Introduction
In this book you can find things that occupy my mind, my fascination, keywords that belong to my fascination, a concept that explains my fascination and how the assignments cleared the mad scramble that is my brain. This book has been made for the Advanced Course Creativity & Personality. I will refer to my dummy sometimes, so if you want you can keep that close! I felt free to talk to you sometimes in a professional and sometimes in a personal manner, since I have already told you that my brain is a mad scramble, so that makes it easier for me. I have tried to keep this document more organized and logical as my dummy, but I hope you will find your way! Please do not fall into any rabbit holes! (If you do, send them my regards in Wonderland!)
Index Preparatory Assignment Fascination Experiences in the city Why? Mindmap Keywords Pinterest Museums Collection Research to the four domains Creativity Canvas Concept Imagination Matrix Analogies 3D Product Dummy How to be an explorere of the world? Five Disposition Model Goal Matrix Biography What? So what? Now what? Sources
Preparatory Assignment
Before the C&P classes started, we had to make a preparatory assignment. In this assignment we had to answer a few questions that made us think and prepare us to get creative. I will list a few questions that helped me the most. 1. Who is your inspiration in life? Walt Disney and multiple Disney characters, like Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Jack Sparrow and Rapunzel. 2. Which artist fascinates you? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Stan Lee, Keith Richards, Duffer Brothers. 3. What does creativity mean to you? A way of expressing yourself and finding orignal ideas. 4. The only thing I would never take to my dream island is...? Negativity / negative people. They discourage me and I feel a lot more can get accomplished with positivity. 5. There’s is an article that says you’ve changed the world! How? I have found a way to transport yourself to an imaginary world and back! 6. What fascinates you? Disney, since it has shaped me into who I am. Food, I grew up in a restaurant. Imaginary worlds, since I am always there and don’t like reality.
From the preparatory assignments it was already clear what my fascination is. It was something I didn’t even know I was fascinated about, because it is just with me for all my life already. It defines who I am and why I do the things I do.
Imaginary Worlds
To dive deeper into this fascination we had go into the city and look for 10 things that had to do with your fascination. I saw a few things that really inspired me and meant something to me. These things will be featured on the next page and I will reflect why they are in tune with my fascination! Four keywords are connected with my fascination, these will be presented in the same way as I figured them out in the first time; by a mindmap. After this I will explain them to you, my dear reader, so hold on tight!
When I see th e word “ magical� I ge t really exited! I love magica l things and I e ven think I might h ave some magica l powers..
The po st Beasts er for Fantastic and Wh ere to F ind Them. The new Rowling movie from J.K . ’s Wizar ding W orld of Harr y Potter. This wo rld is on e of immersiv e world the most s create and this d n will give ew edition to i me mor e to dre t am away to
I dragged my friend s into a toy store. We ended up playi ng for over 20 minutes and I really felt like a kid again!
But why...? Now I know for sure that my fascination is imaginary worlds, I would like to take this time to explain why. It all started when I was little. Like I said before, I didn’t know I was fascinated by imaginary worlds until I had to dive deep into myself for this course. I never liked reality at all, I was always somewhere else, walking with my head in the clouds. For as long as I can remember I like different worlds and all the characters and adventures they would go on. I always felt sad when I realized this world wasn’t that way. So that’s why I started to imagine and daydream. I was always either a pirate, a wizard, a princess or a superhero and all what could be in between. I have been called weird and strange, but the older I got, the more I realized this is just who I am.
Imagination
Imagination may seem a very obvious keyword for the “imaginary worlds” but it means way more. Growing up as an only child, I sometimes felt lonely. Luckily, i never felt truly alone, since I had books, movies and my big imagination. I created the most beautiful stories with already existing characters in my head. It weren’t just characters and worlds I knew, I was one of them. I belonged there. I grew up really being my own person, that sometimes was left out, but I always had my imaginaton and these worlds to escape to. I still do that, every night. I fall asleep being in those worlds.
Imagination and imaginary worlds belong together like Mickey and Minnie. Without the imagination of many great artists there wouldn’t be any imaginary worlds, and without imagination of the fans, these worlds wouldn’t be able to grow.
