Apply genre theory to one of your products.

Planning Narrative

Planning Genre

Planning Audience

Mixtape Planning

Mixtape

• I've decided that my theme mixtape will be a 'soundtrack'.
• This soundtrack is to a film that doesn't exist and therefore brings theories such as 'Hyper Reality' and 'Bricolage' it to context.
• For example, songs taken from different contexts that fit together to portray a story.
• The theme of the story changing from happyness, to dispair to happyness. With the aim for the audience to think these songs are a good representation of this yet the story they represent doesn't actually exist.

Dinosaur Pile-Up's "Derail"

Dinosaur Pile-Ups music video for their single "Derial" is another example of a post-modern media crossing bewtween media and film. The main refrence is to the film 'Pysco' in which the music video uses the famous 'shower scene'. This brings up the argument for & against post-modernsim as a modern audience would more than likely see that scene as having low quality acting and realism, however because this new music video copies the original, it is meant to be bad and therefore is deemed 'good'.



The music video also has similar actions and overal feel to the film 'The Disappearance of Alice Creed'. The scene in which she picks up the keys with her foot is extremely similar to a scene from the film.

Jonathan Kramer Music Theory - 2nd Example

- is, on some level and in some way, ironic
- considers music not as autonomous but as relevant to cultural, social, and political contexts
- locates meaning and even structure in listeners, more than in scores, performances, or composers

This song and music video bring up many political and enviromental issues trying to put across their feelings and beliefs about such situations. They however do this in a 'comedic' fashion to reach their target audience or to again show there enjoying themselves.

Jonathan Kramer Music Theory - 1st Example

- Arcane Roots debut album Blood & Chemistry is made up of ten tracks. 2 of which 'Sacred Shapes & Slow' seemingly have a couple minutes of an interlude at the end. However these interludes are the same song, slightly different in structure and style but when placed toegtheralmostcreate a full 4 minute song.
- This can link to the following points in Jonathan Kramer's theory:
- shows disdain for the often unquestioned value of structural unity
- avoids totalizing forms (e.g., does not want entire pieces to be tonal or serial or cast in a prescribed formal mold
- includes fragmentations and discontinuities

Bricolage Of Case Studies #2

Bricolage Of Case Studies #1

'Postmodern media manipulate time and space'. To what extent does this definition apply to texts you have studied?

Postmodernism allows media products of a different time and design influence to be manipulated into a successful (or not) present day media. Postmodernism intends to use old media material subtly or by reference to create something new, allowing producers to take ideas from many sources to create a new meaning with a bricolage of depth, or to remove all meaning all together (removing depth).

One example of the manipulation of time and space is found in Christian Nolan's film 'Inception'. Within the plot dream layers are created, dreams within dreams within dreams. As these layers continue to build time in the real world slow downs, for example the first layer (reality) is in 'normal time', but then as a layer is added what we interpret as 'real' time slows down, as time becomes quicker in a dream state so days happen within seconds of the real world. This shows how the film has manipulated time, as in reality whats happens in this space (scene) should only take a few minutes, is stretched to become hours for the audience. The film also describes the issue with not being able to distinguish between what is real and what is a dream linking to the postmodern theory 'Hyper Reality' were the consumer/audience can't determine the difference. The main character describes to a new 'architect' (creator of dream) not to use her existing places, objects etc. as she may loose sight of what is real and what is a dream. This use of Baudrillard's theory occurs again as modern audiences in film media have become accustomed to CGI and digital manipulation of landscapes and other special effects. Christian Nolan tries to limit the use of CGI as much as possible, trying to make everything as 'real' as possible. For example in one scene were two characters fight in a corridor in which gravity is no longer forced the audience are unaware that this has been filmed by using a real rotating room. This shows how audiences are struggling to distinguish between the real-world and the digital. The word 'Inception' refers to the idea of planting a thought into someones head. The film has an intertextual reference to itself, as the film plants the idea of 'What is reality?' into the audiences, making them question what is real, and what is dream. This shows how at both times postmodernism can have depth and meaning and no depth and no meaning at the same time, as the film has depths of layers, in which all describe the previous but at the same time we question whether what we think is reality is reality, which would subsequently equate to that having no meaning.

