CREATIVITY By Natasha and Divine

WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND BY ‘CREATIVITY’ AND TO WHY IS IT NEEDED?

Creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three elements: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognise and validate the innovation.

Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others.

Three reasons why people are motivated to be creative: 1. need for novel, varied, and complex stimulation 2. need to communicate ideas and values 3. need to solve problems

CREATIVITY This is what Pete Fraser, the chief examiner for OCR Media Studies, has to say

about creativity:

"One of the possible areas you could be asked about in the exam is creativity. The projects you have undertaken will hopefully have felt like an opportunity to display your creativity, but you will need the chance to discuss what you understand by creativity and what it might mean to be creative.

The assignment options at AS and A2 all offer constraints for your work, whether it be making pages for a music magazine, the opening of a film or the packaging for an album; one of the reasons why you aren't offered total free choice is because people often find that working within constraints gives them something to exercise their creativity, whereas total freedom can sometimes make it really difficult to know where to start. It's why genre can be interesting- how has something been created which fits with certain structures and rules but plays around with them to give us something a little bit different?

The word 'creative' has many meanings- the most democratic meaning would

really suggest that any act of making something (even making an idea) might be seen as a creative act. In more elitist versions of the term, it is reserved for those who are seen as highly skilled or original (famous artists, musicians, film-makers etc).

An interesting third alternative is to think about how creativity can be an unconscious, random or collaborative act that becomes more than the sum of its parts."

People often find that working within constraints gives them something to exercise their creativity

How has something been created which fits with certain structures and rules but plays around with them to give us something a little bit different?

Total freedom can sometimes make it really difficult to know where to start Any act of making something (even making an idea) might be seen as a

creative act Creativity can be an unconscious, random or collaborative act that

becomes more than the sum of its parts

Five key words taken from these statements:

Constraints Different Freedom Idea Collaborative

FIVE KEY STATEMENTS THAT CAN BE TAKEN FROM THIS PASSAGE:

IN OUR RADIO DRAMAS:I KILLED A MAN http://natasha-media-blog.blogspot.co.uk/#!/2013/01/ancillary-tasks.html

Creativity is the process needed for problem solving.. not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people. In our radio play, a problem is created from the very start as our

protagonist, Dina’s character and personality has to established. This is done from the start when we hear her come out of the shower,

pad across the landing and switch on the TV, and she begins to channel surf.

SOCIAL MEDIA DILEMMA http://divine-media-blog.blogspot.co.uk/

‘Creative’ the most democratic meaning would really suggest that any act of making something (even making an idea) might be

seen as a creative act. In this case a radio drama for our coursework based in Ovid’s and

Titians 'Metamorphoses' paintings Diana and Actaeon Creativity is shown we had made this ancient story into a modern

story .

Actaeon sliding the red curtain aside In SMD it was Chris sending

Seeing the naked nymphs naked pictures to his friends.

This is seen as a creative idea as we have

we made changed what was visual to audible

In order to be creative, you need to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective. Among other things, you need to be able to generate new possibilities or new alternatives.

The word 'creative' has many meanings- the most democratic meaning would really suggest that any act of making something (even making an idea) might be seen as a creative act.

In more elitist versions of the term, it is reserved for those who are seen as highly skilled or original (famous artists, musicians, film-makers etc).

An interesting third alternative is to think about how creativity can be an unconscious, random or collaborative act that becomes more than the sum of its parts.

'Metamorphoses' is an epic poem, almost 900 lines long, written in Latin by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC-17 AD). It's a collection of mythical tales based on the theme of 'change' – 'Metamorphoses' means 'transformations' in Greek. The poem was an inspiration for many painters during that time period. This is what inspired Titian's Diana and Actaeon.

Actaeon becomes a 'peeping tom' accidentally and suffers the consequences as the wrath of Dianna. ''Imagine the scene as he entered: the grotto, the splashing fountains, the group of nymphs in the nude'' Titian, the painter

took lines from this epic poem in book 3 and created a painting of the moment Actaeon comes across Dianna and the nymphs.

How these inspired our radio play: ''An eyeful - that is what Actaeon got, in today's phrase, when he saw Diana naked in the woods. He was

just wandering along with his hounds when he chanced upon the goddess taking a bath and a single glance sealed his fate. He looked, she looked, her companions rushed with clothes but it was already too late. Sunset-red with rage, writes Ovid, Diana turned the hapless hunter into a stag and his own dogs tore him to pieces.''

Our Radio Play 'I Killed a Man' tells of the unfortunate events that occurred on that day but with a modern day twist. We begin our play within the present tense in the moments later aftermath of Actaeon's killing where Dina who we took from the Goddess Dianna, is being arrested. We rewind back to Dina just coming out of the shower similarly to when Dianna is taking a bath with her nymphs.

