GDD710 Development Practice Module - Week 2 - Activity
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This weeks task to conclude creativity consists of "Choosing an existing artefact that is the output of someones creativity". This can be from a poem, short story, illustration or song that we may fascinating to use. The next step would be to "Modify the artefact in some way using the techniques you selected" with the use of "Remediation". Doing this type of activity aims to demonstrate my levels of creativity and how it can be enhanced through existing material with my own innovation.
The defintion of Remediation is a process of taking existing text, whether it be from a randomised newspaper article to an involved business proposal and forming it into a new medium. This idea originated from Marshall McLuhan, famous media theorist who once mentioned "the medium is the message" meaning that our perception on information changes based on how we are presented with that information (Adam Breckenridge, 2012) . Whatever technique is adopted through this process, it is of vital importance to understand how the process works. Having that ability to interpret an existing piece of work and transform it into something creative or unrelated is still displaying remediation. The real focus here is construct ideas that can offer refinement depending on their capabillities.
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Artefact 1: The Art of Getting By Movie
Figure 1: The Art of Getting By Movie Poster (Atlantic Pictures, 2011)
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I decided to go for a movie that really spoke to me when I first watched it. The Art of Getting By follows the role of George, a self-centered teen outcast whos beliefs have lead him to visualize the inevitability of death makes life, thus making school and especially homework meaningless to him. Spiralling a path of repeating his senior year at a private high school in New York, George's views on his current existence change over the charms and hope given by fellow class mate Sally. Her intriguement triggers a new outlook for George, introducing the lifestyle of things he has rarely had: friends and meaning. He literally paints himself this persona in having no purpose for the future due to the obsessive failure of human history and avoiding its worst adversary, death itself. George's artistic side is introduced towards a painter named Dustin, a former graduate from the same private school.
Dustin's bohemian influences of creativity rub off on George and helps him find that inner expertise in drawing to find some meaning. George's new outlook sadly clouds the blindless crush of Sally being snatched from his trusting mentor. Not to forget all these debacles with school and home that will predict no sight of graduation, unless a 3 week turnover consisting of a years worth of homework can be completed. This displays a level of self-obsession and indulgence, bringing the Meaning of the movie that it's not about making life meaningless with the prevailing of death. Only to see that the individuals around George are actually there to guide and help assist him in finding that meaning. The title of the movie itself could possibly relate towards George's ability to race between the classrooms without reading or writing a single piece of work. Unless, it is related to reaching the end of childhood. In order to get by in life, you must first get over yourself before you find any meaning (Johnathan Kim, 2017).
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Remediation: Collage
I decided to use the Collage ideation technique for my first artefact. Going back over this technique, it is allowing an improved and efficient way to generate ideas between information and randomisation. The opposite is the outcome. There is no right or wrong in how long it takes to iterate. Collages are used through visual representations of abstracity and complexity towards a greater understanding. They can also be used to manifest emotional issues with concepts (Chauncey Wilson, 2012). Below is an illustration of my collage ideation.
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Figure 2: Illustration of Collage Ideation (Kyle Cornwell, 2021)
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Collage Remediation Breakdown
With this challenge I wanted to breakdown The Art of Getting By Poster and remediate it in such a way that describes the theme in a randomised and unorthordox manner. I first took the poster and attempted to replicate the classic new york pavement background. This meant duplicating the brickwork, iron bars and concrete, which worked to some degree. I then reminisced an important line from the movie "We Live Alone, Die Alone. Everything else is just an illusion." which expresses how George's character feels emotionally throughout the majority of the film. I took this line and scattered it across the brickwork in an old-school graffiti style to portray George's constant beliefs in life as a meaningless vessel. This made me think that each positive branch that enters his life, starts to turn once there is a glimpse of meaning and something worth living for.
I took a screenshot of Duncan, his so-called "Mentor" and attached the Guy Fawkes mask from the V for Vendetta movie (Silver Pictures, 2006) which symbolizes the characters beliefs that doing the right thing is not the same as following the rules (Kerry Gray, 2020). This belief made me see a relation between what Duncan wanted to do, and didn't want to consider wrong. He stated to George that he should ask Sally out, which was not something George could see with his perceptions on friendship as this was very alien to him. That very moment triggered Duncan to make his move on Sally and therefore, betraying George's friendship. I imported an old-fashioned television to make his appearence seem more disturbing. I also included a static layer for the screen to portray his infiltration into George's life and stealing the only company he has ever felt warm too.
