Charlie Roberts
IMG Year 2 Portfolio

When it comes to researching influences there are a vast range of different products / writing pieces that could be researched, and in a number of different ways. 

1. Which influential people and products am I going to analyse?

One area of research I want to carry out is research int Influential authors and products of particular genres
E.g. Fantasy: J. R. R. Tolkien

I also want a large section of my research to be towards my own personal interests and influences. The writing behind the game League of Legends (Riot Games, 2013) has been a large influence for me in terms of picking the writing role. Because of this I plan to look into the different character biographies.

Additionally, I recently played the Spider-Man PS4 (Insomniac Games, 2018) which I thoroughly enjoyed. The enjoyment was due to a number of facts, such as the gameplay and the mechanics, but one of the main features that I enjoyed was the games story. I plan to once again go through the story of the game (most likely watching all of the cut scenes on YouTube as there are videos of all the scenes compiled into one video) to explore the effectiveness of how the characters are portrayed, and how different themes and topics are effectively shown. The ending of the game was particularly powerful, which I feel would be rather strong and useful character research

Other video games with stories will need to be looked into (popular games / game of the year? The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? God of War? Spider-Man?

Another area I plan to look at will be a number of different manga series that appeal to me. I plan to look further into some of these series as my enjoyment for them is due to their unique story concepts and / or narratives. These series also make use of effective character development which I feel is another skill that I will need to learn how to effectively carry out my self. Two series I plan to look at will be The Rising of the Shield Hero, and Boku no Hero Academia (Other series may also be looked into briefly, but series of another genre).

I also plan to read various books to do with video game writing and storytelling. I feel that it's necessary to carry out a task like this because I haven't carried out a task like this before, so I feel that this will help me have a better understanding of what's required. 
Finally, I also plan to improve my writing skills, as well as learn new ones. I feel like this will be a much needed research task, since I haven't studied English reading / writing for three years.

2. How will I analyse these products?

I would like to read the books / writing of different authors, however reading a whole book from each will most likely be a difficult task for me as I'm not the fastest reader, and there's also a deadline for this project. Because of this it might be better to search for the most popular product from different authors and read a few chapters of the books, and then try my best to break down how the author has used different techniques to make the story effective, appealing and enjoyable.

When reading the League of Legends (Riot Games, 2013) Champion lores, I'd need to try and find how the writer has made the characters appealing and effective (what they have implemented into the story to maximize the effectiveness of the characters). This would hopefully give me a better understanding of what makes an effective and appealing character.

This would also link with another part of research, where it would help me learn and develop writing techniques that could be used to improve my own writing, and also allow me to write effective and appealing characters.

In terms of analysing the Spider-Man PS4 (Insomniac Games, 2013) game, I will most likely watch a video of the cut scenes on YouTube. I feel as though this could be an effective method as it will allow me to dive into the story of the game once again, without spending the time playing the game (not to say I won't play games as research though, as I most likely will). By looking into the different cut scenes of the game I'll hopefully be able to see how the characters change throughout the game, and how their personality is effectively shown to the audience. This will all need to be noted down as a written document, but by using YouTube videos, I'll also be able to note down the time of the particular scene, which I feel will be more effective that just playing the game and talking about the cut scene. 

When reading books about video game writing / storytelling, I plan to quote from the book, and then expand upon it by talking about how it's useful to me.
Additionally, when learning new skills, I feel the best way will be to talk about what the skill / technique is, and then try using it myself.

3.How will I record my findings?

The findings of my research will be shown on my blog. As I plan to use YouTube videos for certain sections of my research I'll be able to link any videos I find, which will hopefully make my sections of research analysis more effective.

When looking at influential products such as books, I will most likely be looking into certain chapters of books. because of this the best method to show this will probably be quotations of effective sections of the books, and then a follow up analysis. 

When reading the books about video game writing, I will be quoting from the book. Because of this, it will most likely be a good idea to have separate sections of a page for each book.