Creativity

What is creativity?
Thesaurus:
Originality, imagination, inspiration, ingenuity, inventiveness, resourcefulness, creativeness, vision and innovation.

Originality:
It's hard to be completely original in a magazine, music video or digipack. I developed and used conventions and tried to challenge them as much as I could and keep all the products looking professional.

• My magazine cover featured elements that were fairly rare in modern examples but not too dissimilar. e.g Full length shot, black & white, few cover lines etc. 
• Music video was filmed at night, few examples out there of night time outside video. Original camera angles, e.g behind drummer. 
• Digipack, I used similar covers (e.g Razorlight) but used colour text and colourful inside cover.

Imagination:

• Had to use imagination to create artists and band for magazine and music video. 
• Had to get a basis for music video plot/outline. 

Inspiration 

• Builds up knowledge, looked at many magazine covers for AS. Music videos and digipacks A2. 

Ingenuity 

• Coming up with clever ideas that will help to bring elements of the work together. Finding a way for a certain element of the idea to work well for the intended purpose. 

Inventiveness 

• Thinking of new ways to create work. Inventiveness implies an invention, this means being completely original. Which will be very hard. 

Resourcefulness

• Using existing examples to good effect. Creation will be brought up from a knowledge of previous works. Texts will not be copied but inspiration will be brought up from them. 

Creativeness

• How 'creative' someone is. Using all the potential creativity to good effect. Whatever the subjective definition of creativity is, creativeness means how well someone is using it. 

How creative do you think you have been?

For all products created in my coursework I feel I have been very creative. I have used elements in other texts to create products that I feel looked professional and ones that I have enjoyed myself. 

What has prevented you from being more creative?

The limits to what we could create limited me in what products I could make. I had to build up a knowledge of music magazines for example, whereas I myself am usually a reader of mens or sports magazines. In creating a video, we were limited to just a music video. When there are many other types of video that we could have made that could have been more suited to our own personal abilities. 

Creativity Theorists

''A process needed for problem solving...not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people'' Jones 1993

This theory suggests that there is no unique creativity. A common ability is what is described as. To an extent I agree, everyone has the ability to be creative, but in their own unique way. Someone will create something that fulfils a purpose, wether it be to enjoy themselves or for a specific audience.

''The making of the new and the rearranging of the old'' Bentley 1997

This could be two different types of creativity; the making of the new refers to being original with your own ideas. Which is very hard. Rearranging of the old is using well-practiced techniques or conventions in work. Proof that techniques work will be the previous use in professional texts.

''There is no absolute judgement (on creativity) All judgements are comparisons of one thing or another.'' David Larning 

The theory argues that creativity is subjective, nothing is wrong or right. A judgement of someone's creation will be based on other pieces. Someone who will judge something will have an idea what is 'good' or 'bad' but this can change through time and trends, it could also completely compose another person's opinion.

''Technology has taken all the creativity out of media production'' 


This could be arguing that access to existing texts is too easy. Therefore people's minds will be flooded with these existing ideas and may not be able to be original and create their own ideas.


''A project that is too well planned lacks opportunities for spontaneity and creativity'' 


This argues that being spontaneous allows a better chance of being creative. I think that it's hard to create something that is planned down to the last detail and 100% stuck to. I believe that trial and error is something that should be used, if something doesn't work then try something else that will. Maybe go a completely different way with something using you r own knowledge, being creative.

''If creativity is not inherent in human mental powers and is, in fact, social and situational, then technological developments may well be linked to advances in the creativity of individual users'' Banaji, Burn and Buckingham 2006


In simple terms, I believe this means that if creativity is something that is created by a persons experiences of media texts then the advance in technological developments will increase the creativity of individuals.

Links to coursework blogs

http://harrysimmonslcasmediacoursework.blogspot.com/ - AS Magazine
http://millssimmonsa2media.blogspot.com/ ft. Pat Mills. A2 Music Video, Digipack and Magazine Advert

AS and A2 coursework summary.

AS - Magazine Cover, Contents page, double page spread.
        Indie music magazine, aimed at audience interested in this genre 18 - 35.
A2 - Music Video, Digipack, Magazine advert.
        Band created to fit these products. Based around the indie/britpop genre.

Section A: Skills Evaluation of Production - Question 1 (a)

Describe and evaluate your skills development over the course of your production work.

Describe - say what they are, outline them

Evaluate - Good + bad points, how you have done it. Self-critical

Skills - your own abilities - in technologies e.g camerawork, creativity, editing

Development - how you've got better and progressed

Over the course - all of A level Media - past 2 years

Production work - magazines, videos, digipack, preliminary tasks etc.



Digital Technology
- Technologies used in media work, all software and hardware used. e.g. Photoshop, Camera, Computer
Creativity
- Personal flair built up through researh and existing knowledge that allows someone to produce good, original pieces of work e.g. thinking up an idea for a music video
Research and Planinng
- Searching through the internet, existing texts etc. to build up a knowledge for creating your own text
Post-prodution
- After all products have been created. Evaluate and asses your work and improve time.
Using conventions from real media texts
- Drawing inspiration from existing videos, digipacks, magazines etc. to get an idea of what works well and look proffesional.