Creative Studies- Shorten Distance doesn't matter

Creative Multimedia

Creative multimedia is the vehicle in which it emerge technologies to drive home the concept of multimedia communications in art, design, entertainment, education, and business. From the education level, the Faculty of Creative Multimedia (FCM) integrates academic study with extensive creative digital technology production work and it been divided into five different majors that is Film and Animation, Media Innovation, Interface Design, Digital Media and Virtual Reality.

In the modern age, it is strongly driven by knowledge and information, 'content is king' upon which 'form' a heavily relies to preserve its significance. The programs are designed to provide strong skills that are necessary to fulfill the insatiable global needs for information, entertainment and telecommunication in the context of creative design and thinking, computing skills and business fundamentals.The University's international reputation as a leader in creative multimedia studies ensures that their graduates are in great demand with prospective employers, and it takes up many leading roles in the multimedia world. There are many different types of job opportunities that await our graduates in various industries.

Therefore from the mind map itself, it clearly shows the connections between Creative Multimedia with the five important majors that is Film and Animation, Digital Media, Media Innovation, Interface Design, and Virtual Reality. In Film and Animation, the techniques where footages are produced by creative images directly on film stocks. Media Innovation is more on the concept design and advertisements. Interface Design is the designs of the latest gadgets and equipments such as computers, appliances, machines, mobile communication devices, softwareapplications, and websites which focus on user's experience and interaction. Virtual Reality is used to describe a wide variety of applications that is commonly associated with immersive, highly visual, and 3D environments. Digital media is focused more on genera tic arts, installation, interactive websites, audio design, and usually act as an electronic media that works on digital codes.

Therefore, IPhone 4 is the best example of device on how loves connects to Creative Multimedia students and bring their relationships even closer. IPhone 4 is the latest multimedia communication device with advanced technologies that are able to do more than a normal communication devices can do. These are the common functions that are available in IPhone 4:

1. It has a secondary camera that is located in front of the device. It allows users to capture pictures and at the same time starts a video call to the other recipient. It also can have video conferencing with more than 3 people so it make things easier without taking the time to meet up with each other

2. This device has build in Wireless Internet (WiFi) that allows user to go online wherever they want instantly. Users can check their emails immediately and browse through the internet as its interface is exactly like browsing using a computer.

3. The device has a 5 megapixel camera to snap high quality pictures and it can record a full High Definition video. These pictures can be sent using MMS service.

4. The messaging service (SMS) interface is much different than a normal phone. It is like conversation bubble between both recipients. It gives a feel like the other recipient is just in front of the other.

In the associated mind map, it shows how IPhone 4 connects both relationships into a better n closer relationship. The relationship consists of 4 types that is friends, families, loved ones and work partners.

IPhone 4 has the ability to shorten the distances between both parties. As for students, they can use the software of IPhone 4 to communicate with their coursemates and at the same time get more information on their studies related work. For example, when a student wants to discuss about their assignments with his/her friends, he/she uses the video call function to communicate without meet up with at a specific place. Besides, he/she can browse the internet instantly to get more information or knowledge without using a laptop or desktop PC. In the working industry, whenever a boss of a company wants to have a meeting with other bosses from all over the world, he/she will use IPhone 4 to start a video call conferencing to conduct a meeting even though there separated far apart. As for the workers who want to promote their product to the clients, they will use the IPhone 4 as a tool to demonstrate their works to their client even the client not in front of him/her. When a couple who are on their honeymoon far away from their home country, IPhone 4 helps them to snap memorable pictures and videos as their memories and shares it with either their parents or friends. Therefore, IPhone 4 can shorten the distances of two or more users even though they are far apart from each other.

On the other hand, IPhone 4 brings an illusion that makes the person that is far away from the user is right in front of him/her even though it’s actually not there. For families such as children who are not beside their parents, whenever they have a video call with them, it is like the user is at home with his/her parents. As for companies, when a conference meeting is carried on between few other companies from other countries, it gives a feel like a real meeting is conducted with everyone is right around them. Furthermore, when the users want to have a tea chat with their friends, he/she will use video call to chat with them and it has a feel of a group of friends sitting down at the same table and chat.

