Preparation for q1 a
- 1. Preparation for Q1A Harry Edwards
- 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.