Describe the ways in which you developed your skills in the use of technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision-making.

In my AS coursework I created a preliminary magazine, Mercardo, and a punk music magazine, Rebel. In A2 I created a preliminary music video to Busted's What I Go To School For, a music video to OneRepublic's Good Life and a digipak and poster for the fake band The Empty Crowd.

I had no previous experience of using platforms like Blogger, Scribd, Animoto or Slideshare to present my work. To begin with my presentation of research and planning work was rather limited this reduced my creativity. However when I expanded my knowledge of this digital technology I was able to present my work with more creativity, incorporating links, videos. pictures and gifs into my blog posts and to enhance my coursework blog to set the mood which linked to the punk genre of my music video. Once I had established the research and planning through the use of digital technology I was able to advance my creativity when creating my music magazine. Photoshop was my main tool when creating my music magazine, for the preliminary magazine and the draft I created a basic quality product because I was not completely familiar with the various tools and editing techniques I could achieve in Photoshop. For example I relied on basic pre-programmed patterns to fill the background, this did not create an effective, professional look, which I had to develop for my final music magazine. In order to do this I experimented with the cut-out tool using my own pictures to create a collage effect which I used as the background for my front cover and double page spread. This allowed me to be more creativity and produce a more original style than using Photoshop basic patterns. As I wanted to create an artsy magazine to fit with the DIY aspect of punk and inspired by street artists like Banksy, I experimented with the filter effects in Photoshop to create a stencil print look to the photographs on the front cover and the double page spread. This linked to the art style and linked to the band, Loaded Guns, which featured in the article. Having used the filter effects in the draft magazine I was able to identify which techniques where more successful and produce a more creative, effective final product.

My skills with photoshop then developed from AS to A2, being already familiar with what techniques are more effective than others I was able to produce a creative outcome quicker. However the change of art style from punk to pop changed the way I had to approach the product. Having created a concept for The Empty Crowd which had to link from digipak, poster and music video, I decided to use location shots from the music video to anchor the concept in the digipak. The concept was city vs country so I wanted to portray the contrast between the two. Photoshop's layout of layers enabled me to create a layering effect of photographs of the country projected onto the photographs of the city. This layered effect was developed for my draft digipak, although a more advanced use of photoshop than my AS product it was not as successful as it could have been because the layering obscured the locations too much. I then changed the idea to a simpler layout editing the photographs individually to highlight the contrast between the two locations and to link to the style of the video, where the city shots were edited into black and white and the country was in colour.

My film-making skills have improved over time, through the use of digital technology and understand the technology better which has allowed me to be more creative, producing a more effective product. For the preliminary film, we used basic hand-held video cameras this had a restricted quality which effected the quality of the end product. Also only having very basic knowledge of editing programs meant that the preliminary video and music video draft was not very successful. Having only ever made videos using pictures on Windows Movie Maker I found it difficult to edit videos, altering the audio and cutting out shots, to match the music with the action. As Windows Movie Maker only has limited editing effects which look very unprofessional, we decided to use Adobe Premier Elements for the final music video. This gave more options in editing the shots, increasing speed, slowing action down, increasing or decreasing the brightness to create a strong contrast between the country and city shots. Also the variety of effects allowed us to experiment and be inspired by possible effects. For example, in the animatic there was not plan to include double speed or slow motion shots however after experimenting with this effect we decided it looked more interesting and creative with this edit. As professional pop music videos also use editing techniques like this to create effect and to match the pace of the music it fitted really well.

Overall, I think I have been able to develop my skills with digital technology over AS and A2, having better skills with the technology has in turn has contributed to my creativity. Through experimenting on the programs, mainly Adobe Photoshop and Premier Elements, I have been able to see what I can effectively achieve and what is not as successful. I think I progressed the most with Photoshop as I had very little understanding of how the program works and what I could create at the beginning of the course whereas now I have a good understanding of what effects and tools work best to enhance photographs and create a media product. This has helped my creativity as well as I am now aware of what my skills are in this programs.

Media Language.

