An Introduction to Creativity

This is what Pete Fraser, the chief examiner for OCR Media Studies, has to say about creativity:

"One of the possible areas you could be asked about in the exam is creativity. The projects you have undertaken will hopefully have felt like an opportunity to display your creativity, but you will need the chance to discuss what you understand by creativity and what it might mean to be creative.

The assignment options at AS and A2 all offer constraints for your work, whether it be making pages for a music magazine, the opening of a film or the packaging for an album; one of the reasons why you aren't offered total free choice is because people often find that working within constraints gives them something to exercise their creativity, whereas total freedom can sometimes make it really difficult to know where to start. It's why genre can be interesting- how has something been created which fits with certain structures and rules but plays around with them to give us something a little bit different?

The word 'creative' has many meanings- the most democratic meaning would really suggest that any act of making something (even making an idea) might be seen as a creative act. In more elitist versions of the term, it is reserved for those who are seen as highly skilled or original (famous artists, musicians, film-makers etc). An interesting third alternative is to think about how creativity can be an unconscious, random or collaborative act that becomes more than the sum of its parts."

Five Summarised Statements

1. Creativity can be excercised the most effectively when set to a brief, rather than total freedom
2. Creativity can be suited to fit certain genres, challenging, developing or adhering to rules
3. Creativity may result in an end product of any medium
4. Original and skilled acts of creativity are the most popular
5. Creativity can also come from an intentional or unintentional product

Five Key Words

• Genre
• Medium(s)
• Brief
• Original
• Intentional or Unintentional