Media Language

Media Language

Digital Technology Task 1 - Answer.

• Adobe Photoshop (image manipulation)
• What did the image manipulation program allow you to manipulate? E.g. graphics necessary for the magazine.
• What crop tools did you use? E.g. Marquee, Lassos and colour convertors such as Red Eye Corrector, Colour Variations, Colour Dropper, Dodge and Burn.
• The image manipulation program, Photoshop, allowed me to edit and airbrush all of my images taken as well as edit the layout of my music magazine at AS and my ancillary tasks at A2.
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Post Production -Task 3 Answer.

• Detail the progression you made post-production, specifically from:
• Editing a conversation (prelim) to a 3 min music video (and possibly a 2 min opening to a film at AS).
• Progression using Photoshop from a school magazine front cover and contents, to a music magazine cover, contents page and DPS to a CD digipack and music magazine advertisement.
• Try to think about how you have become more technically competent in terms of your use of digital technology to present work creatively at the stage of post-production.
• The progression I have made post-production as regards to editing a conversation is pretty significant. When looking back at the short clip we filmed as a group, I think that my ability to take leadership and control over a project has not changed although I feel that my ability to see a shot well and edit a video has.
• My progression with Photoshop has not been significant however, I do feel that my ability to be creative and push the boudaries by experimenting with Photoshop has improved considerably. I think that my overall appearance and layout of work has become more professional and refined.
• I think that the fact that I had to airbrush and edit each individual photo at A2 which involved a lot more work than AS, shows how my ability to work in large scale improvement. I feel that the amount of airburshing and intencity of it has truly tested by abilities with Photoshop and I feel that I am now at a higher level of Photoshop ability.

Post Production -Task 2 Answer.

• You have 10 minutes to brainstorm everything you did for your main product at A2 at the stage of post-production. This must be detailed in terms of tools used, the software pros/cons, your strengths/weaknesses.
• At A2, the things I did at post-production included:
• Producing a draft music video and ancillary tasks including a magazine advertisement and a digipack CD artwork.
• Producing a final draft music video and ancillary tasks including a magazine dadvertisement and a digipack CD artwork.
• I used photoshop for my acillary tasks and used tools such as the crop tool, correction tool to airbrush the images, adjusted the levels, curves, saturation of the images, used the text tool, used the dodge, greyscale and burn tools. I experimented with layering and adding different light filters, this was time consuming although effective.
• I downloaded fonts from dafont.com in order to produce my ancillary tasks.
• My music video was firstly edited on Adobe premier where I experimented with lighting effects and editing.
• My final draft of my music video was edited using iMovie where I also experimented with curves, saturation and editing.
•  I uploaded my final drarfts to my blog aswell as printing them off onto large scale for the hand-in.
• The pros/cons of editing software:
• I found Photoshop easy to work with as I had used it in my AS year aswell as outside of school so therefore I was aware of how to use it and could experiment with editing. Therefore I found Photoshop to easily use.
• I found Adobe Premiere simple to work with as it used the same named tools as Adobe Photoshop, therefore, even though I had never used this program before, I could easily understand how to work it with minimum preperation beforehand.
• The only problem with this program was that the program expired after 30 days of a trial and there was no way that I could install this particular editing software again aposed to a program such as Photoshop.
• iMovie proved difficulat to work with initially as the layout of everything was so different to an Adobe program. I felt that because of this simplicity, I was afraid that the outcome of my music video would not lookas professional as if it were edited on Adobe Premier.
• The pros of this were that it had some editing sfotware that I was able to use in order to change the saturation and curves etc. although I could not include the lighting effects I was experimenting with on Adobe Premier.
• My Strengths/Weaknesses:
• I feel that my strengths on Photoshop have grown since AS, even though I had used the program before. I feel that my ability to push the boundaries and think outside my initial ideas has become a skill of mine and I have become more experimental with it.
• My strengths at editing videos has improved as I have never edited a music video before and I am proud that I could learn to program two different editing softwares and make them work for me.
• My weaknesses would be my time management of downloading software as perhaps if I had downloaded Premier earlier, I would've been able to complete my video on that software instead of learning how to use another.
• You should also detail your progression of graphics and DTP skills at the stage of post-production between AS and your A2 ancillary tasks.
• My progression of graphics over AS and A2 has improved considerably I think as although I was extremely proud and please with my work produced at A2, I think that my experimental flare at A2 enabled me to produce the work that I did and wouldnt have been able to at AS.