I inserted the painting of Sally that becomes George's final piece of artwork to graduate and split the face to depict the real and imaginery influences that Sally has on George. She means well throughout the film but the closer she gets to George, the more confused he becomes and leans towards the idea of being played as a fool, counteracting with words such as "Treacherous, sadistic little hussy!". This response makes Sally distance herself as she does not know where things are going, knowing deep down she has meaningful feelings towards George. The question she asks herself is where does she fit? This all comes to realisation when she leaves Duncan and decides to stay with George. I titled the two-sided portrait as "Her/She/Girl" to outline Sally's impact on George's emotions and how both sides of the portrait are very opposite in what they express, but equal in what they desire.
The canvas of paint pots burning in the background represents where George's talent is heading. The failing of school because of not seeing a purpose in progressing to adutlhood gives that conclusion, to not persist in something everyone around him knows he has the ability to do. The idea of his art skills is that he can conjure and make something without any meaning, but at least he is making the world he doesn't want be a part of, a better place (Matt, 2008). I wanted to make George the centre of all this randomness as everything is revolving around him. His face and emotion is hidden behind one of his sketches that he draws during class. Emotion is not a physical entity, but it can be shown in many forms. I made a smaller version of the movie poster as a sketchbook, indicating the story he is carrying is himself. The final adjustment made was the splashscreen to signal a broadcasting issue due to the high volume of emotion being portayed. Finalzing the movie to remediate from The Art of Getting By to "Please Standby".
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Pesonal Thoughts on Collage Ideation
I had a very imaginative experience when piecing together this ideation. The inventive thing is there was so much meaning behind a film that trys to portray the essence of no meaning. This worked very well in my favour to reimagine something from its main story and express it in such an unusual way. This technique I find to be very relaxing and creative, especially using digital tools like Photoshop as you can manipulate what's in front of you to convey a deeper message or story. Admittingly there were some struggles as I originally visioned this piece of work to mark a journey for the main character, rather than him being the centre of it all. This makes me feel alot more confident when using certain material to embrace and improve upon. I aim to adapt this to further design and development with games.
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Artefact 2: Much Ado About Nothing Poem/Song
Figure 3: Much Ado About Nothing Movie Poster (BBC Films, 1993)
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For my second artefact, I wanted to do something different. I was always intrigued by William Shakespeare's plays like Macbeth and A Midsummer Nights Dream. One play that really connected full of romance and humour was Much Ado About Nothing (WIlliam Shakespeare, 1598). A tale encompassing love, misunderstandings and deception, Much Ado About Nothing takes place in the Italian province of Messina, with host Leanato, his daughter Hero and niece Beatrice, awaiting the arrival of soldiers Benedick, Claudio and Don Pedro. Claudio instantly falls in love with Hero at first sight. Benedick and Beatrice are former lovers, but does that deem to be so? Don John, who is Don Pedro's half-brother conjures a plan of unfaithfulness to decieve Claudio that Hero is very acquainted knowing the "Heat of a Luxurious Bed". Whilst this twisted plot is set in motion, Don Pedro and the others plan to get Benedick and Beatrice back together (BBC, 2021).
At the marriage ceremony, Claudio accuses Hero of infidelity, refusing to wed her. Distraught Leonato over the accusations is persuaded to fake Hero's death in order for Claudio to repent and see the truth. Don John's plans are foiled and he is captured for the lies and deceit he has brought between his fellow comrades. Meanwhile, Beatrice's love for Benedick can only be deemed so if he swears to kill his best friend, Claudio. This is avoided due to Hero's innocence being proven and Claudio repents for wronging her and her family. In penance he agrees to marry Antonio's daughter, who is revealed to be Hero after all. The two are married and Beatrice is proposed to once again by Benedick. Concluding with love to conquer all. I wanted to remediate the movie, but my previous artefact consisted of one already and this does not show much of an 'innnovative' approach when generating ideas from a similar peiece of work.