Medium has its own language - they use familiar codes and conventions

Denotation - literal meaning, the signifier
Connotation - infered meaning, the signified

Barthes argud that in film connotation can be analytically distinguished from denotation
Fiske "denotation is what is filmed, connotation is how it is filmed"
Charles Sanders Pierce - "we only think in signs" Signs only represents anything when society attributes meaning to them.
Micro-Elements
How they have created meaning to inform us about genre, narrative, representations/ideology, targeting of audiences
Hall - there is a preferred meaning that the film makers want the audience to decode.
Seminotic Terminology
Mise-en-scene creates the diegetic world:

• Location
• Character
• Cinemography
• Layout/ Page Design

Camerawork:

• Shot types
• Camera composition
• Camera movement
• Camera angles

Continuity:

• Establishing/re-establishing shot
• Transitions
• 180 degree tule
• Action match
• Cross-cutting
• Cutaway
• Insert shots
• Shot-reverse shot structures
• Eyeline match

Non-continuity:

• Montage sequence
• Flash back/forward
• Ellipsis
• Graphic match

3 types of signs:

• Icon/iconic - it looks like what it is
• Index/indexical - infered sign
• Symbol/symoblic - signifier doesn't resemble the signified - arbitary or convential

Stuart Hall - texts can be encoded by producers and meaning is decoded by the audience

Representation essay.

"Representation in media texts are often simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so audiences make sense of them." Evaluate the ways you have used/challenged simplistic representations in one of the media products you have produced.

In the Good Life music video we used representation through the characters which would most appeal to the target audience. As the genre is pop rock with the original song by a mainstream band the music video had to reflect that and appeal to a unisex teenager to young adult audience. In the video we used simplistic universal representation by having a male and female character with the context of a romantic relationship. To some extent the roles of the characters challenged dominant ideologies by having the female character Katie as the more active. This challenges stereotypical representations in media texts that usually have the male character as the more active. However, to some extent Katie is passive because she does not connect to the audience through eye contact which means the audience view her as an object rather than a subject which uses simplistic female representation and backed up by Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze that says in media texts, especially pop music videos, females are viewed voyeuristically rather than as the “hero” and main protagonist in the story.

The target audience is mainly teenagers and young adults; this is reflected in the simple narrative and representation of the characters who are both young adults. As the narrative does not focus on more serious everyday life issues suggests it might not appeal to an older audience so we used representation to appeal to our target audience. This also reflects the genre of the music which is soft pop which tends use light-hearted topics.

As there is a strong city vs country divide the representation of regional identity is used in the music video. To some extent you could argue that we have used simplistic representations leaning on stereotypical ideologies that would be familiar to the audience. For example the city is represented as being an unfriendly, isolating place to be which is reflected though the editing of black and white in the video. This contrasts with the country which is shot in colour and is represented as a happier, lighter, free place to be. This is also reflected in the characters themselves, Katie is represented as a stereotypical country girl, with a long floaty dress that makes her look very out of place in the city. She is also seen riding a horse which uses the dominant ideology that life in the country is simpler and less stressful. This also links to the representation of social class of the characters. Bank being from the city is seen with a Blackberry which reflects high tech modern city life whereas Katie is rejecting the city in favour of the country. This also uses the stereotypical ideology that country people are not as up to date as city dwellers, and are more likely to have outdoor jobs which is reflected in the horse shots rather than an office job which is reflected by Bank who is only seen indoors. 

Analyse one of your products in relation to genre.

I will analyse my group's music video of Good Life. As OneRepublic is a pop rock band who has a high profile and large following the music video had to fit the mainstream pop genre, which required research into the typical paradigms of the pop genre to ensure it included the key aspects of Pop.

