Lesson 1 - Thinking Creatively - 10/10/16

"To live a creative life, we must lost our fear of being wrong." - Joseph Pearce

What is a design?

A design is a drawing or plan produced to show the look and functions, or workings of a building, garment or other object. 

Every object has a specific purpose and designs outline what the object's function is, how it works and what it looks like.

In this lesson we focused on which areas of the brain are used for different activities. The left half is more logical and is used in problem solving, decision making, reasoning, organisation and is responsible for spacial awareness. The right side tends to be more based in fantasy and used more for movement, emotions and design based tasks.

The brain has two different processes, linear and divergent. 

Linear processes are used in the step by step solving of a problem or task that usually results in obtaining the correct answer.

Divergent process flit between different ideas and often result in multiple solutions.

Gator Brains

Gator brains focus on basic instinctive responses responses; fight, flight or freeze.

Monkey Minds 

Monkey minds tend to rush from topic to topic. They're working and thinking most of the time and are suited to multitasking and mental hopscotch.

Elephant Teaching

This is the process of learning from past experiences. This can lead to some difficulty when faced with new ideas. 

Activities

Continuous line drawing
We performed this task twice, once with music and one with silent. I found the former easier because the fast pace music made me move more quickly and gave the drawing more detail. I enjoyed the task but originally had difficulty grasping the reason behind it. I tried to approach it logically and have my picture be as accurate as possible (the quote by Joseph Pearce comes to mind) but after discussing the activity with someone else I think it would be more worthwhile to go at it much more loosely and open up my imagination more. One thing I liked about my pictures were that my lack lack of perception created an almost shadowy hand a centimeter lower.

Immediate reactions to poems

I  thoroughly enjoyed this task because it got me thinking in a different way. I usually try to analyse everything and it was liberating to write down all of my thoughts about a poem without trying to fully discover the meaning. It gave me a fresh outlook on many of the poems and I came up with some ideas I wouldn't have had otherwise.

Every box a picture

This was probably my favourite task due to the huge amount of variety that came from only 20 minutes of work. It was incredibly interesting to see what other people came up with, with some having chosen a specific theme in colour or concept while others created a grand picture or story by combining all of the squares. 

Personally, I decided to make each square as unique as possible using a mixture of 3D and 2D images/ I think that this worked well as it made me think more creatively and eventually more abstractly. 

Unmasking Theatre Design: A designer's guide to finding inspiration

Design Process (From sound)

1) Commitment
Commit to the idea.
2) Research
Background information on play and writer, while also looking into the theatrical genre and style. The designer may also want to look into the social and historical context of the play. both internally and externally. It's also worth looking at previous productions of the play.
3) Incubation
Develop ideas using a portfolios of both audio and visual references, and mood boards. This stage is when the designer wants to think about what emotions they want to inspire, what kind of image they want to create and the style they want to use.
The portfolio may include audio clips, clips, images, shapes and colours, and images that inspire the designer.
4) Selection
The designer meets with the director to discuss their intentions. They will also begin to gather/source materials and props.
A list of priorities may also be made.
5) Implementation
Paperwork

• Ground plan
• Equipment list
• Cue list

And the equipment check.
6) Evaluation

Look back over the play/task and discuss what you liked, what you didn't, what worked well and what didn't.

Study Tasks

Which side of the brain is dominant?

My right side tested to be more dominant with an average score of 60, meaning that I -should- be better at creative tasks, more emotional and tend to focus on the present and the future. I may not be so good with problem solving, organisation, theory, language and facts.

Watching water boil
I did this task twice, once with clear and once with stock powder added.

Clear water
I found the clear water very clinical, with images of hospital wards and sterilisation coming to mind. The water could be used as a metaphor for cleanliness. The constant flow up bubbles gave me feelings of change and insignificance as each bubble vanishes after a second and no two moments are the same. Futility, it just keeps going on. Science and stars. Perfection.
The connotations of rage that the idea of "boiling over" contain also gave the sight furious edge.
Stock water
The added stock powder changed the colour of the water and removed all connections to cleanliness. made it the water prehistoric and swampy. Images of both the birth of the earth and Jurassic Period.

To combine the two, the two different pots could be contrasted against each other to show a stark difference between opposing ideas, as well as a change in character.

Extras

Black Dog
The Black Dog short films depicted a black dog sometimes only visible by the narrator who followed them around and reduced their quality of life. The black dog is a symbol of depression. In one video I watched the black dog manifested itself in different ways (similar to depression), appearing as sunglasses, hair and a literal black dog. I liked this technique as it showed that the little black dog is always present even when it can not be seen externally. It also suggests that the black dog has an element of control over the narrator as it affects every part of their life. This is reversed in the final scene when the narrator has a picture of the dog in a presentation, which suggests to me that although the black dog is still present, it is now much more under control and is used to learn from.
Little Girl Inside of Me

Little Girl Inside of Me is show I worked on that also uses metaphors to show an individual's state of mental health. In this show a massive cage acted as a symbol for the little girl that was trapped within the narrator due to the severe PTSD she experienced after seeing her home town in Japan devastated by an earthquake. I liked the design of the cage because it shows the Japanese influence while still being relatively simple in design.
Because the set was so bare the director relied greatly on body language and sound in order to take the audience from location to location.
Designing with Nature
It is a good idea to take a closer look at your surroundings. Think about selecting smaller details to incorporate into design as they present a more unique view that often go unseen as people walk by.
Variety is key! It's a good thing to pick a category and then pick several examples, for example if you were looking at flowers, it would be a good idea to gather ten different samples. This will give you a wider range of textures and colours to experiment with.
Perspective
Not just plants
Motion
Contrast images
Experiment with colour to alter mood
Activities
focus only on texture

focus only on shape
Dreamstime.com
https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/08/17-techniques-for-creating-designs-inspired-by-nature/