Creative Decisions Research Articles

Graphic Novel Hamlet: Reaching Beyond Stage and Page

The persistence, abundance, and diversity of Shakespearean adaptations across many media shows Shakespearean narratives to be “successful replicators,” the terminology proposed by Bortolotti and Hutcheon (2007). In the past decade, many graphic novel adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays have been produced. While graphic novels have their own affordances that allow the Shakespearean plays to be assembled for “performance” on the page, at the same time they open up connotations that would not be available in a conventional stage performance. The conventions of the comic book allow storyworlds to be opened, worlds that reach beyond the page and stage, and that exist on different narrative, or diegetic, levels. At the same time, a graphic novel adaptation can highlight the ephemeral nature of performance and the fragile network of human and nonhuman elements that hold together a Shakespeare narrative in performance —whether this performance is on the stage or the page. This article will examine and compare three graphic novel adaptations of Hamlet: Hamlet (Manga Shakespeare) by Richard Appignanesi and Emma Vieceli (2007) (hereafter referred to as Manga Shakespeare); Hamlet (No Fear Shakespeare Graphic Novels) by Neil Babra (2008) (hereafter referred to as No Fear); and Shakespeare’s Hamlet by Nicki Greenberg (2010). Together these texts show that graphic novels can use comic book conventions to tap into the “agency of adaption” that is inherent in dramatic pretexts. When creating a stage performance, a director must make creative decisions that move outside the explicit instructions of a dramatic text. There is a similar but more complicated agency at work when a dramatic text is brought together as a performance on a page. Shakespearean adaptations bring their own particular joy and complexity, as the pretexts themselves serve as invitations to partake in an intense flux of meaning and mixed ontologies.

THAT ‘OTHER’ WAY OF WORKING: MICHAEL WOLTERS AT 50

AbstractThis article does not attempt to paint a complete picture of Michael Wolters (b.1971) as composer, teacher or researcher. Rather, it is a collection of comments and reflections drawn from a number of recent conversations with him. In these conversations we considered the work he has produced across his career, with a particular focus on his ideas about conceptual working, his outsider position and the essential part that accessibility plays in his creative decision-making.

Vplyv shtuchnoho intelektu na kryterii oryhinalnosti v avtorskomu pravi

With recent technological advances in the field of artificial intelligence, new questions arise regarding the determination of copyright in works created using artificial intelligence technologies. This article examines the criterion of originality of a work in the legal systems of different countries and its importance for providing legal protection by copyright law to objects created with the use of artificial intelligence. Originality acts as a subjective criterion for determining the possibility of legal protection of a work as an object of copyright. Attention is focused on the lack of a single approach to establishing the originality of the work in the characterized countries. In particular, in the EU, the originality of a work is reduced to the personal creation of the author, in the USA — to the minimal creative contribution of the person-author, in United Kingdom — to its creation by the work and skills of a person, his or her efforts, in Ukraine — it is reduced to the criterion by which the work is characterized, which is the result of the author’s own intellectual creative activity, as well as a reflection of his or her creative decisions made during the creation of such a work. It is noted that all countries at the current stage are focusing their attention on the development of new legislation in the field of copyright regulation of objects created using artificial technologies, which is due to the desire for innovation and the introduction of modern digital technologies and artificial intelligence. That is why in the law-making process it is important to ensure that legal norms are flexible and correspond to changes in the technological environment, allowing to promote innovation and cultural development. Overall, it makes a valuable contribution to understanding the contemporary challenges of changing technologies and the impact of artificial intelligence on copyright law. It emphasizes the need for a balance between protecting the rights of creators and ensuring access to new technologies and innovations for the general benefit of society. Legal challenges related to determining authorship of works generated by artificial intelligence are discussed. The importance of further scientific research in this area is noted.