Escaping Imaginary worlds are a way of escaping for many people. They escape from reality or relaxing after a long day. I will explain now how I escape from reality, when and why exactly.
When? I often try and escape the real world. Before I fall asleep, during a boring train ride, in bath and yes, even in class. The list can go on and on, as does my imagination.
How? Many many ways. In my mind I dream away most of the times. Watching movies, reading books, going to theme parks, listening to stories and cosplaying.
Why? Because sometimes I just don’t want to deal with real world. Especially before bed. It’s a way of relaxation for me and sometimes it even goes without I realize I’m doing it. It has become a part of me.
Feeling at home Imaginary worlds are a place where people can feel at home. The world always welcomes them and the characters too. Most of the times people who are fans of the same things, welcome you home as well. This is often seen at Comic Cons. I am blessed, since I get to call many places ‘ home’. Oees Wieert The city where I’m born and raised. Mola di Bari My dad’s hometown. Polignano a Mare The city where I spend many summers with my family. Walt Disney World 6 months = a lifetime My boyfriends arms.
Disney Disney might seem like a very generic thing, where many people are fan of and passionate about. But Disney holds a special place in my heart, especially after my internship. Disney and imaginary worlds go hand in hand, since Disney is a creator of many imaginary worlds. I have a long history with Disney, since I am a Disney kid from the moment I was born. I had Disey plushies with who I still sleep to this day. I watched many Disney movies and cartoons and fell in love with Robin Hood. I have been to Disneyland Paris 14 times, since I am 5 years old. I chose Fontys ACI, because I knew I could have a possibilty to go to Walt Disney World. I made my lifelong dream come true when I started my internship in June 2015. I am still homesick even though I am home for a year already.
The pictures you see throughout this book are either home-made, editted for previous courses about me or from Pinterest. To use Pinterest was one of the reflection assignments, so let’s begin!
What? Manage 5 Pinterest boards. One of each keyword and your fascination. On these boards there should be at least 15 pictures. The pictures are used in the final book.
So What? To look at your fascination and keywords in a different way and seek for pictures that might not be really in tune with it.
Now what? These pictures all describe my words and me all in their own way and I’ve learned to not judge pictures on what they might seem at first.
Van Abbe Museum
Since I couldn’t go to the museums in Antwerp, me and my buddy Shari visited 2 other museums. Here we had to find artworks that inspired us and matched our fascination. “The Road to the Galaxy” This artwork was for “imaginary worlds’. I really liked this one. It is a path of rocks and old tv’s leading to a map alligned with stripes. It’s mysterious and let’s the viewer wander around. The room has been fully used to create a world, but still left open for the vierwer to imagine what it is. Buddy assignment. My buddy asked me to pick an artwork that made me feel at home. This artwork reminds me of my 6 months in Florida. I know Disney and the connection with pixie dust might be too easy, but Disney was the first place I actually felt at home, after 19 years. I always try and incorporate a littie Disney in my daily life.
“Upside down - Inside out” This artwork was for imagination. It is a really imaginative way of creating art. It’s a car hanging upside down that has been made into a cosy bed to watch tv. The viewer may wonder why the car got like this in the first place? Upside down? In a museum? Was Harry Potter here?
“ Bye Bye Iris!” This was for the keyword escaping. This work of art literally made Iris escape. The artist chose to create art merely with a wallpaper and a cloak. The patterns on the wallpapers and cloaks where the same, so the viewe could feel at one with the museum. Literally escaping into art.
Noord-Brabants Museum This artwork is for my fascination imaginary worlds. It’s an oil paiting that’s part of a big collection. Imaginary creatures preparing humans to eat. This art work is part of a whole collection, that gives a glimpse of the imaginary world of the artist.
This artwork I chose for the feeling at home keyword. It’s an oil painting, with a rich frame. It’s a painting of ships that are at a stormy sea. I have always felt at home at the sea and the thought of being a pirate. Looking at this painting gives me the same feeling.
