Creativity Revision

Do you think you were creative or not throughout your coursework?

I don't think that I was particularly creative throughout my coursework during AS Media Studies. I had to make three pages of a music magazine, including a front cover, contents page and a double-page spread. I decided to go with the simple idea of getting a class mate to dress up like a rapper and create an article about his rise to stardom. This wasn't very creative at all because it was not out of the ordinary or eye-catching. There have been many other stories similar to the one I decided to go with, as it is always about someone who started off with nothing and ended up making something of themselves. I should have thought outside the box and tried something a bit different from this standard idea. In terms of what the pages of the magazine actually looked like, I don't think they were anything special. I looked at examples of professional music magazines on the internet and copied the page layouts and structure. For example, my front cover was of basic structure. It consisted of a central image of the rapper, with all the various headlines neatly arranged around it. This type of structure was definitely not very creative. I also wasn't very creative with the type of photographs I took of my class mate posing as a rapper. I took three shots of him posing in typical rapper stances, which were all in the same place. I could have made him make some unusual poses that would catch the eye, and maybe dress him up in some more extravagant clothing. All I did was put a rapper's hat on his head and that was it. I also could have taken photos of him in a variety of locations which were relevant to what a rapper does. For example, I could have taken photos in some kind of music recording studio, or in front of a wall of graffiti. I only took photos of him in front of a grey, boring wall. 

Did technology enhance your creativity or not?

Having access to the latest technology definitely did enhance my creativity, as I was able to do a number of different things. An example of the hardware I had access to was the Apple Macs and the software stored on them, such as Adobe Photoshop. I could do a number of things with the photos I took and put on to Photoshop, such as shooting over rough edges, colour editing and cropping. These tools and many more were available to me via this software. Without this technology, I wouldn't have been able to edit the photos I took to make them look better. I wouldn't have been able to insert other objects (text, shapes, etc) around the main image for the front cover, contents page and double page spread. 

What ideas did you communicate and what stylistic techniques did you use? How did it relate to your interests/self-identity?

The ideas that I communicated through the magazine were that of a stereotypical nature. I put pictures of a rapper dressed in typical baggy clothes and hats into the magazine along with a story of how he rose to stardom. This idea isn't very creative in the way that this is the case with a lot of modern day rappers around at this point in time, and a lot of people perceive them to be informal people walking around in baggy clothes and jewellery. This image is actually changing as time is progressing. Instead of creating this stereotypical image, I could have told the story of a boy who had a rich background, and was different from all the people around him. I could have also taken pictures of my class mate dressed in smart suits. This would have been very risky however, and could have backfired. The ideas that I did portray through the magazine were ones that were of a relation to me, as I like this genre of music as well as many other genres. I am not saying that I am someone who walks around looking like a rapper, but does take a certain interest in this type of music.

Was your product influenced by your environment?

My environment did influence my product, as I am surrounded by many people my age in a school who prefer this genre of music to others. I knew this genre would appeal to people my age and so decided to go with it. The structure of magazine that I decided to go with was also influenced by my environment to a certain extent. In every shop, the music magazines always look the same. They all have flashy front covers and images, and contain modern language and interests. I decided to go with these ideas as I was trying to make my magazine look like the professional ones.

Was it original or did you add something extra to an original media text?

The product was an original one, as I didn’t use text which had been taken from another source. It was all my work, but it was strongly influenced by other media texts. There are bound to be many professional articles and magazine front covers around that are very similar to mine, as this genre of music is very popular now days. The type of interview which my magazine possessed will also be very similar to others which are out there in many ways such as language, images and structure. So in a way it wasn’t very original as I just took a common idea that is already used in many magazines and formed my own magazine.

Would you take any creative skills into future projects or have you been influenced to engage these skills in any other projects?

I will take the skills I have used during AS into future projects, as I feel the skills and lessons I have learned from this year have been very good ones. During this year in A2, I will be able to use these skills to great effect and expand on them, and this will hopefully result in a higher standard of work. For me it’s all about taking the basic skills I have picked up, and adding to the fundamentals to increase the quality of those skills.