Within the music industry postmodern material also manipulates the time and space of media. Kirby Ferguson's theory that 'Everything is a remix' is obvious within Swiss Lips music. For example in their song 'In The Water' s sample of the lyric 'Hey' is taken from something similar to 'Hey you the rock steady crew's' song. This shows how something has been developed and transformed from the early 1980's dance genre to fit into an Electric-Pop 21st Century band. Bricolage from their music video's also connote the idea of the manipulation of previous material from different ages and meanings to make something fitting the present audience and genre. Their music video for their 2013 cover of Frank Oceans 'Lost' consists of 1 main video footage taken from a fan video of the original Frank Ocean song with Found Footage from the 80's placed over the top. This video tries to represent an upbeat colourful dance image with lyrical significance to being 'lost', 'out of control' (reasonings for the female artist shots). The original fan video consisted of 3 video's, one of the model Michaela Kocianova at a Vogue magazine shooting, another video of her doing a shoot about a desperate female, and the third video taken from an amateur photographer about a young female in summer weather. This shows how video's taken from different times, with different (original) meanings have been developed and combined to 
conform new meanings in a new time.

On a larger scale this manipulation has taken place in music spanning over 50 years. For example Kayne Wests song 'Gold-digger' takes the main structure (tune, chords etc.) from a song by Ray Charles called 'I gotta woman'. This song was heavily influenced from the Gospel song 'It must be Jesus' by The Southern Tones again using a very similar tune to the original which was first released in 1954. This shows how a song that was originally Christian and religious based has been changed to a song about women using men for money. Once again this connotes the idea that postmodern media manipulates time and space as music can be taken from one era and genre and be changed to suit a present mainstream music scene.

Subsequently postmodern media can change previous material from different times and spaces to create new 'modern' products. This could be a positive for the future of media, as audiences can enjoy previous material but within an updated and developed scene. However this does bring up the argument that postmodernism is 'vacuous and trapped in circular references' in the opinion of Jameson as this re-use and development will keep circling and nothing 'new' or 'different' (creative) will be made. 

'How did the conventions of real media texts inspire you to use new technologies to create the style of product you achieved?'

Existing conventions were extremely important in the creation of my products, they offered a library of ideas that I could use, develop or challenge to create my product to a high quality whilst reaching out to the right audience. To do this I realised that to replicate or expand these original ideas I had to use certain technologies I hadn't before and therefore I was pushed to explore these new technologies to create the style of product I wanted. Albert Einstein quoted "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources" which suggests that one of the main ingredients for creative products Is the influence of existing and previous texts.

In my advanced portfolio I created a performance music video and found with my original footage that it didn't convey enough movement and energy. Looking at performance video's by bands such as 'Arcane Roots', 'Green Day' and 'Arctic Monkeys' I could see that allot of camera zooming, panning and titling was used to create an increasing 'manic' style of video. To be able to emulate this one digital tool I needed to use during editing was the 'Ken Burns' tool on iMovie. With this I could manipulate the footage to pan sideways whilst moving to make the object (video) much more interesting. Looking at existing material again within my music video I took inspiration from 'Red House Glory's - 'You' in which slow motion was applied during the fastest part of the song. I wanted to use this technique in mine but having the slow motion at the end of the video after the fastest part, to elongate the ending and to increase the impact of the fast part. To do so I had to use FinalCutPro which allowed me to change the speed of my footage, selecting the fragment of video I needed to be slowed.