She picks up a call from her friend Cali who we derived from Callisto in the original Metamorphoses and whilst they converse about her strange neighbour who seems only too eager to help her at every instance and whom she finds 'creepy'. Unbeknownst to both girls, The 'creepy' neighbour is listening in on their phone call and is masturbating as he can see Dina naked through a hole in his wall, much like when Actaeon stumbles upon Dianna.

The revenge of Dianna is shown as self defence in our radio play as she murders Actaeon accidentally to defend both herself and her Greek boyfriend, Stavros.

In a time where men post pictures of women unknowingly onto 'creep sites', the story of Dianna and Actaeon is all about the history of the male gaze and the female nude and this is what we tried to portray.

CREATIVITY : THE INITIAL IDEAS AND DEVELOPMENT

CREATIVITY - THEORY Anthony Storr ‘creativity has been defined as the ability to

bring something new into existence’. ’the making of the new and the rearranging of the old.’

(Bentley 1997)

Ken Robinson has identified some Creative Habits of mind Creativity - enquiring mind Flexibility - lateral thinking and connection making Willingness - to think the impossible Confidence - to try things out Ability - to handle uncertainty - perseverance in

adversity Self-reflective awareness

MORE THEORY Ken Robinson ‘To promote creativity it is essential to understand the main

elements and phases of the creative process including: the importance of the medium; the need to be in control of the medium; the need to play and take risks; and the need for critical judgment

TO WHAT EXTENT WERE YOU CREATIVE IN YOUR AS AND A2 COURSEWORK? : INSERTING TEORY INTO YOUR EXAM ANSWER

The view I hold on whether or not technology enhanced my ability to be creative is; yes, absolutely. Having the correct tools to produce the work with made it much easier to test ideas, create concepts, and in general be able to produce a product that was to the standard I aimed for. The technology used both generated components of the products as well as helped to stitch them together, and I think that, without the technology, it would have been very challenging to produce the work to the same level.

The theorist Bentley’s view on creativity would agree with the process that I used during the production of my products. They believe that it is: “The making of the new and the rearranging of the old”. In the production of the AS coursework for example, I took inspiration from a number of music magazines such as Kerrang and Classic Rock, using their colours and objects and ‘arranging’ them in the way that fitted my concept. To arrange the components, I used Photoshop, which aided the construction process. Using the software in fact enhanced my ability to be creative with this, as I could place every object exactly where I wanted, as well as be able to personalise the effects that I added to each object.

Without the assistance of tools such as the smart guides, I think that I would’ve had difficulty in translating my ideas into the real product. This would challenge David Gauntlett’s view that: “Technology has taken all the creativity out of media production. In further challenge to Gauntlett’s view, the imagery used for the A2 digipack and adverts were edited using Photoshop’s colouring tools in order to selectively highlight objects such as origami cranes in colour whilst demoting the background with a monochromatic filter. This could be considered as an effort to be creative by using technology as well, so Gauntlett’s view is in my view unfounded. I also disagree with his view that: “A project that is too well planned lacks opportunities for spontaneity and creativity”. During the filming stage of producing my music video, I had extensively planned the locations, cast and shots that I wanted to include in the video.

•There were times when my ability to be creative was limited. For instance, throughout the preliminary stages as well as the production stages, it seemed that I was being instructed by the course to use a variety of different short shots filmed at different angles and distances, and it seemed that longer, more dramatic shots were not appropriate for use in the video. Whilst it was not compulsory to follow the instruction, I felt that if I deviated from what was outlined, the mark I received would be effective. I would have liked to have been able to include longer shots that lasted perhaps ten seconds or more in some places, as I think that it would have allowed me to convey a more emotional video that focused on the person, rather than the music. Instead, it seems that I have created a video in which the music dictated what shots were appropriate to be used, rather than the shots being able to tell their own story. This means also that it was impossible to be original in the way that the video was filmed. Although originality is hard to come by these days, it would have been rewarding to attempt creating an original video. Originality was difficult to show though even in the ancillary products, the digipack and advert, where there were no limits as to what could be produced. Although this wasn’t disheartening as such, because the majority of album artwork today is a replication, parody or bricolage of past works.

•In future projects, the creative skills I will take forward with me will be, first and foremost, ensuring that there is room for spontaneity in any project that is planned. This would be good practice as sometimes a good idea does not present itself during the planning stage. This also means that will be possible for me to include ideas which I may not have previously thought of or considered.

• However, whilst on location filming, there were several occasions where I filmed scenery and objects which I found interesting and matched the ideas associated within the song I was using as well as the original video concept. There were some long shots of planes that were flying past, for example. These shots were not planned, and I didn’t even know that there would be planes flying overhead. So the filming of those shots, in contradiction to Gauntlett’s view, was ‘spontaneous’ and creative. Furthermore, I found that this spontaneity enhanced my original plan for the video, as the shots were able to either replace or link shots that I had already outlined.