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)

I only slightly agree to to the part of the statement that says it is needed for problem solving. I think this because creativity could help towards solving problems such as when I experienced when making my poster and digipak. I originally created something that I wasn't happy with or felt inspired by. I simply produced some ancillary products that would be suitable for the band within the amount of time we were give. However, after feedback I decided that I needed to be much more creative and this is when the problem solving came in. I had to use my creativity to come up with another idea that created an image for my band much better and something that I was proud of.
I also agree with him saying that it is a "common ability possessed by most people". I feel that anyone can be creative but not all people will choose to use it. An example of this is, if a media student and a science student were both asked to create a magazine cover, the media student would put a lot of effort into yet and make it very imaginative because it is something they have an interest in- like the time when we were to create a music magazine in AS. We all created something we were proud of and put a lot of effort into it. If a science student was to be given a similar brief, I believe they could create something just as good as media students if they really tried, but the issue is they won't choose to use their creativity because they aren't interested.
Another view I have of this statement is you can't completely agree or disagree because everyone has a different idea of what creativity is. When we created our music video this year for A2 everyone produced very different videos yet many were able to score a high grade. Some of us may not be as impressed by others but that is because we all have our own ideas on what is creative and what isn't. It is said that creation requires influence, and we will all be influenced by something different because we have different interests; this helps to reinforce the idea that there is various types of creativity for people.

Jacques Derrida

“The center is not the center. The concept of a centered structure…is contradictorily coherent. And, as always, coherence in contradiction expresses the force of desire.”

- There is no normal/ center
- It doesn't exist naturally
- We have created the 'normal' to make sense of the world
- According to postmoderism, when you've found the center of something, it then moves as you source the center of that so you can never completely find the center.
- An example of this is, thinking you've found the original version of a song, but to then discover they've taken parts of the song from another.

Homework Assignment

How is Scream postmodern?

The way Scream is a postmodern film is because it understands the audiences idea of what are the typical conventions of a horror film and use this knowledge to make as almost 'funny' slasher film. They play on ideas such as the "big breasted" blonde one is always killed off first, people always run into the house when the logical thing to do would be to run away, or running up the stairs where they are most likely to get killed. These conventions happen throughout the film and both the killer and victims are aware of the too. The characters in the film joke about how horror films they have seen before and let the audience know that they are also aware- just like those watching. There is also a scene where they point out that the killings happening are just like from a film and say what they should and shouldn't do because they've seen it in a film previously. They discuss rules that they should follow to survive if they are in a scary movie. The killer tries to reenact other horror films killing characters off one by one. The trailer describes the killer as "Someones who's seen one too many scary movies. Now, he's taking his love of fear, one step too far" so this also adds to the film and characters being influenced by other horror films. All of these aspects of the film help to create this film to be postmodern.



How is DJ Danger Mouse 99 Problems postmodern?

Dj danger mouse

View more presentations from Meg Rhodes.

What Digital Technology Have I Used?

Music Video
Youtube
Tube Chop
Google Crome- iTunes website, BBC Radio 1 site, Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, BBC Weather
Google
Animoto
Photoshop
Sony NEX-5 (recording)
Sony NEX-7 (recording)
Cannon 1000D (still camera)
Scribd
Microsoft Word
Telephone
Premier Pro
MacBook Pro
iPod
Speakers

Digipak

Google Crome- band websites, weheartit.com, NME (reviews)
Photoshop
Microsoft PowerPoint
Slide Share
Scanner

Is a text only Postmodern if the audience are aware of the 'socially recognisable debris'?

1. Symphonies is made up of Addition, Deletion, Substition and Transposition (20%). Find examples (40%) of this within the song (lyrically and auditory) and explain what, if any, purpose they serve (40%).

-Addition:

-Deletion:

-Substition:

-Transposition:

2. The Video for Symphonies is made up entirely of intertextual references, identify (40%) them all and explain their significance (40%).

Task 2

3. To what extent does the combination of video and song in Symphonies conform to Charles Jencks' view that 'Post-Modernism is fundamentally the eclectic mixture of any tradition with that of its immediate past...' ? (All AO's)

I think to a large extent the combination of the video and song in Symphonies conforms to Charles Jencks' views that 'Post-Modernism is fundamentally the eclectic mixture of any tradition with that of its immediate past'. I believe this because it has used a traditional idea of creating a music video but the video consists of film openings that have been re-created. The majority of the films that Dan Black has used are also reasonably old such as from the 80's but this fits in with the 'immediate past idea'. As well as the video, he has combined a modern song by Rihanna with an instrumental song for the film Starman which was created in 1984.

Desert Bus

In the lesson today we played on a post modern computer game online called Desert Bus. It was a very straight forward game where you were the bus driver and you have to drive down a straight road to Las Vegas, pick up a passenger and travel back. However, it is all in real time and takes about 8 hours there and 8 hours back. The progressive difficulty in the game is on the way back you have to drive in the dark. The rewards you get in the game is a point there and a point back. I personally didn't enjoy the game as it was very boring and wouldn't have the patience to complete it. Although there was something quite theraputic about looking at the white lines as you were driving!

Creativity Questions

- What do you understand by ‘creativity’ and to what extent have you been creative?

I think creativity is something that comes from the creator’s imagination. People idea of creativity can vary depending on their interests. I think that throughout my projects I have tried to be as creative as I can. Sometimes I haven’t succeeded due to lack of imagination but I have tried my best

- How have you tried to facilitate and encourage your own creativity?
Many of my ideas for both the music video and my ancillary projects came from other examples of media that I have seen before. All of the ideas I used I was hugely influenced by because I was interested in them, so this encouraged me hugely.
- Did you experience limits/blocks on your own creativity?
I am pleased with my ideas my ancillary projects. Originally when I was creating them I had too many ideas and had to limit myself as to how many ideas I could use for my final pieces. I eventually narrowed it down to the idea of a model with a half painted skull on her face. This shows that I didn't really experience any blocks with my own creativity.
- How easy/difficult was it to be creative while still working to the brief?
Being creative yet still working to the design brief was a very easy task for me because it was quite a small brief and was very easy to create something to meet the brief.
- Did working within conventions stifle your creativity?
I found that working within conventions made it easier to use our creativity. As we were all very familiar with the indie genre we knew exactly what was typical of a bands video. Therefore, it essentially gave us a second brief about what type of video we needed to create, making it a lot easier.
- To what extent did you need to work with others and ‘bounce ideas’ off other people to be truly creative?
A lot of creative ideas were needed when we were coming up with shots that we would put in the music video. During the lessons where we were storyboarding, we all came up with ideas from other examples of media that we have come across before. We could then us each others ideas and expand on them with our own creativity maximising how inventive our shots would look.
- How much of your creativity was about trial and error?
When creating the video we spent quite a bit of time just testing out ideas that we hadn’t originally planned, and most of the time we liked the ideas so much we incorporated them into our video.
- To what extent was a lack of confidence an issue in terms of your creativity?
When it came to editing the music video, I had no confidence using the editing software at all. So for the majority of the editing time I watched over Harry use it and picked up skills that he was using for if I were to use it in the future.
- To what extent was a lack of technical competence/confidence an obstacle to your creativity?
Due to their being other people in my group with confidence in editing my lack of experience wasn’t a problem because someone else could do the task.