COM 207.3: Blog # 6: Creativity and Problem Awareness Class - Synthesis

A Look Back on our Creativity and Problem Awareness Class (1st Sem. S.Y. 2011-2012)

Screenshot of http://web.me.com/mescaler/innovate200

COM 207.3: Creatvity and Problem Awareness or simply, "Creativity Class" was a course highly recommended by some of my MA Communication classmates since 2009 and best taken under Mr. Mark Vincent Escaler "daw."

I've heard so many positive reviews from my peers about it saying it's a fun class, the instructor is great and it's not a stressful one.

When we started the class, apart from the introductory questions, we were asked "what is the best thing that can happen to you as a result to this course?"

My answer, if I remember it correctly, was for me to be able to be more creative in such a way that I could be an out-of-the-box thinker and that my ideas or creativity could contribute in improving my work and life.

Mr. Mark Vincent Escaler

As what our instructor, Sir Mark, has told us, one of the primary objectives of Creativity Class is for us to learn and develop new ways of thinking for us to be able to generate potential solutions to conventional, impossible, or creative problems.

Traditionally, we have been socialized and educated into a world that views problems as having only one concrete solution (reproductive thinking). However, in this class, we learned that it is when we push ourselves the impossible that makes something possible (productive thinking).

Productive thinking is creative thinking and so, Creativity Class is a course on innovation.

True enough, we were given challenges with impossible situations, impossible solutions and impossible deadlines. Here are some of the activities that squeezed the juices of our brain, if not blew our minds out:

Image from: http://www.streetcrew.net/ via http://www.thedailylewis.blogspot.com/

1. The Paper Clip Test

- Thinking of other possible uses of a paper clip (to think outside the box).

Example answers: to use as a clip, a toothpick, lift heavy things, as a cutting tool and etc.

Sam ^__^

2. Draw the person next to you in 60 seconds.

- The lesson here per observation: adults have "nervous laughter" after the activity like "sorry, did I get your nose right and etc." whereas if this was conducted with kids, they normally do this with much enthusiasm and excitement and they take pride of their work with no pretense.

3. Design an Innovative Classrom for Ateneo

- Mitch and Clarisse were my partners in this activity and our concept was an Iron Man/ Tony Stark-Office-inspired digital classroom for the digital era.

4. Designing a Wallet That Would Fit the Needs of Our Client

- Lesson learned: The point of innovation is not you but the people around you.

Image from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

5. Make it Snow in the Philippines by Friday

- (WHAT???) Lesson learned: Making the impossible happen by thinking of as many alternative solutions as possible.

Example answers: Styrofoam/ confetti/ bubble foam/ shredded ice as snow; Renting a place in Iceland or USA and putting a marker that says "Welcome to the Philippines!"

Winner by 15 straws only!!!

6. Hang the Soda Can Using The Less Straw(s) as Possible

- I worked with Krisel and May here who were my groupmates during the initial groupings of the class.

Later, the class was divided into 4 groups who were tasked to create an innovation project each. There's the Fundraising Group, the Social Enterprises Group, the Time Management Group and our group, the Student Productivity Group. Eventually, groups merged until there were two: the Fundraising thru Social Enterprise Group and our group, the Student Productivity thru Time Management. These two groups would stay throughout the semester.

On a personal note, my previous class last semester, Communication and Management, also had 13 students but we were like "barkada" because we held classes in a smaller venue and shared one rectangular desk where we could better see and hear each other. It was a very intimate rendezvous that's why we got to be close.

For our Creativity Class, I feared that since we were always seated with our groups, we won't be able to interact much with and get to know our classmates from the other group better. For some of my teammates, I believed this happened. As for me, I tried my best to reach out to everyone in class especially to those who have not yet been my classmates (as I normally do).

There were seven of us in my group and all of them, except for me, are girls and none of them had been my classmates since five of them are just new this semester. Furthermore, all of us come from different fields: media, advertising, government, and banking.

Nevertheless, our group worked well! I'm not sure how, but regardless if we have our own field of expertise, experiences and personal background, we were cohesive and we really managed to do the job quick, smoothly, and well. As what Frans Johansson said in The Medici Effect (2006), "the intersection of disciplines or cultures... will have a greater chance of innovating, simply because there are so many unusual ideas to go around."

Our innovation challenge was:

"In what ways might we develop a support program for the Ateneo Department of Communication that would help working graduate students balance their work, personal life and school."

The reason why we chose this is because we, working Ateneo graduate students, often feel that our lives our becoming toxic as we juggle school with problems in work and personal life. We believe that  we are only human and not superheroes. Hence, we need to have our very own sidekick, an essential partner in achieving the much-coveted work-school-life balance.

