Research Project

Class,

If you pay attention to the course syllabus, you know that we're a bit behind schedule when it comes to work on your creativity research project. This project counts for 20% of your grade, and is an additional piece for the "Pink Portfolio" you're assembling for the bulk of your grade. We need to get these underway. so by week's end, 9/25, you will need to have identified and outlined your creative research project for this semester.

Some guidelines to consider when selecting your project:

• It MUST NOT BE MUNDANE. It should definitely be something that you do NOT do every day. If it's something you always wanted to do or meant to do but never had the time for, even better!
• It must result in someTHING - a weblog, drawing or painting, video, research paper (BOring!), podcast, music video, in-class demonstration, slideshow, performance, game, animation, outing, demonstration -- there are many possibilities!
• Keep in mind that you will ultimately present this not just to me for a grade, but to your classmates.
• You can work with a group if you have a collaborative project in mind.
• Don't wuss out on this. You are being afforded tremendous creative freedom to design exactly what you're going to do for a full fifth of your grade! If you find this too broad or intimidating, pick one of the projects from the portfolio section of the Pink book.
• ALL projects must be written up by you for approval by me by this Friday, 9/25. I will be looking for how you plan to present your final project and how much effort will be required to complete it. You'll be graded on your commitment to your goal, whether or not you stick to your plan, and the effort and insight invested in the final outcome.

WHERE TO LOOK FOR AN IDEA:

As a starting point, you can do no better than looking at the portfolio exercises outlined in the second half of Pink's book. He lists many activities to develop your creative senses after each chapter. Some of the longer, more involved activities will work if you want to use one of them.

If you're feeling more ambitious, or none of the Pink activities jump out at you, I've listed some links to additional resources below.

Great ideas if you want to do something with video for YouTube:

http://video-creativity.blogspot.com/2009/08/project-ideas.html

Or, if you like to build stuff, try out a project from Make magazine:

http://www.makezine.com/

Or, you could create a Machinima like Red vs Blue for Halo or the WoW episode of SouthPark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAM9fgV-ts

http://www.southparkstudios.com/

Or, you could create an interactive Creativity Map of Halifax based on the famous example below by Jon Udell:

http://jonudell.net/udell/gems/googleMaps2/gmap2_flash.html

Or, get some friends together and repeat (or improve upon) a public performance from ImprovEverywhere. You could use their website for ideas or check out their book, Causing a Scene.

Or, create a stop-motion animation like this Orin Lavie video or this Google Chrome ad from Japan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlqImTN1Rw0

Or, Learn a poem a week

Learn a/to dance

Interview an artist, family member, veteran, child(ren)

Complete a paint by numbers book, cover to cover

Keep a sketch journal

Track down "Norman doors"

Memorize a soliloquy, sonnets, or monologue

Perform (a song, party trick, juggling act, comedy stand up)

Create a "day in your life" video

Illustrate a story in drawings, photos, legos, food, clothing, etc

Or, if you STILL cannot select a creative research project, let me know and once we've checked you for a pulse and brain wave activity, we'll see what else we can come up with.

~mrc