Intersections of Multiculturalism, Education, and Identity in 'Entre les Murs’: A Comparative Analysis of Learning Experiences

This scholarly article delves into the intricate layers of the French banlieue film Entre les murs (2008), directed by Laurent Cantet. The article aims to unravel the multifaceted portrayal of banlieue culture and its significance within the cinematic and socio-cultural landscape. It comprehensively analyses the film's narrative, characters, social themes and artistic choices, navigating the complexities of cultural diversity and identity formation within the banlieue context. The film's characters, students, and teachers become focal points for analysis, shedding light on the challenges and possibilities within the education system.
 Further, the article explores the film's cinematic techniques and aesthetics, including its visual style, cinematography, editing, and use of sound and music. The documentary-like approach of the film is examined, considering its impact on the storytelling and the portrayal of authenticity. By analysing the film's artistic choices, this article aims to uncover the subtle nuances and intentional creative decisions that contribute to the film's overall impact.
 Moreover, the article evaluates the critical reception and lasting legacy of Entre les murs. It explores the film's reception among critics and audiences, highlighting its awards, nominations, and influence on subsequent French cinema. It also discusses the film's socio-political relevance and contribution to the discourse on education, multiculturalism and social inequality.
 In addition to drawing upon various scholarly works and theories, the article seeks to place Entre les murs within the broader academic discourse, including areas such as auteur theory, social realism, postcolonial theory, cultural studies and sociological perspectives. Together, these serve to deepen the understanding of the film and its socio-cultural implications.
 Regarding the social context, the article examines the film's position in time-space and the situation of the French educational system in the poor and multicultural neighbourhoods of France. It considers the challenges faced by the education system and explores the plans to address them, contributing to a comprehensive analysis of the film's socio-cultural context.
 In conclusion, this academic article unveils the depths of Entre les murs, shedding light on its portrayal of banlieue realities, the educational system's challenges, and the complexities of multiculturalism and identity. By combining meticulous analysis, scholarly perspectives and an appreciation for the film's artistic merits, this article contributes to the ongoing academic dialogue surrounding the film and its enduring impact on French cinema.

Unfolding Microgravity and the Interplay Between Awe, Wonder, Curiosity, and Humility in Artistic Research

Abstract This article discusses how the term ‘curiosity’ emerged as a leading element in the development of the action performance research project Microgravity. The focus is on the effect of curiosity as an activator of movement in a participatory performance in which participants are invited to explore new bodily conditions for the first time (in this case, reduced gravity through a vertical dance technique). I begin with an account of what vertical dance is, its origin, and my personal experience as a vertical dancer. Through the connection between vertical dance and space exploration and an encounter with the terms ‘awe’ and ‘wonder’ (in connection to space travel), I move on to pedagogical and creative decisions regarding ways to create a participatory performance that, due to its complete physical involvement of participants, I now refer to as an ‘action performance’. I will elaborate on the creative partners who joined the research and the interplay of curiosity and humility in relation to the terms ‘awe’ and ‘wonder’ based on the book A Neurophenomenology of Awe and Wonder (Gallagher et al. 2015), which was the initial inspiration for the use of these terms and the establishment of the imaginary universe of Microgravity. I will also employ my own interpretation of these terms as a researcher, drawing on first-hand participatory experiments and data gathered from participants between 2019 and 2022.

Relationships between empathy and creativity in collective games: a comparison between handball and sitting ball.

In collective motor situations, creativity and empathy are central and strongly connected to cognitive and affective processes. Indeed, in the environment of high social uncertainty of games and sports, empathy would allow the player to anticipate motor behaviors in order to promote creative decision-making, i.e., to destabilize his opponents. On this basis, this study pursues two objectives. The first is to propose indicators to question the links between sociomotor empathy and motor creativity in an ecological situation. The second is to investigate the potential influence of the internal logic of two very different collective games (handball and Sitting ball) on the type of links that are woven between empathy and creativity. Two groups of students were recruited (n = 22 and 23) and participated in each of the games mentioned. The games were video recorded. The praxical communications made by each player were recorded and sorted by two trained observers. The results revealed major differences between the two studied collective games. In handball, there was a correlation between instrumental empathy (valuing cognitive aspects) and indicators of motor creativity (p < 0.05). The more creative the players are (quantity, diversity and quality of performance), the more they manage to accurately anticipate the behavior of other players. In Sitting Ball, there was no correlation between creativity indicators and instrumental empathy. On the other hand, it is noticed that instrumental empathy was correlated with socio-affective empathy (p < 0.001). To make their motor decisions, the players do not rely exclusively on the decoding of behaviors but significantly mobilize the feelings that they ascribe to the other co-participants. The results of this work invite reflection on the diversity of playful reading grids to be offered to students in order to develop their motor adaptability.

