Journal Task - How do I Research

Journal Task - How do I Research

Part A
Recently I have enjoyed my time at University a lot, not just because of the social life and the drinking, I've also liked how open my course is. After being given the module task and the brief, that's pretty much it, its my job to take the work the way I want. Take for example our current module, Identities, we have to design a 'box' and put 5 things in it that reflect us, in fact it doesn't even have to be a box. We are given lectures and seminars but that's more of a nudge in the right direction instead of a direct, "DO IT LIKE THIS!".

It wasn't always like this however at college I think we were pushed into a certain direction for the simple purpose of getting grades. To take for example I did a course in Graphic Art, where we would have to pick an Artist to study first, we didn't even have much time to research this due to tight deadlines.

I guess then the simple answer is that I was creative during my time at college was to get me here, which isn't the greatest thing ever but if you look on the bright side that has got me to the stage where I can be really creative so now I can do what I want to do. I love the fact that I can choose what area I want to go into next year, specialise and choose my own influences instead of someone picking out an artist from a book for me.

So in the future I would really like the specialise in Both 3D and 2D animation, but what I also love is games design, I've had a real passion for games for ages and nothing sounds better to me anyway than working for a games design company with my name in the credits. Make something that people like and I can be proud to say I've created.

Part B
I guess that research can help get me there by making the projects I do a lot easier, also the research I carry out that in my own time ie. watching films, can help me develop my knowledge in the multimedia area.

When I am researching I use the exploratory method, I'm a big fan of the idea that an idea can come from anywhere. I'll see something that looks awesome or strikes a chord with me and I'll use it in my work, this happens both when I'm trying to think of an idea specifically for a project and when I'm not working towards a project but I'll find something and use it in a project later. I use this idea as a starting point and then use the descriptive method to look into an idea more and see what influenced it and similar pieces of work. I also like to try pieces of work out before I properly start working on a project through the Pilot Stage of research, for instance with my logo for the Identities project I did a trial of my logo's paint splats idea making shapes, this can be seen on my blog a few posts down.

I do feel wary of doing descriptive research on its own however, I don't think it's very good at producing ideas on it's own, instead you tend to only look into the ideas that are given by the person who set the work. Instead I prefer to bring in my own influences and combine them with these to come up with an idea that's more fitting with the brief. I guess what it all come down to is that I believe that all good ideas come from a moment of sudden inspiration, a lyric in a song, a sight while passing in a car. Yes, I read into these ideas thoroughly after, but I don't desperately hunt around for some inspiration, I tend to find the best ideas I have come when I'm not even looking.

To throw a few examples into the mix I've chosen my two practitioners for the essay, John Laseter of Pixar who directed 'Toy Story' came up with the idea for the film 'Cars' while on a road trip with his family, he didn't deliberately go on a road trip to come up with an idea for a film. Also the legendary Jamie Hewlett and the equally legendary Damon Albarn came up with the idea for Gorillaz while sat on the couch watching MTV thinking 'that's rubbish, so many videos are rubbish,every 6 videos there's a great video' and thus the Gorillaz were born. I like to think that it was a eureka moment, but it probably wasn't, in my defense though they didn't sit down deliberately to help them come up with an idea for a cartoon band. Anyway check out the video I've posted up its a cool interview, about the Gorillaz story....