Coming up with the proposal wasn't a walk in the park. It underwent several processes per week until such time that the objective has been narrowed down, specific and concrete.

Along the way, we were introduced to other ways of thinking. Some of which were:

My Mind Map

1. Mind Mapping by Tony Buzan

- It is a graphical method of writing down notes that visually helps in distinguishing words, thoughts and ideas through colors and symbols.

2. The Lotus Blossom Technique originally developed by Yasuo Matsumura

- Illustrates the way the brain thinks by laying down thoughts in a diagram form following the natural patterns of a lotus blossom.

3. False Faces (Reversal)

- Reversing or questioning assumptions destabilizes conventional thinking.

Big lesson learned: We live a life full of assumptions and if we break free from them, we can be creative enough to see the other side of the world.

4. The Six Thinking Hats by Dr. Edward de Bono

- Is a thinking tool for group discussion and individual thinking wherein each "hat" is a mode of thinking. When you put on a hat, you put on a role and you put on a perspective.

- My role here was the moderator wearing the "blue hat."

On a personal note again, I had been the Class Beadle (Class President) in almost all of my classes but for Creativity class, I wasn't because this class did not require one. In our group, since I'm their senior, I usually stood up as the leader but not formally since there were many times that I also wanted my teammates to be leaders of their own.

So finally, our final project was a website that would provide pertinent information to Ateneo MA Communication students, easily accessible and available, one that would appeal, entice, engage and hopefully, aid them in providing stability and the support needed to achieve their end-goals as master jugglers of work, life, and school.

Hence, our group came up with "COMMRAD" (Communication made radical). For now, we have launched a prototype Facebook page to showcase how the website may potentially look like and function. In less than a week, 30 Ateneo MA Communication students already subscribed to the site. Our instructor, Sir Mark, believes that this project has much potential and if we would like to bring this to the next level, the Department of Communication is just there.

The other group came up with "The Voice." It is also a website with an objective to help social entrepreneurs find a partner for their fundraising campaign(s). Again, our instructor also believes that this could be a project with promise and may even offer this to someone he knows might be interested.

With these projects, we learned that for an idea to be original, it has to be creative, it has to be relevant, it has to be desirable and it has to be valuable.

Now that the course has reached its end, I believe most of us have already changed. We believe that we now view the world and the things around us on a different perspective. It would be great if all of us become successful innovators like Steve Jobs, but for now, at least we have taken a step towards becoming a creative and innovative individual. Who knows, someday, these projects of ours will be the next big thing?

If this class has served me well and helped me understand my purpose and goals to be an out-of-the-box thinker - YES!

p.s. Thank you very much to Sir Mark Escaler for the lessons that you have imparted on us. We truly appreciate your active and lively way of teaching and you were able to succeed in bringing us up despite all of us being tired at work.

To my classmates, congratulations on a semester that was! You all did a great job! You all had good ideas, did your fair share of the work and I would be more than glad to work with you again.

I wish you all the best of luck in all your endeavors!

COM 207.3: Blog # 5: The Pixar Story



Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pixar_Story



Woody: WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
Buzz: Right now, poised at the edge of the galaxy, Emperor Zurg has been secretly building a weapon with the destructive capacity to annihilate an entire planet! I alone have information that reveals this weapon's only weakness. And *you*, my friend, are responsible for delaying my rendezvous with Star Command!
Woody: [pauses and looks incredulous] YOU! ARE! A! TOYYYYY! You aren't the real Buzz Lightyear! You're - you're an action figure!
[holds hand up to eyes indicating something small]
Woody: You are a child's play thing!
Buzz: You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity.
[waves in military fashion]
Buzz: Farewell.
[starts to walk away]
Woody: Oh, yeah? Well, good riddance, ya loony!

Image from http://www.madisonavenuejournal.com/

Watching The Pixar Story has transported me back to a time when everything else in my eyes were simple and easily enjoyable and yet, it also reminded me that things weren't always as what it seemed to be when I was young.

When Pixar launched their first feature film Toy Story in 1995, I was just an elementary kid in Grade 5. That time, I didn't even bother whether Pixar was in partnership with Walt Disney Studios or vice versa nor how the film was even made! All I cared about was after Disney's Aladdin (1994) and Pocahontas (1995), I'm seeing real-life looking characters with funny antics and throwing comedic dialogues that made me laugh and happy as I leave the cinema.

But now as a grown-up, the things that I have seen, heard, learned and experienced all throughout the years made me realize that life and the things around me are complexed, mostly-structured and following a process or order.