Post Production -Task 1 Answer.

• You have 5 minutes to brainstorm everything you did for your main product at AS at the stage of post-production.
• At the stage of Post-production for as I:
• Created a draft cover, contents and DPS using Photoshop.
• Created a final draft cover, contents and DPS using Photoshop.
• In Photoshop, I used tools such as the crop tool, correction tool to airbrush the images, adjusted the levels, curves, saturation of the images, used the text tool, used the dodge, greyscale and burn tools, I also used art filters to create the cover.
• I downloaded a font for my magazine text from dafont.com and installed it.
• I Edited eat Photo individually on Photoshop and created a slideshare presentation.
• I asked for peer feedback on my first draft aswell as teacher feedback in order to improve points for my final draft.
• I uploaded my final drarfts to my blog aswell as printing them off onto large scale for the hand-in.
• I wrote up my first and final draft of my article with my artist to use on my DPS.
• Software Pros/Cons:
• The software I used was Photoshop, I found it extremely easy to work with as I had used Photoshop before and because of this I felt that I could experiment more with the tols it provides although overall I love this program.
• There were no real cons to the software at AS, the only thing would be that the technology I used to take my images, i.e., my camera at AS did not provide me a guarenteed good result as some images were ruined by the blur that I found after uploading to my computer.
• My Streengths/Weaknesses:
• I feel that my strengths at AS were especially with Photoshop as I have had experience working with it before and love creating things within the program. I feel that this pre-prepared skill enabled me to create the work that I did.
• I feel that another strength of mine was my ability to reseach. I feel that mise en scene and the idea of a 'concept' and link thoughout my work is vital and so my research into locations and styling etc. proved well for me to do this.
• I think that my weaknesses were possibly time management at AS, as I left things unplanned which cost time, this is something I hoped to improve for my A2 year.

Research and Planning Question 7. Answer

How your Research and Planning has informed your practical production:

• How did your research into genre contribute to your production work?
• How did your research into audience contribute to your production work?
• How did your research into institutions responsible for the production and regulation of the media influence your production work?
• What pre-production planing techniques did you employ (scripting, storyboarding, shot-listing, flat-planning etc.)? How effective was your planning - how did it help you in the production phase?
• What did you learn from planning your first production that helped you to improve your planning for the second?
• How did you use production feedback to influence your production work while it was in progress?
• My research into my genre contributed a great deal to my overall production work as a lot of the mise en scene, although a more niche and period take on rock music, relied alot upon research into the genre and traditional imagery with the style of music over both years.
• My research into audience contributed top my production work greatly as it helped me to vision my work from an audiences perspective and imagine how they would view the overall media piece. By doing this, I could then change things I needed to for example, mise en scene or camera angles that didn't work and adjust them to suit from an audiences perspective.
• My research into institutions helped me to organise my production in a more professional way and affected the amount of work and depth of detail I researched into my work areas in order to bring my work up to professional standards.
• For my AS year, I used flat-planning for my pre-production technique in order to have an initial rough idea of what my magazine layouts would look like. In my A2 year, I used the rest of the techniques including scripting, storyboarding my video and shot-listing in order to prepare me for production.
• From planning my first production, I could then improve the things that needed to be improved for my second to have a better overall finished media text. In my A2 year especially, this planning influenced my organisational skills to help me keep to my filming schedule.
• I used production feedback to influence my work whilst it was in progress to make sure that what I was producing was right for my audience as well as right for my genre and visually appealing. I felt that by doing that, My marks could be improved overall.

Post Production.