IPhone 4 also brings all celebrations from places far away from the user. For example, whenever he/she can’t make it back to their hometown, their family or loved ones will celebrate together with the user even though both of them are far apart. When a birthday is the day before and they are to have a surprise birthday wish therefore the user will use the IPhone 4 to give a surprise wish by having a video call with the birthday boy or girl.

In the video production, it clearly shows that when a student wants to start his/her journey overseas to continue his/her study, IPhone 4 really helps him/her to shorten his/her distance between his/her family, friends and even course mates. In the video, when the user is at the other side of the country, he/she feels uncomfortable with the environment and IPhone 4 helps him/her to connect with their loved ones especially families during the Chinese New Year celebration. During the reunion dinner, the user uses the IPhone 4 to start video call with his/her family and have the dinner together. This gives the user the feeling of having dinner in front of them. Besides, when the user wants to have a old school friends gathering, he/she will just have a video conferencing with his/her old friends like they are really having a gathering together.

In conclusion, IPhone 4 has the ability to connect the user with people around without having front to front conversation and it also can shorten the distances between both sides so whenever they are separated, it gives them a feeling like they are not far away from each other and bringsboth relationship closer and closer.

Mind Map 1 Mind Map 2

Mind Map 3

Miao~~muahahahaha!! Are you afraid of cats?

Random Association is an idea generation method which allows students to systematically generate new ideas through a fixed formula. The whole premise of random association is to use a random word to provoke a reaction from the brain.
There are many things in the world which we are afraid of. This week, our lecturer Ahmad Radzi gave us a task to draw an image of a scary cat. Well, I don't like cats anyway, therefore, creating an unfriendly image isn't very hard however creating a scary one is another problem. So i decided to imply what I'm afraid of into the idea and created the freaky cat above.

Clowns are a very scary figure for me as they are very evil and the way they smile freaks me out. Even clown dolls seem like as if they will come to life after you stare at them for more than 5 minutes.

To me, whatever being it is, as long as it is associated with the cat, it's evil and scary!

Dancing had been a very interesting activity as we can see all types of movements and different dances comes from various types and places. For youngsters like me, I prefer street dances, in other words, hip hop style which people dance with the music flow. There are various types of street dancing and the best of them all, freestyle!

But have you came across a dance which tells story? A dance which is more than just dance? Well, the video above is a dance with a story with in. Ranging from superman, surfing on a beach, even transformers combine into a dance story. Using a dance to tell stories? Now that's something new and interesting! They way the dance with the music, the idea are all creative and innovative at the same time.

These is a very innovative dance and I enjoy it very much and I hope you do too.

Juxtaposition, it is a placed in nearness, contiguity, or side by side as a juxtaposition of words. The act of juxtaposing is to place two objects or words next to each other and when both of them is put side by side, our brain try to figure what is the relationship between that two objects. Conflict happens between the Left Brain and the Right Brain and creates an analogy consists of metaphor and similes.

Metaphor is a figure of speech which consists of two different things that are linked by some similarity. The comparison that shows it is obvious are not consider as metaphors. Therefore, there are metaphors occur when the two different ideas are being connected to imaginative ways and agreed to be dissimilar at first.

Similes are two images that bring the same meaning and are connected to each other and the two description of the two images are combined using 'as' or 'like'.

These are the few examples that is related to either metaphor of similes:

Life is like a candle,
Short, yet brightful,
It's your choice whether to shine or not,
As we don't know when will the next wind blow.

They don't work without each other;
They don't exist without each other;
They are meant for each other,
Like man and woman, father and mother.

Innocence is the key to happiness,
Doing what we like, enjoy what we do,
Care less, and play more;
Like a kitten had a fall.

Food or Art?

Computer or sushi? Or it's sushi in a computer?

Well, what do you see? Amazing right? Look at what we could do with the things that we can put in our mouth and digest it for nutrients and energy. This is what we put the two words of "hungry" and "creative" into our mind.

