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Victor Argo

Victor Argo (November 5, 1934 – April 7, 2004) was an American actor of Puerto Rican descent who usually played the part of a tough bad guy in his movies. He had a career span of forty years. He is best known for Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver  (1976), Hot Tomorrows (1977), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), King of New York (1990), and McBain (1991).

Early years
Argo was born Victor Jimenez in The Bronx, New York. Both of his parents were born in the town of Quebradillas, Puerto Rico.

Professional career
Argo began his career as a stage actor. Attempting to break into show business at a time when there was much prejudice against Latino performers, Victor professionally adopted the surname "Argo" to better his casting chances, stating in an interview that he "felt the prejudice was against the name, not even against me." While performing in an Off-Broadway play during the 1960s, Argo met Yoko Ono, with whom he participated in the so-called "Happening" movement. He also became friends with the then fledgling actor Harvey Keitel, with whom he remained close for nearly forty years and would act together in several films with. In 1977, Argo became a founding member of the Riverside Shakespeare Company on New York City's Upper West Side. As a member, he toured the parks of Manhattan playing Lord Montague.

In the 1970s, Argo made his film debut with a small part in Unholy Rollers and his television debut in a made-for-TV film Smile Jenny, You're Dead. Often playing the part of the NY 'heavy' or mobster on film, Argo was a favorite of such directors as Martin Scorsese, Abel Ferrara and Woody Allen. His film credits include Taxi Driver, King of New York, The Rose, New York Stories, The Last Temptation of Christ, Bad Lieutenant, True Romance and Coyote Ugly. In 2001, he played Jennifer Lopez's father in the romantic drama Angel Eyes. His television guest appearances include The Rockford Files, Wonder Woman, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Spenser: For Hire, Law & Order and Miami Vice. Argo lent his talents to seventy-five films and twenty-one television guest roles in total.

Outside of acting on the screen and stage, another deep passion for Argo was country music, the actor at one time having traveled to Nashville to cut several song demos.

Filmography
Among the films in which Argo had a role were the following:

 * Dealing (1972) as 2nd Cuban
 * Boxcar Bertha (1972) as McIver #1
 * Unholy Rollers (1972) as Vinnie The Trainer
 * Mean Streets (1973) as Mario
 * The Don Is Dead (1973) as Augie 'The Horse'
 * The Terminal Man (1974) as Orderly
 * Taxi Driver (1976) as Melio, Bodega Clerk
 * Hot Tomorrows (1977) as Tony
 * Which Way Is Up? (1977) as Angel
 * The Rose (1979) as Lockerman
 * Hanky Panky (1982) as Pallbearer
 * Romando (1982) as Don Piri
 * Falling in Love (1984) as Victor Rawlins
 * The Electric Chair (1985) as Comic
 * Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) as Sergeant Taskal
 * After Hours (1985) as Diner Cashier
 * Off Beat (1986) as Leon
 * Raw Deal (1986) as Dangerous Man
 * Florida Straits (1986) as Pablo Cheruka
 * The Pick-up Artist (1987) as Harris
 * The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) as Peter, Apostle
 * Her Alibi (1989) as Avram
 * New York Stories (1989) as Cop (segment "Life Lessons")
 * Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) as Detective
 * King of New York (1990) as Lieutenant Roy Bishop
 * Quick Change (1990) as Mike Skelton
 * McBain (1991) as El Presidente
 * Shadows and Fog (1991) as Hacker's Vigilante #2
 * Bad Lieutenant (1992) as Beat Cop
 * True Romance (1993) as Lenny
 * Dangerous Game (1993) as Director of Photography
 * Household Saints (1993) as Lino Falconetti
 * Men Lie (1994) as Scott's Dad
 * Monkey Trouble (1994) as Charlie
 * Somebody to Love (1994) as Santa Claus
 * Smoke (1995) as Vinnie
 * Blue in the Face (1995) as Vinnie
 * Condition Red (1995) as Victor Klein
 * The Funeral (1996) as Julius
 * Next Stop Wonderland (1998) as Frank
 * Going Nomad (1998) as Spiro
 * Lulu on the Bridge (1998) as Pierre
 * Side Streets (1998) as Albani Krug
 * New Rose Hotel (1998) as Portuguese Business Man
 * Fast Horses (1998) as Zack
 * On the Run (1999) as Man Shaving
 * Coming Soon (1999) as Mr. Neipris
 * Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) as Vinny
 * Blue Moon (2000) as Tony
 * The Yards (2000) as Paul Lazarides
 * Fast Food Fast Women (2000) as Seymour
 * Love = (Me)^3 (2000) as Mr. Carrera
 * Coyote Ugly (2000) as Pete
 * Double Whammy (2001) as Lieutenant Spigot
 * 'R Xmas (2001) as Louie
 * Angel Eyes (2001) as Carl Pogue
 * Queenie in Love (2001) as Horace
 * The Man Who Knew Belle Starr (2001) as Diner Owner
 * Don't Say a Word (2001) as Syd Simon
 * Bridget (2002) as Grant
 * Anything But Love (2002) as Sal
 * Dirt (2003) as El Gringo Nestor
 * Personal Sergeant (filmed in 2003; released in 2004) as Chuck Manetta
 * Lustre (filmed in 2003; released in 2005) as Hugo (final film role)

Later years
Shortly before his death, Argo realized a lifelong dream of performing on Broadway when he was cast as Santiago, the owner of a cigar factory, in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Anna in the Tropics. In his last on-screen role, in the independent film Lustre by director Art Jones, Argo portrayed a New York City loan shark who retreats from his everyday, hard-nosed rants to a deeply spiritual disconnect from the world. The film was released in 2005. Argo died in New York City at Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center on April 7, 2004, from complications of lung cancer at age 69. His body was donated to Manhattan College for medical science. In 2005, Electronic music group Bodega System released a 12" vinyl LP which includes the track "Victor Argo".

title: Victor Argo


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The Tussauds Group

The Tussauds Group was an entertainment company which is now a part of Merlin Entertainments. It was based in Poole, Dorset from where it managed a portfolio of brands and over 50 attractions that included the Madame Tussauds waxworks, Legoland Theme Parks, Legoland Discovery Centres, Sea Life Centres, PortAventura Park in Spain, Gardaland in Italy, Heide Park Resort in Germany, The Dungeons, The London Eye, The Blackpool Tower attractions, The Orlando Eye, Warwick Castle, Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, and Chessington World of Adventures.

Merlin Entertainments bought the company in 2007, thus becoming the world's second largest leisure group after Disney.

The 1700s
The physician, Philippe Curtius began to create organs and biological structures from wax. After creating organs, Curtius went on to recreate notable people in society out of the medium too. Curtius put these models on display to the public in Berne, Switzerland where they caught the attention of the French royal family. In 1765, the royal family invited Curtius to display his exhibits in Paris. When moving to Paris, Curtius bought with him a housekeeper and her daughter, Marie Grosholtz, who Curtius then took on as an apprentice of his work.

Under Curtius’ teaching, Marie became renowned for her modelling, completing portraits of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire. This led to Marie being invited to the royal court at Versailles where she was employed as a teacher. In 1795, Marie married François Tussaud with whom she had two sons. After the French Revolution in 1789, Marie continued her modelling and made death masks of her deceased ex-employers. Upon the death of Curtius in 1794, Marie inherited his estate, including his properties and his workshop.

The 1800s
Overseas interest in the French Revolution led Marie Tussaud to travel to England and display her work there. Tussaud travelled the British Isles with her work as she was prevented from returning to France due to the war between Britain and France. After travelling with her models, Tussauds bought her first property in London's Baker Street in 1835, for the purpose of displaying her wax figures. The large property allowed her to display the exhibits that she used on tour as well as create new models and exhibitions. Marie Tussaud died in 1850 and the business was left to her two sons. Her grandchildren then moved the business to a permanent residence in Marylebone Road.

The 1900s
In 1926, Madame Tussauds became a limited company. In the 1960s, Tussauds was looking to expand beyond the United Kingdom and opened their first international exhibition in Amsterdam. This exhibition featured different wax figures to those on show in London. The Dutch exhibition moved to the more central location of Dam Square in 1991. The company made its first acquisition with Wookey Hole Caves and Mill in Somerset and in 1976 bought Tolgus tin plant in Cornwall.

In 1978, Madame Tussauds was acquired by S. Pearson and Son, now Pearson PLC. The company had been seeking to expand beyond their own attractions before acquiring the group. Chessington Zoo was already owned by Pearson and became a Tussauds attraction after the buyout. This sector expanded quickly throughout the year with the purchase of Warwick Castle. Poor profits at Chessington Zoo led the group to reopen the site as Chessington World of Adventures. This incorporated the animals from the zoo alongside the theme park. This combination enabled visitor figures to triple.

In 1989, the Tussauds Group sold Wookey Hole. In the same year, they opened the Rock Circus in the London Pavilion which focused on a rock and roll theme. Several other small acquisitions were made before 1990.

In 1990, the company bought Alton Towers for £60 million. The park had initially been developed as an American style amusement park but was in need of renovation by the end of the eighties. After Tussauds took over Alton Towers, it was redeveloped into a theme park that intended to challenge the opening of Disneyland Paris. During the mid-nineties, the group continued to expand its theme parks with new attractions at both Warwick Castle and Alton Towers. The Alton Towers expansion included the introduction of the £20 million Alton Towers Hotel in 1996. The Madame Tussauds site in London also underwent development during the nineties, with renovations costing £1 million. The increase in the group's attractions as well as management portfolio meant that in 1992 the company moved to larger headquarters.

