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Petrie, Duncan J.

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Petrie, D.J

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Making movies  The structuring of creativity in contemporary British cinema

Film-making is a fundamentally creative process. Film studies
tends to tie the concept of creativity to the romantic idea of
the autonomous creative subject or film author. Creativity is
rendered a subjective and transcendent construct evoked by terms
such as inspiration, imagination, talent and genius. Sociology
has demonstrated forcefully that individuals cannot transcend
their social context and consequently that creative activity
always occurs in relation to a social and material context.

We can begin to develop an understanding of film-making as a
materially-based creative process by examining the context in
which it occurs. Creativity is dependent on context as it
determines the space within which creative activity takes place
by providing the necessary resources, posing problems, suggesting
solutions and imposing constraints. Film-making is therefore
structured activity and should be seen in relation to such
structures.

Current British cinema provides an interesting substantive area
for study. The British film industry is small and the structures
of that industry are amenable to examination. Creativity can be
looked at in relation to the particular structures of the British
film industry but also in relation to wider concerns such as
aesthetic tradition and film technology. Each context: the
industrial, the aesthetic and the technological, contributes
significantly to the structuring of the creative process.

The production process itself is also interesting in that it is
essentially collaborative with various experts making particular
contributions at different stages of the process. However, the
director maintains a position of overall primacy by virtue of
being the creative co-ordinator supplying the necessary direction
to the process.

Throughout, issues are raised and points are illustrated by the
use of numerous quotations drawn from interviews conducted with.
around thirty leading members of the British film industr

Edinburgh Research Archive

Making movies: the structuring of creativity in contemporary British cinema

https://era.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/7376/1/293071.pdf

Making movies : the structuring of creativity in contemporary British cinema.

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