Section A - Creativity
Point 1 - IDEA
In AS, I used creativity in the sense that my idea was quite outlandish and macabre. My title sequence idea was based around a man, with a lot of wealth and respect, who sadistically kills women as a kind of sport. This idea was heavily based around American Psycho, so I could say that my creativity was hindered in the sense that my idea was not completely origional. The opposite can be said about my A2 (Advanced Portfolio) idea, as for this my idea was not solely based on a single thing like my AS video, but it was based around my own thoughts and ideas and parts of other pop music videos. For A2 I chose to make my music video a light hearted comic narrative about a girl who controls her boyfriend/star by putting him in different locations, which was quite risky because I have not seen any music video that has done this. This means that I did not have the same referencing points as I did for my AS as I couldnt look at an exisiting music video, whereas in AS I could watch the film title sequence over and over again to familiarise myself with the idea, and know that it is an idea that works.
Point 2 - CONVENTIONS
Regarding creativity within conventions, I have adhered to the conventions of both the thriller film genre (AS) and the pop music video genre (A2), so in one sense, the fact that I havent diverted or bent the conventions could suggest that my creativity was weak. For my AS, I chose thriller as the genre of my film/title sequence, and I did a lot of research into the typical conventions of the thriller genre including a young male protagonist, psychological issues, immorality and murder, then included all of these within my video. I also didn't divert from the conventions of title sequences in general regarding the order of credits and establishing the genre/setting/plot, again showing that my creativity considering conventions was weak. For A2, I again did a lot of research into the conventions of pop music videos regarding star image, and have adhered to this throughout the planning and shooting of my project.
Point 3 - PRODUCTION DESIGN
Conclusion
I have developed my use of production design quite significantly over the two years, showing that my creativity in this area has changed too. In AS, the extent of my production design was the clearing out of my dads bedroom and en suite so make it seem like a wealthy, perfectionist's humble abode and placing fake blood on tools from my garage. For this project, there was not a lot of props or set pieces that needed to be made, so I was able to make sure that the props and set that I did need to make/set up were made to perfection. I quite enjoyed making the fake blood from scratch as I was able to make it quite thick and gloopy so that when put it on the tools, it would hang off it and look quite manacing. These props were on a completely different spectrum to the props I had to make for my A2 filming. I had to draw and paint out atleast 11 different a4 scenes that were identical to the scenes of Ben, I had to make crafty looking props small enough to be to scale on a 20cm tall mannequinn and I had to work with the mannequinn putting it into different positions that matched Ben. These props took a lot more time than my AS ones as they needed to be alot more detailed and specific to the shots of Ben that I had already filmed. Rgearding setting, for my AS I only had to get rid of all family-esque items from my dad's bedroom and tiolet in order to heighten the verisimillitude of my video and ensure that it was believeable to have a murder residing there. Compared to my A2 setting, this was very easy to do. For A2 I had to turn my dining room into an art studio by getting all of my art supplies and spreading them onto the table covered in newspaper. I also stuck other pieces of my own artwork to the walls and around the table to ensure that it looked like a real art studio where the girl would muster up the different locations she would put the boy in.
Over the two years, I have definitely become more creative in my ideas and production. I think that my foundation portfolio really helped me form a basis for my skills in producing a short video, for the likes of planning, filming and editing, and ensuring that all of these things were looked at with a creative eye. Advanced portfolio has allowed me to refine my creative ideas by allowing my to try a completely happier tone and genre to the more solemn tones of my AS project.
Point 4 - POST PRODUCTION
Regarding creativity within editing, I definitely improved over the two years by branching out into something more daring and creative for A2. In AS, the editing was quite simple and not very creative. This was however a decision I made on purpose as the title sequence needed to look very plain, uniform and structured without many complicated effects to illustrate the way the protagonist is a perfectionist in his daily routine. In AS I also lacked creativity when editing the shots to the music soundtrack (Snowdrop) as I did not consider these two things as a working unit, I looked at them separately. The shots we not edited on the sounds of the music, so it seemed a little disjointed. However, my creativity within editing has certainly improved this as I took extra care when cutting the shots on Premier Pro so that the shots cut on the beat of the song (Shot of Pure Gold - MAX) making my video look a lot more artistically strong than my AS video. This was vital because the song I chose is heavily carried by fast beats.