In 1997, Madame Tussauds reintroduced travelling exhibitions. The tour started in Melbourne, Australia, before moving on to Sydney. After touring Australia, the site travelled to Singapore in 1999 then on to Hong Kong in 2000. However, the company liked Hong Kong's location and established a permanent exhibition in the Peak Tower.

The Tussauds group moved into the European market in 1995, with a 40% stake in a new £300 million theme park, Port Aventura in Spain. Tussauds was in charge of the development as they were the primary shareholder. The new development quickly bought in 2.7 million new visitors annually. The 40% stake was sold in 1998 as the company looked to increase its portfolio in the United Kingdom. Tussauds’ management of Port Aventura ceased with the sale of the property. The money from the sale allowed the company to purchase Thorpe Park, in south-east England.

In 1998, the group looked to open a Tussauds site in Las Vegas, with plans to open the exhibition in the Venetian Hotel and Casino complex. The Las Vegas site eventually opened in 1999 to large success, which led the company to look for another exhibition location in the United States. In 2000, the company opened a site in New York on 42nd Street.

In 1999, after being part of Pearson for twenty years, Charterhouse Development Capital acquired the group. The new company bought in new management and sought to increase profits whilst continuing the company's growth.

The 2000s
In 2000, the London Eye launched, in which Tussauds had a 33% stake, along with British Airways and Marks Barfield. The site was managed by Tussauds and soon became one of the United Kingdom's most popular attractions.

Tussauds continued to look for acquisitions in Europe and in 2002 opted to buy Heide Park in Soltau, Germany. The park was among the country's largest, and helped to make Tussauds one of the most popular attraction groups. In the same year, the company shut down the Rock Circus exhibition in the London Pavilion because of falling visitor figures.

Charterhouse Development Capital allowed the company to invest £300 million into its attractions which helped increase profits by £185 million as of 2002. The Tussauds group launched a new £100 million investment plan which led to the development of a new £40 million themed hotel, at Alton Towers. The themed hotel, Splash Landings, opened in 2003. Tussauds and Charterhouse Development Capital then looked to increase its stake in the London Eye, hoping to buy out British Airways.

In 2004, one of the shareholders of the London Eye, Marks Barfield, accused the Tussauds group of purposefully opposing a refinancing offer in order to gain full control of the wheel. The attraction made a trading profit, but the company had 25% interest payments on a debt that arose from a £56 million loan from British Airways in 1999. By this point the debt had accumulated to be around £130 million. David Marks, the director at Marks Barfield, said that British Airways supported the idea of refinancing the London Eye but the Tussauds group blocked the deal at every opportunity. Marks went on to comment that without a refinancing deal the London Eye would not have long-term financial security in the future as it would not be able to develop as an attraction. The company also went on to say that the running costs of the London Eye and the large debt repayments prevented the company from making developments at the attraction that would cost £4 million. The company had hoped to redevelop a gift shop and the ticketing system at the London Eye but without refinancing it would not be able to complete them. The Tussauds group denied blocking any deals, in turn suggesting that no alternative methods had been put forward. In a statement, the company said that it had offered to buy out the other two shareholders in 2003, and again in 2004, believing that one primary shareholder would be able to negotiate better terms on their debt repayments.

In November 2005, the company bought British Airways’ stake in the London Eye for £95 million. The other shareholder, Marks Barfield, also offered to buy British Airways' stake but the latter chose the Tussauds group as they felt that their offer was more beneficial for the company's shareholders. In February 2006, the group began negotiations to buy the final 33% of the attraction from Marks Barfield for up to £80 million.

In 2005, the Tussauds group was sold to Dubai International Capital, a branch of the government that deals with investment, for £800 million ($1.5 billion).

In May 2007, The Blackstone Group purchased The Tussauds Group for US$1.9 billion and merged it into Merlin Entertainments with management by Merlin. Dubai International Capital then held 20% of Merlin Entertainment. The Tussauds Group as a separate entity ceased to exist. About the merger, the chief executive of Merlin Entertainment, Nick Varney, said that the combination of the two groups, as well as their audiences, would place the new company in the global market. He also believed that both groups expertise in the management business would benefit the company too. Peter Phillipson, the chief executive of the Tussauds group added that the new group would be able to help the developments of Tussauds theme parks and attractions as well as increase the number of Madame Tussauds around the world.

On 17 July 2007, Madame Tussauds was sold to private investor Nick Leslau and his investment firm Prestbury under a sale and leaseback agreement. It is said that the company would be using the money from the sale for investment purposes and to pay off some outstanding debts. Although the attraction sites are owned by Prestbury, they continue to be operated by Merlin based on a renewable 35-year lease.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: The Tussauds Group


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Crowd simulation

Crowd simulation is the process of simulating the movement (or dynamics) of a large number of entities or characters. It is commonly used to create virtual scenes for visual media like films and video games, and is also used in crisis training, architecture and urban planning, and evacuation simulation.

Crowd simulation may focus on aspects that target different applications. For realistic and fast rendering of a crowd for visual media or virtual cinematography, reduction of the complexity of the 3D scene and image-based rendering are used, while variations (changes) in appearance help present a realistic population.

In games and applications intended to replicate real-life human crowd movement, like in evacuation simulations, simulated agents may need to navigate towards a goal, avoid collisions, and exhibit other human-like behavior. Many crowd steering algorithms have been developed to lead simulated crowds to their goals realistically. Some more general systems are researched that can support different kinds of agents (like cars and pedestrians), different levels of abstraction (like individual and continuum), agents interacting with smart objects, and more complex physical and social dynamics.

History
There has always been a deep-seated interest in the understanding and gaining control of motional and behavior of crowds of people. Many major advancements have taken place since the beginnings of research within the realm of crowd simulation. Evidently many new findings are continually made and published following these which enhance the scalability, flexibility, applicability, and realism of simulations:

In 1987, behavioral animation was introduced and developed by Craig Reynolds. He had simulated flocks of birds alongside schools of fish for the purpose of studying group intuition and movement. All agents within these simulations were given direct access to the respective positions and velocities of their surrounding agents. The theorization and study set forth by Reynolds was improved and built upon in 1994 by Xiaoyuan Tu, Demetri Terzopoulos and Radek Grzeszczuk. The realistic quality of simulation was engaged with as the individual agents were equipped with synthetic vision and a general view of the environment within which they resided, allowing for a perceptual awareness within their dynamic habitats.

Initial research in the field of crowd simulation began in 1997 with Daniel Thalmann's supervision of Soraia Raupp Musse's PhD thesis. They present a new model of crowd behavior in order to create a simulation of generic populations. Here a relation is drawn between the autonomous behavior of the individual within the crowd and the emergent behavior originating from this.

In 1999, individualistic navigation began its course within the realm of crowd simulation via continued research of Craig Reynolds. Steering behaviors are proven to play a large role in the process of automating agents within a simulation. Reynolds states the processes of low-level locomotion to be dependent and reliant on mid-level steering behaviors and higher-level goal states and path finding strategies. Building off of the advanced work of Reynolds, Musse and Thalmann began to study the modeling of real time simulations of these crowds, and their applications to human behavior. The control of human crowds was designated as a hierarchical organization with levels of autonomy amongst agents. This marks the beginnings of modeling individual behavior in its most elementary form on humanoid agents or virtual humans.

Coinciding with publications regarding human behavior models and simulations of group behaviors, Matt Anderson, Eric McDaniel, and Stephen Chenney's proposal of constraints on behavior gained popularity. The positioning of constraints on group animations was presented to be able to be done at any time within the simulation. This process of applying constraints to the behavioral model is undergone in a two-fold manner, by first determining the initial set of goal trajectories coinciding with the constraints, and then applying behavioral rules to these paths to select those which do not violate them.

Correlating and building off of the findings proposed in his work with Musse, Thalmann, working alongside Bratislava Ulicny and Pablo de Heras Ciechomski, proposed a new model which allowed for interactive authoring of agents at the level of an individual, a group of agents and the entirety of a crowd. A brush metaphor is introduced to distribute, model and control crowd members in real-time with immediate feedback.

Crowd dynamics
One of the major goals in crowd simulation is to steer crowds realistically and recreate human dynamic behaviors.

There exists several overarching approaches to crowd simulation and AI, each one providing advantages and disadvantages based on crowd size and time scale. Time scale refers to how the objective of the simulation also affects the length of the simulation. For example, researching social questions such as how ideologies are spread amongst a population will result in a much longer running simulation since such an event can span up to months or years. Using those two characteristics, researchers have attempted to apply classifications to better evaluate and organize existing crowd simulators.

 * Flow-based Approach: Flow based crowd simulations focus on the crowd as a whole rather than its components. As such individuals do not have any distinctive behaviors that occur due to input from their surroundings and behavioral factors are largely reduced. This model is mainly used to estimate the flow of movement of a large and dense crowd in a given environment. Best used in studying large crowd, short time objectives.

 * Entity-based Approach: Models that implement a set of physical, predefined, and global laws meant to simulate social/psychological factors that occur in individuals that are a part of a crowd fall under this category. Entities in this case do not have the capacity to, in a sense, think for themselves. All movements are determined by the global laws being enforced on them. Simulations that use this model often do so to research crowd dynamics such as jamming and flocking. Small to medium-sized crowds with short term objectives fit this approach best.

