dump their.... deification in the water and have sewer lines leading to water which also pollutes a lot (little streams lead to big lakes). Human waste is also when we dump garbage in the ocean because we cannot find places on land to dump it. Some more types of pollution are.. Infectious Gases, Plant nutrients that can simulate growth of aquatic plants which then interfere with water uses and, when decaying, deplete the dissolved oxygen and produce nasty odors. Exotic organic chemicals including: pesticides, various industrial products, detergents. petroleum, inorganic materials, nuclear power plants, industrial sites, medical and scientific use of radioactive materials. Water pollution was originally caused by need of space (to dump trash). I can say that the major sources (in general) that cause water pollution are: Municipal, Agricultural, and Industrial. The dumping of garbage was caused by the lack of space in landfills. Instead of recycling some people started dumping the trash in the water, that slowed in 1956 when the Federal Water Pollution Control Act was created. It slowed almost to a halt in 1977 when the Clean Water Act was created. But, it still happens. Company's still dump waste in the ocean, streams, and rivers even though it is against the law. Eventually water pollution will cause there to be no life in the ocean, lakes, and rivers.

Elegy, Written With His Own Hand In the Tower Before His Execution and

Comparing Metaphors in Chidiock Tichborne's Elegy, Written With His Own Hand In the Tower Before His Execution and William Blake's To See A World In A Grain Of Sand Chidiock Tichborne's "Elegy, Written With His Own Hand In the Tower Before His Execution" and William Blake's "To See A World In A Grain Of Sand" contain several fascinating metaphors that produce two impressive verses that capture our imagination. Both of these elegies deal with life and the contrasting ways it surfaces from within the poet's mind. These metaphors (an analogy between two things that give us insight into the unrevealed part) create an image within our minds that maintain our attention throughout the verse. In Blake's, "To See A World In A Grain Of Sand," every line is a metaphor that secures our attention and blazes our imagination. Blake expresses a metaphor wisely when he asserts "†¦Hold infinity in the palm of your hand†¦" (Blake 125, line 3). Humans have always grasped onto time, as if by gripping it tightly, we can control its outcome: multiply time, making time stand still, and so forth. Blake...

Changes in Education Sector in Rural Bangladesh

Education Sector Education sector has faced significant changes over decades in rural Bangladesh. Earlier the maximum level of education that people received was mainly upto primary education. The drop-out rate was very high. The number of female students was very low and they used get married while studying in primary level. As a result, the number of female students in the secondary level was almost zero. The main reason behind this low enrollment in secondary level was ignorance of the parents.They had this mind setup that primary education was good enough for their children and encouraged them to get involved in income earning activity for which they got no time to study. But, people are learning about the importance of education gradually, although the number of drop-outs is still not very low in poor families and among girls. Another trend in the village was late admission. By the time they completed primary education they had become 17/18 years old.Nowadays, in the village a s tudent completes his/her higher secondary education at this age. The medium of education has also changed. Earlier parents were inclined to ‘madrasa’ education. They wanted to make their children ‘moulana’. But today the parents see their children becoming doctors or engineers in the future. Earlier the villagers used to send their children to colleges near the village or at best near the district. But in recent years, parents are showing interest in sending their children to the capital for studying in college.Many of them are getting admitted in BUET, Dhaka University, and other prestigious universities of the country. One of the main reasons of this radical change in education level of the village is the establishment of school, colleges in the recent years. Earlier, there was only one or two primary and high schools in the village. But many schools, colleges are being established nowadays with the initiative of the government and NGOs.The government is offering different scholarship programs for encouraging the rural people to send their children to schools, colleges and receive education. Awareness programs are being held by NGOs and the government for making people conscious about the importance of education. Another important change in the education system in rural Bangladesh is increased enrollments in diploma level of education. This trend has started very recently. Some of the students has already passed diploma others and are on the way of passing.