Look at existing material during my foundation portfolio included a large amount of analysis of music magazines. This consisted of Star image shots of the main artists within the article. I wanted to emulate a shot in one of Kerrang's 'Paramore" issues including Hayley Williams being the main artist. The magazine had her on a plain white background to make her stand out along with the colours being very pronounced. Also looking at NME's past magazines I found the convention of text repetition very compelling and aesthetically pleasing and I wanted to develop this onto my product with many band names placed around and slightly behind my main image. To re-create this crisp cut around the photo image and enhancement of colour I had to use software such as Photoshop and iPhoto. The magnetic-lasso tool on Photoshop allowed me to cut successfully around my main cover image which allowed me to have the convention of text repetition on my front cover along with the original background of the photo to be replaced with the background of the magazine. iPhoto allowed me to use the photo enhancement tool to enhance the colours of the image to make it much more clearer and allow it to stand out more from the background.

Looking at existing music magazines I found that the mode of address (being majority informal in the rock/indie genre) wasn't just applied in the literacy of the text but also the font and punctuation/grammar. For example in Q magazines issue on 'Two Door Cinema Club' the font was very bubbly and cartooned which isn't usually seen as suitable for an informational music magazine. To create this I used a relatively new website called 'Dafont' which allows for an array of new and unique fonts to be downloaded and placed on me own texts through Photoshop. Being able to re-create this in my magazines 'rock' style I could make my double page spread look much more related to the artist and audience.

Existing conventions have been essential for me finding influence to from my own media texts whilst also allowing me to develop my skills in new technologies to find the finished quality I was looking for. Programmes such as iMovie and Photoshop have allowed me to create the style of products I want and without existing conventions I wouldn't have been able to have the original idea's to develop for my personal use.

'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'

Steve Jobs believed "Creativity is just connecting things, when you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they really didn't do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after while". I believe this relates similarly to Jones 1993 quote, as both agree to a structure in which involves a stumbling issue/problem which is then solved through (in media text) a new or existing convention sourced from the creator. However the main difference between the two are that Jones believed it was a 'common ability' whereas Jobs believed that only the people deemed 'creative' could connect the ideas together. 

In favour of Jones belief there could be a common denominator that concludes in a small number of 'elite' creative people even though the mass population have the ability to create the same. This could be narrowed down to the resources of the creator. Albert Einstein said "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources" which suggests that sources are the main factor to be successful. In my foundation portfolio technology resources were extremely important for me to create my own music magazine (MM). Being able to have access to many media websites via the Internet I could research heavily into existing media texts, for example when researching NME magazines I found one article which used the convention of text repetition on the front cover taking up the background behind the main cover image. Other conventions such as Mastheads, cover lines and Star image picture placements  allowed me to develop these existing ideas to create something different, for example using the NME text repetition along with the front close up star image taken from Kerrang's issue on 'Hayley Williams' I could develop a hybrid front cover of previous successful material in the form of my own artist and story lines.

Resources such as blogger throughout both my foundation and advanced portfolio allowed me to track my progress online, giving me a digital scrapbook to look back at my own developments and reflect on draft versions of my music magazine, album digipak and album poster to find ways of improving and to find ways of having continuity across products where needs be. For example I needed to use a common factor through my three products in my advanced portfolio and when editing my final product (music video) I could look back at my digipak and poster and find conventions I could take through which in this case was the black and white colour scheme and scrawny handwriting font. Other technological resources such as iMovie and FinalCutPro allowed me to edit my Music video (at advanced level) to a high quality, whereas someone without the equipment and software would struggle to finish with the same result. 

I believe that creativity is a hybridised skill, joined with skills such as organisation and determination which may influence the final product. For example when creating my music video I needed to fully plan the amount of different shots to take, types of shots, actors of the band, media equipment such as camera rent and tripod and finally location and clothing. Without this planning my final product would not have been as successful and wouldn't have correctly used existing conventions of other media products. Also I found with my draft music video I made many mistakes with the organisation of equipment and time. Through determination I could fix these issues and limit mistakes on my final shooting to create the best product possible. Overall I agree with Jones quote that many people have the skill of creativity but different skills and opportunities within the creators environment challenge what text and quality of text can be created.