In science, food becomes cuisine. Painters learn to add a small amount of gray to a bright green apple to emphasize the shadowed areas. Cooks learn to add a 'pinch' of a favorite spice to enhance flavor. Scientists maintain the rigor of exactitude. Cooks weigh and measure to produce a finished result that is consistent. And then the fun begins when cooks think of becoming and artist by adding a little creativity into their cuisine.

Food art started in the Chinese cuisine where dragons and other animal forms are sliced and cut into shape by using vegetables. It was then known through out the world where people from different places started to use their creativity and imagination to create a type of artistic cuisine which they called food art. -edited from inmamaskitchen.com

Rice or teddy bear? Or teddy bear in a rice?

Besides attractive and mouth watering, this type of cuisine open up appetites for everyone who sees it. Imagine you had no appetite for any meal and you don't feel like eating. What will happen if I served one of these food on your table? You would be curious and wonder how it takes like due to it's special outlook, am I right?

Let's say you went into a 5 star restaurant for dinner and you pay a huge amount of money for that meal, your heart won't fill that good and mostly you would complain about having the same type of food at cheaper price at normal restaurant with the same taste, right? However, what happens if they served you unique yet beautiful food? It would seem better priced wouldn't it?

Last but not least, if you had trouble getting to get you kids into the food they dislike, this idea would work, wouldn't it? Give it a shot ^^

Broccoli or sheep? Or it's the sheep popping out of broccoli?

A swimmer or a watermelon? Or a swimmer swimming in the watermelon?

Apple or butterfly? Or it's butterfly on an apple?

Juxtaposition

Actually in our daily life we encounter many juxtaposition artwork or examples however we did not pay attention to it. Where? When? You'll get to know when you've finish reading my post. So what is juxtaposition? Juxtaposition It is defined as placing two variable on side by side and their contrast are shown through a comparison. Most of the creative comparison processes rely on juxtaposition by placing two objects or words next to each other, therefore human brain will automatically associate or transfer meaning and usually 'turning' something familiar to something that is less familiar or vice-versa. In short, it is about putting two things which are irrelevant to each other at the same place hence creating a connection or relation between the two of them, bringing out another meaning which can be embed inside our mind even more than just one of the things alone.For example like the picture above, a health message and a restaurants advertisement are different categories hence shouldn't be put together. However, just like what you've seen, the impact on bringing out the childhood obesity message is further more input into our mind with the help of stereotypes. For example, if I were only to post that childhood obesity ads only, people wouldn't notice and the message would not have a great impact on them;however, after I put the fast food ads, people will know more than just "be aware to childhood obesity", they'll get the message of "fast food brings obesity", BOOM! A shot in the mind, deep and meaningful.Another example is the picture above where the picture was taken in an angle as if the boy is poking the lion's butt. It is two things which are irrelevant to each other however placing them together brings out humor and hence creating another thing which is totally different from what the original meaning is.This is yet another very interesting juxtaposition that I find entertaining. Remember when we were young and our mom often ask us to pee beside the bush when we can't hold the urine any longer and we often feel shy? Here is an image which ask you to JUST DO IT. Although it's only a picture of a boy peeing beside the wall, however, the Nike ad on the wall brings out another meaning when it is merge with the boy's picture. Juxtaposition is not about laughing at the worlds silly mistake but to bring out certain messages which arent able to bring out without these mistakes.

Mortar and Pestles

Today we are given a task to think of the usage f mortar and pestles besides pounding and grinning stuff. We are given a few category to explore on and I selected a few category. It's a very interesting activity to do so as we get to go out of this world and think of whatever we like and the best part is knowing that with just a little imagination, miracles and impossibility happens.

This is a top made out of mortar and pestles. The mortar is placed on top of the pestle with its base on the pestle. Like other tops, it will require a string to spin it and due to the weight itself, therefore, it can spun longer? Who knows. ^^

This is a picture of a pair of glasses made of mortar and pestles. A pair of mortar are made into the frame of the lens connected with a pestle in the middle and the end part is tied onto a strap of rubber. Well, although it looks like a goggle, however, it was a pair of glasses. Heavy though.