Graffiti: Art Or Vandalism Essay

DEMOGRAPHICS Demographical breakup of the vandals that are tinting Los Angeles city buildings and freeway structures will allow a more detailed and clear analysis of the motivational factors behind their acts. This will allow better strategy making and provide a clear understanding of the ways to create awareness among these groups that vandalism is a crime and that they should not be engaged in such activities. The different demographical factors on which research was done are as follows: Age Group Under 15 4% 15-19 46% 20-25 38% 25-35 9% Over 35 3% The pie chart displays the information contained in the table above left. It can be seen very clearly that the general age group to which most of the vandals belong to is the 15-25 age group (combining the two most populated age groups: 15-19 and 20-25). The 25-35 age group accounts for 9% of the vandals in Los Angeles. There are negligible number of vandals in the under 15 and the over35 age groups. This finding strongly suggests the fact that there are a large number of high schools and university students (predominantly undergraduate students) involved in these acts of vandalism. The fun and pressure part is probably the main influence in the 15-25 age groups. Youngsters in this age group are also likely to be influenced by peer pressure and local groups of mischief-creators. The under 15 age group contributes 4% to the total vandal population of Los Angeles. When further research was carried out, it was found out that this group consists mainly of the poor children thriving around in slums or on roadsides. It was found that these children were paid to carry out these activities of graffiti spraying. Thus, money was the most important factor in motivating the people in this age group to continue vandalism. It should be noted that there is a relatively small percentage of vandals in the 25-35 age group which predominantly suggests that this age group is composed of the professional vandals. Read more:  Essay About Vandalism These professional vandals may be groups of people who may be involved in street crimes and mischief. It is possible that these people may not be enrolled in any schooling or university program. Similarly, for the over 35 age group comprising of 3% of the total vandals, it can be estimated that most of these people are either mentally ill or belong to mischief groups. (California Vandalism Charges) The age is an important demographical characteristic of the vandals since it will influence the marketing strategies greatly. However, the occupation of the vandals is also an important factor due to the fact that two different people belonging to the same age group may have to be appealed to differently depending upon their occupation. Our next research will provide a detail into the occupation of the vandals researched above.   Occupation Occupation Students 44% Labor Industry 7% Professional Workers 1% Federal Servants 1% Unemployed 37% Others/Undisclosed 10% (California Vandalism Charges) As suggested by previous demographical finding, the occupational breakup of the vandals also conforms to the fact that there are a majority of students and unemployed people involved in these mischievous acts. This gives a strong support to the fact that the strategies that will be used to combat these activities should be directed mainly towards high school and undergraduate students and people belonging to the 15-25 age groups without any records of enrolment in any school, college or university. This is due to the fact that there is a very negligible presence of professionals or federal servants in these activities. Furthermore, the 10% vandals with undisclosed occupations look like mainly the poor and the underprivileged people. These people have no occupation and therefore they thrive either on charity or by doing acts such as these in return for money. The next characteristic, income group, will further testify to the above findings. Income Group Weekly Income $0-$100 66% $101-$250 23% $251-$400 1% $400-$800 1% >$800 0% Others/Undisclosed 9% The suggestion in the previous findings that a large portion of the vandals are either students with only pocket money as their source of income, or they are the poor people thriving on charity, is supported strongly by the income breakup table. There is a strong indication of the fact that the people involved in these activities are poor people motivated by the monetary rewards for committing these acts of graffiti spraying and there are other students and mischief makers who either do it for the â€Å"fun† of doing it or under serious pressure from other mischief-maker groups. The distribution of the vandals with regard to the area they thrive in will complete the picture of the nature of the vandals and will enable us to propose more accurate marketing strategies to curtail the mischievous activities of graffiti spraying. (California Vandalism Charges) Area Area-wise Breakup Downtown 15% East and Northeast 14% Echo Park & Westlake 8% Greater Hollywood 1% Harbor Area 11% Los Feliz & Silver Lake 1% South 23% San Fernando Valley 22% West (The Westside) 2% Wilshire 3% (List of districts and neighborhoods of Los Angeles) The research carried out on the area-wise demographics of the vandals population has led to the same conclusion which was repeatedly being observed in the previous researchers. As the graph displays, the majority of the vandals either belong to those areas which house the largest number of skyscrapers and freeway structures or belong to the most populated and poor areas (signifying the fact that the graffiti sprayers are poor people paid to do the job by other people). Thus, the general picture of a vandal can be sketched to be either a college student or a poor person threatened with the consequences of poverty without any means of survival motivated by monetary gains to do the graffiti spraying. MARKETING STRATEGIES Since the demographical research has led to the conclusion that a great majority of the people involved in these acts of graffiti tagging belong to the 15-25 age group and they would generally be either enrolled in a school, college or university program or would be thriving the streets of Los Angeles, we would like to propose a two-fold marketing strategy. (From Vandal to Artist) The first fold of the strategy would be targeted towards the student population and the college graders for whom graffiti