Which is why I have taken a song from the movie titled "Sign no more, ladies, sigh no more". The song is also classed as a poem due to its use of imaginative words to share ideas, emotion or story itself towards the audience. This piece was created to sooth all women who have been wronged and hurt by men being unfaithful. The cheerinesss of the tune projects a blame in mens nature for thier indescretions and attempts to encourage and guide women to avoid such dark places like depression and let people who cheat be, leaving them behind as a bad memory with no importance to what lies ahead in the new chapters they make in life to come (AMADGAMBLER, 2014).
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Remediation: Brainstorming
I wanted to pick one of my favourite techniques, Brainstorming with this poem/song. Used as a highly inspirational ideation technique, especially in the struggles to think freely and open up some creativity. Mainly used gor group-based problems, I took advantage of this technique as I was intrigued to see its strenghts in such an artefact. I first printed off a copy of the piece unaltered, highlighting specific words and phrases to breakdown by significance and defintion of words, allowing me to make notes on what they represent and apply new interpretations through text. Below are some Illustrations of the Poem/Song unaltered with highlightes, notes and the Remediated piece.
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Figure 4: Sigh No More Poem/Song with Highlights (William Shakespeare, 1598)
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Figure 5: Sigh No More Poem/Song with Notes (William Shakespeare, 1598)
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Figure 6: Illustration of Brainstorming Ideation (Kyle Cornwell, 2021)
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Personal Thoughts on Brainstorming Ideation
From this technique, I feel I adapted quite strongly with such a short piece of work yet so meaningful. I enjoyed breaking apart each line to remediate almost each word that still related to its own context. I wanted to stick to somewhere along the lines of encouragement for women move forward from men with no heart, only heat to cause when committing atrocities such as cheating. I kept a consistency when replacing the text, but adding a twist giving an unfortunate fate if not heeded by the original message. I comprised two endings whilst transforming this poem/song. if a women does not accept change and live their lives to the fullest from depraved men.
They will either meet a fate of falling from unimaginable heights or be paid a visit by death itself. I admit this may come across as quite dark, but an innovative way to bypass all the wrongs of man and make a difference. Otherwise, be introduced by death's scythe that will make a life-changing/ending decision for you. I was also shocked with the outcome of this remediation since I never expected my creativeness to conjure something from a romantic and humorous play, have the transforming ability to represent something quite the opposite. I spent alot of time finding meaning in words that don't just sound similar, but can be exploited in such a way you would not expect.
I would have used the Cut-up technique mentioned in my Creativity: Building Blocks of Design blog, which would have improved further potential in remediation to slice between each verse, dispersing the order and create a more natural and perhaps emotinally positive flow of results. I believe was still a supportive technique to carry out as brainstorming relates to my creative skills more with a theme instead of verses of text. The shorter the text, the easier it is to break apart. The important thing here is to be mindful when using certain text as you can easily get carried away and eventually you lose flavour or context. Not everything again will make sense, but there needs to be some logical message in the remediated piece that corresponds to the orignal piece.
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References:
Adam Breckenridge, 2012. Remediation. [Online] Available at: https://writingcommons.org/article/remediation/ [Last Accessed 15/07/2021]
Johnathan Kim, 2017. ReThink Review: The Art of Getting By — Smells Like Teen Angst. [Online] Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rethink-review-the-art-of_b_882625 [Last Accessed 15/07/2021]
Chauncey Wilson, 2012. Method 21 of 100: Collages. [Online] Available at: https://dux.typepad.com/dux/2012/09/method-21-of-100-collages.html [Last Accessed 15/07/2021]
Kerry Gray, 2020. Symbolism in V for Vendetta. [Online] Available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/symbolism-in-v-for-vendetta.html [Last Accessed 15/07/2021]
Matt, 2008. When Art is Meaningless But Essential. [Online] Available at: https://amindformadness.com/2008/06/when-art-is-meaningless/ [Last Accessed 15/07/2021]
BBC, 2021. Much Ado About Nothing - Plot summary. [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z3xhn39/revision/1 [Last Accessed 15/07/2021]
AMADGAMBLER, 2014. Sigh No More, Ladies. [Online] Available at: https://www.cieliterature.com/sigh-no-more-ladies/ [Last Accessed 15/07/2021]
Kyle Cornwell. 2021. Creativity: Building Blocks of Design. [Online] Available at: https://www.kylecornwell.com/post/creativity-building-blocks-of-design [Last Accessed 15/07/2021]
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