Creativity Question

Write up a 750 word response outlining the extent to which you were creative in your AS and A2 coursework tasks:

Within both my AS and A2 coursework I had to be creative in order to create an original and believable product within the restrictions and rules applied by the course. In both my AS and A2 projects I was limited by the requirements of the coursework, as I had to create specific products that both fitted into the music industry, therefore, within both I was restricted by elements required within the industry, such as legal information. I also had to select a genre to work with in both cases and was therefore also limited by conventions. In both my AS and A2 coursework projects I researched current and old texts to help understand conventions for the products I was creating. Although conventions place restrictions on the products was creating, it also allowed me to see what would help make my product convincing. It also allowed me to see where I could be original in what I created by challenging and changing conventional ideas. Within my A2 coursework, I also looked at products outside of my chosen genre and found characteristics and conventions from other genres and explored these to alter and change them to fit the pop genre that I was using for my final products. 
Within both coursework projects I also created mood boards and mock ups as part of my research and planning. Doing this helped me to visualise ideas and decide what worked best with specific features such as colour pallet and typography, it also helped me to assess how far I could push rules and conventions.
The production stage of both projects required and restricted creativity in different areas. For example, camera work in the coursework allowed me to think creatively about framing, angles and shot types as well as the miss-en-scene within them. For the AS project, the photography required me to consider positioning, colours, costume, make-up and lighting. These were all extremely important elements as the models positioning would have an effect on my layout and possibly restrict the placement of other elements in my magazine. The costume, colours and make-up were also important as I had to consider what would best match my overall colour pallet and whether to match or contrast this, I had to also consider whether or not to conform to the conventional colour choices used within the pop genre. Lighting was also important as good lighting would help create good quality photographs. Similarly, in my A2 coursework, costume, make-up and colour choices all had to be considered from a creative point of view as these would determine how effective the connection between all three products would appear. The additional use of a theme based on the 1950's era meant that I had to combine the 1950's style with conventional colour and on-trend ideas within my work, this required creativity and originality to make the combination work effectively. Lighting was, again, also important, however, as the A2 work involved filming as opposed to photography the lighting could be used more creatively and altered in order to create varied effects, moods and atmospheres throughout the video, for example, contrasting darkly lit and brightly lit scenes and using spotlights to create specific point of light within a frame. Some other areas of filming required creativity and originality where the AS photography did not, as the A2 work required me to consider shot length and camera movements that do not apply to still shots. 
Post-production provided several restrictions but also areas in which I could have the freedom to do what I wanted. Rules applied within the briefs of all the products, both AS and A2, restricted me to sizes and certain requirements; for example, I had to incorporate a barcode, the date and price within my magazine cover, and legal/copyright information within my digipak packaging. However, the layouts, colours, images, typography and enhancement to these were all free to be done as creatively and originally as I liked.