Идеологические и культурные коды в аспекте формирования провокативного рекламного контента (на примере рекламы Benetton)

This article is devoted to determining the role of cultural and ideological codes in advertising communication and studying the peculiarities of their use in advertising Benetton brand products. The relevance of the study is determined, in particular, by the fact that the specifics of the perception of the advertising message, including the reduced attention of recipients to the advertising text, become the cause of provocative creative decisions, which are based on a deep analysis of consumer behavior, their habits and stereotypes. The authors note that in the professional activities of advertisers, the work with ideological and cultural codes is carried out in two ways: the advertising message is based on existing stereotypical mental attitudes or contradicts them. The material of Benetton brand advertising texts through semiotic analysis examines the company’s communication policy, built on a provocative appeal to cultural and ideological semiotic codes. With the help of trigger messages and visual images built on the use of idiologmes, religiogemes, mythologemes, culturemes, Benetton advertisers have created a semiotic basis for identifying the brand that is relevant to the general public. It is also noted that as a result, the brand has developed its own acutely social direction, which has become one of the main channels of communication with potential consumers of Benetton products. With the help of the social coloring of communications, non-standard solutions and the use of the laws of semiotics, the brand in question was able to achieve important economic and communication goals - to ensure differentiation against the background of competitors, to increase the loyalty of the target audience and its purchasing activity. The research material was more than 50 multi-code advertising messages - videos, as well as texts of printed and outdoor advertising. To achieve this goal, a descriptive and analytical method, semiotic and intertextual analysis were used.

Organizing, Planning and Developing Visual Style in Screen Directing during Pre-Production

The screen director is the originator of the artistic vision and a repository of requisite knowledge and craft needed to bring all the arts and technology of filmmaking together. To be effective, the screen director must master the technology of film and learn how to manipulate the essential elements of the film form across the different stages of production. This paper outlines the processes and personnel needed to help the director achieve his/her duties optimally during the preproduction stage of filmmaking. This study from a participant-observer point of view developed as a result of years of experience in film production and pedagogy, describes practically, the various aspects of pre-production planning. From the shooting plan, which is a practical expression of the director’s vision of the script, to the creative decisions that emanate from that vision through a deep understanding of the theme or subject matter, the director creates a shooting script from the screenplay that is used by the producer and all departmental heads. The actordirector relationship is also very important to film production and this starts from the point of an actor auditioning for a role in a film. The rehearsal, which is the final stage of pre-production, is very crucial to filmmaking and every reasonable director rehearses the cast before principal photography. Working with colour, contrast, tone, pattern, etc., in choosing fabrics and materials, the costume, makeup, hairdressing and props team keys into the overall look of the film, in consultation with the director and the producer. This guide also explains the aspects of the schedule, budget, location, crewing and how it concerns the screen director. Everything about the film is concluded on paper well before production. From screenplay/rewrites, shooting script, floorplans, shooting plans, shot list, design sketches, lighting plots, camera movements and angles, through hiring crew; selecting and testing equipment, to location recce; auditioning and casting etc., a hardworking director makes adequate preparation at the pre-production stage.

The convergence of technologies and creative decisions during making visual image in the film industry: analysis of ecosystem connections

The scientific investigation is an attempt to reveal a mutual influence of technical and artistic-creative attempt of the process of making a visual image in the cinema in the XX century and at the beginning of the XXI century, and also to justify the main thesis that the evolution and functioning of the ecosystem of audio-visual production and its important component of the film industry depends on the convergence of creative and technological resources in the sphere that generates a film image aesthetics. A look at the audio-visual industry as an ecosystem that includes cinema, broadcasting, video games, animation, video services on demand, web-market, etc., is an interesting and perspective methodological approach. It gives the possibility to look at this sector of creative industries as the individual and self-sufficient “dynamic and adaptive organism” that consumes, generates, and transforms knowledge into innovative audio-visual products and also combines its own resources by the principle of the convergence of technologies and creative decisions in separate industries and on the interbranch level. It produces ecosystem connections inside the branch and between separate industries that provide continuity and evolution of audio-visual production as a whole. Creating visual image in the frames of the film industry of the second part of the XX century and at the beginning of the XXI century occurs because of the convergence of technical and creative components of film- and video production that determines the step of cinematography. The creative application of the camera crane and in-frame editing, analog video, non- standard optics and increased sensitivity of film, continues to develop today in the direction of the convergence of cinema, television and the Internet based on digital cinemas, increasing the creative possibilities of filmmakers in working on a visual image and expanding the ecosystem of film production and screen communication. The symbiosis of creative decisions and audio-visual technologies in the work of film image aesthetics brings to the appearance as to the two opposite approaches in understanding the character of this convergence (“operationalism” and “techno-romanticism”), so as to dualism of the vectors of its development (“Godard’s line” and “Spielberg’s line”).