Post production

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Research and Planning Question 6. Answer

Presentation of Research and Planning:

• How did you present your primary and secondary research on your blogs? We are talking about enhancing creativity and use of digital technology.
• Did your presentation of audience feedback for example become more creative through your increased use of digital technology available for embedding on the blogs e.g. animoto? Slideshare? etc.
• In order to present my primary and secondary research on my blog, I used a number of multimedia to present my work on my blog. I used digital technology such as scribd when presenting long texts or large images that would be best to view when zoomed in. I also used technology such as slideshare to view multiple photos such as locations etc. Animoto was another technology I used in order to present mood boards to music etc. I felt that if my research was presented in an enhanced creative way then I would be able to view it in a more creative eye.
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Research and Planning Question 5. Answer

Organisation Of planning Materials:

• How did you organise your planning materials?
• Did you utilise the blog more at A2 level than AS?
• How did you follow your flat plans and storyboards - what did you understand about changes to be made?
• Did all members have copies of production schedules and storyboards?
• Did you complete diaries and/or 'progression so far' posts? Why was this important in terms of planning both pieces of coursework?
• Have you used any of the research and planning skills in other products?
• I organised my planning materials by blogging about them on my blog. I felt that by doing this, I could easily organise and view my planning whenever i needed to with the use of labels on my posts. By organising my planning materials this way, I could also stick to a schedule more as I could clearly see the progress and areas I need to utilise and work on more.
• I utilised my blog more at A2 than AS by blogging every idea I had so that I could easily go back to them and read up to where I was ideawise. I also used my blog as a type of almost 'advertising' to 'promote' my fictional band by having the name of the band at the top banner of the page.
• I used my flat plans and storyboards when producing my first drafts, I also used them as a basic guide when creating them. They helped me understand the direction I was going in when producing my products as well as helping me to understand the areas I needed to work on and improve to get the best grade I could achieve.
• as i worked independently over both years, there was no need to produce multiple copies of production schedules etc. However, I did create multiple copies of lyrics etc. at A2 so that my band would be able to all understand and learn the song.
• I did create 'progression so far' posts over both years, especially at A2 so that I myself could keep up to date of where I was as well as my peers, teacher and the examiner who would be looking at my work. I felt that this was important in terms of planning both pieces of coursework in order to keep to schedule and keep everyone informed of what I was doing.
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Research and Planning Question 4. Answer

For the planning part of this write-up:

• Drafting - What drafts did you produce?
• Gaining Audience Feedback - How did you make sure you collated this - what was the development between AS and A2?
• Drafting - At AS, we were required to produce a draft for a cover of our music magazine, a contents page and a DPS. At A2, we were required to produce a draft of firstly the ancillary tasks which were a magazine advertisement promoting our band and the album and a draft digipack for the CD album artwork. Also, we were required to produce a draft music video. In preparation for my draft, I was uncertain that I had never used the editing software before, so I produced a mini 'test shoot' music video to a track by 'Blur' in order to prepare.
• Gaining Audience Feedback - In order to develop audience feedback, I posted my drafts and asked my peers to comment on what the thought the good points and bad points were about them. I also asked my teacher to analyse each of my drafts and give me a rough grade and points that I need to improve on. The development of my drafts over AS and A2 would be that at A2, I had to produce a lot more draft work which required more time and more feedback from my peers and teacher. 

Organisation of time, personnel and equipment:

