Timed Essay

"Creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations, the latter (like the river banks) forcing the spontaneity into the various forms which are essential to the work of art or poem"

To what extent was the creative process limited by the conventions of the media form you elected to work in for your AS/A2 practical production work

To me, what this quote is saying is that although a person might have the most amazing ideas and creations, they sometimes can't be carried out due to things out of our control, things like budgets and skill level which mean that the spontaneous ideas we come up with can't actually be carried out. It is also saying that creativity cannot always be shown in its pure original way, it has to be moulded in order to be a work of art. Even something seemingly wild like a river is controlled by its banks, just like a poem is controlled by its structure and a painting is controlled by the paint used.

In my own project I found I was limited often. For the AS practical production work I chose to follow the tasks for the print production piece. The preliminary task involved creating a full front cover and contents page mock up for a schools magazine. The main task was to create a full front cover, contents page and double page spread. The limitations of these tasks were that the subject of the magazine was decided, the equipment we had, and the software I could use. However, within these boundaries I was able to be as creative as I liked. If I had been to creative and pushed the boundaries of say the genre of magazine, then it would not have been good, as it would not been recognised and accepted as a music magazine. Had I learnt to use different software for the foundation task, this also would be less limiting.

For the A2 advanced project I chose to create a music video, with the ancillary tasks of making a 4 page plus digipack and magazine advertisement. This project had far less limitations as far as the task was concerned. A music video does not have a certain set of criteria that it has to follow, it can vary from solely watching the musician perform, to watching a short film that has no apparent link to the music. Having said this, there are still limitations. These, for me, were mainly limitations due to skill and equipment. The idea that can be expressed through the music video is limited to whether or not it can be carried out. For example for the song "paper aeroplane" by Angus and Julia Stone I thought of doing a music video that involved watching a paper aeroplane flying through an city an past the characters in the song. However i did not have the skills or software to carry this out.

Rashomon

The film Rashomon is Japanese film in which different versions of the same story is told through a statement to a court. There are 4 views given: the man who found the body (who tells his story twice), the Bandit, The Wife and the Husband (through a (person who can talk to dead people)).
This story shows the japanese culture in many ways:
The setting: The first group of men are in a old temple? and there are lots of shots of religious and cultural statues.
The costume: When the murder scene is being described, the costume of the wife and husband are typically tradition japanese clothes, with the woman in a kimono hiding her face and a man in a kimono with a long sword and bow and arrow. The hair and make-up is also typically japanese, and the womans eyebrows were painted in a way that was common at the time it was set.
Gender: the main woman is hysterical and sums up the general "old-time" opinion that woman were emotional, the men fall into certain stereotypes, the priest, the bandit and the ninja type guy.

Question 1a

The ability to easily access digital technology has allowed people who previously only viewed the media, to now make it themselves. Websites like YouTube have allowed amature film producers to showcase their work. I found, through the medium of a blog, that I to was able to showcase my creativity. With built in cameras on most computer devices it is easy to film yourself and say what you think. I have developed my own creativity over the past two years whilst carrying out the two portfolio units. In the foundation portfolio I used a scrapbook to show my progression through the work and at the time this worked well for me but as my skills began to grow it started to hold me back. I used a simpler software to create my final peice on the foundation portfolio. As I progressed up to the Advanced portfolio, my skills advanced too, I used a blog to show my progression through the project rather than a scrapbook. Doing so has allowed me to show my research and both pre- and post-production work in a much clearer manner, I was able to upload videos I had made on iMovie and Windows Movie Maker, and I became much more familiar with the Macs, which allowed me to really grow creatively as I did not feel restricted by my inability to use software.

Comments

You've actually talked about the work you did, which I didn't get to, I got all caught up in talking about different technologies and the power of the internet. Ugh nerrrd. I love the way you've written about the foundation portfolio too, I couldn't even remember what I've done in that. Nice job (Y)

You talk about the production work but do not give exact examples of your piece itself. Youtube thing is spot on and you highlight well the different stages of the creative process. Skills.

Good answer. You answer the question, unlike

Its nice to hear that you learnt more about the technology. Thats cool. (Y)

You've basically provided the model answer you fucking swot. Best piece of media and best response. Bastard.

GOOD ;) you have basically everything here! - HT

The ability to easily access digital technology has allowed people who previously only viewed the media, to now make it themselves. Websites like YouTube have allowed amature film producers to showcase their work. I found, through the medium of a blog, that I to was able to showcase my creativity. With built in cameras on most computer devices it is easy to film yourself and say what you think. I have developed my own creativity over the past two years whilst carrying out the two portfolio units. In the foundation portfolio I used a scrapbook to show my progression through the work and at the time this worked well for me but as my skills began to grow it started to hold me back. For example i used Microsoft Word to complete the final piece, a magazine front cover, for the foundation portfolio as I did not feel comfortable with Photoshop. As I progressed up to the Advanced portfolio, my skills advanced too, I used a blog to show my progression through the project rather than a scrapbook. Doing so has allowed me to show my research and both pre- and post-production work in a much clearer manner, I was able to upload videos I had made on iMovie and Windows Movie Maker, and I became much more familiar with the Macs, which allowed me to really grow creatively as I did not feel restricted by my inability to use software unlike in the foundation portfolio.

Purpose

The blog is a place where I can put my work for the second part of my A2 media course.