My name is Jenna Bolingbroke
My GCSE results are:
English lit. A,
English Lang A
Maths B
Spanish B
Geography A
ICT DiDA 2x C
Biology A
Physics A
Chemistry A
Photography A
RE A
My Hobbies:
Photography- as well as it being a subject choice, photography is a favourite hobby of mine. I like most types of photography (landscape, nature, time-lapse, modelling)
Sport- I really like to play football. I played for Mulbarton for 7 years, and also played for Hethersett and several school teams. As well as football, other sports I enjoy to play include badminton, rounders, volleyball and rock climbing. For all of these sports I’ve played in various teams.
Guitar- I learned to play guitar during year 10 in high school and really liked it.
Media interests:
Print media:
I read magazines focussing on real-life stories, music and media reviews. I read these types of magazines because they take my interest.
I only view news by watching it on tv and by looking on internet sites. I look at news on the BBC news site and also windows messenger. I don’t really read newspapers; I prefer to access news on the internet as a way to keep up-to-date because I find it a lot easier to use than reading newspapers. I find that I can view the things that I want to view, whenever I want to.
Radio media:
I listen to Heart 102.4, because I like the variety of music they play and the presenters are entertaining to listen to. I also listen to Kiss for the music they play; it is very regular and up to date with the charts, and focuses on newly released music.
Music industry:
My favourite genre of music is rock. I like to listen to most types of rock, old and new. My favourite bands are bon jovi and nickelback. I also like R&B and other various types of music, but I don’t listen to these genres on such a regular basis.
I access most of my music through Spotify. I find it really simple to use and it always has the songs I want to listen to. I sometimes use Youtube to watch music videos too. I think illegal downloading of music from the internet is wrong as it gives a disadvantage to bands and artists who don’t make money from their songs when the public download them for free. I think it is illegal for that reason, and it shouldn’t be done.
The music industry is always influencing fashion styles, because when people see their idols and favourite singers dress a certain way, they want to dress in the same way. I believe they have the same copy-cat effect when it comes to attitudes, especially when their idols sing with a certain attitude to something.
Video games:
The video games I play are usually racing games, such as Need For Speed. This involves buying, customising and racing your own cars to earn money to spend on better cars and customisations. Also, I enjoy playing fighting and war games. My favourite game of this type is Call Of duty Modern warfare. This game is based on a war set in the near future, and involves completing missions. You can also access the internet via this game for free and play against other people. I use the Nintendo Wii console for my games.
Games may have a negative effect on the attitudes of young people in particular because of the use of violence within them. They could take the violence in the game and think that this is the best way to act in real life, and therefore use it as a solution to conflicts. Video games of this nature may also have a negative effect on the attitudes that people have towards gender, sexuality and race by portraying a negative attitude within the characters in the game. On the other hand of course, many young people see the behaviour within the game and see how it isn’t real life, and so act in the opposite way. In my opinion, this is the case with most people and therefore I don’t see violent video games as a problem.
New technology:
I think the internet has played a huge part in my understanding of the world, and also most young peoples’ understandings too. It provides regular news updates every day, and is very easy to access from any internet connection. In relation, I believe mobile phones (i-phones in particular) have increased understanding due to the evermore popular mobile internet.
Mobile phones are a major way of communicating with others, and the constantly changing technology has increased the ability to do this. Texting and calling is becoming much easier to do because it is getting cheaper, and everybody seems to own a mobile phone. The internet plays a huge part in communication. E-mail, social networking sites, and IM are popular ways of talking to friends on a regular basis. The internet is getting easier to access via mobile phones and so communication through phones is getting easier in this way, too. In relation to this, many i-pods are equipped with internet and internet based apps which people may use on a regular basis. Even games consoles have internet connectivity, and so people may choose to communicate through these.
Access to films, TV and music through the internet is easy, although it is often illegal to do so. TV programmes are shown by the TV channel’s website almost immediately after it is shown on TV, and so catching up is easy to do. Films can be bought or downloaded through sites quickly, and can also be watched for free through some illegal sites. This can be done for music tracks too; it is easy to download music to your computer via sites like Itunes, and it is also easy to download them for free illegally.
