Creativity Theories

"A process needed for problem solving...not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people" (Jones 1993).
In this theory creativity is described as something that is used by any person making a decision or overcoming a problem. I agree with this theory because any person is being creative by making a decision and overcoming a problem which is what we are all faced in every day situations.


"The making of the new and the re arranging of the old" (Bentley 1997).
I think that in this theory, creativity is described as something that already already exists, being re-arranged into something new. I agree with this in some extent as in reality, everyone copies something to use as an idea, however we then use our own creativity to apply this 'original' idea to our own to create something new.


"Creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three elements: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain and a field of experts who recognise and validate the innovation" (Csikszentmihalyi 1996).
I feel this theory applies to the rules we had when creating the coursework, where we then brought originality to it and then had it marked. I don't feel this theory actually 'makes' us creative; however in some concepts it acts as a guide for us to be creative.


"There is no absolute judgement (on creativity). All judgements are comparisons of one thing with another" (Donald Laming).
I agree with this theory as I feel it means that no one is actually being creative by using originality and that every work is similar due to this. The creativity can't be judged effectively because you are just comparing it with other creativity and there isn't an original guide.


"Technology has taken all the creativity out of media production".
I feel this theory applies generally more to magazines etc as they are produced through the use of technology and are merely copies of other magazines. However in some ways I disagree with this theory as technology can also be beneficial in helping and improving peoples 'creativity', allowing them to present their 'creativity' in more 'creative' ways.


"A project that is too well planned lacks opportunities for spontaneity and creativity'.
This theory is implying that creativity is limited if a project is already planned, suggesting that creativity is a matter of a process of trial and error. I disagree with this in some ways as creativity can be guided when there's a planned project, however creativity can be inspired by working through a project as you start to build ideas; therefore suggesting that a planned project isn't also necessary.


"Media producers can learn nothing from studying the conventions of old texts".
This quote is very clear in what it means, however I disagree with this as creativity can be inspired through looking at older texts. However this quote may also suggest that Media producers are not being creative by looking at the conventions of older texts, therefore they learn nothing and it is not necessary to study them.


The creating of bringing something new into existence -"this is particular understanding of creativity involves the physical making of something, leading to some form of communication, expression or revelation. (David Gauntlett).
This quote suggests that you think of something, and then make it and bring it into reality. I agree with this because when you come up with an idea, you make it, which is all use of you're own creativity.


"If creativity is not inherent in human mental powers and is, in fact, social and situational, then technological developments may well be linked to advances in the creativity of individual users" (Banaji, Burn and Buckingham, 2006).
This quote suggests that the technological advances have benefited people in terms of them using their creativity, allowing people to express more creativity at a higher standard, which is in turn, allowing us to be more creative. I agree with this quote as technology allows us to express our creativity in more advanced, newer ways.


Two quotes I agree with

• "If creativity is not inherent in human mental powers and is, in fact, social and situational, then technological developments may well be linked to advances in the creativity of individual users" (Banaji, Burn and Buckingham, 2006).I feel that my creativity benefited from the uses of technology, for example the use of photoshop in making my magazine allowed me to express my creativity in a professional format. As well as this throughout both AS and A2 coursework, the uses of technology enabled me to express research, questions and developments in clear and advanced ways which therefore developed my own personal skills.
  
• "The making of the new and the re arranging of the old" (Bentley 1997).I agree with this because everyone copies or 'look's at something to use as an idea, however we then use our own creativity because we apply our idea to the inspiration or guide from an already existent idea to make something new. This applies to the magazine coursework in AS, where we looked at other magazines for an idea of conventions such as layout and key features of magazines. We didn't directly copy the magazines, as we used them merely as a guide to apply our idea too. 

Two quotes I disagree with

• "Creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three elements: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain and a field of experts who recognise and validate the innovation" (Csikszentmihalyi 1996).
  Even though this theory is similar to the guides we had when creating coursework, I do disagree with it. The 'system' doesn't actually 'make' us creative as we come up with our own ideas, for example in the AS coursework, I came up with my own artist, magazine name and the interview in it.
• "Technology has taken all the creativity out of media production".I disagree with this theory because technology has been beneficial to me in advancing my 'creativity' by expressing it in more creative ways. For example on the blogs we used programs such as scribd, animoto, animatic as some examples.

Applying theory to IB

• Fiske 'semic code'
• Levi Strauss 'Bricolage' = A collage of random elements - taking existing elements and adding new ones to them
• Genette
• Derrida

Fiske
making sense of what we see on screen, according to Fiske -basing all our film experiences on other films we've seen, not reality.

• We have never experienced war - however we recognise IB as a war film because of all the other war films we've seen
• IB isn't really a war film
• If experienced in reality we would make sense of it by turning it into another text e.g. 9/11 attacks were 'like a film' when described by people
• Cultural knowledge of the concept 'war film' - uniforms, Hitler, Churchill, setting (France/Paris 1940s), soldiers, weapons and the daring mission/battle. This shows it's a war film, therefore we then won't find it necessary to look at intertextual references.

