Where has my creativity been in the last few years/ research

For the last few years the main source of my creative influences has arisen from films and cinematography in general. I studied topics in AS Film Studies such as Shocking Cinema, Film Noir and Gendered Cinema. These sections provided a lot of discussion and I also learnt a lot of different techniques that went into making a film and creating a specific meaning.

As well as my creativity being in film recently, I have also become more adapt to designing and producing different pieces of work on computers. As well as creating websites and simple themed interactive stories, I have worked on understanding target audiences more and coming to grips the marketing side to creating work as well as other aspects.
Research

I feel that research can help me in a number of ways. One of the most fundamental being that I can research the background of a product I am designing or a genre I am looking to go into so that I can have an idea of what is to be expected and gain more knowledge of the market place. I can also research how different products are made and how they specifically cater for different people will different needs and expectations.

If I am working on something which I am not feeling comfortable with then research is an effective way to help increase my understanding on the topic.

I seem to use the descriptive based research more often than not as a starting point when I’m looking into something because I am after an overall background of it rather than anything specific. When I am looking for an explanation for something then exploratory research would be preferred however.