Mitigating Discrimination by Businesses: Adopting a "Substantial Amount of Expression" Test in the Wake of the Court's 303 Creative Decision

Mitigating Discrimination by Businesses: Adopting a "Substantial Amount of Expression" Test in the Wake of the Court's 303 Creative Decision

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ПРОФЕСІЙНОЇ КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТІ ВИКЛАДАЧА НАРОДНОГО ВОКАЛУ У ВИЩІЙ ШКОЛІ

The goal of the work is in the analysis of the specificity of the professional activity of a folk vocal teacher in the context of the competency - oriented approach implementation in the system of the higher education of Ukraine. Methodology of the investigation is based on the general pedagogical principles of humanization and humanitarization of education, theories of pedagogical culture and professional preparation, formation singing culture on the conceptual principles of vocal teachers’ preparation at the higher educational establishments, and also it predicts the implementation of methods of analysis of scientific-methodological literature for determination the instruments and the state of development of the problem of forming the professional competence of future folk vocal teachers, generalization and systematization of theoretical positions for the substantiation of the results of the research. Scientific novelty of the work lies in cognition of singing pedagogical competence of a teacher of a higher school as a complex polifunctional personalogical derivation on the basis of the integration of professional theoretical knowledge, value orientations and practical skills in the sphere of vocal pedagogy. Conclusions. As a result of the investigation, it was concluded that the professional competence of the teacher of folk vocals at the higher school is an indicator of his maturity as a specialist in his professional activities, and is based on fundamental humanitarian education and emotional and value attitude to the specialty, on mastery of technology of work, readiness for creative decision of professional tasks and own self-realization. Implementation of the competence approach in the educational process of higher education and during the formation of the professional competence of the folk vocal teacher in the competency-structural aspect involves the selection of three components: emotional and motivational, cognitive-technological, and creative-activity competencies. Key words: higher school of Ukraine, folk vocal, professional competence, humanitarian education, musical education.

Pride and Prejudice Adaptations: A Comparative Study

The study delves into a carefully curated selection of adaptations, including prominent and lesser-known versions across different media platforms. By employing a multidimensional framework, encompassing narrative fidelity, character portrayals, visual aesthetics, and thematic interpretation, this research aims to illuminate the nuances and variations in each adaptation. Furthermore, it seeks to identify the key factors that influenced creative decisions, such as socio-cultural context, target audience, and prevailing cinematic trends.

ТВОРЧА БІОГРАФІЯ МАРІЇ ШИМАНОВСЬКОЇ У КОНТЕКСТІ ПРОБЛЕМИ ІДЕНТИЧНОСТІ

The article examines the problem of the artists' identity at the beginning of the 19th century through the prism of the Maria Shymanovska's creative personality. The analysis of the historical and cultural realities of the time made it possible to determine the main factors that influenced the formation of identity. These are geography, religion, social status and gender. It was found that for Maria Szymanowska, Warsaw always remained the central city through which her self-determination took place, even after moving to St. Peregburg in 1828. There was a problem of coherence between the national and religious identities of the artist. Szymanowska was Polish at the level of "I speak the language, I dress," but she was a frankist at the level of "whom I pray to, what books I read, who I believe in," which makes her identity portrait more complex. The composer sought to create a positive image in the aristocratic society and position herself as part of it, thus increasing the social status given to her at birth – petty bourgeoisie, the daughter of a brewer. She did this with acquaintances, a suitable social circle, portraits, clothes, etc. Also, the artist bravely overcame the boundaries of established behavioral models for women. Maria Shymanovska divorced and supported herself and three children from the marriage – artistic and compositional activities were the main source of her income. Through the prism of periodicals of the day, she appears as one of the first women who dares to compete with men on a professional level. Various aspects of Maria Szymanovska's creative biography are intricately intertwined and clash with each other at different levels: Szymanovska is a Polish, but primarily defends the interests of a narrow group of frankists; the artist belongs to the bourgeoisie, but it is important for her to position herself as an aristocrat; she is a woman, however, first of all, she chooses her right to creative and professional realization. The comparison of typical life strategies, which provided for the mentioned factors of identity formation, with the life and creative decisions of Maria Shymanovska, made it possible to outline the specifics of the artist's identity portrait. By overcoming the established identity stereotypes of the time, Maria Shymanovska appears as an extraordinary person who is able to shape new life strategies