Postmodernism In Music

'Describe how your analysis of the conventions of real media texts conformed your own creative media practise. Refer to a existing range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time'

I found existing conventions of real media products to be increasingly influential during the development of my products and skills. Researching these existing products allowed me to gain a creative interpretation of the different styles and ideas already used and therefore allowed me to develop them through my own. Albert Einstein quoted "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources", this could suggest that not just media products but all products take ideas from different sources and use or develop them to create their own.

One of the main conventions I used within my foundation portfolio product 'Music Magazine' was the 'Mode of Address' to my audience. I used quite typical informal language e.g. 'The gig was mental!' which directly speaks to the reader as they relate to this kind of language with their friends and musicians. This was primarily on my contents and double page spread as this was where the reader is more noticeably reading and concentrating about the information they are being fed. This is something many magazines within the 'rock' genre do, it relates well to the audience and also similarly uses the language the artists use when interacting with their fans. To also gain the audiences attention I used layout conventions consistently used by existing magazine front covers e.g. on Kerrang, Q or NME. This was the Golden Spiral and 'Z' format, knowing how these work and are used on existing magazines I could layout my magazine in a similar way to engage the target markets attention on the model, masthead and cover lines.

Another convention I developed from existing products was the use of text repetition taken from NME's 'The best bands of 2010', this is were the band names were placed behind the front cover image, making the cover very busy and intriguing. Using this on my magazine I created a 'Bands of 2012' front cover, using the impact 'Font' to look bold and stand out to the audience. This idea of text repetition I took forward to my advanced portfolio, when creating my Digipak front cover and inside 'Thankyou's' sleeve, I used text repetition again but taking further influence from Paramore's 'Riot' which used the montage of text more excessively than the previous NME magazine. Along with this I developed the text font from the previous straight bold 'Impact' to a more scrawny handwriting font. This was because the two media products had slightly different needs to supplement their target audience. The digipak needed the font to be representative of the bands genre and relate to the audience whereas the magazine needed to the font to be bold and easy to read to gain the audiences attention. When moving on to do my Poster for the same band at my advanced portfolio I wanted to re-create the scrawny busy page environment. I started to do so using Photoshop but however when looking and researching into other band posters and album covers I came across Arctic Monkeys 'Suck It And See' which consisted of nothing apart from the album title in the middle and a small circular logo showing the band name in the corner. I developed this minimalism theme into my product, keeping the scrawny handwriting font but having only a few words on a plane white page, artist name and album along with a review in a vertical format.

When creating my music video at an advanced level it was critically important to analyse existing music video's of the same genre. Looking into Indie-rock bands like Oasis's 'Supersonic' and Arctic Monkeys 'R u mine?' I saw the convention of a black and white colour scheme. It was something really common within these bands other music video's and many others and therefore I decided to use this within mine to reach out to the same audience that have an interest in the filming and technological changes that can be achieved.

Real media conventions were essential in the development of my products, they helped me obtain advantages and disadvantages of excessing product conventions and through this allow me to select the appropriate ones to make my products a success to their apposed target audiences.

'Uncool' Playlist

1. Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys
2. Snakes - The James Cleaver Quintet
3. Power Boast Distaster - Baby Godzilla
4. Chasing The Girls - Dangerous!
5. All The Small Things - Blink 182
6. Hyper Music - Muse
7. Danz - Swiss Lips
8. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Arcane Roots
9. V.E.N.O.M. - Pulled Apart By Horses
10. I Can Talk - Two Door Cinema Club
11. Fire Up - Red House Glory
12. She - Green Day

Discuss why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.

Postmodern media has brought about large debate and argument within the media world with the support and criticism of the properties it brings to industries, for example in film or music. Post-modern media involves an array of different theory’s, which attempt to explain its effect on the audience and what the media text is trying to achieve. Intertextual References is one of these, Julia Kristeva’s theory could be mostly associated with the film ‘Inglorious Basterds’ Directed by Quinten Tarantino in which includes many references to other films which have been shaped to fit within the genre of his film (in this case war), without obvious recognition. Jameson criticises this and his overall opinion of poster-modernism is defined by ‘vascous and trapped in circular references’.