• Did you complete on time? did you meet the deadlines?
• What were the pros and cons of organising personnel?
• What have you learnt about communication between personnel?
• Did your knowledge of production schedules grow?
• What could you have done better?
• What were your strengths and weaknesses?
• For my draft work over both years, I succeeded in completing the work on time and meeting the deadlines. This sometimes included me producing extra draft work for analysis from my teachers, for example, at AS, I produced three magazine covers instead of one as I was unsure of which one would succeed in getting me better marks as well as A2, when I produced two album artwork digipacks instead of one.
• The pros of organising personnel would be that I could organise and plan where and when we would shoot, when we would test out things such as styling etc. It also helped that the personnel in my music video live in close distance to me. The cons of organising personnel would be that finding a time when all three artists were free to shoot proved a hard task although at AS, I only had a solo artist which made it easier.
• I have learnt that in order to communicate with personnel and rely on them in a situation like this, you need to talk and plan with them in a professional way, letting them know that this is important to you and could affect a grade etc. if they did not oblige and appreciate what you are doing.
• My knowledge of production schedules definitely grew over the two years as in my A2 year, I planned out time schedule on paper as there were more dates and things to do in preparation for my music video. I definitely think this was the case as well because of the fact that my A2 year proved more challenging to produce an ancillary task as well as a music video so therefore, more work and time had to be put in. 
• I believe that I could've possibly planned a bit more ahead and starting production a little earlier than I did,  due to this, I was a little pushed for time however all filming and photography was completed to schedule.
• My strengths would be my organisation skills and abilities to multi task and think about more things than one at any given time. This was a particular asset when filming and doing the shoot for my A2 coursework as travelling to the studio and planning before hand about where it is, maps, styling, time etc. was challenging. My weaknesses would be perhaps that I could only carry out one task at a time, due to the fact that I was producing both media texts by myself, however I think that I preferred this in the end.

Working individually or as part of a group:

• What did you learn about individual and team work?
• What are the pros and cons?
• What main things have you learnt about group work at AS and A2 in terms of planning your product?
• For my main products I worked as an individual as I felt that this was the best way to work for me as I always seem to have multiple ideas and love getting myself involved in them. If I work within a team, I find it harder to do so and end up taking over everything and every detail which would be a downside of working in a group. However, for both of the Preliminary tasks over both AS and A2, I found that working in a team helped the production flow better in some ways as everyone had a job and I didn't have to think about everything all at once and I could just concentrate on my own designated area.
• The pros of working in a group would be that I could rely on other people as well as myself and if something messed up or went wrong then everyone would want to help and sort the problem whereas if your on your own, you only have yourself to rely on and yourself to blame. The pros of working as an individual would be that you can carry out any idea that comes to mind without consulting your group first, there is no compromise needed. The cons of working in a group would be that you have to talk about everything with the rest of your group before carrying out an idea into production, it needs to be a 'group' effort and a 'group' piece of work. The cons of working as an individual would be that you have to multitask and think about everything all at once, otherwise, if something went wrong then you have only yourself to rely on to sort it out. 
• The main things I have learnt about group work at AS and A2 would be that at the start, you can share ideas and come up with an idea and concept that you would've not thought about yourself. I have also learnt that it is okay to trust others with something as someone else is just as capable of doing something as you are yourself and that everyone else has a vision also. 

Research and Planning Question 3. Answer

You used your blog to organise ALL of your research.
•What skills did you learn about organising and referencing materials?(Remember if your research isn’t referenced correctly then you will not get full marks–e.g.every poster from the internet has to be referenced).
•How did your skills of organisation develop from AS and A2?E.g. If it was the first time you used blogger at AS did you find it easier to blog at A2?

• The skills I learnt about organising and referencing materials would be that I have learnt to reference them without even thinking about it too much, it has become second nature. I feel that I have progressed in the way I have referenced materials as well as the extent and detail I have gone into in order to reference, for example, analysing music videos with postmodern elements and intercontextual references in great depth.
• From AS to A2, my skills of organising havent improved greatly as I think that the way in which each post is presented has been consistant over both years, however, I feel that the depth of my organisation and detail has improved with the presentation of my blog posts.