Ecological Approach to Cinematographic Lighting of the Human Face – A Pilot Study

AbstractOne key aspect of cinematographic lighting – and lighting in general – is its direction and how the lighting illuminates people and other objects of attention. In a natural setting, the light reaching the target usually has at least some level of directionality instead of being just ambient overall light. In cinematography directionality is used, among other things, to enhance the lit object’s three-dimensionality in an otherwise two-dimensional medium by bringing out its shape and texture and separating it from the background. While lighting has typically been studied based on its physical qualities that render for quantitative measures, such as intensity or color spectrum, less is known about how cinematographic lighting gives rise to the spectator’s emotive-cognitive experiences. Overall, film lighting has been studied surprisingly little, although both practical and academic literature emphasize its important role in cinematic expression. This paper presents a pilot study that examines viewers’ emotional reactions to photographs of an expressionless human face under lighting from different directions. The initial results indicate that lighting that obscures, hides, or distorts facial features creates stronger emotional reactions in the viewer than lighting that reveals them, contributing to the scientific understanding of the audience’s reactions and the filmmaker’s creative decisions.

Shaping film: A quantitative formal analysis of contemporary empathy-eliciting Hollywood cinema.

Previous research suggests that particular formal features of film, such as the use of close-ups, can affect the levels of empathy experienced by viewers. As empathy is a key aspect of audience’s filmic experience, creative decisions in editing and cinematography may be motivated by the filmmaker’s intention of eliciting empathy. The goal of this study is to investigate what film scenes intended to elicit empathy look like in terms of those visual formal features theoretically or empirically linked to viewer empathy, and if these features converge on something that might be dubbed an empathic style of cinema. Formal features included concern shot scale, face depiction, cut rate, camera perspective and angle, saturation, lighting, motion, and background clutter. Exploratory quantitative formal analyses of scenes sampled from contemporary popular empathy-eliciting Hollywood films (N = 100) revealed that such scenes are, at first glance, highly dissimilar in form. Further investigation through principal component analysis and correlational analysis, however, hints not so much at a singular empathic style of cinema as it does at certain general principles, namely the reduction of perceived distance through close-ups and face depiction, the balancing of arousing features with comprehensible levels of visual complexity, and the prioritization of coherence and reduced visual contrast to enable a smooth viewing experience.

Романът „Дневникът на Дебелянов. Синият бележник“ – изпитания на жанра или дневник на съзнанието

This article introduces Roman Hadjikosev's debut novel, Debelyanov's Diary: The Blue Notebook. Herein, the main creative virtues of the work are demonstrated, including: accepting the challenge of writing a biographical novel about a classic Bulgarian author, whose artistic and personal profiles are extremely stable in the social consciousness; challenging the definition of the genre by incorporating original creative decisions; examining the character system of the novel as an original decision for building Debelyanov's character via the features of other individual protagonists.

Creative Wand: A System to Study Effects of Communications in Co-creative Settings

Recent neural generation systems have demonstrated the potential for procedurally generating game content, images, stories, and more. However, most neural generation algorithms are “uncontrolled” in the sense that the user has little say in creative decisions beyond the initial prompt specification. Co-creative, mixed-initiative systems require user-centric means of influencing the algorithm, especially when users are unlikely to have machine learning expertise. The key to co-creative systems is the ability to communicate ideas and intent from the user to the agent, as well as from the agent to the user. Key questions in co-creative AI include: How can users express their creative intentions? How can creative AI systems communicate their beliefs, explain their moves, or instruct users to act on their behalf? When should creative AI systems take initiative? The answer to such questions and more will enable us to develop better co-creative systems that make humans more capable of expressing their creative intents. We introduce CREATIVE-WAND, a customizable framework for investigating co-creative mixed-initiative generation. CREATIVE-WAND enables plug-and-play injection of generative models and human-agent communication channels into a chat-based interface. It provides a number of dimensions along which an AI generator and humans can communicate during the co-creative process. We illustrate the CREATIVE-WAND framework by using it to study one dimension of co-creative communication—global versus local creative intent specification by the user—in the context of storytelling.