Museum Reflection The museum visits will be reflected with the what-so what-now what method again, to see how this helped me grow in my fascination and to help me prepare for the creation of my concept.
What? Two visits to a modern museum and a historic art museum. I have done assignments from school my buddy and myself.
So what? To look at your fascination and keywords in the way of the high art domain.
Now what? I have learned to appreciate art in a different way and get insight in the high art domain for my research.
The Collection My collection consists out of items I have collected or given as a present through the course of the 20 years I am in this world. All these items have in common that they made me dream away, helped me dream away or made me really believe I was someone else. These items are the gate-ways to those magical places I love so much.
So what? To see you collect things all your life that have to do with your fascination, without you knowing it.
Now what? I have figured out all my objects tell a story and define me as a person.
Research to the 4 domains
The four domains we had to do research the fascination and keywords to were high art, science, pop culture and personal history. The latter I have already explained when I introduced the keywords. That was my personal history with the keywords. I will now give some highlights of the research per word.
Imagination
Escaping
In science there are many examples why having a big imagination is good for a person’s health. It ignites passion in your life. Imagination stimulates creative and innovation, it helps you think out of the box. Einstein once said “Imagination is everything. It is the preview for life’s coming attractions”. On Tumblr nowadays are many people who are imagining their own world by making fanfictions and fan art. Discussing worlds with other fans.
Video games are a modern day thing to escape realty. They are often set in a different reality or lets you be whoever you want to be. This can help a person to escape reality.
Disney
Disney based a lot of it’s populair stories on high literature. The Sword in the Stone for example was based on an Arthurian novel and Peter Pan by a British play. The Lion King can be seen as loosely based on Hamlet. Disney movies can also have a psyFeeling at home chological effect, an eleborate reMusic helps people escape their daily search on this can be found in my routine, but music also help people to dummy. feel at home, brining back memories. In my dummy there is a list of songs about Imaginary Worlds being home. In pop culture there are a lot of imaThe feeling of being at home is studied ginary worlds that get a lot of attentiin science multiple times. It says that a on. The Wizarding World and Middle home is part of people’s self definition, Earth for example. it’s an extention of yourself. Research also claims daydreaming can help solve problems.
Real life is boring
This is my truism. It is the way I look at life and people can agree or disagree with me on this. I love to escape reality and I prefer to be in an imaginary world, that is why I believe that real life is boring. It is not boring if you allow yourself to use your imagination and dream away to imaginary worlds. You just have to believe and dream!
Dare to enter a world of make believe!
This is my statement. This is something that I want to shout out to the world! I want to convince everybody that dreaming and living in a fantasy world isn’t bad at all! It is a way of escaping and relaxing. It can help getting new ideas, ignite creativity and just forget about the real world for a while. That is the message I would like to give to the world.
Creativity Canvas Key Partners
Truism: Real
life is boring
Key Activities
Value Proposition
Participate myself to give an example.
Statement:
Identify with others
Dare to enter a
Design the exhibition
world of
Interesting the regular people for this.
Creating an experience
Key Sources Dummy Personal knowledge Research to the domains Analogies
make
believe
An exhibition by and for everybody who has a story to tell by an object or their own imaginative persona. These stories will become an exhibition for regular people to see different ways of escping reality
Cost Structure Searching / renting an open space. Material to dress the location Sending the invitations / promation material
Costumer Relationships I identify with and help the initial target group. We fascinate and stimulate each other. Co-creation to get stronger stories. We encourage the regulars Channels Spreading the message at comic cons, bookstores and fandom forums. For the regulars at offices, schools and internet
Costumer Segments Scale Forest / fairytale location Time Several weeks. First a few days for the imaginative people. Then a few weeks for the regulars Target Groups -Imaginative people who have a story to tell -People who identify with a fandom -People who need a way of escaping reality
Revenue Streams Fun, participation, creating identity. Helping people to find a way to escape reality Brining people together.