 * Agent-based Approach: Characterized by autonomous, interacting individuals. Each agent of a crowd in this approach, is given a degree of intelligence; they can react to each situation on their own based on a set of decision rules. Information used to decide on an action is obtained locally from the agent's' surroundings. Most often, this approach is used for simulating realistic crowd behavior as the researcher is given complete freedom to implement any behaviors.

Particle systems
One way to simulate virtual crowds is to use a particle system. Particle systems were first introduced in computer graphics by W. T. Reeves in 1983. A particle system is a collection of a number of individual elements or particles. Each particle is able to act autonomously and is assigned a set of physical attributes (such as color, size and velocity).

A particle system is dynamic, in that the movements of the particles change over time. A particle system's movement is what makes it so desirable and easy to implement. Calculating the movements of these particles takes very little time. It simply involves physics: the sum of all the forces acting on a particle determines its motion. Forces such as gravity, friction and force from a collision, and social forces like the attractive force of a goal.

Usually each particle has a velocity vector and a position vector, containing information about the particle's current velocity and position respectively. The particles next position is calculated by adding its velocity vector to its position vector. A very simple operation (again why particle systems are so desirable). Its velocity vector changes over time, in response to the forces acting on the particle. For example, a collision with another particle will cause it to change direction.

Particles systems have been widely used in films for effects such as explosions, for water effects in the 2000 movie The Perfect Storm, and simulated gas in the 1994 film the Mask.

Particles systems, however, do have some drawbacks. It can be a bad idea to use a particle system to simulate agents in a crowd that the director will move on command, as determining which particles belong to the agent and which do not is very difficult.

Algorithm by Patil and Van Den Berg
This algorithm was designed for relatively simplistic crowds, where each agent in the crowd only desires to get to its own goal destination while also avoiding obstacles. This algorithm could be used for simulating a crowd in Times Square.

Patils algorithm's most important and distinctive feature is that it utilizes the concept of navigation fields for directing agents. This is different from a guidance field; a guidance field is an area around the agent in which the agent is capable of "seeing"/detecting information. Guidance fields are typically used for avoiding obstacles, dynamic obstacles (obstacles that move) in particular. Every agent possesses its own guidance field. A navigation field, on the other hand, is a vector field which calculates the minimum cost path for every agent so that every agent arrives at its own goal position.

The navigation field can only be used properly when a path exists from every free (non-obstacle) position in the environment to one of the goal positions. The navigation field is computed using coordinates of the static objects in the environment, goal positions for each agent, and the guidance field for each agent. In order to guarantee that every agent reaches its own goal the navigation field must be free of local minima, except for the presence of sinks at the specified goals.

The running time of computing the navigation field is $$O(m*n*log(mn))$$, where m × n is the grid dimension (similar to Dijkstra's algorithm). Thus, the algorithm is only dependent on the grid resolution and not dependent on the number of agents in the environment. However, this algorithm has a high memory cost.

Individual behavior modelling
One set of techniques for AI-based crowd simulation is to model crowd behavior by advanced simulation of individual agent motivations and decision-making. Generally, this means each agent is assigned some set of variables that measure various traits or statuses such as stress, personality, or different goals. This results in more realistic crowd behavior though may be more computationally intensive than simpler techniques.

Personality-based models
One method of creating individualistic behavior for crowd agents is through the use of personality traits. Each agent may have certain aspects of their personality tuned based on a formula that associates aspects such as aggressiveness or impulsiveness with variables that govern the agents' behavior. One way this association can be found is through a subjective study in which agents are randomly assigned values for these variables and participants are asked to describe each agent in terms of these personality traits. A regression may then be done to determine a correlation between these traits and the agent variables. The personality traits can then be tuned and have an appropriate effect on agent behavior.

The OCEAN personality model has been used to define a mapping between personality traits and crowd simulation parameters. Automating crowd parameter tuning with personality traits provides easy authoring of scenarios with heterogeneous crowds.

Stress-based model
The behavior of crowds in high-stress situations can be modeled using General Adaptation Syndrome theory. Agent behavior is affected by various stressors from their environment categorized into four prototypes: time pressure, area pressure, positional stressors, and interpersonal stressors, each with associated mathematical models.

Time pressure refers to stressors related to a time limit in reaching a particular goal. An example would be a street crossing with a timed walk signal or boarding a train before the doors are closed. This prototype is modeled by the following formula:

$$I_t = max(t_e - t_a, 0)$$

where $I_t$ is the intensity of the time pressure as a function of the estimated time to reach the goal $t_e$  and a time constraint $$t_a$$.

Area pressure refers to stressors as a result of an environmental condition. Examples would be noise or heat in an area. The intensity of this stressor is constant over a particular area and is modeled by the following formula:

$$I_a = \begin{cases} c & \text{if }p_a\in A \\ 0 & \text{if }p_a\not\in A \end{cases}$$

where $I_a$ is the intensity of the area pressure, $p_a$  is the position of the agent in an area $$A$$, and $$c$$ is a constant.

Positional stressors refer to stressors associated with a local source of stress. The intensity of this stressor increases as an agent approaches the source of the stress. An example would be a fire or a dynamic object such as an assailant. It can be modeled by the following formula:

$$I_p = \lVert p_a - p_s \rVert$$

where $$I_p$$ is the intensity of the positional stressor, $$p_a$$ is the position of the agent and $$p_s$$ is the position of the stressor. Alternatively, stressors that generate high stress over a large area (such as a fire) can be modeled using a Gaussian distribution with standard deviation $$\sigma$$:

$$I_p = \mathcal{N}(p_a - p_s, \sigma)$$

Interpersonal stressors are stressors as a result of crowding by nearby agents. It can be modeled by the following formula:

$$I_i = max(n_c - n_p, 0)$$

where $$I_i$$ is the intensity of the interpersonal stressor, $$n_c$$ is the current number of neighbors within a unit space and $$n_p$$ is the preferred number of neighbors within a unit space for that particular agent.

The perceived stress follows Steven's Law and is modeled by the formula:

$$\psi(I) = kI^n$$

where $$\psi(I)$$ is the perceived stress for a stress level $$I$$, $$k$$ is a scale factor, and $$n$$ is an exponent depending on the stressor type.

An agent's stress response can be found with the following formula:

$${dS \over dt} = \begin{cases} \alpha & \text{if } \psi > S \\ (-\alpha \leq {d\psi \over dt} \leq \alpha) & \text{if } \psi = S\\ -\alpha & \text{if } \psi < S\end{cases}$$

where $$S$$ is the stress response capped at a maximum value of $$\beta$$ and $$\alpha$$ is the maximum rate at which an agent's stress response can change.

Examples of notable crowd AI simulation can be seen in New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings films, where AI armies of thousands of characters battle each other. This crowd simulation was done using Weta Digital's Massive software.

Sociology
Crowd simulation can also refer to simulations based on group dynamics, crowd psychology, and even social etiquette. In this case, the focus is on the behavior of the crowd, not necessarily on the visual realism of the simulation. Crowds have been studied as a scientific interest since the end of the 19th century. A lot of research has focused on the collective social behavior of people at social gatherings, assemblies, protests, rebellions, concerts, sporting events and religious ceremonies. Gaining insight into natural human behavior under varying types of stressful situations will allow better models to be created which can be used to develop crowd controlling strategies, often in public safety planning.

Emergency response teams such as policemen, the National Guard, military and even volunteers must undergo some type of crowd control training. Using researched principles of human behavior in crowds can give disaster training designers more elements to incorporate to create realistic simulated disasters. Crowd behavior can be observed during both panic and non-panic conditions. Military programs are looking more towards simulated training involving emergency responses due to their cost-effective technology, as well as how effective the learning can be transferred to the real world. Many events that may start out controlled can have a twisting event that turns them into catastrophic situations, where decisions need to be made on the spot. It is these situations in which crowd dynamical understanding could play a vital role in reducing the potential for chaos.

Modeling techniques of crowds vary from holistic or network approaches to understanding individualistic or behavioral aspects of each agent. For example, the Social Force Model describes a need for individuals to find a balance between social interaction and physical interaction. An approach that incorporates both aspects, and is able to adapt depending on the situation, would better describe natural human behavior, always incorporating some measure of unpredictability. With the use of multi-agent models understanding these complex behaviors has become a much more comprehensible task. With the use of this type of software, systems can now be tested under extreme conditions, and simulate conditions over long periods of time in the matter of seconds.

In some situations, the behavior of swarms of non-human animals can be used as an experimental model of crowd behavior. The panic behavior of ants when exposed to a repellent chemical in a confined space with limited exit routes has been found to have both similarities and differences to equivalent human behavior.

Modeling individual behaviors
Hacohen, Shoval and Shvalb formulated the drivers-pedestrians dynamics at congested conflict spots. In such scenarios, the drivers and/or pedestrians do not closely follow the traffic laws. The model is based on the Probabilistic Navigation function (PNF), which was originally developed for robotics motion planning. The algorithm constructs a trajectory according to the probability for collision at each point in the entire crossing area. The pedestrian then follow a trajectory that locally minimizes their perceived probability for collision.

Helbing proposed a model based on physics using a particle system and socio-psychological forces in order to describe human crowd behavior in panic situation, this is now called the Helbing Model. His work is based on how the average person would react in a certain situation. Although this is a good model, there are always different types of people present in the crowd and they each have their own individual characteristics as well as how they act in a group structure. For instance, one person may not react to a panic situation, while another may stop walking and interfere in the crowd dynamics as a whole. Furthermore, depending on the group structure, the individual action can change because the agent is part of a group, for example, returning to a dangerous place in order to rescue a member of that group. Helbing's model can be generalized incorporating individualism, as proposed by Braun, Musse, Oliveira and Bodmann.

