Student Questionnaire

Year 12 Media Studies Student Questionnaire

NAME: Daniel Norgrove.

GCSE RESULTS:
English Literature: B
English Language: C
Maths: C
Year 10 Science: B
Year 11 Science: C
German: C
Food Technology: C
CBV: C
Sociology: D
Geography: D
History: D
ICT: F

HOBBIES:
All of my hobbies revolve around music. I enjoy playing in my band, it is currently very fun as we are recording our first demo CD. I also greatly enjoy going to gigs and go to see local bands frequently. Recently I went to a festival as well which was great because loads of my favourite bands played.

PRINT MEDIA:

I don’t really ever read news papers or look at the news on the internet simply because I never get round to it. I do, on the other hand, read magazines fairly frequently. I am subscribed to ‘Metal Hammer’. I read this because it is one of the only magazines to cover the genre and sub-genres of music I listen to and want to know about. It contains reviews on gigs and albums, interview with bands and notifications of up and coming shows.

RADIO MEDIA:

When I do listen to the radio, which is not particularly often, I listen to stations on iTunes radio because none of the main-stream radio stations appeal to me. I listen to stations such as Droidlocks, DubStep.FM, Metal Hammer radio or Death.FM.

MUSIC INDUSTRY:

I enjoy a large variety of music but my favourite genre is metal. Along with this I listen to things such as Dubstep, Drum ‘n’ Bass, Reggae, Trance and 80’s rock.
I do belong to a band and I am the vocals. I have been in various bands and music based projects for about a year and a half to two years now. I access a lot of music via the internet using things such as youtube and Last.FM but I thoroughly disagree with the illegal downloading of music. It is not fair on the artists who are trying to make a living through music and if people continue to illegally download music the artist they like will simply go out of business. As someone who wishes to go on to a career in music I am strongly against it. The music industry definitely influences the way I dress as I always wear a band t-shirt and dress in the same style as many of the bands I listen to. As to whether if affects my attitude, it may slightly but I don’t think it has a massive impact on the way I act as a person.

VIDEO GAMES:

I generally don’t play video games but when I do it is round my friend’s house. The games I usually play have a fairly violent theme because I find them the most enjoyable. Video games, such as ‘Grant Theft Auto’, may have a negative impact on attitudes to gender and the solution of conflict. People who frequently play games such as this may think that women are simply there as sex objects and that you can treat them how you want. They may also think it is acceptable to use violence as a means to resolve and argument or disagreement with another person.

NEW TECHNOLOGY:

New technologies have helped increase my understanding of the world because it means I have access to the internet. I can search anything I want, within reason, and end up with pages and pages of internet sites containing information on my chosen subject, it is also possible to access news websites such as the BBC via the internet to see what is currently happening in the world. New technologies have also increased my ability to communicate with others, for example mobile phones and computer programs such as Windows Messenger. It is now easier than ever to access films, television programmes and the music industry with free movie websites, television catch up programs like BBC iPlayer and websites such as youtube.

TELEVISION:

Out of the five main television channels broadcasted my favourite is channel four. This is because it shows a variety of programmes including comedy, drama, documentaries as well as showing films. My favourite television genre is comedy because I love watching things that make me laugh or things that are just generally amusing. I have not recently seen many TV advertisements that I genuinely enjoy but the last one I found amusing and clever were the series of adverts for the phone company ‘Orange’. I found them very witty and I think they were written in a very clever way. As someone who doesn’t watch a vast amount of television it is hard to list a television programme or programmes that I consider memorable but if I had to choose one I would choose ‘Shameless’. I found that programme quite memorable because it is amusing, sarcastic but also relates to a part of life in Britain that very much exists, even if it is a bit over exaggerated.

FEATURE FILM:

My favourite genre of film is probably action. This is because more often that not they are very exiting and get your heart racing, you always want to know the ending. Three films I find extremely outstanding are ‘Pulp Fiction’, ‘Sin City’, and ‘Saving Private Ryan’. Out of these three ‘Pulp Fiction’ has to be my all time favourite. This is because it has an amazing story line but hasn’t been made like an ordinary film, it is filmed as a series of stories about different characters that link into each other and the first story seen links into the very last, to make this even more interesting the stories aren’t in order. I like the contrast between action/gangster, thriller and a bit of comedy. I also believe that the acting is extremely good. When I do watch films I prefer to see them at the cinema with my friends but when this is not always possible I access them via the internet or watch them at friend’s houses. Although I find The Odeon at riverside far more comfortable it is cheaper to watch films at Vue in the Castle Mall and as it is not particularly uncomfortable I generally go there.

CONCLUSION:
I decided to choose media studies as an option because it looks very enjoyable and both my parents have a career in media so I have been exposed to it since I was very young. If I were to construct a media text I think I would wish to communicate the message about the condition of England, perhaps a film focused on those most affected by the “credit crunch”. So far I have enjoyed the media studies lessons and I am looking forward to taking part in all of the activities that the course revolves around such as shooting the opening to a thriller and writing my blog.