creativity essay

Write up A 750 word response outlining the extent to which you were creative in your AS and A2 coursework tasks.

“Technology has taken all the creativity out of media production” This is a quote taken from a well-known theorist, I completely disagree I think through all of the stages of both of the coursework tasks technology enhanced my creativity; it meant that I was able to generate and better my ideas.

In the Research stages of both my AS and A2 coursework tasks, we were given constraints on what our coursework had to be and involve but we were given the freedom to pick how we create what we wanted from the brief, for example we were able to choose the genre of music for the magazine and for our A2 coursework we were also able to pick the genre, this meant we were able to research into the particular music genres and look at other texts that are similar, for example we decided our music video was a dance genre so we researched into different dance videos on the internet for inspiration which allowed us to be creative, in our A2 coursework we chose the music ourselves this meant we were able to decide the creative direction we wanted to head in and theme our idea around it, for example this determined how original we wanted to be.

In the Planning stages we had complete control over how we structured our ideas to prepare for the making, in my AS coursework I produced a schedule which meant I was able to monitor whether I was ahead or behind, for our A2 coursework we used several planning techniques one being a story board that then we used the technology available to create a clip where the storyboard images are edited so they fit the music which meant filming the video became a lot more structured, We also created a mood board showing the genre and colours we wanted to use this meant we were able to see what we could include.

When creating the magazine the course placed certain restrictions on my making stages such as timing, we had to keep to a deadline which meant decisions had to be made fast and out of school  time was needed so we could produce the coursework at the level we wanted to. Another constraint was being a student this meant low budget, we had to create the best we could with the small budget and limited access of different technologies that were available.

For both our coursework tasks we were the head of styling we made all of the styling decisions from the artist down to the layout, we were able to freely create in areas such as we chose the genre names the layout, the colours and all fonts. This meant we were able to make it personal and add our own creative touch.

For our A2 coursework although we looked at several music videos in the genre of dance music we wanted to challenge conventions of the typical video with similar songs, we decided we wanted to construct a current and different video, we wanted the video to still in keep with the fast pace but we chose to use just one location and keep changing the colour so we could gain are fast pace from the changing colour rather than the typical videos used for dance music showing people dancing in a club/ party etc.

“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” this is a quote from a well-known theorist, In my opinion this theory can be applied to our coursework. The culture containing symbolic rules would represent the task we had and our brief that contained different constraints, a person who brings novelty would represent the student who brings individual ideas and the field of experts would represent the teachers who provide guidance.

In future projects I will take all of the skills I have learnt and developed and apply them to better the project, my creativity has grown throughout the course, I only had limited Photoshop and editing skills and now I have improved my knowledge and gained a lot of creative skills which will help me in a lot of areas and I will take everything I have learnt about creating a music video and magazine and media technologies and use it to advantage me in the future.

Creativity grid

creativity grid by

Creativity question

How creative have you been in your AS and A2 productions?Use the marking criteria for G325 to help you:

• Explain what you did and analyse the extent of your creativity.
• Give examples from the texts you created to support your points.
• Use terminology e.g. media terms, creativity terms.

For our as media studies coursework we were asked to produce our own music magazine, for the magazine we were asked to create a cover a contents page and a double page spread with an article/ interview that we have written ourselves. I chose to aim my magazine at the age group 15-25 and used the pop genre to them my magazine. I chose this target group and genre because I felt that I knew what people wanted out of the magazine and how to reach the people I was aiming at.

We were given certain constraints when creating our magazine for example being students we only had limited budgets which did affect the quality and believability of our magazines but we worked with what we had to produce realistic music magazines with the equipment and technology that we had available and using typical music magazine conventions. There were other constraints such as time, it being our coursework we always had deadlines to meet and a final deadline which meant we were able plan efficiently to meet the deadlines but if certain matters held us up we would fall behind. However we were able to freely create in areas such as we chose the title of the magazine, genre, the layout, the colours, the artist, styling and all fonts. This meant we were able to make it personal and add our own creative touch but be original.

For our a2 coursework we were asked to create a music video in a pair, group or on our own. We were also asked to produce on our own a digipak and magazine advert for and promoting the artist or bands album to collaborate and create a brand for our band. We created a band called intoxicated with the music being dance genre we chose to aim it approximately at ages 16-25. For a2 I think we were given more of a chance to use our creativity because although we were able to pick the same things as AS such as the artist, the name, genre, target group etc I feel it included more because we had location and so many different shots to use and create.

A2 included the constraints as As such as time and budget because this is always a factor when being a student, there is only so much time. This meant we had to use our time to film and edit efficiently which in my opinion we did, at A2 we created our idea from scratch we wanted it to be new and unique but also we wanted to challenge typical dance music conventions.

Creativity

introduction to 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."

1. working within constraints gives something to exercise creativity

2. It's why genre can be interesting- how has something been created which fits with certain structures and rules

3. democratic meaning would really suggest that any act of making something

4. highly skilled or original

5. can be unconscious, random or collaborative act


1.constraints- For our As coursework we were given certain restraints, we were told it needed to be a music magazine and conform to typical music magazine conventions, we were asked to use a mid shot image on the cover and for the magazine to contain a masthead, barcode, contents and double page spread. For our A2 coursework we were asked to produce a video it had to be a music video and we had to create an identity for a band/ artist with a digipak and advert for our artist.

2.genre- For both coursework tasks we were free to chose whatever genre we wanted to use, for my as i chose to use a pop genre and conform to typical pop conventions, and then for our a2 coursework we chose to use a dance theme.

3.making- During our as and a2 coursework a preliminary magazine, music magazine with contents and double page spread, music video, digipak and advert were produced.

4.original-  for my music magazine i chose the name, artist name and the artist i also styled the artist to how i thought fit the look i wanted, i took inspiration from other pop magazines such as 'pop' but ultimately created how i wanted my magazine to appear. We started our music video conforming to typical dance video conventions by choosing to use a energetic party theme but then we evolved our idea into more of an original one by using simplistic and minimal features.

5. collaborative- For the music video task most of us worked in pairs, this meant we were able to share ideas.

Randomally creating

artist name- 22d Space Operations Squadron

album name- trying to please everybody

task

write down a brief description of your as and a2 production pieces
what you were asked to produce, target audience, how you evaulated....

For our AS production pieces we were asked to create a music magazine cover, contents page, and article- double page spread. The magazine needed to comply to typical music magazine conventions in order to be convincing, i chose to use target audience around the ages of 15-25, this meant i was able to use features that i predicted would appeal to my target audience. We evaluated our work by carrying out several different evaluation questions looking good points and points that could have been improved.

For our A2 production pieces we were asked to produce a music video, digipak and magazine advert the album. we chose to do a dance/ pop video with a target audience of roughly 16-25, we then evauated our work by comparing how we thought we did and how we have improved our skills from AS.