Achievements and Challenges: How Can Collective Creativity Be Fostered?

Review of the documentary film INNOVATION IN CONNECTICUT directed by Zeljko Mirkovic

Documentaries about educational institutions are generally appealing in that they address important questions surrounding the challenges such centers face in finding new ways to discover and foster creativity. Along these questions, there is usually also a picture of how, in today’s world where science has become increasingly widespread and more people have access to greater amounts of information—the traditional role of educational centers has changed and evolved. The 55-minute documentary INNOVATION IN CONNECTICUT, directed by Zeljko Mirkovic, from the very beginning raises the point that the concept of Innovation holds extraordinary importance for Connecticut and especially for UConn. The honest and tangible image it presents of the situation is, in every respect, convincing. The interviews they conduct with various individuals, apart from being innovative in their execution, are diverse and, by placing them side by side, lead us to a single picture: the picture of the importance of the university’s role in shaping the city’s immense potential. The way the state of Connecticut has, over time, become one of the hubs of technology, entrepreneurship, and growth is directly connected to the key role of UConn and the Werth Institute in forming a kind of Innovation Ecosystem. It shows how collaboration between investors, educated individuals, professors, and people from the US government can generate a wave of creative ideas—and more importantly, turn those creative ideas into businesses.

Although at the very beginning of the documentary we see an interview with the president of UConn, the filmmaker knows how much of each interview to use and at which stage of the work, so he does not confine himself solely to theoretical and academic discussions. In this documentary, various faces other than the university president—namely innovators and entrepreneurs—are introduced to us so that, beyond technical discussions, we can see with our own eyes what impact innovation has on people’s lives. By maintaining a balanced rhythm, using interviews, images of different environments, and visiting places such as the university, the director achieves a positive tone that, while remaining realistic, creates motivation and brings all their achievements into view.

INNOVATION IN CONNECTICUT shows that innovation is in no way the result of chance, accident, or destiny, but rather the product of a continuous network of the university, government supporters, industrial investors, and careful study of all these elements. The fact that people from different strata of society appear on the screen causes it to move beyond a single-voiced state and enables it to examine the issue from various angles. This very absence of a single voice is probably the best feature for other universities and educational centers that take an exploratory look at creative approaches and wish to answer fundamental questions about education. Questions such as how creativity can be explicitly incorporated into learning objectives and assessment criteria without sacrificing scientific quality; or how environments can be created that encourage risk-taking and constructive failure rather than punishing them; how a balance can be achieved between creative freedom and the structure necessary for deep learning; and how the organizational culture of the university can be shifted from a focus on quantity toward valuing the creative process. The documentary addresses these fundamental questions in a deep yet visually clear and comprehensible manner. It emphasizes that the foundational role of higher education and investment in new ideas should not be overlooked.

What makes this documentary worth watching is the director’s understanding of the concept of ‘Tone’ in film and the structure of his sequences. Let us begin with the tone of the film: unlike mood, which is the momentary feeling created and can change from one scene to another, tone is usually more stable and reveals the overall attitude of the film. Through tone we come to recognize the world of the work—whether it is comedy or drama, critical or poetic. The director gradually constructs his tone with the help of cinematography, film editing, sound recording and sound design, and of course the use of music.

In the case of Innovation in Connecticut, it can be clearly seen that all the elements serve the creation of a more or less cheerful and lively tone that tries to convey complex technical subjects to its audience in an accessible, occasionally humorous, and of course honest language. For example, the experimental multiplication of the interviewees on the screen, in such a way that they are placed opposite themselves, is a deliberate emphasis on transcending the repulsive seriousness of conventional documentaries. Tone is of great importance in cinema in general, but its importance is doubled especially in documentary, for the reason that it deals directly with “reality” and can create a sense of trust, criticism, distancing, or even poetry, and directly affects the film’s believability.

Exactly the same issue we raised about tone can also be clearly seen in the formation of the central idea and the advancement of the subject. Zeljko Mirkovic knew well that in order to arrive at a transparent and acceptable image he had to be able to distance himself from it, to narrate it indirectly, and to prevent the narrative flow from becoming tedious. As we see, the film constantly moves from the interior of a conventional administrative office (that is, from a fixed frame in the stillness of a room) to an aerial Drone shot of the city, from an interview in a university space to a more intimate environment, and so on. Even in those office interviews he knows how to create variety. The director not only knows his subject well but also has mastery over his tool—namely visual language. We know that merely having an original subject is not enough; the director must be able to see the text in a certain way, imagine it in his mind in a certain way, and finally execute it in a certain way so as to make the best possible use of his working tools.

We note that the director has not looked at his subject with a fascinated gaze and has not submerged himself in it; rather, in a logical and skillful manner he has tried to examine its various angles, and in this path he has even addressed the role of artificial intelligence among academic individuals. In fact, the documentary both examines the traditional achievements of educational institutions and UConn and deals with their future-oriented approach toward artificial intelligence. Indeed, the art of being creative begins from this point: that a person tries, without considering limitations, to create valuable tools and works, and in the path of creating tools it is entirely natural to extend a hand of friendship toward artificial intelligence.

Ultimately, INNOVATION IN CONNECTICUT is a documentary that is enjoyable, engaging, full of valuable information, and of course, from a cinematic point of view, an admirable experience. The fact that the filmmaker has been able to reach an engaging result with a subject this difficult—one that at times seems entirely abstract—shows that he knows this medium well and is thoroughly familiar with his working tools.