While there could be few greater opportunities for creative expression than your Media coursework, to some extent you share the constraints Loach outlines in the quote below. Unless you create a clear evidence trail of your planning, research, production and post-production process, aiming all the time to link your work to the actual practices and output of the film industry, you will not achieve one of the higher grades. Loach and Leigh are, in essence, mavericks in their approach, but their free-wheeling approach is something to consider in the context of the issue of 'Creativity' for Q1a. What constraints are there within the context of coursework production on your creativity? (Do remember though that Leigh will often spend months working with his cast evolving a narrative - his classic film Naked makes an interesting (if controversial) case study; neither are quite as free-wheeling as you may think). You could also look into the notions around Dogme95, made (in)famous by Lars von Trier.
Loach noticed that his idea of film-making had a lot in common with Cantona's idea of football: "As a player Cantona judged himself on his risks, and I could relate to that. Football is very much like making films in that you have to live dangerously. Some directors do everything to storyboards; that is like a manager telling his players exactly what they have to do, preventing them from improvising or making their own decisions. There is something dead about that - it produces mechanical teams and mechanical films. We always want a sense of danger on the set."
Tim Adams (31.5.09) “My sporting life”, Observer [online]. Accessed 31.5.09 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/may/31/ken-loach