In order to tackle this problem, individuality should be assigned to each agent, allowing to deal with different types of behaviors. Another aspect to tackle this problem is the possibility to group people, forming these group causes people to change their behavior as a function of part of the group structure. Each agent (individual) can be defined according to the following parameters:

 * 1) Id – Agent identifier
 * 2) IdFamily – Identifier of the family. A family is a predefined group formed by agents who know each other
 * 3) DE – Dependence level of the agent which mimics the need for help. Values [0,1]
 * 4) AL – Altruism level representing the tendency to help other agents. Values [0,1]
 * 5) vi – Speed of the agent

To model the effect of the dependence parameter with individual agents, the equation is defined as:

 * $$v_i = (1-DE)v_{max}$$

When evaluating the speed of the agent, it is clear that if the value of the dependence factor, DE, is equal to one, then the person would be fully disabled making him unable to move. If the dependence factor is equal to zero, then the person is able to run at his max speed.

Group formation is related to the Altruism force which is implemented as an interaction force between two or more agents who are part of the same family. Mathematically, it is described as the following:

 * $$F\overline{a}_i = K\sum \left ( AL_iDE_j \times \left | d_{ij}-d_{ip} \right | \times e_{ij} \right ) $$

where:
 * $d_{ij}$ represents the distance between two agents with the origin at the position of the agent;
 * $d_{ip}$ is the distance vector point from the agents to the door's position $p$ of the simulation environment;
 * $K$ is a constant;
 * $e_{ij}$ is the unitary vector with the origin at position i.

Consequently, the greater the parameter $AL_{i}$ of agent $i$, the bigger will be $Fā_{i}$ which points to the agent $j$ and has the high level of $DE_{j}$. When both agents are close enough to each other, the one with high $DE$ (agent $j$ in this example) adopts the value of agent $i$ ($$DE_j = DE_i$$). This means that the evacuation ability of agent $i$ is shared with agent $j$ and both start moving together.

By using these applying these equations in model testing using a normally distributed population, the results are fairly similar to the Helbing Model.

The places where this would be helpful would be in an evacuation scenario. Take for example, an evacuation of a building in the case of a fire. Taking into account the characteristics of individual agents and their group performances, determining the outcome of how the crowd would exit the building is critically important in creating the layout of the building.

Leader behavior during evacuation simulations
As described earlier, the Helbing Model is used as the basics for crowd behavior. This same type of behavior model is used for evacuation simulations.

In general, the first thing that has to be assumed is that not everyone has knowledge about the environment or where there are and aren't hazards. From this assumption we can create three types of agents. The first type is a trained leader, this agent knows about the environment and is able to spread knowledge to other agents so they know how to exit from an environment. The next type of agent is an untrained leader, this agent does not know about the environment, however, as the agent explores the environment and gets information from other types of leaders, the agent is able to spread the knowledge about the environment. The last type of agent is a follower, this type of agent can only take information from other leaders and not be able to share the information with other agents.

The implementation of these types of agents is fairly straightforward. The leaders in the environment have a map of the environment saved as one of their attributes. An untrained leader and followers will start out with an empty map as their attribute. Untrained leaders and followers will start exploring an environment by themselves and create a map of walkable and unwalkable locations. Leaders and untrained leaders (once they have the knowledge), will share information with other agents depending on their proximity. They will share information about which points on the grid are blocked, the local sub-graphs and the dangers in the area.

There were two types of searching algorithms tried out for this implementation. There was the random search and the depth first search. A random search is where each of the agents go in any direction through the environment and try to find a pathway out. The depth first search is where agents follow one path as far as it can go then return and try another path if the path they traversed does not contain an exit. If was found that depth first search gave a speed up of 15 times versus a random search.

Scalable simulations
There are many different case situations that come into play in crowd simulations. Recently, crowd simulation has been essential for the many virtual environment applications such as education, training, and entertainment. Many situations are based on the environment of the simulation or the behavior of the group of local agents. In virtual reality applications, every agent interacts with many other agents in the environment, calling for complex real-time interactions. Agents must have continuous changes in the environment since agent behaviors allow complex interactions. Scalable architecture can manage large crowds through the behavior and interactive rates. These situations will indicate how the crowds will act in multiple complex scenarios while several different situations are being applied. A situation can be any circumstance that has typical local behaviors. We can categorize all situations into two different kinds.

Spatial situation is a situation that has a region where the environment affects the local agents. For instance, a crowd waiting in line for a ticket booth would be displaying a spatial situation. Other examples may be a bus stop or an ATM where characters act upon their environment. Therefore, we would consider 'bus stop' as the situation if the behavior of the agents are to be getting on or off a bus.

Non-Spatial situation has no region in the environment because this only involves the behavior of the crowd. The relationship of the local agents is an important factor to consider when determining behavior. An example would be a group of friends walking together. Typical behavior of characters that are friends would all move along with each other. This means that 'friendship' would be the situation among the typical behavior of walking together.

The structure of any situation is built upon four components, Behavior functions, Sensors, States, and Event Rules. Behavior functions represent what the characters behaviors are specific to the situation. Sensors are the sensing capability for agents to see and respond to events. States are the different motions and state transitions used only for the local behaviors. Event rule is the way to connect different events to their specific behaviors. While a character is being put into a situation, these four components are considered at the same time. For spatial situations, the components are added when the individual initially enters the environment that influences the character. For non-spatial situations, the character is affected only once the user assigns the situation to the character. The four components are removed when the agent is taken away from its situations region or the situation itself is removed. The dynamic adding and removing of the situations lets us achieve scalable agents.

Human-like behaviors and crowd AI

To simulate more aspects of human activities in a crowd, more is needed than path and motion planning. Complex social interactions, smart object manipulation, and hybrid models are challenges in this area. Simulated crowd behavior is inspired by the flow of real-world crowds. Behavioral patterns, movement speeds and densities, and anomalies are analyzed across many environments and building types. Individuals are tracked and their movements are documented such that algorithms can be derived and implemented into crowd simulations.

Individual entities in a crowd are also called agents. In order for a crowd to behave realistically each agent should act autonomously (be capable of acting independently of the other agents). This idea is referred to as an agent-based model. Moreover, it is usually desired that the agents act with some degree of intelligence (i.e. the agents should not perform actions that would cause them to harm themselves). For agents to make intelligent and realistic decisions, they should act in accordance with their surrounding environment, react to its changes, and react to the other agents. Terzopoulos and his students have pioneered agent-based models of pedestrians, an approach referred to as multi-human simulation to distinguish it from conventional crowd simulation.

Rule-based AI
In rule-based AI, virtual agents follow scripts: "if this happens, do that". This is a good approach to take if agents with different roles are required, such as a main character and several background characters. This type of AI is usually implemented with a hierarchy, such as in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, where the lower the need lies in the hierarchy, the stronger it is.

For example, consider a student walking to class who encounters an explosion and runs away. The theory behind this is initially the first four levels of his needs are met, and the student is acting according to his need for self-actualization. When the explosion happens his safety is threatened which is a much stronger need, causing him to act according to that need.

This approach is scalable, and can be applied to crowds with a large number of agents. Rule-based AI, however, does have some drawbacks. Most notably the behavior of the agents can become very predictable, which may cause a crowd to behave unrealistically.

Learning AI
In learning AI, virtual characters behave in ways that have been tested to help them achieve their goals. Agents experiment with their environment or a sample environment which is similar to their real one.

Agents perform a variety of actions and learn from their mistakes. Each agent alters its behavior in response to rewards and punishments it receives from the environment. Over time, each agent would develop behaviors that are consistently more likely to earn high rewards.

If this approach is used, along with a large number of possible behaviors and a complex environment agents will act in a realistic and unpredictable fashion.

Algorithms
There are a wide variety of machine learning algorithms that can be applied to crowd simulations.

Q-Learning is an algorithm residing under machine learning's sub field known as reinforcement learning. A basic overview of the algorithm is that each action is assigned a Q value and each agent is given the directive to always perform the action with the highest Q value. In this case learning applies to the way in which Q values are assigned, which is entirely reward based. When an agent comes in contact with a state, s, and action, a, the algorithm then estimates the total reward value that an agent would receive for performing that state action pair. After calculating this data, it is then stored in the agent's knowledge and the agent proceeds to act from there.

The agent will constantly alter its behavior depending on the best Q value available to it. And as it explores more and more of the environment, it will eventually learn the most optimal state action pairs to perform in almost every situation.

The following function outlines the bulk of the algorithm:

 * Q(s, a) ←− r + maxaQ(s', a')

Given a state s and action a, r and s are the reward and state after performing (s,a), and a' is the range over all the actions.

Crowd rendering and animation
Rendering and animating a large number of agents realistically, especially in real time, is challenging. To reduce the complexity of 3D rendering of large-scale crowds, techniques like culling (discarding unimportant objects), impostors (image-based rendering) and decreasing levels of detail have been used. Variations in appearance, body shape and size, accessories and behavior (social or cultural) exist in real crowds, and lack of variety affects the realism of visual simulations. Existing systems can create virtual crowds with varying texture, color, size, shape and animation.