Research and Planning Question 2. Answer

• Expense/Cost of Research - Over both years, the expense of my research has including purchasing magazines for inspiration, hiring out a studio for the filming of my A2 coursework, expense of travel to places in order to have inspiration, for example, locations etc., buying costumes and pieces for mise en scene over both years,  buying the track for my music video at A2 from iTunes and an OLYMPUS PEN E-PL1, although this was for other subjects also.
• Accessibility - Researching wasnt too hard for me as I had alot of initial ideas in my head already for both years so all I had to do really was research further into my ideas and gather images etc. Finding locations didn't seem to be hard as I had already seen the factory I used for my AS shoot before and thought what an amazing building it was, it was really nice to use it for something. I could say that finding the studio to shoot my music video in was quite hard as many photography studios did not hire out their facilities, nor did any of the colleges nearby. Time - All of my research and planning took alot of time I would say, however, when I am so involved and interested in an idea, it doesn't seem like effort for me to put the time in as I just want my final piece to be the best it can be.
• Reliability - I wouldn't say that I ever found my research sources unreliable as I feel that the inspiration suring research and planning that I found only fueled my own ideas and so I could twist and take inspiration from all kinds of places without having to 'rely' on it.
• Accuracy - Due to research into audience profiles etc, I felt that over both years, the reception from my peers was positive who were ultimately my audience for both years as my AS music magazine was aimed at a 'rockaholic youth' and my band for my A2 coursework was also aimed at a teenage audience.
• Bias -
• Validity - Over both years, I believe that the links between my research and planning and final media texts were consistent and in this sense I believe that the outcome of both years was what I expected to get out of it and had only a positive effect on the final body of work. Usefulness - I feel that all of my research and planning added something to both years of work in some way.

Research and Planning Question 1. Answer

A2 Coursework

Primary Research -

• Analysing exsisting music video in terms of technical camera angles used, mise en scene etc. aswell as in terms of my personal opinion of my likes and dislikes about the videos.
• Researching my initial ideas in the existing world and how they could be applied in an effective way.
• Initial market research through a facebook and twitter page for the fictional band I created.
• Audience Profile research.
• Choosing a genre and researching the genre to see if I could apply it to my initial ideas.
• Analysing my pitch feedback from my peers which gave me another example of market research.
• Research into my mise en scene - e.g. personal trips to locations where I took photographs which is another example of primary research as well as going to vintage stores.
• Creating a mini test shoot video in order to research how to use the camera and how good my final video shots would be.
• Analysing 1960's album artwork.
• Analysing album magazine adverts.
• Practicing the styling of my artists beforehand.

Secondary Research -

• Researching songs and reading about 1960's inspired bands of today.
• Researching David Bailey's techniques as a 1960's photographer.
• Watching and posting about 'Factory Girl', a film made in 2006 on the subject of my music video.
• Watching countless documentaries about Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgewick.
• Researching and compiling videos and photographs of Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgewick and the Warholian Factory.
• Read and re-wrote Edie Sedgewick's Biograhy.
• Researching Edie Sedgewick's style and re-creating her famous 'Butterfly earrings'.
• Researching 'star Image' and applying it to my own artists.

AS Coursework

Primary Research -

• Analysing exsisting music magazine covers, contents pages and double page spreads in terms of the media conventions they use including things such as the 'three colour rule' and the use of a 'masthead'.
• Colour Paletting and creating mixes of colours and analysing them in terms of whether they work or not and what genre of music they connote.
• Audience Profiles.
• Analysing Different texts and fonts from dafont.com in terms of whether or not they would work for my magazine.
• Research into my chosen genre of music, for example, what a music magazine of that genre would traditionally look like.
• Researching and analysing exsisting magazine shoots.
• Analysing my test shots. By taking them, this would also could as primary research aswell as analysing whether they work or not.
• Analysing my magazine pitch from comments made from my peers.
• Researching into the representation of social groups.
• Researching and taking initial shots of my magazine shoot.
• Analysing my teacher feedback of my first draft.
• Researching exsisting magazines in order to justify my magazine design choices.

Secondary Research -

• Researching the 'Golden Spiral of Photography'.
• Researching 'Markus Klinko', a photographer and reading through his biography and body of work.
• Researching 'RANKIN', a media photography phenomenon in the world today and reading through his biography and body of work.
• Reading through many magazines, as well as controversial ones such as 'Dazed & Confused' and 'LOVE'.

