2. Define the following terms
Primary Research – This is research which is conducted by
the researcher themselves.
Secondary Research – This is research which is conducted
by someone else other than the researcher but the
researcher uses the findings.
Qualitative Research – Qualitative refers to words, this form
of research is usually conducted through interviews etc.
where opinions would be expressed.
Quantitative Research – Quantitative refers to numbers, this
form of research is usually conducted through questionnaires
and use many closed question's.
3. Why is it important to carry out
research before creating a
product?
It is important for many reasons to carry out research as you
need to know that your production is unique and you are not
copying another idea. By doing research into other or similar
texts you are able to make sure that
It is important to make sure that you understand the genre of
the text that you are going to produce. This can be done in a
number of ways through watching Youtube videos of
productions of a similar text. This will allow you to be able to
have a clearer understanding of what is conventional of the
genre.
4. Research carried out in AS
I conducted research through researching similar texts to the
one that I wanted to create.
For example when I first started coming up with the idea that I
wanted to make I looked at what was conventional of the thriller
genre opening sequence. I found that the main conventions of
the thriller genre were; low key lighting, ominous music, linear
narrative, a protagonist and an antagonist. I found that these
were the most important conventions for the genre. I realised
that these were the most important things to include and had to
be in order for the audience to recognise.
I looked at clips on YouTube
I looked on IMBD at similar texts and watched clips so that I
could get a feel for the genre
5. Research carried out in A2
I looked at Youtube videos of similar texts to the soap opera
genre. I then looked at shows which were similar and the main
competition for my soap opera such as Hollyoaks.
I then also looked at Digital spy to find out some new storylines
that were happening in soaps. This was so I was able to work
out what a contemporary storyline would be. This was so that
the storylines that I chose to use in my production would be
relevant to what my target audience wanted to see.
I also looked at the characters that appear in soaps as I wanted
to see if any clear stereotypes were shown throughout and if so
I wanted to follow and challenge these conventions.
6. Which forms were most useful?
Why?
I feel that the most useful tool that I used to conduct research
was using YouTube. This allowed me to find similar texts to
that of my genre and work out how a trailer actually looks and
what are key elements to put into it. For example I found that
it was conventional to show multi-strand narratives as it is
key for a soap opera to advertise many storylines so that
they keep their audience engaged and create a more realistic
show.
7. How else could I have used digital
media?
I could have utilized the influence that social networking sites
such as a Twitter have on issues in the world. For example
social media sites such as Twitter now have a poll service I
could have used this to my advantage and got a global
response from people about my production and then gained
a more informative opinion of what my target audience want
to see. This would have allowed me to gain a much broader
understanding of what my audience would want to see
instead of getting the opinion from people in my social circle.
8. What is creativity?
The oxford dictionary defines creativity as ‘The use of
imagination or original ideas to create something;
inventiveness’
Another definition of creativity is ‘Creativity is the act of
turning new and imaginative ideas into reality.’
I believe that creativity can be defined as the art of creating a
unique and original idea into a reality.
9. What extent do I believe that my
AS production is creative?
I believe that my production for AS is creative as it is not
commonly done which is why I chose to do an unusual
narrative as it would make my production stand out more
against others in its genre. This meant that compared to
others in the genre it would stand out as more original then
others because the narrative is not always seen.
10. What extent do I think my A2
production is creative?
I feel that my A2 production is very creative in that it is a
unique idea in that we wanted to make sure that the locations
we used were similar to those of which the target audience
would be familiar.
We also have a unique narrative as we had a main focus of a
lesbian relationship which isn't always done in soap operas,
they usually use a gay couple as a coming out story however
we wanted to use two females as this is not common in soap
operas.