This is a picture of a mortar being used as an armor in the battlefield. It can be used as a bullet vest too. The shoulder pad and the breast protector is made of mortar with pestles connected to protect the ribs. Mortars hardness will protect the user from bullets or swords. However, it's very heavy though.

This is a usage of mortar and pestle in the category of shoes in fashion. The shoe is attached to four mortars connected with two pestles and the based of the shoe is connected to the pestles. A roller blade shoe this heavy is much more safer than normal ones as they are not so easily moved and well balanced.

This is a picture of the mortar and pestle used as a music instrument. The mortars are filled with different volumes of water to create different tones of sound and some are flip over to become the high head of the drum set. The base drum is made of a big mortar cover with thick ox skin to produce base sound. I would like to see would sound it really would make actually.

This is a picture of the weapon category which mortar and pestle can be made into besides it's traditional usage. First of all, we start of with the left one which is a mace. The pestle made up the handle while all the mortars made the mace head. Due to mortars original weight and hardness, it's a very strong weapon. The one on the right is a flail. The mortar is connected to the pestle with a chain whereby the user may swing it as a flail. Imagine the weight and hardness of mortar landed on your head. OUCH!

Logorama

If you wanted to make a movie, what type of movie you want it to be? Animation? Drama? Cartoon? How about movies made out of only logos? This is what I've found in Youtube previously and I find it very very entertaining and creative at the same time.

This movie here is made out of logo all around the world. Everything inside was made of logo, signs and symbols which compannies uses in our world nowadays. I find it fascinating that they are able to create such creative video, using the logos features and the stereotype of Ronald Mcdonald as the evil villain. The ending was not very happy but it does helps in connecting to the ending part of the video.

I like the part where they show all the zoo animals. Especially the lion.

It is amazing to know what we can do nowadays with our creativity and imagination. Imagine what other things in our lives we can use as characters for our video.

Mind Map about Myself

This is a rough mind map about who am I and about myself. I kept it short and easy to be read. The whole idea is based on the scene in the anime EVANGELION where information about the monster is listed on the screen of the computer.

The centre of the mind map is the starting point and it didn't branch out a lot as I wanted to keep it simple and short. I dislike too branchy mindmap as it may confuse people especially my lecturers who are reading this post, due to that he had look at so many branchy mindmaps, i think it's est his eyes took a rest to look at a not so branchy one.

Here is my other mind map which I decided to chage to the one above as the above is more attractive and look more like a mindmap.

I felt that it's too simple and I don't really like it very much. Although the idea was to let people to decide where they want to start reading from as it doesn't have a starting point and no matter which direction you start, it's the same.

Besides wearing them, we can do this!

What can we do with T-Shirts besides wearing them? We can play with them!

This couple of guys are very famous in Youtube in T-Shirt stop-motion video. They printed images on different colour T-Shirt and make a stop motion video out of it. It's very creative to do and they made the shirt as if they are the real thing to be and make them magically alive and real.

When it comes to McDonald fast food, the advertisement that people could normally come out with is showing the food, create a short story video on how the food fills your life with happiness and things like that.

These couple of fellows create a video on what McDonald provides and what is available in McDonald's food list. I like the part the tall guy took away the Coke from the spectacle guy, interesting!

Imagine what else of advertisement we can do, about cars, by creating shirts of different angle of the car and create the shirts with the car doing stunt moves....COOL!

Shirts are not just meant to wear though, it can do magics and create things which are out of our expectations.

Novelty, Creativity, Innovation and Invention

There are many things out there, things which are categorize as superb or simply out of what people normally expect to come out. How do these things created?