The Pro's and Con's of carrying out my research -

Pros's -

• If primary research is not carried out beforehand then a media text may risk lacking credibility in the real world and will also risk the review it may get from an audience as well as the professional. Therefore, primary research increases the chances of a good reception.
• By applying secondary research to your media text, i.e. applying theorists to you work, you can add credibility in the real world and you know in yourself that you feel confident in what you produced and that that the reviews wil be positive.

Con's -

• Primary research may be carried out effectively beforehand, although there is a risk of directly 'sampling' exsisting work without realising it and therefore the reviews from a professional may be seen as 'copycatting'.
• If you apply secondary research to your media text, you can sometimes risk your work being directed only at a niche audience and not by most. Even though you can add theory to your media texts etc. not ll audiences will have the background knowledge of intertextual features and therefore, your media text would not be recieved well by all.

With both years body of work, I put a huge effort into the research andplanning stages for each but although I put in equal amountsof effort, the huge demand for a more impressive body of work at A2 level left me with a larger number of posts on my blog around research and planning. I get involved with any project I do and let it literally control my life for a couple of months however, this was particularly apparent at A2 level and therefore left me to produce more research and planning in preperation for my final media text.
Over the two years, I have loved getting involved with my media work and I don't feel that my determination has changed over time, but I feel that my capabilities and willingness into the depth of research I am willing to go has grown. For example, my A2 media work was my life for the three months of research and planning and I think I could answer anything about Andy, Edie and any intertextual feature I included in my work as I wanted to make it as real as possible and in order to do this, I felt like I needed to know everything there was to know. Proof of this could be the fact that I wrote an entire biography for Edie Sedgewick from memory here.

Research and Planning Task.

Research and planning

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What could be in G325 exam.

What is creativity? (G325 questions on production work)
Taken from Media Magazine blog.

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.

A great shared site for creative random art with some effort is on Flickr with the shared CD meme pool. This is a game where you create a CD cover for an imaginary band and upload it to Flickr; the trick is you have to create it from 'found' materials, again following a set of rules.

1. Generate a name for your band by using WikiPedia's random page selector tool, and using the first article title on whichever page pops up. No matter how weird or lame that band name sounds.
2. Generate an album title by cutting and pasting the last four words of the final quote on whichever page appears when you click on the quotationpages's random quote selector tool. No matter what those four words turn out to be.
3. Finally, visit Flickr's Most Interesting page -- a random selection of some of the interesting things discovered on Flickr within the last 7 days -- and download the third picture on that page. (Even better: Click on this link to get a Flickr photo that's licensed under Creative Commons) Again -- no cheating! You must use the photo, no matter how you feel about it.
4. Using Photoshop (or whatever method you prefer), put all of these elements together and create your very own CD cover, then upload it to the CD memepool.
My version:

Margarita Rosa de Francisco  
Milk's Leap Toward Immortality

Ideas and theories to help you.
"A process needed for problem solving...not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people" (Jone 1993)
"The making of the new and the re arranging of the old" (Bentley 1997)
"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." (Csikszentmihalyi 1996)
"There is no absolute judgement [on creativity] All judgements are comparisons of one thing with another." (Donald Larning)
Link to 'Pete's Blog'

G325 - An Introduction to the Exam

G325 an introduction to the exam

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An Example Of Creativity - OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - Rube Goldberg Machine Version

Rube Goldberg

Task:

• Read the background information on Rube Goldberg.
• Watch OK Go's music video for 'This Too Shall Pass'(The Rube Goldberg Version)
• How do Rube Goldberg's ideas fit in with what you have learnt about creativity? To what extent are they demonstrating creativity?
• Which theories could be applied to Goldberg's ideas? Explain why.
• Which theories conflict with his ideas? Explain why.

