An Introduction to 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."

Working with constraints

Unconcious collaborative, random act

Challenging/changing rules/genre

Act of making something

Highly skilled or original

AS WORK - (my AS work was in the genre of "Hip Hop"constraints:
 that we had to create a music type magazine (front cover, double page spread and contents page.)

random:  i unconciously chose to add the effect of a shadow behind the font on the front cover of my magazine

genre: i followed conventions

making: cutting out the background from my model on my front cover

skilled: i arranged conventions in an effective way showing skill

A2 WORK- (my A2 work was in the the genre of "rock")
constraints:
we had to create a music video digipak and advert
random: i chose to use a silluete cut out of a cat and all band members to create a sense of mystery

genre: my "rock" genre was challenged with the use of

Evaluation question 4

Evaluation question 4 how did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

The technologies i used in the construction research planning stage was


and evaluation stages a 

Don't simply think about the technology you have used but also consider how they 'connect' together. Also comment on how much 'easier' technology has made the research, production and evaluation of your work.

This is a more difficult question for theory but if you watch this video you can take some facts, Lily Jones has made an excellent attempt and Jamie and Theo produced a good response last year. This Mike Wesch video might inspire you to present your ideas in a creative way.




Technologies you might have used are:

Prezi
Animoto
Twitter
Blogger
Email
Internet
Video Camera
Photobucket
Flickr
Slideshare
Scribd
Photoshop
Digital still camera
Digital video camera
Hipstamatic
Phone (android, iPhone etc)
iPod
etc

Evaluation question 3

Evaluation question 3 
What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Find every piece of feedback you have received, these can range from comments on your blog, feedback in class (remember you filmed your pitch!), facebook messages, twitter messages, emails etc. 


From my audience feedback i have learnt constantly how to improve my product for example during my pitch it was early in the process stage of planning and i had lots of ideas. my teacher gave me the majority of my feedback
Remember to say who gave you feedback and think about why that was important (i.e. someone NOT in your target audience might not have been listened to, whilst a friend who likes your genre was). 



Also explain what choices you made and which you didn't. 

How influential was the exam boards expectations of you and did this hamper your creativity

Evaluation question 2

EVALUATION 2. How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

In this question you need to evaluate the sense of 'branding' you've created across your products. Once again you need to use a range of technologies to present your work.

Some tips

Pick out the elements you've chosen to carry across your work and explain why you feel these best represent your 'artist'.

The elements I chose to carry across throughout my work which I feel represent my artist is the bands name and also the image of the cat as I felt this created a sense of branding and anyone who sees either product would be able to recognize that they are all linked together.

Think about those elements which you've not included, briefly explain why you chose not to include them. By happy accident Nicky Chapman has already begun this process, you may wish to copy her.

Evaluation question 1

EVALUATION 1. 

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

when i compare my final media product with my initial planning and research i can see similarities and influences i have taken from this and used within making a final piece

My research and planning influenced my work in the making of my digipak advert and music video.

For example I did some research and discovered a “Queens of the Stone Age” cd which used a single colour for all 6 panels  which I chose to use for my own as i thought it looked effective and brilliant.

My product constantly uses conventions of real media products such as the barcode the record company logo the web address for my artist and ratings from music magazines. I also used the band members performing in my music video.
I decided not to have a storyline in my music video as i wanted to focus purely on the performance aspect.
I took onboard inspiration by looking at current existing products and real professional work.

I have challenged the convention of having the artists name and album name on my digipak front cover, this is simply because I chose to make this a self-titled album for the first album of my ‘fictitious artist’ and the album does not have a name other than Lucid.

Does my product 'work'?

I feel that my products nicely link up with one another and compliment each other. This is because I have used the same red in my digipak that I used in my advert and the same silhouette image of a cat has been put on both products

In my music video I have used real conventions as well in the use of camera angles shots and movement.

  
The theme/genre i chose for my products was a rock band.

I did some research and looked at various different performance videos by a number of real bands and discovered that “Queens of the Stone Age” album which i received some inspiration from for my own product.

Final Music Video

final digipak design