Idea creating exercise

In order to begin to think of ideas for our coursework, we did an exercise that involved creating an idea from an image. First we were all given images. Our task was to write three questions on the back about the image, such as 'why are they there?'. We then swapped our questions and images with another person and our task was to use imagination and creativity to answer their questions. Finally, we swapped the images, questions and answers with a third person, who then had to create the basis of a story from the material that they had. The material I had was...


Why is the Gorilla swearing at the child?
The Gorilla is always grumpy, his bananas were taken from him.

What Zoo is this Gorilla at?
London Zoo.

How are the Gorillas looked after?
They are well looked after but this one is just never satisfied, he is incredibly grumpy.

The idea that I created from this was an emotional short film called 'Gary the Grumpy Gorilla'. The basis of the story is that he was born different to the other apes, they bullied him, tormented him, and took his food. This made him very grumpy all the time and he learnt to swear at the other animals and the public. Then one day, this girl came along and at first he was not bothered, but after she kept coming back he slowly got used to her and at the age of 18 she got a job as their keeper, and she made him a happy gorilla again.

This exercise has really helped to show me that there are many different ways of creating ideas, and I might just use this one again.