NOVELTY
Novelty. What is novelty? Based on Wikipedia, novelty is defined as the quality of being new. Although it may be said to have an objective dimension, it essentially exists in the subjective perceptions of individuals. It also refers to quality of something that which is striking, original or unusual. In other words, novelty is the line of quality of new creations. Therefore it's originality is not a decisive feature of creative work and is always based on what has been created before. A historical approach implies that it is understood in either terms of contrast with a context and transformation of what was borrowed. the tendency for performance to initially improve when new technology is instituted, not because of any actual improvement in learning or achievement, but in response to increased interest in the new technology. Things which are new doesn't mean is has the quality of being new. For example, gas stove evolve into a an electronic stove doesn't mean it had the quality of being new, as it is the same thing with different source of energy.
CREATIVITY
Secondly, creativity. We've always heard of be creative, being creative, creativenesss and much much more. What are those actually? It is the ability to generate innovative ideas and manifest them from thought into reality. The ability to create something new, something which doesn't exist in this world yet and the creation is original as it's the first generation of its type, yet caught large attention and leave huge impact on peoples memory. Normally, the most important part to start a work or to create something, is the idea. The element which we imply within that idea is that which makes a difference with the others. We could imply the elements of creativity within the idea we are working on hence thinking things which are new and fresh to the world. Creativity does not happen inside people's head. but happens in the interaction between a person's thoughts and a sociocultural context. Creativity are often judged as the ability to create something different from other people. For example, the picture above is something creative, however, beautiful pictures taken by other people does not count as creative, is more into beauty category.
INNOVATIONInnovation is a change in the thought process for doing something, or the useful application of new inventions or discoveries. Innovation is the ability to change or to improve something to make it better, in other words, to enhance something which already exist or to make something work in a way. For example, when I was young, I remembered my parents doesn't have enough money to make a basketball hoop for me to play at, therefore, in order to enable my siblings and me to have fun, my mom decided to use an old big basket cut it into half, tying it onto a lamp post in front of my house compound and we get to have fun. Mostly, humans are very innovative in some ways in order to make their life easier and comfortable. Some show innovation in dealing with matters while some show innovation in drawings, creating something.

INVENTION
An invention is a new composition, device or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. Invention is actually the part where we have fun and learn things. This is the part where you get to realize or to make the things that you though about to come true. In this stage, we get to learn from our mistakes and learn new things that we could never learn in other places, knowing the mistakes and not resolving in the same mistake twice. Inventions often extend the boundaries of human knowledge or experience. Invention are something new created by inventors who take existing knowledge and generate new ideas or in other word invention is an open and curious mind enables one to see beyond what is known to enable inventors to think outside the box.

Modern Wayang Kulit

When it comes to black and white, what do you think of? Vector graphics created by Illustrator? How about shadows created on a piece of wall? The video above is one of the best example.

It creates shapes of the things around the world and I like every part of the video. It tells a story where it is easily to be understand and it is really creative to create such a video as what people would do is to create motion out of illustrator.

I like the way this artist, SOUR, would think out of the box and create something which people wouldn't though of.

I like the way he moves the shadow and make them alive and lively too make them as if they are the shadow of the real thing. I think SOUR did alot of research on the movements and utilize human's hand's movement to create all the shadows. The part I like the most is the part where the flowers bloomed and the butterfly make them bloom.

I admire this artist very much and the way he creates things creatively really amazes me. I wonder where does his ideas came from? Hmm....

What We Can Do With Scissor & Paper

Heard of origami before? Origami is the traditional Japanese paper folding art. The goal of this art is to create an artistic sculpture through a piece of flat paper by folding and sculpting. Most probably many of us had the experienced of doing origami during our kindergarten and primary level right?

However, did you think of anything like this before? I'm impressed by how a normal piece of paper could be turn into such an amazing artwork.I admired the patience and delicate handcraft of the artist.

A simple cut and a simple flip would create such an interesting artwork, It's simply out of what we can think of. If you were given a piece of paper and a pair of scissor, what would you think of?

This is a very creative way to create such interesting image and instead of using 3D programs or modeling skills, we can use a simple yet cheap way to create them. Creativity is unlimited and it's not limited by the tools we had and the skills we got.

Creativity

Creativity is an ability, attitude and a progress. Depending on how you want to use it. It surprises me though. I though creativity was suppose to be the element you have to insert into an idea. I'm surprise that that we can use creativity around us everyday in our daily lives.

For me, creativity has the definition of having the ability to generate innovative ideas and manifest through them from though into reality, in short, able to make what you dream of came true. Creativity is an element that we could imply in many things, mostly artworks.