Levi-Strauss
IB has lots of 'debris' from other texts.
Directors construct texts by the process of Addition, Deletion, Substitution and Transposition (Transformation).


Addition

• Battleship potenkim
• Bowie
• Sound of Music film
• Spaghetti Western (music, framing)
• Gw Palst/Rieferstahl (German Directors)
• Blaxploitation
• Mexican stand off
• Western
• Dirty Dozen/Magnificent Seven

Deletion

• Other War films e.g. Where Eagles Dare
• History (War ends differently)
• Taken out war elements for example, no major battles, no emotion, the fear in scene where the woman gets shot as there's romantic music playing, journey, no major shooting, human frailty.

Substitution

• Tarantino's own style e.g. yellow text

Transposition (Transformation)

• Bowie
• The searchers
• Fairytale
• Blaxploitation

Is IB a war film?

• About a war but not a war film
• It's funny (pretend to be Italian), exaggerated in parts - Also, Hans Landa, Archie Hicox, Ed Fenech, Hitler, Churchill
• The subject should be serious but the approach is light hearted
• Not war time music (traditional) - more quirky and lots of music
• Whereas in a traditional war movie there is 'normally' less music and more sound effects
• The film also uses subtitles to introduce the characters - less formal
• It's character led rather than mission led - however we still learn very little about the characters.

Inglorious Bastards

• Nations Pride (the film within a film) - intertextual references to battleship potenkium
• Saving Private Ryan -D-Day scene used as a contrast to IB. Hyper real element -fairytale beginning, - Hitlers death at the end.
• Differences between a traditional war film & IB

THE WAR ELEMENTS


Saving Private Ryan

• Allies Vs German
• Death
• Continuous chaos
• Dirty - the men look dishevelled, unwashed, unshaven
• Editing - handheld
• Death means something - the shock of deaths is apparent
• Realistic
• Just the allies perspective
• Less tactical
• Graphic in a realistic sense
• Fear/terror etc
• Feel as if we are in the war (audience)
• Death is common/part of job

IB

• Allies Vs Germans (Nazis)
• Death
• Only one element of chaos which is in Tavern scene
• Clean/prestine/immaculate
• Static shots
• Death just happens
• Hyperreal
• Both perspectives are presented
• More tactical (we see the generals and background to mission brief)
• Graphic in a comical sense
• No fear of death
• As an audience we are kept at an ironic distance
• Death is common/part of job

Inglorious Bastards - The projection Box Scene

• Frederick & Shoshanna
• Costume, music, effects

-The music in this scene makes it sound like something dramatic is going to happen as Frederick walks to the film. The music also sounds like it's from a war film and is building up to something e.g. someone about to be killed or some sort of action is going to take place. Normally the 'action' will follow this type of usic however when she opens the door - the music stops. Then when something does happen there is no music.
-There is also guitar music before the girl gets shot - this getgs louder when she gets shot. The slow motion effect emphasises the scene and adds a romance to it - for example she shoots him and then looks at him on the film and feels bad, so she checks him - and she gets killed by him. The slow motion also emphasises how she was a main character all from the start. HOWEVER, you would think that she'd survive to SEE her revenge but she doesn't. Her death seems less brutal and more peaceful as she looks at him - suggest a romantic element to the couple?
-The romance music in the death scene is an example of contrapuntal music as the means are against the point.

-Costume (designed by Hugo Boss) in the scene is a typical red dress for the girl dieing. This connotes bad, romance, death, blood, danger and sex. Frederick is in white uniform which juxtaposes the idea of angelic, OR it may suggest that Frederick was 'in between'. White connotes pure, inocent, hope and good.

Frederick Zoller

- Powerful man, and he uses it to get the girl to like him.

• A nice man
• Up himself
• A bit of a lothario
• Nazi (by association/angry/temper) - therefore I wasn't shocked when he got mad at the girl.
• Has to compose himself a lot  - during the killing and after
• Unassuming - schizophrenic
• Sociopath - just out for yourself (no empathy for other people)

Fairytale

-when smoke on cinema screen

1. Wizard of Oz reference?
2. Wicked witch in the smoke?

The ending

• Brad Pitt still looks emaculate - white jacket, hair isn't out of place, moustache is still perfect - hyper real ( not reality )
• Ending fits with personality of the character.

Inglorious Bastards - Chapter 4 - Operation Kino

• Tense on and off scenes throughout the final scenes.
• Shoe links with Franentino's foot fetish - Postmodern thing and he has it in every movie. Also the scene has a fairytale aspect, possibly presenting Hans Landa as a prince charming?
• The barman touched gun under bar - links with Western
• The heroes death -Bastards (who were the main characters) in the tavern scene goes against 'normal' conventions as usually the hero(s) always survive.
• The deaths arn't really commented on - why? - Are they single minded? Do they expect deaths?
• The deaths in some respects match films such as 'Dirty Dozen' and 'The Magnificant Seven'
• The 'mexican stand off' - links to westerns
• When took n the vets when the girl is shot- links with more typical gangster movies.