The Pixar Story documentary opens with a spinning zoetrope, the earliest of all animation tools, first bringing us back to the early history of animation and then informing us of how animation has progressed. It was followed by animation through black and white sketches (Felix the Cat, Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop) to being colored such as Disney's first animated feature-length film Snow White. Then moves forward to stop-motion (John Henry and the Inky-Poo) and proceeds to computer-animation in 2D and finally, in 3D (Toy Story, 1995).



Image from http://www.pixar.com/ homepage



In retrospect, more than Woody and Buzz, the real stars of the blockbuster Toy Story are a group of unlikely individuals who worked together and set a common goal to make a breakthrough in the film and animation industry. They are John Lasseter "the talented artist," Ed Catmull "the creative scientist," and Steve Jobs "the visionary entrepreneur." Together, they have achieved a phenomenon that has earned them a spot in cinema history.

This incredible breakthrough was a result of the amalgamation of Lasseter's experience as an animator, of Catmull's skill as a computer-scientist and Jobs' entrepreneurial vision as a businessman. Each of them excelled in their own fields and the intersection of their knowledge, expertise and hardwork resulted in Pixar becoming a successful company and organization in its own.

Image from http://www.bnet.com/

Drawing from the dialogue of Woody and Buzz above, Pixar has had a lot of struggle before it was able to stand on its own feet. Briefly, Pixar was the computer-graphics arm of George Lucas filmmaking operation which Lucas eventually cut loose. When Disney hired Pixar, management issues plagued their relationship. Pixar was being treated only as a tool of something bigger with a similar tone to Woody's  "YOU! ARE! A! TOYYYYYY!" Just like that and with no opportunity to venture out and grow.

On a personal note, I didn't even knew who were behind Pixar until I've seen The Pixar Story. I was surprised that Apple's Steve Jobs was part of it! Nevertheless, as what I've learned from Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect, "the intersection is the best place to generate an explosion of new breakthrough ideas." 

Furthermore, Johansson says "to be considered creative, it is not enough that an idea is new... it must also have some measure of relevance; it must be valuable." Earlier I mentioned that I enjoyed watching Toy Story because I saw real-life characters acting. Probably, it was because the material is new - it's CGI, it's 3D! Toy Story's relevance to the animation and film industries is no doubt its bragging rights as the first feature-length film to be created and rendered entirely using 3D graphics. The value of Toy Story and the rest of the computer-animated movies that followed has not only been limited to business but has expanded to a socio-cultural level.

Image from http://www.thoughtpantry.blogspot.com/

Take for example, Pixar claims that their movies impart moral lessons about friendship, love, respect and other virtues to its audience. Whether this is measurable or not, perhaps their films indeed made an impact to the viewers that may be attested by many people around the world.

Image from http://www.kaboodle.com/

During birthday parties or other events, what are the common themes these days? Aren't they under the sea theme aka Finding Nemo; superhero theme aka The Incredibles; Cars and so on? Truly, Pixar has been a household name and its films are being patronized in many ways.

Screenshot from http://www.pixar.com/

Lastly, the process of making the Pixar films is truly interesting. Watching The Pixar Story, I now have higher respect and appreciation to their creators. In Filipino, "hindi biro-biro." Since the creative process takes a lot of time from story pitching to summarizing the main idea of the story, to drawing storyboards, and applying voice after. Further editing and application of artistic details come next. The process continues with the digital/ 3-D modelling and polishing the sets/ background of the story. Then the shots are laid out, animated, shaded, and lighted. Rendering will follow and finally, the finishing touches. No wonder it sometimes takes years to produce one great 3-D animated film. But with the right mixture of people, attitude, tools, environment accompanied by good management and governed by a systematic policy with proper reward, acknowledgement and appreciation, no matter how hard the work is, the process will be enjoyable.

As Peter Debruge said on his 2007 online film review, The Pixar Story "above all else, a celebration of animation in all its forms. Iwerks naturally has a firm grasp of the medium's history and rightly sees Pixar as the catalyst for the recent resurgence of audience interest in animation." 

The Pixar Story (2007) is a Leslie Iwerks Productions; written, produced and directed by Leslie Iwerks; narrated by: Stacy Keach; music by: Jeff Beal; and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Running time: 87 minutes. Language: English.

With interviews from: Brad Bird, Loren Carpenter, Ed Catmull, Diane Disney Miller, Roy Disney, Michael Eisner, Bob Iger, Steve Jobs, Ollie Johnston, Glen Keane, John Lasseter, George Lucas, Alvy Ray Smith, Andrew Stanton, Frank Thomas.