Creativity

Creativity is an original thought or idea that has value; it depends on the ability to take risks, and not being embarrassed about the thought of being wrong. Creativity according to Ken Robinson, is squeezed out of us during our time in education. He says that when we are younger we are more likely to take a chance, 'if kids don't know they will have a go, they are not frightened of being wrong'.We are told to raise our hands if we think we know the answer and then are told 'that's wrong', if the answer isn't the one teacher wanted. A fear of being wrong is built up, and we become unable to participate due to the horrible thought of getting the answer wrong.

In order to become more creative, we need to do the opposite; we need to take more risks, and act on our spontaneous ideas. If we aren't prepared to be wrong, we will never come up with anything original. It is said by some that there were certain acts we can perform in order to become creative; Sleep, exercise and continuing education are apparently just a few of the acts we should perform. In my opinion all three of these acts are not at all helpful; sleep is needed to help any type of thinking; without sleep we loose concentration easily, not just in creative lessons or tasks, but also everyday things. Driving with no sleep is dangerous, your memory often isn't as strong when you tired, to suggest that sleep helps with creativity specifically is ridiculous. Sleep helps with all matters of our lives. Exercise can help you get focused, and also releases endorphins which make you happy; exercise just as sleep does can make us more alert and helps us to concrete better; yes exercise would help you think more clearly which could lead you to being more creative but it does not specially help with the creative process alone. Continuing education if you agree with Ken Robinson, will completely stamp out all creativity you have; the education system at the moment is all about passing exams. You attend lessons for you teacher to tell you how to pass an exam, how to write an answer in a certain way to get the full mark; once you've completed the exam and completed it well there is no need for you to return to that information. Being intelligent at school in my opinion is having the ability to learn and memorise quicker then everyone else.

Creativity is something you are born with; it is a skill. Just as someone could be good at maths, or sport, someone is creative. I believe that your level of creativity can be advanced if you encourage yourself to take risks often, and aren't scared to think outside the box; just as you can be taught to a certain level in maths, you can be taught to achieve a certain level of creativity. However they will be others that have a natural talent for it; that pick it up easier then others.

Creativity is essential to media productions; its listening to a piece of music and instantly being able to picture visuals in your head. On the course that we are doing at college without creativity the music videos would be boring and simple, last year the trailers would have been dull and unwatchable, you have to able to create an idea that really makes people sit up and think, wow that's good. In order to reach this final idea, there is a long process of developing one, maybe two ideas further and further until what you are left with is an original idea.