RESEARCH REPORT - CHANGE OF DIRECTION

 For my first public post on my Year 3 blog, I thought it would be best to establish the change in direction for my research report.

THE PREVIOUS QUESTION

My original question was "How do studios create a sensitive animated reboot?". In my post going further in depth into the question (link here), I discussed how my report would look into audience reactions to certain reboots, looking at what they responded positively to and responded negatively to. 

This would have involved watching select episodes of 6 different animated series; an original run and the corresponding reboot. These shows included Teen Titans, Teen Titans GO!, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Voltron: Legendary Defender, DuckTales (1987) and DuckTales (2017). I would have taken notes on how certain areas are executed (art style, character design, writing style, etc.), compared between relevant series, and contrasted with the audience reception to them.

UPDATED QUESTION

However, after some time to mull over the details of the report, I have decided to change course a little bit. Instead of looking at what a reboot does to be considered a sensitive reboot, I'm instead looking at if these animated reboots are here to stay.

The question for the report itself will literally be "Are reboots of animated series here to stay?" (subject to professional approval).

WHY THE CHANGE?

One of the biggest reasons I changed the direction of the report was because the original question was a little too niche. Where my first attempt at a question was too broad that it seemed unfocused, this one was so specific that there was barely any research outside of what I could see onscreen. There wasn't much room for discussion, simply just stating what the two shows did differently from each other, and how people found it to watch. Not only would it make for an uninteresting read, but it wouldn't have much to say outside of "this is what people like from a reboot." With my new question, it feels specific enough that I can talk about it well and concisely, but also broad enough that there's something there for me to actually research.

Another reason I discarded the old question was due to my original research plan. As stated before, I was going to watch select episodes of 6 series. However, some of them are not widely available. Both iterations of DuckTales are on the streaming service Disney+, and Teen Titans GO! & Voltron: Legendary Defender are both on Netflix. However, the original Teen Titans and Voltron series are not easily accessible in the UK; Titans is on DVDs that are relatively hard to find, and Voltron is not widely available in the UK through legal means. This would make both locating and citing those particular sources much more difficult. I decided that having the actual media as secondary sources to back up certain points would be better than having them be the central revolving point, so I adapted the question to not rely on the series themselves so heavily.

WHAT WILL BE THE MAIN FOCUS?

The new focus of the report will be looking at the popularity of animated series reboots, as well as their reception. It will discuss whether the practice of rebooting animated series is successful in this current age and, more importantly, is it sustainable for the next decade or longer?

WHAT WILL STAY FROM THE OLD QUESTION?

I still intend to keep my definition of a reboot, "a series that restarts a previously made piece of media after it has ended", as discussed here. So when I refer to a reboot in a blog post or in the report, it must follow that pre-determined definition.

I'll also keep aspects involving audience reaction & reception, except this time they won't be the main focus, just one part of an argument or point. It will be paired with viewing figures and overall popularity, to come to a conclusion on whatever example is given.

I also plan on keeping two of the reboot "pairs" as examples; the two DuckTales series and the two Teen Titans series. Not only are they still relevant at this time, but information on their specifics are more widely available than Voltron's.

WHAT NOW?

Research will continue, just with the new change in direction. 

Some aspects of the old research can be carried over, as mentioned before. Examples of these are audience & critic reviews of animated reboot series, sourced from websites like Rotten Tomatoes & iMDB for audiences, and for critics it will be from whichever publication they write for.

There will also be a change to the actual contents of the essay. While some points can be carried over from the older plan, I also want to include new points to further this new direction. One of these will be towards the end, before the conclusion, where I discuss upcoming animated reboots.

I'll now need to collect additional resarch too; this will include, where necessary (if possible) viewing figures. Viewing figures will tell me how many viewers the series gets, and if there's any correlation with other data that involves higher or lower viewing figures.

I still aim to have a first draft done by mid-October, which I can then work on until the deadline in November.