Student Questionnaire

GCSE Results:

Physics: B
Biology
Chemistry: C
History: C
Maths: C
English Lit: C
English: C
Music: C

Hobbies:

My hobbies include playing guitar, producing music, listening to records

Print Media:

If I had the time I'd probably read printed newspapers but instead I tend to read the news very often online at home, or on my phone when I'm out (usually BBC News, Dailymail, Guardian) - if it's a story that I'm particularly interested in or dubious of I'll spend some time reading other news sources and their views on the story to get a clearer understanding of it.


I enjoy reading the views of people online (independent bloggers, commenters, etc.) in particular as it can show you different perspectives on a story.


When it comes to magazines and other print media I don't generally read them that much but I'll read anything if I'm in a waiting room or can't find anything to do. If I'm on a long car journey and end up at a service station I might just buy one to take up some time - magazines such as What-Hifi? and music review magazines are what I go for but it can be interesting to go for something absolutely random

Radio Media:

In the car I'll usually listen to whatever radio station is on (probably radio norwich) and generally quite enjoy listening to absolutely anything other than kiss - my favorite stations are planet rock and absolute radio (80s,90s, rock etc.)

Music Industry:

I listen to a large variety of music with my favorite genres generally being psychedelic rock, blues and prog rock.  - all genres can have good and bad artists and I can usually appreciate songs from any genre or time period. However, I find alot of chart music to be uncreative and annoying to the extent I wonder who buys those songs but there are many exceptions so it's still worth keeping updated with.

I'm a huge fan of listening to music on spotify as you can easily find new bands and stream in high quality, it's good because this sort of streaming is available for free and offers premium accounts for monthly fee so it can hopefully prevent people from pirating. My favorite way of listening to music however is with vinyl records and I have a pretty large collection now - it's a completely different experience when compared to other forms of listening to music and with older albums in particular you can be sure what you hear is exactly how they were intended to be.

My favorite artists include Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, Steve Miller Band, Frank Zappa, The clash, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Cliff, The Specials, Fuzz, Eagles, Parquet courts etc.

I don't agree with illegally downloading music (especially with less-known bands or smaller labels) as there are better alternatives such as spotify and paying for music you enjoy is simply the right thing to do. Piracy is a huge danger to the music industry but the problem with purchasing music digitally is that you aren't actually getting anything different to people who illegally download so perhaps there should be some more incentives to people who do purchase music online.

Video Games:

I do sometimes like to play games in my free time and can enjoy just about any type or genre. I don't really have a favorite but I enjoy games such as fallout and grand theft auto which are open world so they don't restrict you that much in terms of what you're able to do. 

I can find it annoying how the media portrays video games sometimes (such as http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26049333) and it's quite shocking somebody makes money to write this sort of propaganda but similar things are also said about films (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14971560)

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/9173190/The-Hunger-Games-violence-children-should-see.html)

Social Networking:

I use twitter and facebook (only for messaging) and I like it how you're able to connect with people online and see what they're up to - which is especially good if they live far away or you don't see them on a regular basis. I don't find them that innovating as ways of communicating however as I only really talk to people that I know and would generally rather use a phone or just talk to people in person. I use twitter the most as there's a sense of being connected to a world-wide community as it allows you to see what people all over the world are talking about most. 

Television:

I watch a fair amount of television and I usually tend to watch BBC, ITV and Comedy Central and Dave as they cover everything I usually want to watch. I also sometimes end up accidentally leaving sky news on for ages until I work out I've probably heard every headline about 7 times. When I watch TV, unlike with film, I'm not always actively engaged with it so sometimes I'll be listening/watching it passively whilst preoccupied with doing other things. 

                                                    My favorite scene from Madmen

We have sky so it can be quite good to take advantage of the hundreds of channels available by having a browse through the channels I haven't watched before - so it's not rare for me to end up watching something I've never heard of at all. I enjoy quite a range of shows but I'd have to say my favorites would be QI, Madmen, Only Fools and Horses, Mock the Week, Peep Show and far too many to list. I almost always watch BBC News before I leave for school so I guess I must also enjoy that. 

Feature Films:

I like pretty much every genre but I mostly watch action, comedy and westerns. 

Below are some films I've particularly enjoyed recently.

Easy Rider: 

Easy rider is a great counterculture film which gives the audience an insight into the hippie movement - drug use, communal lifestyles etc. and the social issue which arises with it. It has a fairly simple plot which consists of two 'hippie' motorcyclists riding across the country in time for Mardi gras, and all the events that happen inbetween. This film not only is a great watch but also has great cultural relevance as it was shot during the peak of the movement (it was filmed in 1968 and released two months before woodstock). The soundtrack is incredible and consists of Steppenwolf, The band and Jimi Hendrix. 

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly:

A film that probably everybody has heard of and rightly so - It's the story of three men who set off to find $200,000 in buried coins. Blondie (The Good) and Tuco (The Ugly) come across a dying man who tell them about a large amount of treasure that is buried but by chance he only tells one of them where the cemetary is and the other which gravestone it is. Meanwhile, Angel eyes (The bad) hears of this and also goes to find the gold.

Are you a media producer?

I've produced some short films in the past and I have also started A2 Film Studies so I have some experience of what it is like to produce media. 

Why I chose Media Studies:

I chose Media Studies as an option because I had to decide to choose another subject and Media was something which really caught my eye as being an option I'd like to pursue. I'm also doing Film Studies and Music tech and would like to hopefully pursue a career involving the music industry - so I'd like to think that all the subjects I'm studying all relate  and will be complementary of eachother. 

Conclusion:

 I don't think I've really ever been offended that much by any media texts as I don't particularly get offended very easily and can take things I read lightly and have a laugh. Infact, If I was watching the news and my name literally flashed up along with a load of insults (that'd be strange) I probably wouldn't be too phased. I can understand why people may get offended by media and rightly so but it also seems that people claim to be offended far too much - although that doesn't at all make it right to intentionally offend people.

The most exciting media I've seen is probably Pink Floyds 'The Wall' film - it is a live action/animated musical film which uses highly symbolic sequences with little dialogue and it is mostly driven by the music of pink floyd itself (from the album of course) - being one of my favourite albums of all time it's great in that aspect but it's also interesting to see a film being driven by the music as opposed to the other way around.

• Sorry if I got any of this wrong or wrote too much as I lost the sheet and had to refer to other peoples/ last years blogs in order to find out what the questions were - it might also include some incorrect grammar or spelling mistakes as this somehow took absolutely ages to write