Creativity

How Can You Relate Media Theory to Your Question 1(a) Answer?

1)Theory: "Creativity is a process needed for problem solving.... not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people" (Jones, 1993)

Interpretation: Everyone is able to be creative when overcoming adversity

My production work: We enabled ourselves to be creative when we came across an issue with our website. The original template we'd planned to use as our background and therefore planned our website around was difficult to make live on the Internet as we used an unfamiliar website, "bandzoogle". This meant we had to start from scratch and create a new template to use as our background on a different program, SerifPagePlus 11. Here we were forced to be more creative as we constructed a new template that would work when made live on Serif. This new creativity is reflected in our digi-pack as you can see the similarities between the two, reinforcing the brand identity of our artist and therefore making it a more successful template.
We were also creative with our opening to a thriller film, when we had diegetic sounds playing in the background that we didn't want to feature in our film. We tried removing these sounds, but the silence made the film boring and monotonous. This allowed us to be creative as we overcame this difficulty and searched for alternatives. We analysed the diegetic sounds, hearing things such as crows squaking and footsteps, which we believed added to the tension, so we left these sounds within the film. We also found gaps in the film where we could use dramatic sound effects, such as screeching violins getting louder as the film progressed. This in turn built suspense in the video which is a typical convention of a thriller film.


2)Theory: "Creativity is novel associations which are useful" (Isaksen and Treffinger, 1993)

Interpretation: Thinking outside the box, being innovative dynamic and bold, in creating something useful for others.

My production work: We challenged the typical "boy meets girl" narrative, seen in films such as "Notting Hill" and TV series such as "Sex and the City", by incorporating innovative features and motifs such as the clown to depict the main characters' feelings. This was used as an innovative feature that related to the band's individual style and also to the character's within the music video.

3) Theory: "Creativity is the ability to bring something new into existence" (Anthony Storr)

Interpretation: Creating something original and modern.

My production work: We created something new and original through the use of change in tempo of the non-diegetic song played over our thriller opening. The change matched the action taking place on the screen, therefore creating a more thrilling/interesting film.

4) Theory: "The making of the new and rearranging of the old" (Bentley, 1997)

Interpretation: Taking something old and using it as inspiration for something new.

My production work: We took something old, for example the stereotypical "boy meets girl" narrative seen in our music video, and made it new by adding original and exciting obstacles for the boy to overcome before he gets the girl, such as her repeated rejection in various ways. These ways add humour and therefore reinvent the narrative to make it new.