 

Background Information:Here

 

How do Rube Goldberg's ideas fit in with what you have learnt about creativity? To what extent are they demonstrating creativity?
From what I have learnt about creativity, I can say that I believe Rube Goldberg's work would be classed as creative to an extent. I believe that through his ideas and drawings of machines and contraptions, Rube's creativity can be appreciated although he did not create the contraptions after he drew them so this could possibly be taken as a sign that he was not creative with his work. His ideas fit into what I have learnt about creativity in some ways as in order to design and think of everyday objects and how they would piece together shows creativity through engineering. In argument to this, you could say that Rube only put together objects in his mind and the objects he thought of when designing were all ready in existence so in a way he is not creating anything new in his head except for a temporary structure that has no purpose after it has finished moving.
"The making of the new and the re arranging of the old" (Bentley 1997) is a theory that could be applied to Goldberg's ideas. I think that this theory applies to Rube's ideas as he clearly thinks of random everyday objects i.e. 'the old', and re-arranges those objects to make something 'new' and of a different purpose, even though it may be completely bizarre. The idea of a contraption that sometimes had a purpose, i.e. napkin folder, could also definetly be classed as something 'new' as Rube was inventing new machines to carry out 'new' tasks, even though it would probably be an easier task without the machine in this case.
Another theory that could be applied to Goldberg's ideas could be "There is no absolute judgement (on creativity). All judgements are comparisons of one thing with another" (Donald Laming) as I feel that the theory works in Rube's favour. I think that from reading this theory, you can understand that although Rube's work may seem pointless, comparing it to other creative ideas shows you that his ideas are really extraordinary and you cannot judge something alone and only against other things to truly tell whether or not something is ingenious or not. The fact that Rube's ideas are regularly reproduced today in popular culture shows that his ideas are still received positively in today's society and therefore have a positive judgement of them from society as they have definitely stood the test of time.
"A project that is too well planned lacks opportunities for spontaneity and creativity". I believe that this theory works against Goldberg's ideas about contraptions. Although Rube's ideas were thought out and drawn beforehand, the fact that he didn't later create the contraptions shows that he did include spontaneity when he drew them, as he had no idea about the science of whether or not his mechanisms would actually work until someone else tried them out. There was no intention for him either to create his mechanisms which could be proof that his childish and creative mind just made him design these machines for the sake of drawing them.
Another theory that would conflict with Rube's ideas would be "The creating of bringing something new into existence -"this is particular understanding of creativity involves the physical making of something, leading to some form of communication, expression or revelation." (David Gauntlett). This is a clear disagreement with Rube's ideas as he never made his contraptions and for this theory to be truthful, he would've needed to create and produce his machines after designing them. Although Goldberg didn't put in the 'physical making' of something, he still brought something new into existence with his ideas and illustrations. He gave others the urge to create them and by designing them he showed his creative talents and sorted through the obvious.

Creativity Theories Explained.

"The making of the new and the re arranging of the old" (Bentley 1997)
I believe that this theory means that by 're arraging' and using the 'old' as inspiration, we create 'new' things. I agree with this theory to some extent as I believe that Bently is almost defining creativity and I believe that we are influenced by old things or things around us to create new things but I don't agree with the fact that he all most states that new things can only be created as copies of old things.

"The creating of bringing something new into existence -"this is particular understanding of creativity involves the physical making of something, leading to some form of communication, expression or revelation." (David Gauntlett)
After reading this quote, I believe that Gauntlett is saying that by having creativity, you are able to create something new and empose it upon the world. I believe he also says that in order to do this, you need to use your phisical skills to bring something into the world as well as communication skills to show it to people and express why you have created something. I agree with this quote as I believe that nothing creative should end at an idea otherwise if you do not take the time to create the thing you invision, you cannot share it with the world and explain your vision to the rest of us.

"Media producers can learn nothing from studying the conventions of old texts"
I definetly disagree with this quote as I believe that nothing can be completely origional to begin with and by studying other texts and other media works, producers of media can gather ideas and evolve their own vision through the eye of others. I also think that by studying older texts, we can adapt to the ideas we created in previous years and create something inventive and new to show to the world which is the whole point of media production isnt it?

"There is no absolute judgement (on creativity). All judgements are comparisons of one thing with another" (Donald Laming)
I do agree with this quote by Laming as I think that to judge someone's creativity and ideas as good or bad is impossible as it would be someone elses opinion of an opinion. I do think however that we can judge someone's ability to produce something creative by comparing the production of their work to other media pieces.