Virtual cinematography
Crowd simulations have been used widely across films as a cost-effective and realistic alternative from hiring actors and capturing shots that would otherwise be unrealistic. A significant example of its use lies in The Lord of the Rings (film series). One of the most glaring problems for the production team in the initial stages were large-scale battles, as the author of the novels, J. R. R. Tolkien, envisioned them to have at least 50,000 participants. Such a number was unrealistic had they decided to only attempt to hire real actors and actresses. Instead they decided to use CG to simulate these scenes through the use of the Multiple Agent Simulation System in a Virtual Environment, otherwise known as MASSIVE. The Human Logic Engine based Maya plugin for crowd simulation, Miarmy, was used for the development of these sequences. The software allowed the filmmakers to provide each character model an agent based A.I. that could utilize a library of 350 animations. Based on sight, hearing, and touch parameters generated from the simulation, agents would react uniquely to each situation. Thus each simulation of the scene was unpredictable. The final product clearly displayed the advantages to using crowd simulation software.

Urban planning
The development of crowd simulation software has become a modern and useful tool in designing urban environments. Whereas the traditional method of urban planning relies on maps and abstract sketches, a digital simulation is more capable of conveying both form and intent of design from architect to pedestrian. For example, street signs and traffic lights are localized visual cues that influence pedestrians to move and behave accordingly. Following this logic, a person is able to move from point A to point B in a way that is efficient and that a collective group of people can operate more effectively as a result. In a broader sense, bus systems and roadside restaurants serve a spatial purpose in their locations through an understanding of human movement patterns. The SimCity video game series exemplifies this concept in a more simplistic manner. In this series, the player assigns city development in designated zones while maintaining a healthy budget. The progression from empty land to a bustling city is fully controlled by the player's choices and the digital citizens behave as according to the city's design and events.

Evacuation and riot handling
Simulated realistic crowds can be used in training for riots handling, architecture, safety science (evacuation planning).

Military
Being that crowd simulations are so prevalent in use for public planning and general order with regards to chaotic situations, many applications can be drawn for governmental and military simulations. Crowd modeling is essential in police and military simulation in order to train officers and soldiers to deal with mass gatherings of people. Not only do offensive combatants prove to be difficult for these individuals to handle, but noncombatant crowds play significant roles in making these aggressive situations more out of control. Game technology is used in order to simulate these situations for soldiers and technicians to practice their skills.

Sociology
The behavior of a modeled crowd plays a prominent role in analytical matters. These dynamics rely on the physical behaviors of individual agents within a crowd rather than the visual reality of the model itself. The social behaviors of people within these constructs have been of interest for many years, and the sociological concepts which underpin these interactions are constantly studied. The simulation of crowds in different situations allows for sociological study of real life gatherings in a variety of arrangements and locations. The variations in human behavior in situations varying in stress-levels allows for the further development and creation of crowd control strategies which can be more specifically applied to situations rather than generalized.

Crowd simulation software

 * STEPS by Mott MacDonald
 * Alice Software by the Moving Picture Company
 * Golaem Crowd
 * Massive (software)
 * Miarmy
 * Quadstone Paramics
 * VISSIM

title: Crowd simulation


text: Category:Transcendentalism

title: Category:Transcendentalism


text:
Breaker Morant (film)

Breaker Morant is a 1980 Australian war drama film directed by Bruce Beresford, who co-wrote the screenplay based on Kenneth G. Ross's 1978 play of the same name.

The film concerns the 1902 court martial of lieutenants Harry Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton—one of the first war crime prosecutions in British military history. Australians serving in the British Army during the Second Anglo-Boer War, Morant, Handcock, and Witton stood accused of murdering captured enemy combatants and an unarmed civilian in the Northern Transvaal. The film is notable for its exploration of the Nuremberg Defence, the politics of the death penalty and the human cost of total war. As the trial unfolds, the events in question are shown in flashbacks.

In 1980, the film won ten Australian Film Institute Awards including: Best Film, Best Direction, Leading Actor, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, and Editing. It was also nominated for the 1980 Academy Award for the Best Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium).

Breaker Morant remains the movie with which Beresford is most identified and has "hoisted the images of the accused officers to the level of Australian icons and martyrs". In a 1999 interview Beresford explained that Breaker Morant "never pretended for a moment" that the defendants were not guilty as charged. He had intended the film to explore how wartime atrocities can be "committed by people who appear to be quite normal". Beresford concluded that he was "amazed" that so many people see his film as being about "poor Australians who were framed by the Brits".

Synopsis
In Pretoria, South Africa, in 1902, Major Charles Bolton (Rod Mullinar) is summoned to a meeting with Lord Kitchener (Alan Cassell). He is told that three officers of the Bushveldt Carbineers—lieutenants Harry Morant (Edward Woodward), Peter Handcock (Bryan Brown) and George Witton (Lewis Fitz-Gerald)—have been arrested and charged with the murder of captured Boers and a German missionary. Explaining ominously that the German Emperor—Wilhelm II—has protested diplomatically about the latter killing, Kitchener asks Major Bolton to appear for the prosecution. To the Major's visible dismay, he is told that witnesses who would help the defence have been sent to India and that the defence counsel is expected to give him no trouble.

The defence counsel, Major James Francis Thomas (Jack Thompson) meets Morant, Handcock and Witton the day before he is to represent them in court. He tells them that he knows only the basic facts, which look bad. A small town solicitor from New South Wales in civilian life, Major Thomas explains that he has never handled anything except legal documents like wills. Handcock quips, "Might come in handy".

As court martial proceedings begin the following morning, Major Thomas argues, because his clients are Australians, that only the Australian Army can court martial them. Unmoved, the president of the court martial, Lt. Col. Denny, explains that the defendants may be tried for alleged crimes committed while serving under British command in the Bushveldt Carbineers. Without further ado, Denny reads the indictment. The three stand accused of the murder of a Boer prisoner named Denys Visser (Michael Procanin Bernosky) and the subsequent shooting of six other captured Boers whose names are unknown. Morant and Handcock are charged with the murder of the Reverend Daniel Hesse.

Bolton begins by calling witnesses who describe a lack of discipline, drunkenness, widespread looting and corruption among the Carbineers at Fort Edward. Thomas manages to damage their credibility during cross-examination. The testimony then turns to the shooting of Visser, which is shown in flashback.

On 5 April 1901, Morant's friend, Captain Simon Hunt, had led a group of men to a farmhouse at Duiwelskloof intending to capture or kill Boer Commando Field Cornet Barend Viljoen. On arrival, the Carbineers found the farm swarming with far more armed men than expected. Captain Hunt was wounded, pinned down by enemy fire and left behind when he ordered his men to retreat. When the patrol returned to Fort Edward without Captain Hunt, Intelligence Corps Captain Alfred Taylor (John Waters) suggests Morant "avenge Captain Hunt". After returning to the farm and finding Captain Hunt's body mutilated with knives, Morant gave chase, ambushed Viljoen's men, and forced them to retreat with many losses. After capturing a Boer named Visser who was wearing Captain Hunt's jacket, an enraged Morant ordered his men to line up into a firing squad and shoot him. They obeyed his order.

Thomas argues that standing orders existed to shoot "all Boers captured wearing khaki". To the shock of Thomas and his clients, Bolton explains that those orders only applied to Boers wearing British uniforms as a ruse of war. When Morant takes the witness stand and is grilled by Bolton, he defends the shooting of Visser by saying that he fought the Boers as they fought him. When asked which of the rules of engagement justifies shooting an unarmed prisoner, Morant shouts, in reference to his rifle's calibre, saying they applied and shot them under "Rule 303". That night, Thomas tells Morant that he was the best witness the prosecution had, and that he should watch his temper. The following day, testimony turns to the shooting of the six Boers.

Captain Taylor testifies that Captain Hunt had paid a visit to Kitchener's headquarters. Following Hunt's return to Fort Edward, Morant had brought in a group of Boers who surrendered, only to be told by Captain Hunt that new orders received from Kitchener, relayed through Colonel Hubert Hamilton, decreed that no more prisoners were to be taken. Explaining that "The gentlemen's war is over", Hunt orders the prisoners to be shot, as Morant watched. Captain Taylor testifies that Morant had continued to bring prisoners in until after Captain Hunt had been killed. Afterwards, he always ordered his men to shoot them. On cross-examination, Bolton damages Taylor by forcing him to admit that he is also awaiting court martial for shooting prisoners. According to other witnesses, a group of six Boer guerrillas had approached Fort Edward after Captain Hunt's death, bearing white flags. Morant ordered the prisoners disarmed, lined up and shot. One charged Witton, who killed the prisoner with his revolver.

Thomas demands that Kitchener be summoned as a witness. He argues that, as his clients only followed orders, all charges must be dropped. Denny recoils at the suggestion that Kitchener, a man revered throughout the British Empire, would be capable of giving such criminal orders. Equally contemptuous of the idea, Bolton privately tells Thomas that, if Kitchener testifies and denies giving the orders, the defendants' lives will be doomed. He vainly urges Thomas not to insist. In private Kitchener tells Hamilton that, when he had issued orders to take no prisoners, he was trying to break the Boer guerrillas by waging total war. Now he is trying to win the hearts and minds of the Afrikaner people and arrange a peace conference. To this end, a few soldiers "have to be sacrificed" for the misdeeds of the British Army. He orders Hamilton to testify in his place. When Hamilton asks Kitchener what he should say, Kitchener replies, "I think you know what to say".