However, today it's the first time I'm introduce to creativity not as what I though it is, but another thing. I'm really impress by Mr Yap Sau Bin's presentation and I really learn a lot of things today. Creativity has no limitation. My Yap is right, there are no such thing as un-creative people but only lazy people. After the lecture I went back and did some research on some artist and I found out that, they are only 10% gifted with artistic instinct and 90% of their work came with hardworkship and keenship.

Talking about creativity gain from hardwork, here is a friend of mine whom I would like to introduce.
Here is my roommate, coursemate, classmate and friend, Nick. Is his artwork really good? Yes, and it's not done in a day or two, he works hard for it. Sleepless night and the will to never give up let him overtake those who are more talented than he is.

Nick is very strict with himself and the best thing I like about him, is the will to never give up. Whenever a problem appears, he'll think of something to overcome it. The best example is the "table" he had now right inside his room. He is using a desktop computer which consumes alot of space. But our room lack of a table and to my surprise, it's not a problem at all to Nick. What he did was that he took the board of the bed and put it on top of boxes, shelves and things he could find to make the table's leg(the supporter to make it stand) and WALA! There you have a table and it solve the box problem in our room too!

Nick's computer cooler wasn't cold enough to keep the computer temperature low and what surprises me was that he could make another cooler fan to spin without assmbling it into the CPU itself but through the USB port! He powered it through a USB port!

His drawing skills are not very well however, he used tools smartly to draw like an expert. What technique he uses? Tracing paper! I've never though of using that before! His way of thinking is unique yet it works!

Here is a picture of him taking pictures and sharpening his photography skills.

What happens when we are out of paint and stuck in the drawing studio? Gaming!

Our first semester Design Class had an assignment which requires us to paint a wall and we work ourselves overnight for that assignment. Near morning, we ran out of paint and what we could think of is stay there and wait for the shop to open, but not Nick, if you give him a labtop and free time, it's gaming time for him no matter where he is.

In conclusion, creativity isn't something that we are born with but it's something we work hard for and something which we can use to see things differently.

Flip Flip Flip!

We often have headaches in life about space problems, especially when it comes to rooms in hostel of MMU!

What happen in my room was that there were three of us and there are only two tables and two cupboards with two shelves on top and a book shelf, how are we going to put our A1 papers and our banners? Not to mention our A0 size frames portrait. And there are three of us!

What would we do? All of our artworks are precious to us and it's impossible for us to throw it away. In the end, we had to thorw some of the big artworks, it hurts but we have to do so, we have no space!

And the other day we found this video and we were thinking, how good it will be if we were given such furnitures. It's space saving, convenient and the best of all, CREATIVE! Have you ever think of turning around your cupboard nad out come your bed, TADA! It's so convenient and space saving. Flipping a cupcoard turns into a table and many many things you can make and tun around with this type of concept. It's fascinating.

Personally, I'm really attracted by to these types of furnitures and I really hope I had these furnitures installed in my future home. It might be pricy but it's worth it!

P/S: FCM should have this!!!

Introduction to Creative Studies

Creative Studies. For most of the people out there might think it’s a course which teaches you creative stuff like graffiti, all the cool painting stuff which is out of this world. That was what I think. At least.

However, my English lecturer told me that MMU gave english a
creative name in BETA year, which is?? Yeap, Creative Studies. I
was beginning to think about all the oral and listening test, I hate
them. Until.....

Mr Yap Sau Bin came in to the class. Mr Yap Sau Bin is going to
teach me English? His English is excellent, why not? But wait! My
lecturers from Media Culture is here too! I started to get bit happy
and to my joy, IT IS NOT ENGLISH! PEACE!

What is your expectation from the class?

• Well, Mr Yap Sau Bin taught me how to think like a FCM student, and my MLC lecturers provide me with the knowledge of the thoughts and requirements of the society and enable us know where to improve. I expect the class to be fun and mind blasting!!
  

What would I like to learn from this class?

• I’m expecting to learn how to think creatively and FAST.
  I’m a person which is lack of creativity, so I’m hoping through
  this class, I’m able to pick up some creative way of thinking.