spraying is a matter of fun or it is due to the â€Å"joining the bandwagon† effect. We propose that this category of graffiti sprayers should be treated differently with different marketing strategies since they are quite different from the other category. This group predominantly consists of students of various ages and enrolments: from middle school students to undergraduate students. There is a possibility of there being graduate students as well. But for simplicity, we are considering that the general range of this category is from the middle age students to undergraduate students. The marketing strategy to use with this category is simple yet effective. Organizing concerts and mass awareness programs at campuses are perhaps one of the most effective ways in tackling out the problems in this category of graffiti sprayers. Since the motivation factor behind their activities is majorly fun and the â€Å"bandwagon† effect and there is no real purpose behind their activities, we believe that if they are provided alternative platforms to display their creativity and ability to mix and match colors, they will not resort to vandalism on Los Angeles buildings. It is probably the lack of outpouring opportunities that has fuelled their activities to such a great height. Using mass advertising campaigns within the campus will be an effective advertising strategy that will pay off in the long-run. Since, it is the campus where students spend most of their time away from home, constant exposure to banners and billboards condemning vandalism and regarding it as a heinous crime will instill in the graffiti sprayers a degree of shame and deter them from committing the same activities the next time. (Graffiti Removal) Since we cannot be sure as to the number of schools and colleges in which students involved in vandalism are spread a good marketing strategy would be to advertise on books, stationary and all those items that are connected with high school and college students. Advertising may not cost a lot if done intelligently: placing billboards and banners at the entrances of coffee shops and locations where lots of students gather may be an effective way to communicate the message that â€Å"vandalism is a crimeâ€Å". Furthermore, it can be ensured that college principals and influential teachers in schools and colleges reinforce this message in their discussions repeatedly. It will serve as a deterrent for students to remain involved in graffiti spraying and in the long-run will turn students involved in graffiti spraying into critics of vandalism themselves. Competitions can be arranged to invite students in graffiti contests where they can compete against each other in graffiti painting and color matching. (From Vandal to Artist) This will be an opportunity for students involved in graffiti spraying to put their energy into these competitions so that their attention can be diverted to more productive work. It is no doubt that a student having graffiti skills will show up when such competitions will be organized. Offering prizes for outstanding paintings and graffiti work will give a boost to their morals and a promise of repeated contests in the years to come will make them eager to practice their graffiti skills personally and productively rather than on the walls of Los Angeles buildings. For the next set of graffiti sprayers – the poor people paid by others to do the job, since money is their only motivational factor – we propose a different marketing campaign. These people do not have any means of work and so they resort to whatever work they can get in return for money. Thus, their main motivational factor is the money being provided to them by other parties for spraying graffiti. The local city council can gather these people under one roof and organize an awareness campaign which should also provide work and labor opportunities for them. Since, their unemployment and poverty leads them to resort to such activities, ensuring that they are engaged in respectable work will eliminate their tendencies to continue with vandalism and will automatically curb the percentage of people with such demographics involved in graffiti spraying. (Graffiti Removal) It is possible that networking amongst this category of vandals will get the message across more easily and strongly. Thus, we strongly recommend that the Los Angeles council should use word-of-mouth communication to stress upon the immorality of vandalism. They should give rewards to the people who give details about the people involved in vandalism and should take the emotional appeal to marketing as their tool to restrict vandalism in this category. These people can be provided the means to live a respectable life and enjoy a future one can look forward too. Even though the population of such people may be large – since Los Angeles is already a big city with a population of 13 million people – to be supported by the city council on its own, trying is better than not doing anything. On the whole, we believe that these marketing strategies, if implemented hand in hand, will be a greater success than if implemented one after the other. Since these two categories summarize 89% of the graffiti sprayers, there will be just the need to combat other professional and mischief-makers through the local police and law enforcement agencies. We believe that the above strategies have great potential in reducing the amount of graffiti on Los Angeles buildings and freeway structures and that proper communication strategy can always be effective in communicating the message across. We believe that the described marketing strategies will reduce graffiti spraying on Los Angeles buildings by at least 89% which will be a significant reduction in the graffiti on Los Angeles buildings and freeway structures. (Graffiti Removal) Works Cited 1. California Vandalism Charges. (n.d.). Retrieved June 29, 2008, from Vandalism Cases: www.lacriminaldefenseattorney.com/Vandalism.html 2. From Vandal to Artist. (n.d.). Retrieved June 29, 2008, from Business Week: www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2005/sb20050718_049224.htm 3. Graffiti Removal. (n.d.). Retrieved June 29, 2008, from CleanLink: http://www.cleanlink.com/sm/article.asp?id=601&keywords= 4. List of districts and neighborhoods of Los Angeles. (n.d.). Retrieved June 30, 2008, from Wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_districts_and_neighborhoods_of_Los_Angeles