The following day, Hamilton takes the stand and denies ever having spoken to Captain Hunt. An outraged Morant stands up and shouts, calling the Colonel a liar. Denny comments that there will be no more talk of orders to shoot prisoners. Thomas explains that Hamilton's testimony is irrelevant. The fact is, his clients believed that such orders existed and thus cannot be held accountable for following them. The trial then turns to the murder of the Reverend Hesse. Corporal Sharp testifies that, shortly before the massacre of the six Boers, Hesse had passed through Fort Edward in a buggy. Shortly after his departure, Handcock had ridden up to Morant, spoken briefly to him and then ridden off, looking "agitated", in the same direction as Hesse, with a rifle. Thomas damages Sharp on cross-examination by revealing his hatred of the defendants.

On the stand, Morant explains that Hesse was under orders to never speak to prisoners while passing through Fort Edward and violated them. When Bolton asks why such orders existed, Morant explains, "It was for security reasons". When Morant had confronted Hesse, he had been told that the prisoners had begged Hesse to pray with them and that he could not refuse. Hesse then left the fort and was later found, shot dead, along the road. Bolton suggests that Hesse was going to inform their commanding officer of Morant's plans to kill the prisoners and accuses Morant of ordering Handcock to silence him. Unmoved, Morant insists that his commanding officer already knew and suggests that he be recalled from India to testify. He adds, "I don't mind waiting".

After Morant stands down, Thomas requests and is granted a brief recess to confer with Handcock before putting him on the stand. Late into the night, Thomas pleads with Handcock to tell him the truth, calling the Hesse murder "the most serious charge". At last, Handcock opens up about his whereabouts. The following morning, Handcock testifies that, when he left Fort Edward, he had travelled to the homes of two married Afrikaner women to 'entertain' them. As Bolton eyes him, Thomas produces signed depositions from the women to confirm Handcock's story. The court and the prosecution accept the depositions without summoning the women to give evidence.

Later, in the prison courtyard, Witton wonders aloud about who really did kill Hesse. Handcock smiles and says, "Me". To Witton's horror, Handcock explains that his visits to his "two lady friends" happened afterwards. When Witton asks whether Thomas knows, Morant explains that there is no reason for him to know. Morant explains that the Bushveldt Carbineers represent a new kind of warfare "for a new century". As the Boers do not wear uniforms, the enemy is everyone, including men, women, children, even missionaries. That is why, after Hesse had left the Fort, Morant had told Handcock that he believed the Reverend was a Boer spy and had said he was going towards Leydsdorp. A seething Handcock replied that anything could happen on the way there, rode after Hesse, and shot him.

After a powerful summary speech by Thomas, the defendants are acquitted of murdering Hesse. They celebrate, believing they have escaped execution but Taylor takes Morant aside and tells him that he and Handcock are almost certainly going to be shot. He offers to have a horse ready and says that many of the Highland Scots guards are sympathetic. He urges Morant to flee to Portuguese Mozambique, take ship from Lourenço Marques, and "see the world". Unmoved, Morant replies, "I've seen it". Next morning, the defendants are all found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Witton's sentence is commuted to "life in penal servitude". Thomas rushes to Kitchener's headquarters to demand a commutation and finds that Kitchener has already left. He is also told that London and the Australian Government support the verdict and sentences. There now will be a peace conference and every British and Colonial will be going home.

The next morning, as Witton is led away, Morant tells him "we are the scapegoats of Empire". Morant's poem "Butchered to Make a Dutchmen's Holiday" is recited in voiceover while he and Handcock are led before a firing squad. As both men are seated for their execution, Morant shouts, "Shoot straight, you bastards! Don't make a mess of it!" before being shot dead.

Production
Funding came from the SAFC, the Australian Film Commission, the Seven Network and PACT Productions. The distributors, Roadshow, insisted that Jack Thompson be given a role. The movie was the second of two films Beresford intended to make for the South Australian Film Corporation. He wanted to make Breakout, about the Cowra Breakout but could not find a script with which he was satisfied, so he turned to the story of Breaker Morant.

Alleged German pressure
In conversation with Bolton, Lord Kitchener states that Kaiser Wilhelm II has formally protested about the murder of Hesse, whom he describes as a German citizen. He says that the German people support the Boer cause, that their government covets the gold and diamond mines of the Boer Republics, and that the British Government fears German entry into the war. This, Kitchener explains, is why Morant, Handcock, and Witton must be convicted at all costs.

According to the South African historian Charles Leach, the legend that the German Foreign Office protested about the murder of Hesse "cannot be proved through official channels". "No personal or direct communication" between the Kaiser and his uncle, King Edward VII, "has been found despite widespread legend that this was definitely the case". Questions raised in the House of Commons on 8 April 1902 were answered by an insistence that the War Office, the Foreign Office, or Lord Kitchener had not received "any such communication on this subject" "on behalf of the German government".

Under international law, the German government had no grounds to protest. Despite being attached to the Berlin Missionary Society, Hesse had been born in Cape Colony and "was, technically speaking, a British subject, and not a German citizen". Yet, the scene contains a kernel of truth. Leach writes, "Several eminent South African historians, local enthusiasts, and commentators share the opinion that had it not been for the murder of Hesse, none of the other Bushveldt Carbineers would have been brought to trial".

Three defendants
Although only Morant, Handcock, and Witton are shown as being on trial, there were three other defendants:
 * Lieutenant Henry Picton, a British-born Australian officer of the Bushveldt Carbineers, was charged along with Morant, Handcock, and Witton of "committing the offense of murder" for delivering a coup de grâce after the execution of the wounded prisoner Floris Visser. Picton was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to be cashiered from the British Armed Forces.
 * Captain Alfred James Taylor, the Anglo-Irish commander of military intelligence at Fort Edward, stood accused of the murder of six unarmed Afrikaner men and boys, the theft of their money and livestock, and the subsequent murder of a Bushveldt Carbineers Trooper. He was acquitted.
 * Major Robert Lenehan, the Australian Field Commander of the Bushveldt Carbineers, stood accused of concealing the murder of a Bushveldt Carbineers Trooper who had disapproved of shooting prisoners. The official charge was "When on active service by culpable neglect failing to make a report which it was duty to make". Lenehan was found guilty and sentenced to a reprimand.

Role of other ranks and Colonel Hall
The soldiers from the Fort Edward garrison who testify against Morant, Handcock and Witton are depicted as motivated by grudges against their former officers. A prime example is Corporal Sharp, who expresses a willingness to walk across South Africa to serve in the defendants' firing squad. Other prosecution witnesses have been thrown out of the Bushveldt Carbineers by the defendants for looting, drunkenness and other offences. All are portrayed with British accents.

Hall, the officer commanding at Pietersburg, is depicted as fully aware and even complicit in the total war tactics of the Fort Edward garrison. He is also described as having been sent to India to prevent him from giving testimony favourable to the defence. Surviving documents tell that the arrest of the six defendants was ordered by Hall after a letter from the other ranks at Fort Edward. The letter, dated 4 October 1901, was written by BVC Trooper Robert Mitchell Cochrane, a former Justice of the Peace from Western Australia and signed by 15 members of the Fort Edward garrison.

After listing numerous murders and attempted murders of unarmed Boer prisoners, local civilians and BVC personnel who disapproved, the letter concluded, "Sir, many of us are Australians who have fought throughout nearly the whole war while others are Afrikaners who have fought from Colenso till now. We cannot return home with the stigma of these crimes attached to our names. Therefore we humbly pray that a full and exhaustive inquiry be made by Imperial officers in order that the truth be elicited and justice done. Also we beg that all witnesses may be kept in camp at Pietersburg till the inquiry is finished. So deeply do we deplore the opprobrium which must be inseparably attached to these crimes that scarcely a man once his time is up can be prevailed to re-enlist in this corps. Trusting for the credit of thinking you will grant the inquiry we seek".

Arrest at Fort Edward
During his conversation with Handcock and Witton in the prison courtyard, Morant alleges that the British Army has marked them for death "ever since they arrested us at Fort Edward" but their arrests took place elsewhere. After the letter Hall summoned all Fort Edward officers and non-commissioned officers to Pietersburg on 21 October 1901. All were met by a party of mounted infantry five miles outside Pietersburg on the morning of 23 October 1901 and "brought into town like criminals". Morant was arrested after returning from leave in Pretoria, where he had gone to settle the affairs of his deceased friend Captain Hunt.

Rejection of deals for leniency
In the film, the British military is determined to kill the defendants. According to the Australian historians Margaret Carnegie and Frank Shields, Morant and Handcock rejected an offer of immunity from prosecution in return for turning king's evidence. Military prosecutors allegedly hoped to use them as witnesses against BVC Major Robert Lenehan, who was believed to have issued orders to take no prisoners. Towards the end of the film, Taylor informs Morant that the British Army will never dare to prosecute him, as he really can implicate Kitchener in war crimes. According to the South African historian Andries Pretorius, the trial of Alfred Taylor was almost certainly saved for the last because "The prosecution must have been hoping", in vain for the accused officers, "to implicate Taylor". Their refusal to do so seems to have ensured that Taylor was not convicted at his trial.

Captain Hunt
In the film, Hunt is inaccurately depicted as having an Australian accent. According to the South African historian Charles Leach, Captain Hunt "was an Englishman, a former Lieutenant in Kitchener's Fighting Scouts, and a fine horseman". A surviving photograph of Hunt also reveals that he was far younger than the actor who plays him on screen.

Witton's death date
The movie states that Witton died in 1943. In reality, he died of complications after suffering a heart attack on 14 August 1942.

Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes gave Breaker Morant a 100% approval rating, based on 23 reviews, with an average score of 8.39/10.