In research and planning I looked into the key conventions of a pop music video. Andrew Goodwin's theory of a relationship between the lyrics, music and visuals suggests that typically in pop videos the visuals relate to the music and in some cases amplifying the meaning of the lyrics. Therefore the ideas of the Good Life had to come across in the video through the narrative and imagery. Shooting in London related to the lyrics as it is referenced in the song which was edited to fit with the parts of the song that link, for example when the singing begins the line lost near Piccadilly, was edited to link to the visuals with shots of Piccadilly. Like most music videos the cuts of the video matches the tempo and beat of the song. Also the London location creates a luxurious, iconic image which is typical of pop music videos most pop bands and artists will shoot their music video in a iconic location to make it easily recognisable and to make the audience aspire to their pop star lifestyle. For example, OneRepublic’s Say All I Need was shot in Paris although it does not have any obvious connection to the lyrics. This is to get across the touring life of the band and to appeal to the audience who like to see places they might not get the chance to visit. We used iconography of typical London locations, the underground, St Paul’s, London Eye, Big Ben and Piccadilly, to make it clear to the audience where the story was set. This does not make the video exclusive though because these locations are well known and a worldwide audience could easily identify them, this fits the pop genre which has a wide appeal. Other iconography used in our music video like the Blackberry is typical of pop music videos which try to sell the celebrity lifestyle of the band. Although we did not completely conform to typical pop convention by making the city an unhappy bad place to be through the narrative and editing; Katie is much happier in the country which is amplified by the fact the footage is in colour whereas the city is portrayed as a dark lonely place to be. Even though this does not conform to pop genre by selling the cool expensive lifestyle of the pop band, it still appeals to the audience because the other conventions of the genre are present. As Neale’s theory explains “Pleasure is derived through repetition and difference.” The audience know that it is a pop music video because of the music and the lead singer star status, however they enjoy the fact the concept of the narrative is different from other pop music videos. Furthermore if the music video followed all the conventions of the pop genre it might be overlooked by the audience as it does not differ enough from other music videos they have seen. It would be dull if all pop music videos were completely similar so breaking some of the conventions makes it more interesting to the audience. The fact it is different makes it more likely that the audience will want to watch it again, a music videos’ repeatability makes it popular which increases the interest, and ultimately sales, for the band. The iconic London location and natural country setting makes the audience comfortable and they can also easily relate to the narrative which makes it a repeatable music video.

As most Pop music videos focus on the luxurious, “cool” lifestyle of the band, Andrew Goodwin identifies that this achieved by portraying a star image especially for the lead singer who will often be the main protagonist in the narrative, which Bank is in the music video. Glenhill identifies that genres rely on audience having knowledge and expectations about the genre’s content, in terms of Pop this implies that the audience expect to see the band, or at least the lead singer, feature in the music video performing or lip syncing to sell the band with a recognisable face. Most pop bands who are similar to OneRepublic; Coldplay, The Script and Snow Patrol for example, will feature the band, focusing mainly on the lead singer, throughout all their music videos. As the audience expect to see that will pop bands the image of the lead singer had to be a dominant in the music video. A further expectation of pop music videos is the use of narrative mixed with performance to amplify the meaning of the lyrics while still appealing to the star image of pop bands. In the research and planning we saw that it was a dominant feature in OneRepublic, Coldplay and The Script’s music video, as these bands fit the genre we took inspiration from creating a mixed narrative and performance music video.

As pop is expected to appeal to both a male and female audience, pop music videos will often feature male and female protagonists however Laura Mulvey’s theory of the Male Gaze comes into this as often the females in pop music videos are viewed in a voyeuristic way as an object belonging to the lead singer rather than the subject within the narrative. Although our narrative suggests that the female character is more independent and in control it can be argued that she is still seen as passive because she does not engage with the audience. As pop genre narratives more often than not will be about romance the audience assume the relationship between Bank and Katie is a romantic one. Konigsberg’s theory that enduring genres, like pop, use universal dilemmas as they appeal to the psychological needs of the audience, as break-ups are a common occurrence in everyday life and in other media; films and TV soaps for example, it is easily identifiable and relatable to the audience which makes the narrative easy to understand and interpret. Although the nature of their relationship is up for interpretation because it is not explicitly explained in the narrative the majority of the audience would identify it as a romantic one because romance is typical of the pop genre. It is also popular because people like to see the equilibrium resorted which happens in the narrative when Katie is seen free in the country which is her natural environment, this gives the audience a feeling of satisfaction and hope in real life. This links to Richard Dyer’s theory that the pop genre can provide escapism for the audience through the iconography and star image that can distract them from reality and introduce an audience to a luxurious lifestyle. As well as escapism as Knight’s theory suggests the genre offers emotional pleasure which allows them to escape into the fictional narrative and create empathy for the characters especially if it is a recognisable situation like a break-up.

