How have I applied 'creativity' throughout my AS and A2 years?

Originality, imagination, inspiration, ingenuity, inventiveness, resourcefulness, creativeness, vision and innovation.

These are all words linked to creativity that we were given in the lesson to analyse and apply to our own work.

Media CW AS

View more presentations from Matthew Needham.

Applying 'creativity' to my AS coursework.

Originality - When producing all of my media work, I always had in mind to keep my ideas unique and origional. Although nothing can ever be completely original, I took ideas from various places and pieced them together with my own flare to create my final magazine cover, contents and DPS. I took inspiration from my chosen genre of music and used outside references although I feel that I tried to make my final layouts 'original' and memorable.

Inspiration - When researching for my AS coursework, I looked alot at different magazine layouts, magazines of my genre, star image, factories, locations, fashion magazine shoots etc. and I was very inspired by everything that I saw. Taking all of these images and websites I had researched previously, I took that inspiration and compiled all my faviourite ideas together in order to create something that was inspired and influenced by 'real world' situations.

Imagination - In order to produce my final coursework pieces I definetly needed imagination to envision what the overall look of the magazine would look like etc. A big use of imagination in my AS coursework was the fact that we had to create a fictional band and in doing so, I needed to use my imagination to create a fictional artist although some of it was based on truth. Imagination was used also when interviewing my artist on the DPS as well as styling and creating a 'star image'.

Applying 'creativity' to my A2 coursework.

Ingenuity - I feel that I have needed to be ingenious to apply my ideas and make them reality. I feel that I do this although maybe applying ingenuity throughout the process of creating something for example my digipack cover where I was unsure about how I could overlap the images of Rickie to begin with although I used my ingenuity and evenually figured out how to do it. I think I also used this creative skill when one of my origional band members decided she didn't want to go through with filming and I found a friend who suited the brief.  

Resourcefulness - I had a big production idea for my A2 coursework and in preperation for this I knew that I needed to research alot into background knowledge of my referenced characters, Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgewick, as well as historical elemeents and styles that I would later apply to the mise en scene and styling of my band. I think that with research into locations and where I could film was an example of me being resourceful as I discovered a studio in Oadby where I paid and we filmed for two hours. Finding all the props and costumes could be another example of being resourceful as well as creating sets such as 'the factory' in my garage and 'edies dressing table' also in my house.

Innovation - Innovation was one of my chosen words in my 25 word pitch at the start of my A2 coursework year. I wanted to create something that would elevate from the norm and become fresh and innovative. I think that I achieved this through my A2 coursework with my use of innovative Photoshop effects aswell as the way that my idea to take inspiration from something old and make it young again was an innovative idea in itself.

Overall, how creative do you think you've been?

I believe that over both my AS and A2 years, I have continued to strive to be creative with everything I have priduced whether this be through the production of something or the research and planning that has gone into it before hand. I think that in media, I have been fascinated and obsessed with pushing the boundaries and trying out new ideas that sometimes don't work out but sometimes they do and when that happens, I have been very happy with the result. I am happy with what I have achieved and hope that I have consistently shown my passion for creativity in media.

Did you have any limitations?
In the first year, I don't feel like I did have any as I produced alot of my work at home due to the facilities and lack of computers at school however in my second year, I have been limited at home due to my editing software expiring and as a result have had to struggle to find a suitable computer to edit on.
I felt like my time was very limiting over this year as it was hard to get all three band members to be free to film on the same day, this was also limiting due to the weather and the lighting.

What is Creativity?

Coursework Analysis over two years

Mrs Hammond asked us to analyse our final coursework pieces over the two years in answer to these few questions below.

The task was to apply the words meaning 'creative' and apply them to the pieces of coursework I created at AS and A2. Then, I needed to create a mindmap for each of my c/w peices, justifying how I have demonstrated any of them.  

1. How creative do you think you have been?
2. What has prevented you from being more creative?
3. Has a set menu of tasks made it easier to be creative or would you have preferred a free choice on what you could make? Were you pinned down too much by the task, or did it free you up to be creative within the boundaries of the task?

Creativity

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

 In Nazi occupied France, young Jewish refugee Shosanna Dreyfus witnesses the slaughter of her family by Colonel Hans Landa. Narrowly escaping with her life, she plots her revenge several years later when German war hero Fredrick Zoller takes a rapid interest in her and arranges an illustrious movie premiere at the theater she now runs. With the promise of every major Nazi officer in attendance, the event catches the attention of the "Basterds", a group of Jewish-American guerilla soldiers led by the ruthless Lt. Aldo Raine. As the relentless executioners advance and the conspiring young girl's plans are set in motion, their paths will cross for a fateful evening that will shake the very annals of history.

Cast:

• Brad Pitt - Lt. Aldo Raine
• Melanie Laurent - Shoshanna Dreyfus
• Christoph Waltz - Col. Hans Landa
• Eli Roth - Sgt. Donny Doniwitz
• Michael Fassbender - Lt. Archie Hicox
• Diage Kruger - Bridget von Hammersmark
• Daniel Bruhl - Fredrick Zoller
• Til Schweiger - Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz
• Gedeon Burkhard - Cpl. Wilhelm Wicki
• Jacky Ido - Marcel
• B.J.Novak - Pfc. Swithson Utivich
• Omar Doom - Pfc. Omar Ulmer

Facts and Figures:

Source: IMDB  

Release Date: 19 August 2009 (UK) 

Also Known As: Bastardos sin gloria

Budget: $70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $38,054,676 (USA) (21 August 2009) (3165 Screens)

Gross: $321,455,689 (Worldwide) (17 December 2009)      

The Odessa Steps and Its Descendants.