Inglorious Basterds uses the theme of spaghetti western font and music throughout but this seemingly fits with the drama even though taken from a different genre. Kirby Ferguson’s theory of “Everything is a remix” would support this type of film making as it attempts to copy then transform and combine existing material, however Jameson’s point and opinion becomes noted within media text like the film “Hobo With A Shotgun”. The film takes a comedic shape of references from 80’s films and does this so to be deliberately bad.  The screenplay and acting differ in quality compared to Inglorious Basterds yet both pieces select and re-use pieces of other films but differently as Inglorious Bastards references are presented subtly trying to be not as easily noticeable whereas Hobo’s are made the main (most important) feature. In conclusion Inglorious Basterds receiving success and high reviews.

The argument that Hobo with a Shotgun is suppose to be bad does hinder Jameson’s point, however the film Scott Pilgram Vs. The World directed by Edgar Wright suffered at the box office after one of its main features was the use of inter textual references. The film was aimed at teenagers and young adults but the majority of references were taken from the 80’s, including games, music videos and other films including music by ‘The Doors’ in which the audience weren’t familiar with and therefore found no preferred reading of the parody/imitation scenes within.

Some people are unconvinced of post-modernism because of its relationship with modern technologies, for example social networks sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. These along with games e.g. The Sims, allow people to live reality lives away from there own in a digital world, were they can create aspirations and do things virtually they can’t in there own. When achieving these aspirations they feel the same feelings as if they had done it for real, this links to Baudrillard’s theory of ‘Hyper Reality’ were there is an inability in the conscious to distinguish between reality and simulation. This idea of games maybe extreme but this is common within many media advertisements, for example in Nikon's S8000 camera advert, they portray a marriage, holiday to Egypt, nightclub party and more scenarios and the audience have feelings of happiness, joy etc. for the people within which they then relate to the product. These people are however actors, the scenes are staged and the audiences have never met, got to know (establish relationships) or interact with these people and yet feel emotions towards them, this conforms with the theory of people struggling to distinguish between reality and virtual/simulation.

The music industry has changed allot due to post-modern development. The increasing amount of patents and copyright infringements has duplicated in number in the new century. This is because it has become easier for the audience to analyse and research into the history of different media texts and therefore it has become much harder to hide the sources artists uses to create there music. Albert Einstein believed “To be creative, you must no how to hide your sources” alluding to how people use existing conventions. The argument with this are people like Kirby Ferguson who think things have always been copied and that originality is impossible think things won’t progress with legal things like this. However for the artist themselves they are of the majority of time very angry and annoyed when what they see as their own material is copied and they are not rewarded or credited. For example one of Green Days biggest hits ‘American Idiot’ revived their career and gave them global success, but it however came apparent to a small majority of audience that the songs main riff was almost exactly the same to the ‘Dillinger’s Four’ song ‘Doublewhiskeycokenoice’. This shows how songs have been transformed to be iconic to a new audience (of different time) whilst also having the context changed (linking to Levi Strauss Bricolage Theory). The argument is that what we believed to be original and at the time (song tabloids saying the song was just like old punk) was because it was original, but original no more.

The complexion of this shows again that the audiences are almost sold a lie and that post-modernism allows the un-creative to be creative with existing media. This may have a huge effect on future media texts, as anything the audience will see will never be new, it will always be a copy that is transformed or developed into different contexts and the original meaning and artist will be lost, and this is one main reason many or unconvinced of post-modern material.

Inglourious Basterds - Postmodernism

Narrative Theory - Music Video

Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.

Steve Jobs believed "Creativity is just connecting things, when you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they really didn't do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after while". For me creativity lies between the boundaries of creating something "new" and re-arranging the old (existing conventions of products) to make something to be perceived as "creative". Through my own experiences I've used digital technology to create, produce and exemplify my own products building my skills to create a higher quality of product.