The film also stirred debate on the legacy of the trial with its pacifist theme. D. L. Kershen wrote "Breaker Morant tells the story of the court martial of Harry Morant, Peter Handcock, and George Witton in South Africa in 1902. Yet, its overriding theme is that "war is evil". Breaker Morant is a beautiful antiwar statement — a plea for the end of the intrigues and crimes that war entails".

Another comments

"The clear issue of the film is the accountability of soldiers in war for acts condoned by their superiors. Another issue, which I find particularly fascinating, concerns the fairness of the hearing. We would ask whether due process was present, after accounting for the exigencies of the battlefield. Does Breaker Morant demonstrate what happens when due process is not observed?"

Bruce Beresford claimed the film is often misunderstood as the story of men railroaded by the British,

"But that's not what it's about at all. The film never pretended for a moment that they weren't guilty. It said they were guilty. But what was interesting about it was that it analysed why men in this situation would behave as they had never behaved before in their lives. It's the pressures that are put to bear on people in war time... Look at all the things that happen in these countries committed by people who appear to be quite normal. That was what I was interested in examining. I always get amazed when people say to me that this is a film about poor Australians who were framed by the Brits."

The film was released in the US by New World Pictures.

After the success of Breaker Morant, Beresford was offered dozens of Hollywood scripts including Tender Mercies, which he later directed. The 1983 film earned him his only Academy Award nomination for Best Director to date, even though Driving Miss Daisy (1989) which he directed, won Best Picture. Beresford said that Breaker Morant was not that successful commercially,

"Critically, it was important, which is a key factor, and it has kept being shown over the years. Whenever I am in Los Angeles, it's always on TV. I get phone calls from people who say, 'I saw your movie, could you do something for us?' But, they're looking at a [then] twenty-year-old movie. At the time it never had an audience. Nobody went anywhere in the world. It opened and closed in America in less than a week. And in London, I remember it had four days in the West End. Commercially, a disaster, but... It's a film that people talk about to me all the time."

Box office
Breaker Morant grossed A$4,735,000 at the box office in Australia, the equivalent of $19.7 million in 2017 dollars.

Soundtrack
A soundtrack was released by Cherry Pie Music (CPF 1046)

Home media
A DVD was released by REEL Corporation in 2001 with a running time of 104 minutes. Image Entertainment released a Blu-ray Disc version of the film in the US on 5 February 2008 (107 minutes), including the documentary "The Boer War", a detailed account of the historical facts depicted in the film. In 2015 the film was released by The Criterion Collection on both DVD and Blu-ray.

General and cited references

 * Ross, K. G. (1979). Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts. Melbourne: Edward Arnold. ISBN 0-7267-0997-2.
 * Written on the hundredth anniversary of Morant's execution and the twenty-fourth anniversary of the first performance of his play. Article was reprinted in The Sydney Morning Herald on the same date.
 * Written on the hundredth anniversary of Morant's execution and the twenty-fourth anniversary of the first performance of his play. Article was reprinted in The Sydney Morning Herald on the same date.

title: Breaker Morant (film)


text:
The Dead Zone (TV series)

The Dead Zone, also known as Stephen King's The Dead Zone (in the USA) is a science fiction drama television series starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, who discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma. The show, credited as "based on characters" from Stephen King's 1979 novel of the same name, first aired in 2002, and was produced by Lionsgate Television and Paramount Network Television (later CBS Paramount Network Television) for the USA Network.

The show was originally commissioned for UPN, but the network dropped the show and it was picked up by USA. The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for its first five seasons. The sixth and last season was billed as "The season that changes everything" and production was moved to Montreal.

The Dead Zone was expected to be renewed for a seventh season, but due to financial concerns and fear of low ratings on the part of the producers, the series was cancelled on a major cliffhanger in December 2007 without a series finale. Syfy was rumored to possibly pick up the series after it was cancelled by USA, but it did not occur.

Plot
Small-town teacher Johnny Smith is involved in a car accident that leaves him comatose for about six years. After regaining consciousness, Johnny begins having visions of the past and future triggered by touching items or people; doctors attribute the visions to activity in a previously unused "dead zone" of his brain that is attempting to compensate for the impaired function of the portions injured in the accident. Johnny also learns that his fiancée, Sarah, gave birth to his son in the interim following the accident, but has since married another man.

With the help of Sarah, her husband (and town sheriff) Walt Bannerman, and physical therapist Bruce, Johnny begins using his abilities to help solve crimes. His attempts to do good, though, are complicated by intermittent visions of apocalyptic events brought about following the future election of congressional candidate Greg Stillson.

Main

 * Anthony Michael Hall—John Robert "Johnny" Smith
 * Nicole de Boer—Sarah Anne Bracknell-Bannerman
 * John L. Adams—Bruce Lewis (seasons 1–5, main; guest star season 6)
 * Chris Bruno—Sheriff Walter T. "Walt" Bannerman (seasons 1–5, main; guest star season 6)
 * Connor Price—John "Johnny"/"JJ" Bannerman/Smith (season 6)

Recurring

 * David Ogden Stiers—Rev. Eugene "Gene" Purdy
 * Bill Mondy—Deputy Roscoe
 * Sean Patrick Flanery—Greg Stillson
 * Garry Chalk—James Stillson (seasons 1–4)
 * Spencer Achtymichuk—John "Johnny"/"JJ" Bannerman (seasons 1–5)
 * Kristen Dalton—Dana Bright (seasons 1–2, 5)
 * Frank Whaley—Christopher Wey (seasons 2–3)
 * Sarah Wynter—Rebecca Caldwell (seasons 3–4)
 * Martin Donovan—Malcolm Janus (seasons 4–6)
 * Laura Harris—Miranda Ellis (seasons 4–5)
 * Jennifer Finnigan—Alexandra "Alex" Sinclair (seasons 4 and 6)
 * Cara Buono—Acting Sheriff Anna Turner (season 6)
 * Grant L Roberts—Acting - Big Man (season 6)

Characters

 * Johnny Smith (played by Anthony Michael Hall) is a retired schoolteacher who, as a result of a car accident, has developed psychic abilities. An encounter with a carnival trickster in the first episode (before the car accident) makes it clear Johnny already has some psychic abilities, but after the coma, their nature changes from intuition to visions, the latter requiring urgent action, even when personally inconvenient, whereas earlier, Johnny only uses his ability on a carnival trickster to amuse his fiancée Sarah. Whenever he undergoes one of his visions in his eye, Johnny has shown to be capable of manipulating the time localized around the vision, allowing him to stop, slow, reverse, or forward the time relative to himself within the vision, leaving him as the only one aware of his temporal alterations within it, thus allowing him to further examine the details from the past, future, and occasionally the present.
 * Sarah Bracknell Bannerman (played by Nicole de Boer) is Johnny's former fiancée and the mother of his son, J.J. Sarah married Walt Bannerman during Johnny's coma, and the two are raising J.J. together. Sarah knew Johnny when they were children, and later taught at the same school as he did. Sarah's mother died when she was a teenager, which strained her relationship with her father. At the end of season 5, Sarah was pregnant with Walt's child. At the beginning of season 6, she gives birth to Walt's daughter and names her "Hope".
 * Sheriff Walt Bannerman (played by Chris Bruno) initially has very rocky relationship with Johnny, who often feels that Walt stole Sarah from him. Since then, as Johnny displays his powers more and more often in law enforcement situations, Johnny becomes an asset to Walt, and the two become friends. The name Walt Bannerman is a combination of the names George Bannerman and Walt Hazlett; in the novel, George Bannerman was the sheriff, and Walt Hazlett was the man Sarah married. At the beginning of season 6, Walt is killed in a fire at the Faith Heritage Chapel, but he continued to pop up throughout the season in visions and flashbacks, and even briefly as a ghost.
 * Bruce Lewis (played by John L. Adams) is a physiotherapist who helps Johnny regain his strength after his coma. Bruce is an open-minded spiritual person as a result of a religious upbringing by his pastor father. He is Johnny's best friend and frequently his voice of reason, and may very well be the reason for the divergence in this series when compared to the novel or 1983 movie (Johnny never tried to kill Greg Stillson before the election). An episode in season 2 even featured a vision of an alternate reality where instead of being a physical therapist, Bruce was a reverend who never met Johnny after waking up from his coma. Thus, with the absence of his guidance, this version of Johnny became unstable, deranged, and driven mad by his abilities.
 * Rev. Gene Purdy (played by David Ogden Stiers), another original character in the series, is a religious leader and head of a prestigious university and foundations funded by Vera Smith, Johnny's mother. Johnny always speculated that Purdy's interest in Vera was for financial gain, but his powers allowed him to discover that Purdy had been in love with Vera for more than 35 years. Upon Vera's suicide over the grief of the loss of her son, Purdy covered up the incident and made everyone believe she died of a heart attack, thus preserving her dignity in the public eye. Purdy has long been involved with somewhat shady dealings, but is always in the constant service of God. His devotion sometimes clouds his judgment, and he has even gone as far as to cover up a murder to protect better interests. At the end of the season-six premiere "Heritage", Purdy leaves Cleaves Mills after being involved in a fire that killed Walt Bannerman and Malcolm Janus at the Faith Heritage Chapel.
 * Dana Bright (played by Kristen Dalton) is a journalist for the Bangor Daily News. Dana covered much of Johnny's early work, and later became romantically linked with him; she was also in a relationship with Gene Purdy. She left the show for some time, and her absence was not explained until the season 5 episode "Articles of Faith". Because of her coverage of Johnny, Dana was able to move on up to reporting for a Boston television station, choosing her career ambitions above her increasingly complex relationship with Johnny. At the end of that episode when she leaves, both are shown to harbor, to some degree, feelings for each other.
 * Greg Stillson (played by Sean Patrick Flanery) is a mentally unstable politician who has taken many illegal steps to secure an election. Upon meeting with Johnny Smith, Stillson clearly would become responsible for an apocalyptic event that Johnny has seen in his visions and is trying to prevent. After the death of Malcolm Janus (see below), Johnny's visions of a Stillson-created apocalypse ceased, but after some further revelations, they returned at the end of the season.
 * Deputy Roscoe (played by Bill Mondy) is a deputy who works for Walt. Roscoe is usually first on the scene and very dependable.
 * Johnny "J.J." Bannerman (played by Spencer Achtymichuk (seasons 1–5) and Connor Price (season 6)) is the biological son of Johnny and Sarah. Sarah was pregnant when Johnny had his accident, and she ultimately married Walt, who raised J.J. as his own son. As of the third season, Walt and Sarah have told J.J. that Johnny is his real father, and Johnny has taken on more fatherly duties. In the season-six episode "Big Top", Johnny starts to believe that J.J. has inherited his powers, but J.J. appears to be covering up his innate abilities. In the series finale, J.J. has his first actual vision when he sees Armageddon in the pupil of his eye sharing it within Johnny's eye during a scuffle with Greg Stillson.
 * Malcolm Janus (played by Martin Donovan) is a power broker who believes that Greg Stillson is "destined for great things". His ultimate goal is to place Stillson in the White House. He also gave Reverend Purdy a global sphere of influence, in return for financial support of Stillson's campaigns. Janus is apparently a member of the Illuminati, as he wears a ring with their symbol. At the beginning of season-six episode "Heritage", Janus is killed in self-defense by Purdy at the Faith Heritage Chapel.
 * Christopher Wey (played by Frank Whaley)is a man from the future who has been comatose since 2003. He wakes after the apocalypse to discover that he has a "dead zone" similar to Johnny's, and that he can communicate with the present-day Johnny when both are in contact with the head of his cane. Wey is revealed to be in league with a future Johnny Smith and J.J.
 * Rebecca Caldwell (played by Sarah Wynter) is child psychiatrist who met Johnny during his investigation of the murder of her sister Rachel. Rebecca became Johnny's girlfriend, and at one time, found out that Greg Stillson may have been responsible for her sister's murder and will be responsible for the upcoming apocalypse. As of the third-season finale, she has purchased a gun in an attempt to assassinate Stillson. Rebecca was stopped by Johnny and discovered that Stillson did not kill Rachel. She left Johnny, seeking to sort things out for herself.
 * Alex Sinclair (played by Jennifer Finnigan) is a female psychic who discovered her "dead zone" when she was stung by a swarm of bees (presumably "killer bees") as a child and became hyperallergic to bee stings and products. Alex first appears in the fourth-season episode "Double Vision", where Johnny and she track down a sniper together. At the end of the episode, Johnny and she clearly have developed feelings for each other, but she decides that she is not ready to pursue the relationship. Alex does later appear in the fourth-season Christmas episode "A Very Dead Zone Christmas", where the idea of Johnny and her getting together is further explored.
 * Anna Turner (played by Cara Buono) is the sheriff pro tem of Penobscot County; Anna investigated the final unofficial case of the recently deceased Sheriff Walt Bannerman.