The Concept
The concept started with a basic idea that came from the creativity canvas. After feedback from my peers and a critical phase, I managed to create an unique concept that fits my fascination. Enjoy the read! Dare to enter a world of make believe! The concept has two target audiences, the dreamers and the regulars, the dreamers create, the regulars explore. It all starts with a few evenings dedicated to dreamers, people who have stories to tell and want to invite others to their worlds. They are encourage to bring items with them that resemble these worlds or help them to go to these imaginary worlds in one way or another. After this these stories and worlds will be shared with regular people. You can read all about this on the next pages!
Pre-exposure The dreamers will be found at Comic Con’s, LARP Events and fandom websites as Tumblr. There will be advertised for the event and this will be aimed for the dreamers. The dreamers should apply to go to the exhibition, since it has limited space. If they apply they will be send an official themed invitation in the form of a little storybook.
During The dreamers will be invited to a forest somewhere in the Netherlands. The event will take place in the evening, since the forest area will be completely decorated as a fairytale forest. Everywhere will be little lights, pillows, blankets and other accessories to make it into a hollestic experience. The dreamers are encouraged to dress up if that matches their story, but there will also be a clothing rack filled with random clothing, if they might need that to get in character. During the evening the dreamers tell each other about their wonderful imaginary worlds or characters they might are. New stories will be created and nobody will judge you for being you.
Post-exposure After the event the dreamers will leave with the event with their storybook invitation filled with new stories and ideas, new friends and new allies or foes maybe. But this is not the end. For an exhibition to be a real exhibition, you need people to come and watch. This is where the regulars come in. The regulars are people who are not really known to daydreaming and imaginary worlds. They have maybe other ways to unwind after a long day, but they are mostly interested in learning the power of imagination. These regulars will be found in offices, schools and other location and they will be invited to come and see the fairytale forest. This is the place where the dreamers came together at first. Now it is time for the regulars to be emerged into this magical world. The dreamers gave access to their items, costumes, pictures, stories or other ways of going to the imaginary worlds. This way the regulars can see these materials and read stories, all to get inspired on joining these imaginary worlds too and get encouraged to join a world of make believe!
But why..? “Why”- questions are one of my favorite questions. That is because I like to talk and with why-questions people ask for an explanation, so I get to talk a lot! Why an event for dreamers? Because I would love to have an event like that. It is important for dreamers to come together. They can share stories and talk about all the stuff they love, without being judged. They can dream away together. That these kind of events work is already proved. Comic Cons gained a lot of popularity the past years as did LARP’s and online communities. To take something like that in an intemate athmosphere can help with the creation of even more beautiful things!
Why an exhibition for regulars? I think it is important for everybody to at least discover the world of imagination. It may be weird or even scary to dive into an imaginary world. Some people just didn’t grow up with it. That’s why they will get a little help from some fulltime dreamers! Since it has been scientifically proved that daydreaming helps with a lot of things like creativity and relaxation, it might be good for everybody to try it or dive into it. At the exhibition the regulars can see in how many ways and forms you can go to an imaginary world. It doesn’t even have to be big like in a LARP way, it can also be as small as watching a movie. The exhibition created by the dreamers may inspire the regulars to participate in daydreaming themselves.
Imagination Matrix Spontaniously makes me think of
This resembles
Outer space, a fairytale, and adventure Magic and happiness Childhood Imaginaton and being yourself Disney and immersive worlds Nostaglia
Sharing stories, meeting of people The ELFIA Event Avoiding reality, needing time to work on yourself.
This could also be
To improve this
Comic Con A walk through a magical forest A diary
Use a magical location Make sure the stories are there for the regulars to read Let the regulars figure the stories out Let the regulars wander around the area
Analogies LARP Events
Comic Con
Tumblr
Live Action Role Playing
It is like a festival for a lot of people where they can meet people who share their interest and get fascinated again
An online platform for people to come together and discuss things they like, especially fandoms.
Where people go and be a fictional character for a weekend. They fight battles and interact. Everybody can be somebody else.
