Don’t let your limitations limit your creativity

Guest blog by Jamie Wood

Are you working in media and responsible for generating or pitching creative ideas?

Every channel has its limitations – instead of allowing this to be a barrier, make your medium’s limitations part of the creative process.

It’s an abstract concept but read on!  

The movie SAW was the brainchild of two young Australian filmmakers James Wan and Leigh Whannell.

A gore-filled, R-rated, “B-grade” horror flick made on a shoestring budget of $1 million in 2004; SAW defied all expectations in terms of box office performance and critical acclaim.

Knowing they had serious budgetary constraints, the filmmakers made a deliberate decision to use their limitations to their advantage.

A SIMPLE PREMISE OF 2 PEOPLE TRAPPED IN A ROOM

They started with this and then crafted a story around the scenario. Were it not for this self-imposed barrier, the story as we know it likely wouldn’t exist.

A SUB-NICHE GENRE

Without a big marketing budget they needed to create a unique film within a genre that already had a built-in audience.  Word of mouth from a passionate core fan base would drive most of the films marketing

CLAUSTROPHOBIC CINEMATOGRAPHY

This is my favourite, lots of film budgets are chewed up with big grandiose “establishing shots” i.e the outside of a building before it cuts to the scene with actors inside.

Removing these establishing shots meant that every scene takes place in a closed-in room, giving the film a very claustrophobic feel. This boxed-in feeling created with the audience served as a vehicle to support the story and enhance the movie.  

SO WHAT?

The $103 million worldwide Box Office Gross aside, using their limitations as the vessel for creativity rather than a hinderance allowed them to create a truly unique film.

When thinking about creativity in the context of our medium, it will serve you to ask this question

“how do we make our limitations part of the aesthetic of our idea?”

Check out some podcasts below which unpack the creative & pitch process

by Jamie Wood

Together for Peace in the Asia-Pacific

Building and sustaining peace in the Asia-Pacific requires innovation and new perspectives for policy and partnerships within and between countries.

Artists from around the world have contributed to the Together for Peace Silent Manga Exhibition illustrating that common purpose through a range of topics such as out-of-school children, lifelong learning, anti-bullying, conflict, youth, learning to live together, refugees, shared histories and equality.

These are the foundations of positive peace, not just the absence of conflict, but building and sustaining more equitable and just societies for all.

The Together for Peace initiative and partnerships work towards positive peace in the region based in three critical areas that have increasing urgency in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and “building back better” from the COVID-19 pandemic:

  • Transformative Education and Social and Emotional Learning 
  • Humanity’s Relationship with Nature, including coping with climate change and biodiversity loss
  • Living Well with (Super) Diversity in the region, fostering human flourishing and intercultural understanding

UNESCO values a multidisciplinary approach in addressing the challenges related to positive peace and sustainability to foster in Asia-Pacific through an increased cooperation between all the five Major Programmes.

A Regional Dialogue on the Role of Education in building a peaceful and sustainable future, was held virtually and in-person this week in Bangkok. It brought together Government representatives, policymakers, education specialists and children’s advocates from across the region. The dialogue aims to build a strong platform for UNESCO’s work on building positive peace through Sustainable Development Goals 4 on Inclusive and Quality Education and 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

UNESCO’s peace-building mandate is based on partnerships with Member States, education systems and civil society. Together for Peace is organized by UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Asia and the Pacific, in association with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, and with the support of the Governments of Japan and Thailand.

The SILENT MANGA AUDITION® (SMA) Round 13 held under the theme Together for Peace is organized by Tokyo-based Coamix in collaboration with UNESCO Bangkok, the Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education.

Information about entries into the latest round of the Manga Competition is available here.

As part of the T4P initiative UNESCO and ABU are partnering to establish annual Media Peace Awards to recognise the best programmes in promoting peace in the minds of men and women.

Global Media and Information Literacy Week

Disinformation has been around since the beginning of human society.