"Technology has taken all the creativity out of media production"
I completely disagree with this quote and think that in every way, technology has elevated media production. I think that in this day and age, with the use of photoshop and other ediing software, you have to have a technical ability to use the programs however you also have to have a creative streak otherwise the media product you are working on may as well not be produced.

"A project that is too well planned lacks opportunities for spontaneity and creativity"
I agree and disagree with this quote as I feel that if an idea is planned in advance, it doesn't mean that it is not a creative idea as someone thought of it and has decided to put it into action - its a creative idea. However, I do also agree with the fact that if a creative idea is too well planned then the oppertunity for spontaneuity is greatly dicreased and I feel that unless an idea is evolved and changed throghout research, planning and development of a media piece then it cannot turn out to be the best it can be.

"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 agree with this theory to some extent as I think that most people have some sort of creative streak as to have ideas about things and 'create', then you need to be creative. However, I do disagree with this theory in the way that I think a few selected people have more creativiy than others and as a result of this are praised in their work that requires a lot of this skill. For example, not everybody can write both the melody and lyrics for a new Lady Gaga pop single.

"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" (Csikszentmihalyi 1996)
I think that this theory explains that in order to create something and be creative, there needs to be outside ideas and influence from a culture, a creative person who can take an idea and create a vision in their head from that culture, and finally an expert e.g. the viewing public, to give their views on the media product created and therefore the idea is recognized as a successful creation. I agree with this theory completely.

"If creativity is not inherent in human mental powers and is, in fact, social and situational, then technological developments may well be linked to advances in the creativity of individual users" (Banaji, Burn and Buckingham, 2006)
I can understand from this quote that the theorist understands that there are many people and not just a selected few who believe they are creative however, he gives an explanation to this that technology is the reason for this. I do agree with this theory as I think that in this age of technology, it is not hard for someone who is not born creative to learn a skill that can be seen as creative. For example, if someone is not born talented to paint a detailed portrait of someone, they can discover hat they are creative through photography and take a photograph of that person that may become seen as beautiful. Similarly, if a person cannot paint or take amazing photographs, they can learn the technical skills required to edit the photograph on a computer software which could bee seen as a creative skill.


Two theories I agree with:

• "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" (Csikszentmihalyi 1996) - I definetly agree with this theory as all of my media work has followed the conventions of the three elements: a culture i.e.research and planning, archived on my blog, a symbolic person i.e. myself with my own ideas about my media products, and an expert i.e. my teacher who viewed my work as well as my peers who gave their own views and constructive criticism of my work. I feel that by following all of these conventions, I have also recognised where I need to change ideas and am validated of my innovation through the grades that I recieved.
• "The making of the new and the re arranging of the old" (Bentley 1997) - I do agree with this theory as relating back to both of my years of media work, especially A2, I can say that I have definetly 're arranged the old' through my research and planning stages especially and developed my ideas to create my final media products. I feel that by researching other media texts, I can be inspired to be creative and create my own 'new' media product.

Two theories I disagree with:

• "Media producers can learn nothing from studying the conventions of old texts" - I disagree with this theory as from my A2 media coursework, I think it would be strange to say that I havent been inspired by the 1960's era and previous texts created around Warhol and Sedgewick. My whole idea for my A2 work evolved around an old idea and image evolving into a new text and media piece. During the research and planning stages of my work, I also studied the conventions of old texts more than newer texts and even if they are more recent, for example, 'star image', than surely those texts should be seen as old also?
• "Technology has taken all the creativity out of media production" - I completely disagree with this quote as all of my media work from both by AS and A2 years has been created using technology such as Photoshop and iMovie. As well as the production, my creative ideas also evolved around research of outside references I could include in my final work which envolved me to use the internet to research and blog my ideas so that I could archive and develop them. In a way, this could also be useful for other media texts being produced around the same topics as they can view my previous creative work from the internet which would help them develop their own.