3D Product The tree of impressions For my 3D product I tried making an impression of the environment I would like to create for the exhibition. In the big tree you can see worlds I am interested in, versions of how I see myself and just some more things I like. Some things are a bit more hidden, because I do not upon up to everybody about my passions at first impression. When I am with people who are the same like me, I upon up and share the most beautiful stories, just like the dreamers are going to do at the exhibiton. The dreamers could take an artwork like this to the exhibition as well, to give a quick glimpse of their worlds. If you’re curious about any of them, you are more then welcome to ask!
When will my reflection show who I am inside? - Mulan
In the beginning of the book I promised you a reflection of the assignments I made that cleared the mad scramble that is my brain. From here on I will also give reflections on models used.
Time to reflect!
Dummy
First of all, yes I have customized my dummy. That is because I normally doodle on literally everything, so to prevent myself from that I’ve put some pictures that even match my fascination on it.
So what? In this dummy you had to keep all the assignemts, notes and everything else you might needed to make your concept. As clumsy and lazy as I am (self-reflection here!) I managed to keep my dummy up to date and pretty clear!
Now what? I found it easy and fun to work in my dummy and once I let go of the fact that not everything needed to be in a good and specific order, I learned to work a lot better! The dummy was an easy guideline to make my digital product!
How to be an explorer of the world - Keri Smith All of the assignments of Keri Smith you can find in my dummy. They are scattered around the book, but hey, just be an explorer of my book! On the next page I will display my favorite Keri Smith assignment!
What? How to be an explorer of the world lets you do several assignments either in or outside your house and comfort zone. I have chosen 6 assignments, each for every week. Most of them I have chosen at random
So what? Keri Smith teaches you the importance of scavenger hunting, looking for detail and stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something that you normally maybe wouldn’t do. It gets your creativity going in a different way and lets you look at the world in a different way as well.
Now what? I like doing assignments from Keri Smith. They helped me develop my concept in the way of helping letting my creativity flow.
Go to your favorite street (mentally) and map everything out. Mainstreet USA
Mainstreet USA starts just under the railway station. The sweet smell of the Confectionairy and freshly popped popcorn welcomes you. On your left is the fire department and on your right the city house. In the middle, right before you enter the street, there’s a little grass area with a tiny pavillion. Here you can often see the city’s inhabitants and meet them. Once you enter the street, you feel like you have been transported back to America in Ye’ Olden Days. On your left the Emporium awaits you, beautifully dressed up windows that just invite you to enter. This store continues almost to the end of the street. The Emporium ends into a hotdog place called Casey’s Corner. On your right the street starts with the Confectionairy, with fresh candy and pastries. After this the art and jewelry stores are to find. In the middle are artists, always ready to make a portrait. Mainstreet ends with the Ice Cream Parlor, welcoming you with a warm cinnamon smell. At the very end of the street you see a beautiful castle. Welcome to the Magic Kinhdom!
Reflecion on the 4 domains As see way earlier in this adventure, I did some research for my statement and keywords to the 4 domains. Now it is time to reflect on this. What did it learn me and why was it usefull?
What? Research to 4 domains. High Art, Science, Pop Culture and Personal history. I did this for all my keywords and my fascination.
So what? This was to let us dive deeper into our fascination and keywords and let us be inspired by it. The different domains shine new lights on the words each time.
Now what? Beause of the research I have done, I know now more about my words and know things I never knew. By the gained knowledgy I understand and recognize myself in them even better.
Reflection on the Creativity Canvas Just as the reflection on the previous page, I waited a little longer in this document to reflect on the Creativity Canvas. I did this so I wouldn’t interupt my own flow of explaining the concept!
What? The canvas helps you to get creative and think of new ideas in a new and fast way.
So what? The canvast guides you through different stept of a creative process. The canvas gives you different ideas and guidelines on how to come up with a new concept
Now what? After filling in the Creativity Canvas for 3 times, I came up with my the concept I wanted to work with. It was because of the canvas I could figure it all out. My mind always works faster than I can think, so the canvas actually helped me to narrow down a lot of things!
Five
Disposition Model
For week 1,4&7 we had to fill in the 5 disposition model. With this model you can see how much progress you made in certain things. I can see that I made the most progress in the exploring and investigating and the making connections. Those things are both logical thinking and I’m not good with that! It’s good to see I made progress with that!