In early civilisations disinformation was spread by rumours and gossip. Later, graffiti was carved into temples and hieroglyphs were disfigured with rewritings by subsequent kings who wanted to change the narrative of past history. Later, disinformation posters were stuck on city walls next to official proclamations to spread counter narratives, and propaganda pamphlets were printed to confuse the public. Then came newspapers, radio and television, all of which have  been used as disinformation tools at times.

The problem is not that disinformation is new, it is that it can now spread fast and wide through the internet and new social media platforms. That’s why it is important to teach people to be able to tell the difference between information based on facts and truth and disinformation intentionally meant to cause confusion, seed unrest and cast doubt on verifiable facts and decisions through false narratives and distortion of facts.

With UNESCO’s Global Media and Information Literacy Week beginning this Saturday 24 October, it is timely to reflect on the tools needed by media reporters to unmask disinformation and to do all we can, as media outlets, to inform the public to be careful of being manipulated.

With this in mind, the ABU Media Academy held a webinar called Verification Tools to Counter Fake Content.

In the webinar, Wilfried Runde, Head of Research and Cooperation Projects at Deutsche Welle, introduced the tool “Truly Media” and provided examples of the effects of fake news and why fact checking is so important. His colleague Ruben Bouwmeester demonstrated the tools he uses to detect fakes.

UNESCO also has a series of events and tools available to help to counter disinformation. You can find them toward the bottom of this page.

Together with its Feature Events (International MIL, Intercultural Dialogue Conference and Youth Agenda Forum), Global MIL Week calls for local events around the world to promote MIL connections across disciplines and professions. If you are doing something for Global Media and Information Literacy Week , please register your event here.

Steve Ahern

Head of ABU Media Academy

Micro-Credentials are on-trend

Micro-Credentials are on-trend

As the world is locked down during the Covid pandemic, there is more opportunity for people to study online and to stack a series of short low cost courses together to gain what is called a ‘micro-credential.’

Microcredentials are a short, flexible and affordable way to update your skills in targeted areas. Through design of technology-enhanced learning, people can gain advanced knowledge and skills in a flexible learning environment. A recent BBC article about microcredentials reported: “As the cost of a university education continues to balloon, many wonder whether the return on the investment is worth it and if there might be alternative paths to job success.”

An article in University World News cited an employer study that examined the growing need for continuous learning causing “an explosion of new educational credential offerings in recent years – ranging from online degrees and coding bootcamps, to technology certificates, digital badges, nanodegrees and MicroMasters.”

The University of Melbourne explains that microcredentials “provide benefits beyond degrees and transcripts.”

Short courses and microcredentials are booming, and are “set to become a permanent part of universities,” according to recent articles in the Australian Financial Review. 

The ABU Academy’s approach is in line with this new thinking about microcredentials, as we evolve existing courses and develop new ones. We will work to keep members informed about the latest thinking in this area through our publications and on the ABU Academy website.

Bibilography

Gallagher, S. (2019). A new era of microcredentials and experiential learning. [online] University World News. Available at: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190213103113978 [Accessed 16 Sep. 2020].

Horton, A.P. (2020). Could micro-credentials compete with traditional degrees? [online] www.bbc.com. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200212-could-micro-credentials-compete-with-traditional-degrees [Accessed 16 Sep. 2020].

Kevey, D. (2019). Micro-credentialing. [online] University of Melbourne. Available at: https://about.unimelb.edu.au/teaching-and-learning/innovation-initiatives/pedagogy-and-curriculum-innovation/micro-credentialing [Accessed 16 Sep. 2020].

Lawnham, P. (2020). Boom time for short courses. [online] Australian Financial Review. Available at: https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/education/boom-time-for-short-courses-20200806-p55j37 [Accessed 16 Sep. 2020].

Tehan, D. (2020). Delivery of microcredentials set to be a permanent part of unis. [online] Australian Financial Review. Available at: https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/education/delivery-of-microcredentials-set-to-be-a-permanent-part-of-unis-20200807-p55jl9 [Accessed 16 Sep. 2020].

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