Theorists on Genre.

Graeme Burton's Six Elements to define a genre:

• Protagonists
• Stock characters
• Plots and stock situations
• Icons
• Background and decor
• Themes

Paradigms (key conventions or elements to a genre) shown through:

• Iconography (main signs/symbols that are seen)
• Structure (how it is put together)
• Theme (issues it deals with)

Pros of genre:
"Can provide structure and form which allow a great deal of creativity and virtuosity which makes it easier when genuine reworking of generic conventions come along. It provides key elements for the audience to recognise so they can further appreciate the variation and originality surrounding the representation of those elements. (e.g. Scream was a parody taking the conventions of a teenage slash movie where the teenagers are unaware of the killer and turning it around so the character know the predictability within the plot) However once a new genre is created audiences can get bored of seeing it which leads to the constant changing and adapting to audience tastes, individual entries into the genre and societal influence.

Richard Dyer (1973) says "genres are pleasurable because they offer escapist fantasies into fiction worlds that remove the boredom and pressures of reality."

Hodge and Cress: "Genres are typical forms of texts, which link kinds of producers, consumers, topic, medium, manner and occasion." - can make it easier for audiences identify what they want to see, what they will like.

Glenhill: "One advantage of genres is that they can rely on readers already having knowledge and expectations about the works within a genre."

Allen: "Any text requires what is sometimes called the cultural capital on the part of its audience to make sense of it" - audiences bring prior knowledge and understanding of a genre which helps them understand it.

Fiske: "The assignment of a text to a genre influences how the text is read." If the audience understand generic conventions they understand how the text may end, are prepared for events in the plot. However this could be seen as a negative as the plot is predictable from viewing previous films."Genre constrains the possible ways in which the text is interpreted, guiding readers towards a preferred reading."

Knight: "Genre may offer various emotional pleasures such as empathy and escapism." - the audience like to identify with the characters and imagine themselves living their experiences.

Neale: "Pleasure is derived through repetition and difference." - the audience like to feel secure in this familiarity of the genre but also enjoy a surprise

Abercrombie: "We derive pleasure from observing how the conventions of a genre are manipulated." - Knowing what to expect makes the audience enjoy the unexpected.

Criticisms on genre:
"Rigorous conformity to conventions can lead to stagnation and eventual ossification of the genre - a "they're all the same" judgement is passed. (Occurred with traditional Hollywood Western/Musicals) Can become stale over-repetition and audiences lose interest. Only when things come along that challenge conventions and expectation of the genre that non-niche audiences are willing to watch. (e.g. Brokeback Mountain/ Moulin Rouge)"

Hartley: "Genres are ideological closure; they limit the meaning potential of a given text."

Robert Stam (2000): Problems with genre labels can make the genre too broad or too narrow. Normativism upon hearing a genre the audience make assumptions towards it before watching

Apply Theories of Narrative to One of Your Coursework Products.

The music video for Good Life by OneRepublic follows Andrew Goodwin's theory of a relationship between the visuals and music by amplifying the meaning of the lyrics through a narrative. The narrative follows a linear structure, typical of mainstream pop music videos. To some extent the music video follows Steve Archer's theory that videos tend to only suggest storyline and focus on fragments of the lyrics, in this music video the lyrics become the focus during the lip syncing clips the rest of the time it is used to narrate the story. Like most pop videos the lead singer is the main character in the video who acts as both the narrator, through lip syncing, and protagonist as part of the plot with his connection with Katie.  As there are only two characters in the music video, Propp's theory of character roles does not really apply to it, however Bank is clearly the hero of the story as the lead singer of the band. The roles of the characters in the narrative conforms to Mulvey's theory of the male gaze as Katie is viewed passively because she does not connect to the audience by making eye contact with the camera, Bank on the other hand can be seen as a subject rather than an object because he looks directly at the audience while singing. Similarly Schwichtenberg's theory that "action in the story is dominated by males who do things and females who passively react or wait for something to happen" applies to the narrative however there is a contradiction because Katie is the more active character being seen walking around and searching for her freedom, Bank is the more passive in the sense he is always in the same setting. However again Katie is viewed as being passive because she does not interact with the audience were as Bank does making him more of a subject than an object to watch. 