Family Guy Postmodernism.

The Searchers - Ending scene

Brian Eno Bio.

Born in May, 1948, Brian Eno grew up in Suffolk and was the founder member of Roxy Music during the 70's.

The band was formed in 1971 and their unusual sound and 'look' was seen as unusual and recieved a mixed view from audiences. Brian played the synthesizer and 'treatments' although did not consider himself a musician.

The band's most famous album 'For Your Pleasure' has become a legendary work of art in the music industry.

he began his solo career with the album Here Come The Warm Jets. Eno has released a string of critically acclaimed records, and over the years his work has been compiled on two Best Ofs and three Boxed Sets. As well as Eno's own albums, he has collaborated with the likes of John Cale, Nico, Robert Fripp and the band James. His co-writing and playing on David Bowie's Low, Heroes and Lodger helped define the sound of this classic trilogy. After having produced U2's The Joshua Tree, Unforgettable Fire, Zooropa and Achtung Baby, he formed a loose collective with members of the band and other artists (including Luciano Pavarotti and Howie B.) to write and record Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1" released on Island Records (Oct 95).Brian Eno is also one of the most significant record producers of our age. His ability to steer artists into radical new areas was first made obvious on the three albums he made with Talking Heads, culminating in Remain in Light in 1980. By this time he had also produced the seminal compilation of New York's New Wave, No New York, and Devo's Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo. In the 1980s he applied his gear-changing skills to U2, helping an already great stadium rock band turn into the most original and creatively-challenging mega-band since the Beatles. Other production credits range from Real World artist Geoffrey Oreyema to the band James as well as singer Jane Siberry and performance artist Laurie Anderson. In 94/ 95 he returned to one of his most famous collaborators, producing Bowie's Outside.A pioneer in tape-looping and other early forms of sonic manipulation, Eno's work with Robert Fripp in the early 1970s (No Pussyfooting' and Evening 5tar), signalled a determination to look beyond the conventional song format. His unusual, strategic approach to music-making (more likely to involve drawing a diagram than writing down chord changes) was made clear with the 1975 publication of Oblique Strategies" - a set of problem-solving cards for artists. Also in 1975, Eno released Discreet Music, naming the new genre he had discovered 'ambient'. Bringing the ideas of John Cage to a pop audience, the true significance of Eno's landmark ambient release (including Music for Airports and Thursday Afternoon only became apparent in the early 199Os when ambient exploded into the charts and into a range of new hybrid musical forms. Eno also pioneered sampling and the use of found sounds on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, a collaboration with David Byrne released in 1981; again it would be some years before the rest of the world fully cottoned on to these ideas. Eno's instrumental works continue, with The Shutov Assembly' released in 1992 and the minimal masterpiece Neroli in 1993. His composition for Derek Jarman's Glitterbug soundtrack was reapproached by Jah Wobble and released as Spinner in October '95.Like all good rock musicians, Eno went to art school. Unlike most of the rest of his peers, he continues to work in the visual medium as well as in sound. His video installations have been exhibited at galleries around the world, including the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Venice Biennale; the Pompidou Centre in Paris as well as a permanent exhibition opened October 1995 in Austria's Swarovski Museum. Combining sound and vision, Eno's works create an alternative environment for the gallery-goer, just as his ambient albums create a sense of space for the listener. Now visiting professor at the Royal College of Art, Eno collaborated with Laurie Anderson and some of his students earlier in '95 for the Self-Storage installation in Wembley, London.1996 saw Brian Eno's Generative Music come into fruition. His long- time interest in self evolving compositions has resulted in the creation of a PC floppy disc using Sseyo Koan software. Eno sees this as the most exciting of his musical outputs: it is never heard the same way twice.Year (With Swollen Appendices) Brian Eno's diary and essays is published by Faber and Faber, May 1996. This book gives a rare insight into the daily life works and musings of the artist.

What Eno brings to all his work is an ability to take ideas from one area of life and apply them to another. Thus, his ambient music resulted from applying ideas that were floating around the classical world and applying them to new instruments and recording technology.Similarly his production technique is more akin to the way a management consultant works than the way a conventional record producer works; that is, rather than sit behind a mixing desk for months on end, Eno likes to pop in regularly, but only occasionally, enough to steer the project, but not so much that he can't hear the music with a fresh pair of ears.Brian Eno is not, as most people seem to believe, some kind of a boffin. He has very little interest in new technology for its own sake, preferring technology that you can get a result out of now, this minute, without studying the manual.Brian Eno is a patron of War Child. In addition to hosting several fund-raising events in which he cajoled his famous collaborators into creating art and fashion to auction for charity (Little Pieces from Big Stars and Pagan Fun Wear), he performed on and executive produced the Help benefit album and sang with Bono, The Edge and Pavarotti at 1995's Modena Festival to benefit War Child.

Source: Handwritten first paragraph, additional research: Wikipedia