Modeling narrative features in TV series: coding and clustering analysis

TV series have gained both economic and cultural relevance. Their development over time can hardly be traced back to the simple programmatic action of creative intentionality. Instead, TV series might be studied as narrative ecosystems with emergent trends and patterns. This paper aims to boost quantitative research in the field of media studies, first considering a comparative and data-driven study of the narrative features in the US medical TV series, one of the most popular and longest-running genres on global television. Based on a corpus of more than 400 h of video, we investigate the storytelling evolution of eight audiovisual serial products by identifying three main narrative features (i.e., isotopies). The implemented schematization allows to grasp the basic components of the social interactions showing the strength of the medical genre and its ability to rebuild, in its microcosm, the essential traits of the human macrocosm where random everyday life elements (seen in the medical cases plot) mix and overlap with working and social relationships (professional plot) and personal relationships (sentimental plot). This study relies on data-driven research that combines content analysis and clustering analysis. It significantly differs from traditional studies regarding the narrative features of medical dramas and broadly the field of television studies. We proved that the three isotopies are good descriptors for the medical drama genre and identified four narrative profiles which emphasize the strong stability of these serial products. Contrary to what is often taken for granted in many interpretative studies, creative decisions rarely significantly change the general narrative aspects of the wider series.

A Tale of Two Productions

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many theatre companies began experimenting with new technologies and ways to bring their work to audiences. As theatres have resumed in-person performances, they are exploring how these new techniques can be incorporated into their productions. Recently one leading regional theatre company produced two versions of A Christmas Carol in parallel - one presented on stage, and the other entirely in virtual reality. They used virtual production tools including real-time motion capture, virtual humans, game engine rendering, and a new platform for multi-user VR experiences. We discuss the process, challenges, and creative decisions behind these shows, with an eye towards informing future theatrical productions.

CREATIVE STAFF AS A FACTOR OF THE ENTERPRISE’S SUCCESS

Changes in the economic, technological, social and demographic situation in recent years have caused a number of new phenomena at all levels of economic activity. These include increasing the availability of information and the speed of exchange; changes in the structure and nature of consumption of goods and services; increasing the rate of change in the economy and its discrete nature; increasing competition. At present, it is not enough for companies to provide quality products and services in order to be successful in their field, as the number of similar products and services on the market is growing every year. Therefore, the creation of unique products and making effective extraordinary creative decisions come to the fore. Analysis of the experience of the most successful companies revealed key factors in their success. This promotes the development of the creative abilities of staff; creating a highly productive work environment; involvement of the most talented and creative managers; providing processes, methods and funding to support creative initiatives. In other words, we are talking about the formation and development of creative staff.To confirm the impact of staff creativity on entrepreneurship, the authors analyzed global indices of creativity and entrepreneurship. The analysis allowed us to conclude that there is a significant link between creativity and entrepreneurship. Thus, it can be argued that creativity is an important component of successful entrepreneurship. This means that the more creative the company and its potential, ie the more the team is able to think creatively and create creative ideas, the more innovative products and services the team can provide, and the greater the success of the company.Research shows that Ukrainian companies employ people who have great intellectual potential, and who are able to generate creative ideas and turn them into innovations. However, there is a number of reasons why employees cannot realize this potential and convert creative ideas into innovation. These reasons include both objective and subjective. Objective reasons are the lack of funds and the weak mechanism for implementing new ideas in the activities of enterprises, low employment, the outflow of the most qualified personnel abroad. Subjective reasons include the following: the adherence of managers to management methods that were formed in a team economy; weak motivation of work behavior; fear of changing the usual way of working; unwillingness to make efforts for additional training.Thus, the issue of forming and stimulating the development of creative thinking of the staff of domestic enterprises and organizations is extremely important.