In terms of the narrative it follows David Bordwell's theory of fabula, changing meaning from viewer to viewer, the relationship between the two characters is not explicitly explained which leaves it up to audience interpretation. Like most pop videos it relies on the audience having an understanding that the subjects are romantically involved with the plot revolving around getting together, being together or breaking up. Therefore the link between Katie and Bank is seen by most viewers as a breakup as the couple are not seen together, it appears that Katie is the one to leave as the shot of Bank's phone with pictures of her implies to the audience he is missing her. This is an example of Roland Barthes' theory of codes this being a semantic code explaining their break up through connotation rather than explaining it explicitly. Katie's floating dress is an example of symbolic code to signify to the audience she is a country girl who looks very out of place in the city. With the London shots especially the crowded fast pace shots are cultural codes that the audience understand as claustrophobic to Katie because of pre-knowledge of city life. This is also the same for the country shots as the audience understand this is seen as a more relaxed lifestyle due to cultural understanding. The city and country contrast is an example of Levi-Strauss' binary opposites which also symbolises Katie's mood. Using post-production the city and Bank singing is shot in black and white which contrasts and signifies her freedom in the country away from the city and Bank in the country shots which are in colour. Todorov’s theory of restored equilibrium at the end of narratives also applies to our music video as Katie is show in the country where she belongs having escaped from the depression of the city.

Prezi on our Music Video.

Analysing Good Life Music Video on Prezi

Post-production.

Production:

• filming prelim on continuity - AS
• taking photos for magazine
• writing article
• filming prelim of Busted - AS
• filming for music video
• photos for digipak

Post-production:

• iMovie for editing preliminary film
• photoshop editing the photos for digipak, poster & magazine
• arranging the layout for music magazine, digipak and poster in photoshop
• rendering the clips
• saving and backing up the film
• editing the movie clips in Premiere Elements
• uploading the video on the DVD and YouTube

Techniques in Premiere Elements:

• transitions - layering clips
• fading
• turning to black & white
• slow motion
• speeding up
• cutting out clip sound
• trimming clips
• ghosting
• increasing brightness

How has your view of editing changed over the two years as you progressed with different programs?
Over the course of the two years I have progressed my skills in post-production by making better use of effects in editing programs. For my first preliminary video on continuity in AS I used iMovie to edit it post-production, it was quite simple cutting and placing the clips in order. For the final music video in A2 we used Premiere Elements which gave us a wider range of effects which we used to enhance our footage. To make the final video follow better than the preliminary Busted music video we used transitions to make the cuts between clips less choppy. 


"A process needed for problem solving…not just a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability enjoyed by most people." (Jones 1993)

Explain how far your understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way you created your own media products.

In my AS year I made a preliminary product and a final product of a cover, contents page and double page spread for a punk music magazine called “Rebel”. In A2 I created a preliminary video for Busted’s “What I Go To School For” and a music video for “Good Life” by OneRepublic with a digipak and poster for a made-up band “The Empty Crowd”.  In every product I have created I have used existing conventions of real media texts to help me produce good quality products. 

In AS for the preliminary magazine and my final product I had to research into existing media conventions of magazines and implement them in my work. For example, magazines will always have a target audience that they have to appeal to the make the magazine sell. I had to consider who my target audience was, and realised the type of music and style I was going for would target teenagers and young adults both male and female who liked alternative music. From this I had to think how I would use representation to appeal to them. I used typical magazine conventions throughout the products to make it look like a real music magazine. For example I used a continuing colour scheme and font style throughout the pages of the magazine. The rule of thirds on the front cover with a clear masthead at the top of the page, coverlines, and made it clear to the reader what was more important information by using bigger font that stood out. On the double page spread I used a typical convention of a band interview with a Question and Answer format, including photographs of the band with photo captions. Although I mostly used typical conventions of real media texts in my music magazine I used a more unusual, art style for the magazine which more conventional popular magazines like NME and Q try to avoid and go for a clear, simple style to have a more universal appeal.

