Creativity

My initial thoughts of creativity is when someone creates unique and ‘outside of the box ideas’ from resources given to them to a standard of originality, however looking further into the meaning of creativity has changed my ideas slightly. In the industry of film and media it’s so difficult to be ‘original’ as so many people have already done ideas that you may have thought of, I am not sure if there are any truly ‘original’ ideas in this industry anymore as these thoughts and ideas are constantly being reused and recycled, even if it’s just simple ideas that have been adapted by yourself or by others, you are almost guaranteed that it has been done before.

As a group discussion we came up with a definition for creativity: An aim to explore expression and external influences (e.g. upbringing, surroundings, environment and existing products) that don’t necessarily need to be original. To do with something you don’t see every day that provokes a reaction and solves and existing problem. Creativity is making.

We got the idea for ‘creativity is making’ from the word create itself. Create is in the word creativity, this makes me think of making things whether that be art, a role play performance or media piece. Furthermore we used the word ‘environment’ as we thought that things surrounding us can influence our work creatively and inspire our imagination which I think is key for creating and creativity combined. We added ‘don’t necessarily need to be original’ as we talked about the meaning of originality and how other films or types of media influence each other continuously.

We discussed theses four questions as a class and came to a simple conclusion for each.

What is your inspiration? Where does it come from?

·         Inspiration can be influenced by people, surroundings, media, film and music.

How can you develop your creativity?

·         Creativity can be developed by building on what you have done already, becoming inspired and collaborating with other people. This can also be done when thinking differently.

Is creativity a skill? Can it be developed?

·         Yes, creativity is a skill and can be developed through creative ideas and using imagination. Everyone has the ability to be creative in their own way.

When are you most creative?

·         You are most creative when listening to music, also emotions can affect your creative e.g. happy, sad, anger, hate. These can all inspire you for a creative media piece.

When creating our twenty second short film ‘Panic’ we thought about the following ideas and where the inspiration comes from:

Location/ setting

We decided to use the stairs for our location as we thought it would be good for a chase scene. We got this inspiration from other films/media pieces. The stairs created tension as the sound became disoriented and amplified from the footstep sounds above from the chaser and the victim themself.

Camera shot/type

We used the POV camera shot as it made it look as though the audience was the person running away, this creates empathy for the audience towards the victim. Again we got our inspiration from other media/films such as ‘The Blair witch Project’ and ‘Chronicle’

Mise en scene

We compared shoes in the group to find suitable footwear for the chaser in the scene for our short film ‘panic’. The combat shoes were voted the most appropriate, as they bring a negative connotation or danger and signify strength and power. This created tension for both the victim in the scene but also the audience as it ended on a cliff-hanger, leaving the film suspended and hanging for the audience to make up their own mind about what happens to the victim. Again we got our inspiration for the shoes from other films where the murderer wears big heavy combat style boots.

Heavy breathing

The heavy breathing is the only sound other than footsteps that the audience hears. This makes the audience feel as though they have cut into the chase scene and are unaware of what has happened previously. This created tension for the audience as they haven’t seen what has happened before hand and doesn’t know why the victim is running away or what they are running away from. Again this is often used in media pieces to create tension for the audience,  an example of this technique used in a film would be ‘The Blaire Witch Project’. ‘Paranormal Activity series’

In the beginning I thought creativity was being original, unique and thinking outside of the box, but by doing this activity’s and exercises I have seen how hard it is to create something original. I now think that creativity doesn’t have to be original, it can be influenced by other media pieces and films as well as using your own imagination and adapting ideas to make them unique in their own way.

Short film Panic!