The use of digital cameras means that anyone can create their own photographs and movies. Most people own a camera, whether it’s professional or not. Computer technology makes it easy to edit these photos and videos. It also means that people can create media like CGI and other images. All of these can be shared by making websites and posting them for other people to view.
Television:
My favourite television channels are BBC, channel 4, Five, ITV, Dave, and E4. I watch BBC channels for news programmes. I find the BBC to be the most informational for news. I watch ITV and channel 4 for entertainment, like TV series. I prefer E4 and Dave for comical TV programmes; Dave view very witty programmes and lots of comedy, and E4 is aimed more at teenage viewers, which automatically attracts me. I like to watch channel five for documentaries.
My favourite TV genre is comedy. I love to watch comedy series on E4. I also like comedy based panel shows. Another favourite genre of mine is crime; I find both real-life and fictional crime fascinating. I watch these mainly on channel Five and Five USA.
The TV programmes I consider most memorable are friends, scrubs, CSI, Glee and most haunted.
Feature film:
My favourite genre is action because action films really draw me in as a viewer, and almost all the time have incredible plots and fabulous special effects.
I find the Harry Potter films particularly outstanding due to the storylines. They were excellently written by an amazing author. I love the way David Yates directs the films Order of phoenix and Half-blood prince; he achieves some truly outstanding action shots within the films. I also love the actors involved in the Harry potter films, in particular Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) as I think she is a highly talented actress and her skills have only developed throughout the films. Other aspects, such as cinematography, soundtrack and special effects make the movie very memorable and loveable.
Another film that I find outstanding is avatar. I love this film because it is so futuristic and innovative. It crosses environmental worries that one day humans may have to leave the planet and find a new home with the idea of destroying natural habitat for human use. The mix of CGI technology and real-life acting is fantastic; it really helps to make the CGI parts more realistic. I think this film proves how much the filming world has developed.
My preference when consuming films is viewing them at the cinema. I like this because of the experience, the atmosphere that is created when viewing them on the big screen, and as more and more films are being released in 3D the experience for me is getting better and better. As well as this, I like to watch films on DVD because it is in the comfort of my own home and I can watch them whenever I wish to.
My favourite cinema is Vue. This is because it is in the city centre, which is really easy to get to via bus or car. Also, it is cheap for me as a student and as I don’t visit regularly. The comfort that Vue provides makes the experience of the film even better for me.
I prefer to watch films with a group of friends or family, so that I can share the experience with them and talk about the film with people who have seen it too.
My media:
I have contributed to the production of a very short animation in a club at high school. This included creating characters from various materials and a storyline, capturing lots of shots of the scenes with a camera, and finally stringing these shots together to create a stop-motion film.
Conclusion:
An example of a media text that has offended me is the film This Is England. I liked the film because the story was so touching, but the attitudes, violence and nature portrayed by many of the characters opened my eyes to how sickening the attitudes that some people have. The racism particularly shocked me as I didn’t realise how serious it was only 20 years ago.
I also find the Grand Theft Auto video games quite offensive as they portray a very high level of violence, racism, sex, sexism, and law breaking. What makes this even more offensively in my opinion is that the character played by the player supports all these behaviours and therefore acts as if this is the correct way to behave.
In contrast to this, I find the film Slumdog Millionaire inspiring and emotional. This film sets a good image of young people all over the world, who act to overcome the evil that they face. It is also a good look into the Indian culture.
If I could construct a media text I’d choose to concentrate on culture, differences in culture, and attitudes towards this. I’d do this to show how, although the general view of racism and cultural differences has developed vastly, there is still a long way to go in this society.
I have chosen media studies as an option due to my interests in photography and film. I hope to improve my photography skills and learn more about film photography and still photography. I am interested to study camera angles and types of shots, and the mood that they create. I hope that this will really aid my career in photography.