At foundation level and through to my additional level I have developed my skills through the creation of media products. This is most obvious when looking at the similarities and deference's of my foundation "Music Magazine (MM)" and my Digipak created at additional level (DP). To create my MM I used a programme called Photoshop in which I was scarcely familiar with. It allowed me to become competent with the use of tools such as the "magic wand" and "magnetic lasso" which subsequently allowed me to create a product design I had mocked up. The "magic wand" was an important tool I learnt to use when developing my draft version of my MM and this allowed me to use the convention of text repetition across my front cover on my final version. Being able to re-create the look I was going for was really important for my product to be aesthetically effective and being able to use the technology to do so was a really important attribute to have learnt. I took this new competence with the programme into my additional level when creating my DP, I decided that the most appropriate convention for my band image would be again text repetition but this time I was allowed to experiment. For example this time I decided to try and make the text repetition much more interesting and detailed, instead of being all horizontal and within invisible guide lines I used rotation and variance in font size to portray a much more "scruffy" and "gravity" like image and my growing experience allowed with the programme was one of the main factors allowing me to decide on that main convention.

Another example of this progression through my two levels was through photography. At the foundation level I learnt about the different types of shots, and was introduced to the golden spiral and three triangles rules which allowed me to correctly position a photo with an artist and props within. I practised taking images with my artist for my MM through a draft shoot and final shoot. Being able to do a draft made me realise the organisation skills I needed to gain, through costume, location and timing to gain the image I wanted to create. This helped me organise my final photo shoot creating the artist and setting around them, also with experience of using the camera and knowing the many shot types I could take a larger variety of shots in which would be suitable. This gain in experience and technical ability was influential in my creative decision making at advanced level. When developing my DP I needed to use a convention along my inside panels which I could design to a high quality. My target audience were very interested in the "behind the scenes" picture collections found in album booklets, therefore one obvious convention would be a series of images of the band. My previous experience from foundation with using a camera and the different shot types and there effects gave me the confidence that I could successfully create an image montage. I took these images whilst filming my music video using my iPhone 4, this was successful at taking the shots I wanted and I could use it withe grid tool which I became aware of at foundation level.

Digital technology has been extremely important when creating my products, without it I would have struggled to create my products and maybe without its use in real life products struggle to plan and design my own development of existing conventions. A growing experience in these technologies has allowed me to become confident that I can create existing conventions to a high quality and therefore has allowed me to expand my range of possible (realistic) ideas for my products and therefore the development of my skills has been crucial to create my final products at additional level.

Inglorious Basterds - Revision Task - Plan

I will either be doing an iMovie video which will allow me to compare the references Quentin Tarantino uses, this technology will allow me to record a voice over whilst also showing clips that justify the refrences he uses and why these are post-modern along with allowing me to point my own opinion across.
The other possible way I could present this is through programme called "Jing", which would allow me screen record my computer, so I can show through diagrams and other programmes (including youtube clips) to get my points and information across whilst simultanouesly having a voice over to exaplain my findings.

Inspiring "Creativity" Quotes

I wouldn't say I find many quotes that really inspire me, but there are many quotes that I really relate to and agree with, and therefore account to my influence of creativity. These are the ten quotes that particularly stood out to me.

Leo Burnett - "Curiosity about life in all its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people"

Steve Jobs - "Creativity is just connecting things, when you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they really didn't do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after while"

Albert Einstein - "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"

Erich Fromm - "Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties"

Charles Mingus - "Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that's easy. What's hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity"

Maya Angelou - "You can't use up creativity, the more you use, the more you have"

Ken Robinson - "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original"

Marcel Dunchamp - "I force myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste"

Andy Warhol - "You have to do stuff that average people don't understand because those are the only good things"

Hernest Hemingway - "I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen"

Mini Creative Task - Coffee Machine

We were told that we had to quickly design a new innovative coffee machine, with the type of product the only part of the brief. I took inspiration from OKGO's music video for "This Too Shall Pass" (Rube Goldberg version). The marble run idea was intended to be new and different from other products on the market, in which it is and therefore meets the initial brief, but I feel my level of creativity was low, as I was struggling to find inspiration and almost copied the idea from the music video, this again links into the argument for what is "creative" and what isn't. 