For A2 I researched into the different types of music video, illustration, amplified and disjuncture. As my partner and I were using OneRepublic’s song “Good Life” we decided to create an illustration style music video because it is the one most used by pop bands because it has a wide appeal. As our target audience were male and female teenagers we decided to use a girl of our own age so that the audience could identify with it. According to Andrew Goodwin’s theory of typical conventions of music videos is to mix narrative and performance to create a link with the visuals and music, although initial we were not going to include a performance aspect our draft highlighted that performance was needed to make it more effective.

The only two characters in the story were Bank and Katie. The convention of Mulvey’s male gaze theory applied to our music video; although it was unintentional it could be argued that Katie is passive because she does not connect to the audience by creating eye contact with camera whereas Bank as the lead singer does look into the camera. This makes him an active character which links to the traditional male and female roles within narratives.  Also within the narrative we use Levi-Strauss’ theory of binary opposites with the city as representing sadness for Katie and the country, freedom and happiness. Todorov’s theory of restored equilibrium at the end of narratives also applies to our music video as Katie is show in the country where she belongs. We used typical conventions from Barthes’ theory of connotation and denotation to give the audience clues about what was going on in the narrative because as it was a music video there was no dialogue to explain. For example we used post-production effects to give the impression of dark busy streets in London which denotes to the audience a hectic lifestyle which contrasts well with the sunny landscape shots which denotes nature, freedom and a simpler life.

In terms of filming and post-production we used typical conventions of real media texts to create a music video that looked like it could be real. For example we used Premiere Elements to enhance the shots. We cut and made edits in the video to fit in time with changes in the music which links to Andrew Goodwin’s theory of a relationship between visuals and music. During filming we also tried to shoot with movement to fit to Carol Vernallies’ theory of continuous movement within a music video by creating panning shots, dolly shots and 360˚ to make it more interesting. 

How have you combined the "same but different" and the "familiar and the unexcepted" in your final piece?

For the final music video we used real media conventions to make our product fit the genre. For example we had watched several OneRepublic videos and took the idea of shooting in the city as it linked to the lyrics and the luxurious lifestyle of pop bands. To improve the quality of our video we used a HD camera as the audience would expect a pop video to be high quality to show celebrity and luxury status. Although we weren't originally going to use performance in our video we realised that as most pop music videos mix narrative and performance it looked empty without it and the visuals did not connect enough with the music. 

From Ed Sheeran's music video A Team which is shot in black and white to give the city a gritty, depressing look we decided to take this into our video to show a clear contrast between city and country, which we shot in colour.

In a lot of pop music videos there is usually a romantic storyline between the lead singer and a female character we took this idea and made this the part of the plot, although the lost country girl in the city is still the main theme of the narrative. This storyline was inspired by Ed Sheeran's A Team however we changed it and gave her the escape to the country as this fitted better with the lyrics which are quite positive.

For my digipak I took the cover of OneRepublic's album Dreaming Out Loud and adapted the tree design to reflect the concept of city vs country with the roots resembling the London underground map and the tree reflecting the colourful countryside. Concept albums are used a lot by bands to attract a larger audience as it is seen as quite artistic and not "manufactured" pop. For example, Coldplay's Viva La Vida following the theme of the French Revolution which inspired use to create a concept of city vs country to follow across the music video, digipak and poster. 

Using conventions from real media texts.

Music magazine

Front cover:

• Features artist in centre - mid shot
• Masthead at top
• Rule of thirds
• Coverlines
• Important info in larger font

Contents page:

• Highlighting key articles
• Page numbers
• Clear layout
• Images of key articles
• Topics grouped together
• Adverts

Double page spread:

• Heading
• Subheading
• Pull quotes
• Photo captions
• Image + text
• Interviews Q&A
• Info on band - recent news

General:

• Colour scheme
• Consistent style across the pages
• Fonts
• Representation in photography

Music Video

• Lip sync
• Narrative
• Performance aspect
• Connection between lyrics, music and visuals
• Representation
• Concepts

Digital Technology Turns Media Consumers into Media Producers.

"The making of the new and the rearranging of the old" - Bentley

"Digital techonlogy turns media consumers into media producers"
In your own experience how has your creativity developed using digital technology to complete your coursework productions?