Analysing 'Inglourious Basterds' tavern scene
For Lights, Camera . . . , we ask a craftsperson to talk about a specific scene in his or her latest film. This week, Sally Menke,Sally Menke, film editor on " Inglourious Basterds," talks about the shootout scene in the basement tavern.
Quentin Tarantino told the multiple stories of "Inglourious Basterds" in five distinct chapters, and we knew from the script stage the film would hinge around the set-piece in the tavern La Louisianne. The daunting task of putting a 25-page dialogue sequence, spoken almost entirely in German, in the middle of the film, weighed heavily on everyone's minds, and it all had to come together in the cutting room. Just mentioning the name La Louisianne created tension among the crew, but we needed that tension to transcend to the audienceIn La Louisianne, the Basterds meet their German movie star contact, Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) for the first time, and they must all pretend to be old friends by posing as Nazi officers. Much to the Basterds' surprise, they not only find Bridget in the dangerously cramped tavern, they find the basement bar filled with drunken, celebrating Nazis, one of whom happens to be enamored with the German movie star and continually pesters their table. The tension in the group runs high as we watch the real Nazis begin to question the origin of the British Archie Hicox's (Michael Fassbender) strange accent, and we hold our breath.
La Louisianne required detailed attention to character development as well as numerous story points, all the while using the device of language to create tension. Quentin and I felt it was essential to have the characters not simply drive the scene toward a plot point, but to be fully nuanced characters, while continually building the tension that would culminate in an explosive gun battle that kills all but one. We knew the gunfight would work all the better if we could carefully manipulate and build the tension through a give and take of emotions, playing a cat-and-mouse game with our characters -- and our audience.
Our editorial intentions had to be completely clear in how we wanted the audience to feel at any specific moment in the scene -- the Basterds are screwed, wait, no, they're OK, oh, no they aren't, this Nazi knows, he's on to them, no, no, they are OK -- until Hicox makes the fatal error that unequivocally gives them all away as impostors. Every line had a layer of tension, and we needed to play their reactions to the lines as much as the lines themselves to build it properly. Every beat counted. Every second someone delayed their response gave the audience a chance to think, "Did they figure it out? Do they know?"
We obsessively controlled every moment so that in contrast, when the climactic gun battle finally does erupt, it explodes in the loudest, craziest and most shocking way possible. But again, while doing this, we always had to return to the human element -- our character development. Hicox gets a bit of a tear in his eye when he realizes he will live no longer, and if we have done our jobs correctly, so will our audience.
Another challenge was to seamlessly integrate a lot of key information for upcoming plot points without them feeling perfunctory, heavy-handed or pedantic. For example, we needed to show a close-up of Bridget's shoes so there was no doubt in the audience's mind who it belonged to later on when Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) discovers the shoe while inspecting the aftermath in the bar. We can't draw attention to the shoe in a way that says, "We're showing you a close-up of a foot," but we do need to make enough of a point of it so the audience knows it's Bridget's -- instantly. The solution was to use the shoe as character introduction, to show the style and glamour of this movie star/double agent whom we, the audience and our characters, meet for the first timeThe tavern music was another way we developed a character. The music at first works environmentally and emotionally in the scene but then functions to locate a yet-to-be-seen, off-screen character, the Gestapo Maj. Hellstrom, who, when revealed, we see has clearly been controlling the music selections. We also now know that without a doubt Hellstrom had been listening to the Basterds' conversation the entire time, and we now use the absence of that same music when Hellstrom purposefully removes the needle from the record player to show that he has taken control of the scene. The Basterds, and our audience, are now in Hellstrom's hands.
The last issue we had to contend with was the length. A nearly 25-minute dialogue scene that starts 69 minutes into the film can be a potential challenge for audiences, as most scenes by this point play considerably shorter. But it was our belief that if we could hold the scene's tension, we could not only develop character and attend to the story but actually stop the scene to allow Hellstrom to play his King Kong card game, a story in and of itself, which cinematically alludes to another oppressed group, the slaves in America. I could go on about many other layers that needed our attention, but, unfortunately, in this situation I am not the editor with final cut and must end the piece here.

Inglorious Bastards - Chapter 3 - German night in Paris

-Black sploitation music
-includes Britain information film which Samuel L Jackson narrates.

REFERENCES TO:

• Leni Riefenstahl (German documentary director) -brilliant  filmmaker and friends with Hitler.
• G.W. Pabst (German director)
• Max Linder (comic actor silent era) - a contempory of Charlie Chaplin. Pop culture, references suited to the era.
• Sergeant York (directed by Howard Hawks 1941) - based on the WW1 explorts of Alvin York. Propaganda movie, stars Gary Cooper - best actor in the film - heart throb.
• Van Johnson (American film star of the 40s and 50s).