Describe how you developed research and planning skills for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.

Prior to my Media course, I had limited skills in the area of research and planning. However once I created a Film Opening for my AS Foundation Portfolio and Music Video for my A2 Advanced Portfolio, I became much more familiar with effective methods and I was able to use these skills in order to have more creative decisions with my work.

Bentley explains how creativity is 'Making of the new, rearranging the old', in my AS production I did lots of research 

 for other film openings of the same genre, Chick Flick, on websites such as YouTube however this was not detailed enough to get an in depth analysis. Therefore I made a timeline of the opening credits of 'Wild Child' which helped me to plan for the length of shots in my Foundation Portfolio as well as where to put the credits in. Furthermore, at AS I also carried out a 9 shot semiotic analysis of a range of films including 'Bride Wars' which helped me to research the signs and symbols typical of the genre. These film openings aided me in making creative decisions as films such as 'St Trinians' and 'Wild Child' gave me inspiration for a range of shots, in particular, the feet stepping out of the car as the new girl arrives at school. Furthermore I made a collage of the key conventions of the Chick Flick genre, this mainly features the colour pink with other 'girly' things such as shopping bags.

At A2 I did further research about the pop music genre. This included looking at some music videos in order to understand a typical synopsis of videos in that genre, for example in One Direction's 'Best Song Ever'. I also did a nine shot semiotic analysis of the Little Mix video 'How Ya Doin' in order to see the conventions of the pop genre which Andrew Goodwin outlines in his 'Music Video Theory'. An example of this is a link between the music and visuals. I ensured I included this convention as the shots throughout my music video are very quick and match with the beat of the song.

 Exercises like my preliminary task taught me how to use highly effective camera angles such as  a shot-reverse-shot, which I then continued to use in my coursework. This helped me plan for the shots that I would go on to use in my Foundation Portfolio. At A2, my Preliminary Task was a mini music video to 'Drop It Like It's Hot' by Snoop Dogg, I did a semiotic shot by shot  analysis of this, which enabled me to learn more about new shots, including long shots and extreme close ups which I also used in my Advanced Portfolio. It also enabled me to learn more about editing, and the fast pace at which the shots change. When I made my A2 preliminary task, I was able to plan for any expected challenges for the real music video, this included issues such as finding a location and a performer. However once I made the real thing these issues were sorted thanks to my prior planning. 

As part of my research at AS I used a website called Survey Monkey in order to create a survey which I sent out to the whole school, this was highly successful and I received many results which enabled me to tailor my film opening to my audiences ideas. Furthermore at A2, I also sent out a survey, asking about my target audience's music tastes, however I did not only send the survey to the school, but I also put it onto different social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, in order to receive a much wider demographic and because of this I received over 100 replies.

Another skill which I developed over my media studies course, was effective Blogging. This came in very useful whilst planning both pieces of coursework, as I was able to post all my progress in one place online (rather than in lots of books). This made it all easily accessible, which was helpful whilst filming as I was able to have my blog up, presenting all my ideas clearly in front of me. At AS on the website Blogger, I learnt how to create blog posts, import pictures and create labels. At A2, my skills developed further as I learnt how to embed Youtube videos as well as add different backgrounds to my blog from other websites such as ShabbyBlogs, in order to make it much more creative. Blogger was very useful when filming as in both years I was able to have my story boards at hand and accesible anywhere. At AS my storyboard only had 13 shots however at A2 my knowledge of planning advanced and I have over 130 shots planned. This made it much easier at A2 to be well prepared and always ready to film.

For my Advanced Portfolio, the ancillary tasks of making a Digipak and Magazine Advert was a challenge. However once I researched the digipaks of other popular artists such as Katy Perry and The Vamps I was able to clearly understand the conventions, and the typical layout of a 6 panel digipak. For the magazine advert, I researched artists and immediately came across a Jessie J advert; I loved this and took many different ideas from it, for example the monochrome colour scheme.