Music

 * In the pilot episode, the music class practices the song "Mr. Sandman." In the same episode, Johnny and Sarah make out in his car to "Sleep Walk", a song by Santo & Johnny, which also featured in the Stephen King movie Sleepwalkers.
 * The theme song from seasons 1-3 is "New Year's Prayer" by Jeff Buckley.
 * The new theme song since season 4 is "Dead Zone Epic" by Blues Saraceno.
 * The promos for season 4 featured the song "Brace Yourself" by Howie Day.
 * The promos for season 5 featured the song "By My Side" by INXS.
 * The promos for season 6 featured the song "Touch Me" by The Doors.

Home media
Lionsgate Home Entertainment has released all six seasons of The Dead Zone on DVD in Region 1, while CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) has also released all six seasons in Region 2.

On June 26, 2012, Lionsgate Home Entertainment released a complete series set on DVD in Canada only, while Paramount also released it in Europe.

In Australia, all six seasons had been released on DVD from 2006 to 2009. Madman Entertainment/Via Vision Entertainment has obtained the rights to the series and released a complete series box set on January 6, 2021.

The entire series is available on demand on the Pluto TV app.

The series on DVD has the episode order based on the production order rather than the order in which the episodes were aired on TV.

Ratings
The first season averaged 6.4 million viewers, while season four averaged 3.4 million and season six averaged 2.1 million. The series premiere scored 6.4 million viewers, holding the record for highest premiere on USA Network, until bested by The 4400 premiere, which drew 7.4 million viewers.

title: The Dead Zone (TV series)


text:
Narrativity

Narrativity is the extent to which a media tells a story, which is a storyteller's account of an event or a sequence of events leading to a transition from an initial state to a later state or outcome. There are four theoretical foundations of narrativity, represented by the notions of Narrative content and discourse are the linguistic antecedents of narrativity. Narrative content reflects the linear sequence of events as characters live through them—that is, the backbone and structure describing who did what, where, when, and why. Narrative discourse represents how the story is told—that is, storytellers' use of literary devices to expand on the narrative content, such as emotional change over the course of the story line and sequencing of events to create drama. Narrative transportation is the engrossing, transformational experience of being swept away by a story. Narrative persuasion is the effect of narrative transportation, which manifests itself in story receivers' positive attitudes toward the story, story-consistent attitudes toward the experience described therein, and story-consistent intentions. The higher the quality of narrative content and discourse in a text, the greater its narrativity and its real-world implications, such as narrative transportation and persuasion, as van Laer, Escalas, Ludwig, and van den Hende show.
 * 1) narrative content,
 * 2) narrative discourse,
 * 3) narrative transportation, and
 * 4) narrative persuasion.

The theory of narrativity
The extent to which story receivers experience narrative transportation and are "lost" in the narrative world depends on the level of narrativity of a text. Narratologists distinguish two components of narrativity: content and discourse. The difference between narrative content and narrative discourse is the difference between what is conveyed and how it is conveyed. The features of narrative content align with the structural components of a story (i.e., characters and events). Literary devices, which grant storytellers the power to frame the narrative, are associated with narrative discourse. Variations in these narrative elements affect transportation into the narrative and subsequent persuasion, as the theory of narrativity proposes.

title: Narrativity


text:
Talk:Breaker Morant

Re. "Execution section" - Sentence implying gunshots may not have been heard
"Witton wrote that he was by then at Pretoria railway station and heard the volley of shots that killed his comrades. However, Robert Poore, who attended the execution, wrote in his diary that he put Witton and Lieutenant Picton on the train that left at 05:30 hours. Thus, Witton would have been several miles on the way to Cape Town when the execution occurred."

The last sentence suggests that Witton's account that he heard the killing shots is inaccurate and possibly embellished. The evidence provided is insufficient to justify this suggestion. Anecdotally, I know that the .303 can be heard from several miles away. The .303 is a large, supersonic round and can be heard from several miles away in forested terrain. For further information, search hunting forums regarding audible range of various gunshots. The reasonably flat geography of Pretoria would allow multiple .303 gunshots to be heard from "several miles" away.

I suggest that someone with the authority to do so rewords the sentence to remove the implication that Witton was embellishing his account. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 103.101.171.156 (talk) 02:37, 25 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Even better, we should remove all material cited to Witton because he is not a reliable source. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 11:59, 9 January 2024 (UTC)

BVC photograph
This photograph is not properly licensed. If no author is known, then we can hardly use a 70 year post-mortem licence. Unless someone knows who took it or an early publication which means it is out of copyright, it will need to be deleted. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 11:57, 9 January 2024 (UTC)

Why is the oath quoted verbatim?
There is no encyclopaedic value in reproducing the oath Morant took when he initially enlisted for the war. In the first case, the provisions can be easily summarised, and in the second case, he was commissioned before he committed any war crimes we are aware of, and would have taken an officer's oath at that time. It would be similar, but not exactly the same, and of course, as a British Army commission would not have mentioned anything about Australia. I will shortly summarise it and delete the full text. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 01:09, 10 January 2024 (UTC)

History Net
I'm removing the Ron Soodalter/History Net citations and material, per the discussion here. It is not of sufficient quality for a GA, which is where this is going in the first instance. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 07:40, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Is there bloat?
There seems to be a lot of stuff in this article that is just bloat. An entire section that makes no mention of the primary subject of this article should probably be deleted. Betterkeks (talk) 00:21, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
 * How about we get the basic chronology sorted out and trim from there? At present, the article is in very poor condition, and I'm waiting for access to a couple of sources. I'm a bit distracted with RW stuff for the next month, but will be pushing on with getting this to GAN later this year once all the nonsense of Witton's fairytale has been removed and the narrative of the reliable sources is put in place. I presume you are referring to the "A Squadron at Sweetwaters Farm" section which provides background of what happened with the other squadron of the BVC? That is highly relevant context for what happened with Hunt's squadron, especially as Handcock transferred to Hunt's squadron, and had already been involved in murders. I expect that once the rest of the article has been rewritten, this section will be trimmed down, but it isn't necessary now. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 01:22, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Breaker Morant