A systems view of film-making as a creative practice

This article proposes a framework for how to approach case studies of production processes in the field of film and media studies, drawing on theories from the field of creativity research, e.g. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s systems view of creativity and models of creative processes from the school of creative problem solving (CPS). The article suggests how to think of film production as an interplay between individuals, the domain and the field and how to understand production processes as different stages in a problem-finding and problem-solving effort. The aim is to encourage further discussions about the challenges of doing production studies, since the highly complex and contextual process of creating new film and media products raises a number of questions about how to conceive of creative work and how to study it.