My Creativity

-What do you understand by ‘creativity’ and to what extent have you been creative? I understand creativity to be on the periphery between creating something with a talent, or large amount of work (possibly using already used conventions) whilst also creating a product/idea which is different, imaginative and unique. I think I have been creative when creating many products within my Media and Product Design A levels. Creating ancillary products e.g. Digipak and Album poster for a band, creating a point of sale product to influence children to participate in sports and when creating a music magazine for a rock audience. I think the extent of my creativity lies on creating products that are effective for their function but aren't necessary "new" or "different".

- How have you tried to facilitate and encourage your own creativity? When designing or trying to think about new ideas for products I have always used methods such as Inspiration Themes. For example taking images from either Nature or Architecture and then designing products around them, experimenting with different shapes and colours. 
- Did you experience limits/blocks on your own creativity? At times I have found it hard to be creative, especially under pressure or under a limited amount of time. For example I find myself being more creative in style, shape, ideas etc and in quantity when having a larger amount of time to think about different options.
- How easy/difficult was it to be creative while still working to the brief? I think a brief helps me to narrow down what I the product or idea has to include, it helps me create a list of the elements it has to have and then allows me to be creative around these. It does sometimes however hinder my progress, for example a very detailed brief can be helpful, as this is what makes the product or idea feasible but sometimes it limits my ability to create abstract and new ideas.
- Did working within conventions stifle your creativity? I think it helped me be creative when developing those conventions, giving be the foundations to build on and produce more, but sometimes maybe they limited me on trying new things that hadn't been done before.
- To what extent did you need to work with others and ‘bounce ideas’ off other people to be truly creative? It allowed me to develop on my own ideas, some conventions other people used gave me the inspiration to try something similar but however different, giving me a push in the right direction.
-How much of your creativity was about trying to picture things in your mind’s eye? Allot of my creativity was trying to produce something I could visualise in my head, but the other half was a trail and error method when attempting to create ideas which subsequently then inspired me to create something I had visualised. For example I had visualised a text repetition for the front of my digipak, when creating this I didn't think it looked aesthetically pleasing enough with the current colour scheme, so trying different ones randomly I found I particularly liked the in versed colour scheme, with made me visualise the whole product with the same.
- To what extent was a lack of confidence an issue in terms of your creativity? I don't think a lack of confidence has had an effect on my creativity, I usually have confidence no matter what product I have to create, maybe when first filming my music video (draft) I was a bit unconfident because of my lack of experience at filming, and therefore this stopped me from performing more unique and imaginative shots.

Introduction into Creativity

Creativity has many meanings, the simplest being a describing word to show the "making" of a product/idea. In more complex terms the creation of something that requires talent e.g. music, or the creation of something unique, different and original which may require a collaboration of previous ideas/products.

Many people argue whether a combination of randomised or already used ideas to create a product is "creative. Generating a randomised Album Cover, first taking a random artist name using the random page selector tool on wikipedia, then album name from quotationspage random quote selector tool, and the 3rd picture from Flikr's most interesting page I will have created a possible "Creative" product.

In my opinion the album covers I have created look very interesting and aesthetically pleasing, and could be easily believed to be real products. Surely if the product can fit in with a range of similar products which are deemed "creative" so is this? An example is the band "Swiss Lips" who use material from films and other media products to create their own branding and image. Their EP Album Cover is simple Impact font like "The MED" above and uses an image from a dance film called "Breakin'" (1984).

This film is also used throughout their music video. Response to this album cover is the simplicity of it makes it look bold and inspiring, whilst this simple bold effect is very original and different from the current album covers on the market. The description from the target audience describes what I thought initially of what Creativity meant, which would subsequently make the product creative, but the fact that the product isn't created with much "talent" or "hardwork" deems it uninspiring and copied for the other side of the argument.