To some extent digital technology goes turn media consumers into media producers because it enable us to consume current media products for example watching music videos on YouTube which spurs creativity and further develops ideas for production turning us into media producers.

In my A2 coursework I have used digital technology as a consumer and a producer because I have used the internet; band websites, YouTube and Google, to take in information about the pop rock band genre that my products were based on. From what I found and learnt I took ideas forward and turned them into a product (music video, digipak and poster) Through Abode Photoshop and Premiere Elements I was able to develop my creativity and turn it from an idea into a reality. This allowed me to experiment with ideas and from the experience I gained though research & planning I was able to judge how effective and successful the outcome was. This allowed me to produce a more creative product. For example when producing my digipak and poster I developed the designs and layout based on aspects of current products. During my research and planning I was inspired by Parachute's album artwork for Losing Sleep I then tried to produce a similar layering style for my own digipak using photography of city and country. I used digital technology to develop this in Photoshop however it was not as successful as the original. I then developed my ideas further by taking certain aspects ideas from different sources that I had found during research & planning and combining them.

Creativity.

Creativity Deabte: "Does creativity come from the need to solve a problem or not?"

What is creativity? The Thesaurus definition of creativity is:
Originality, imagination, inspitation, ingenuity, inventiveness, resourcefulness, creativeness, vision and innovation.

"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)

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light & shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable, originality is non-existent. And don't bother concealing your theivery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: "It's not where you take things from - it's more where you take them to." - Jim Jarmusch

Creativity.

Ideas on Creativity:
“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns. Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. It is also a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing...it makes life more fun and more interesting." - Edward de Bono



"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it." - C. S. Lewis


"Out of limitation come creativity." - Debbie Allen



"A truly creative person rids him or herself of all self-imposed limitations." - Gerald G. Jampolsky

"Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them." - Albert Einstein

"Can anybody be given a great degree of creativity? No. They can be given the equipment to develop it - if they have it in them in the first place." - George Shearing



"Creativity and artistic endeavours have a mission that goes far beyond just making music for the sake of music." - Herbie Hancock

What do you understand by "Creativity" and to what extend have you been creative?
Creativity is where a person creates something new that is individual and original. It can be a product, piece of art, music, literature etc that is different, shows an inspiring concept, brings new ideas or meaning to the audience, something that expresses emotions and ideas to the viewer. Creativity is usually inspired by other creative products or ideas but can be totally original and innovative. 

Did you experience limits/blocks on your own creativity?

Time and equipment has limited my creativity to some extent because I've had to work in a time frame and use resources that were on offer to me however with more time and a wider range of resources I could have been more creative and created a better outcome.

How easy/difficult was it to be creative while still working to the brief?

While working to the brief it wasn't too difficult to still be creative because I was able to adapt it to my skills and experiment with new technologies to make a creative product.

How much of your creativity was about trial and error?
A lot of my creativity is about trial and error because I need to test, practice and adapt my ideas before I create an effective outcome. For example with my digipak I played around in photoshop and the image on the front cover til I was happy that it worked.

Did working within conventions stifle your creativity?

To some extent working within conventions has stifled my creativity because I've had to ignore some ideas because they would not appeal to the audience. For example, at one point I wanted to include more abstract effects in the music video however we decided that it did not really fit with the mainstream pop genre of the music.

Things that have caught my eye and I find creative:


The visuals fit really well with the music, its uplifting and inspiring if you enjoy rugby. The colours they use incorporate the colours of the different nation's kits. Also shows iconic rugby images e.g. Jonny Wilkinson's drop kick, Francois Pienaar lifting the Webb Ellis cup, the haka. It also incorporates imagery of the host nation, New Zealand with the mountains in the background and the fern leaf which is the All Blacks' logo.


This is a really effective use photography and filming techniques to incorporate his signature artwork of silhouettes of the cat and the dog into an interesting alternative style of music video. It's really witty and shows the nightlife of a dog.

Thought to be a sculpture by Banksy given to support the Occup London movement in their protest against corporate greed and corruption. I think this is really effective and creative showing a iconic, well-known image and changing the meaning to send a strong message.