This is the spiderweb version of the 5 disposition model. This spiderweb has been divided into 5 different points. Inquisitive Persistent Imaginative Collaborative Disciplined It’s not a surprise to see that I ‘score’ lowest on disciplined, since I have never really been disciplined. I try and work hard on it, and the model shows this, since there is a big growth in the lines from this. The other big growth is from inquisitive, this means I’ve learned more about being curiousity and my fascinations and dove deeper into them.
Reflection on the Five Disposition Model The model we have just seen is the five dispostion model, on this page I will reflect on it!
What? A model to check how you’ve grown in a 5 areas. By filling them out in week 1,4 and 7 you can see where the biggest growth was.
So what? To see if how you have grown and gained new experiences. The model shows how and where the progress has been made.
Now what? I found it really interesting to see where I have grown the most. I have grown in aspects where I least expected it, like disciplined. I know I am not the most disciplined person, but since I made it a personal goal to be more discipline, it is really nice to see how I really made progress!
Goal Matrix
What? A list to see what your goals you achieved in which domains So what? To see if you are achieving your goals Now what? I can see I have achieved more than I could imagine at first. I like to see that I have gained all my goals and how I grew in domains I didn’t expect to grow in.
Biography
The biography I read was obviously about Walt Disney. It has been written by Michael Barrier. Here are some of my favorite quotes, the rest can be found in my dummy. “You can’t accomplish a damn thing by sitting around and waiting to be told everything.” - I like this quote because I feel the same way. “The success of Walt Disney, the company, though not an inevitability, makes a lot more sense when we realize that Disney the man was first and foremost a businessman and only secondarily, almost accidentally, an artist and the practical inventor of modern animation.” I like this because it shows that everybody has different sides Walt remembered shooting live action in Griffith Park and narrowly escaping arrest “for not having a license. We couldn’t afford one. So we used to keep an eye out for the park policeman, and then run like mad before he got to us. We would then try another part of the park, and another.” It is again very inspiring to see Walt, the professional, starting from the bottom
What? Now what? Here we end our journey. Here it all comes to a close. You have seen me reflect on many assignments throughout this adventure and many more reflections can be found in the back of my dummy. But here I am going to reflect on the entire process.
What? The Advanced Course Creativity and Personality. Here we had to choose our own fascination and keywords and really make it our own. We had to invent a creative concept matching with our truism and statement and send a message to the world. We had to do many assignments that helped us along the way. We created a 3D product that matched with our concept.
So what? We have been creative in all the 4 years of Fontys ACI. But this was the final time. Here it all came to a close. I have grown with this course both creativily and as a person. I have learned new aspects of myself and know more about myself. I gained a lot of discipline and now know how to see things in a different way.
Now what?
During this course I have learned things about myself I never really thought about before. Imaginary Worlds is my fascination, but I never knew how important it was for me. It belongs to me as a person and I will always carry that with me. I have also grown on a professional level. In the Goal Matrix and Five Disposition Matrix I saw I gained a lot of knowledge in how to connect things and do research. Mostly I have grown with discipline. I know i am not good with that, so it is really nice to see how I have grown with that. I learned about myself that I love giving feedback, but that I always aks for (maybe too much) feedback myself. I have to learn to be more sure about my own abilities, but I have been getting a long way! I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for me, both in the real and imaginairy world!
Sources Handel, S. (2014, 31 04). Healthy Escapism: The Emotional Intelligence Behind Fantasy and Distraction. Opgehaald van The Emotion Machine: http://www.theemotionmachine.com/healthy-escapism-the-emotional-intelligence-behind-fantasy-and-distraction/ Langham, R. (2015, 3 30). The Psychological Effects of Children’s Movies. Opgehaald van Association for Natural Psychology: http://www.winmentalhealth.com/childrens_movies_media_effects.php Pinterest. (2016). Gianna’s Boards. Opgehaald van Pinterest: https://nl.pinterest.com/ gianna8208/ Scientific American. (2014, 01 01). Living in an Imaginary World. Opgehaald van Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/living-in-an-imaginary-world/