Media and Me

Media and Me

My Name is Jessica Dunford. In my GCSEs I achieved two B’s, three D’s and all the rest C’s. For my A levels I am studying Media, Psychology, English Land and Lit and Photography. My Hobbies include Photography, Gigs, Traveling, Horse Riding and Music.
I read magazines more than I read newspapers but I tend to read The Sunday Times sometimes as well as local newspapers such as the EDP. I Read them because my family always has, and it’s a nice routine to have on a Sunday. I use the BBC website or watch the news to access the headlines rather than reading newspapers everyday. Radio is a Large Gateway to the Music I listen to. I Listen to Radio One and Radio Two. I like most of the Radio Presenters and the music that they play is usually the music that I enjoy listening to. I really Like Kerrang Magazine and Rock Sound too. They Spotlight the Music that influences me most.
The Music Industry plays a monumental role in my life, my father has been in the music industry his whole life and I have grown up around live concerts and musical instruments. My Favourite Genres of music are Rock, Indie, Acoustic and Punk. I am not in a band but I play the guitar and piano. I find out about bands by using the internet and going to gigs. Illegally downloading is a large problem for many musicians at the moment. A band I admire greatly once said to me that they would not be angry at me for illegally downloading their album, I paid to see them live, which means more to them than album sales. I used to download all of my music but have since bought the albums of bands that I really, really like. I still however spent astonishing amounts of money on gig tickets and band t-shirts. The Music Industry influences my life style, the company I choose to keep and the clothes I choose to buy. The bands I listen to influence my attitude towards life, I find a good band cannot only play their instruments to a high standard but are able to write their own Thought Provoking lyrics and can perform on stage.
I do not play nor have I ever played Video Games. I don’t find that I ever have enough time to be playing video games nor do I find them entertaining. I don’t really understand the world of gaming, I think it’s great that gaming has got so advanced, however anybody that has enough time to be sat on an Xbox all day clearly needs to question how well they spend their time and why they don’t have anything better to do. Although saying this I do have great appreciation for people that spend a lot of time developing the graphics for these games. They’re incredibly clever and well thought out and are ideal for their target audience. I am a firm believer that games should really only be aimed at children and younger people that don’t have a job or anything that they do after school. In that respect video games are great for occupying children but I feel that I don’t have enough time to play them.
New Technologies have greatly opened my access to films and television and the music industry. Wherever I go the media is following me, Advertisements on Bus’s and music playing in shops. There are many shops and websites that sell films, books, music etc. You can find a massive library of any band or any film you can think of. Computer Software is advanced to the stage now where I can make short films and edit them using just a camcorder and the software that came with my desktop. I can then publish these short films to a site such as youtube, where my video can be accessed by the whole world.
I really, really love television. I like television shows that have something different about them. I really enjoy friends, it was such a massive part of television in my generation and was one of the biggest, highest rated television shows. I also love shows like never mind the buzz cocks and mock the week. I think the show Ugly Betty deserves more credit for what it actually is. The diverse ranges of characters in the programme are incredible and the actors play the parts of the programme so well. I like the contrast between them and watching how the personalities clash. Five Memorable Television shows in my eyes are probably Only Fools and Horses, Minder, Friends, The Simpson’s and A Touch of Frost. For a long time I disliked
The Simpson’s, until I was older and realised that the script writing is extremely clever and I can now appreciate the underlying jokes that the writer aims at an older audience as apposed to the cartoon being aimed at children. I always wondered why my father liked it so much. I don’t like stereotyping television. Like cartoons only being suitable for children, I disagree. South Park is a major example of a cartoon show that is completely unsuitable for children.
I don’t have a favourite genre of film, I like films that I can walk away and rethink about and I like films which change the way I think about something. Films that I find outstanding are probably Trainspotting, because the book was amazing and im a firm believer that not many films can capture the characters, the relationships and the Story as well as the book. It is written in a Scottish accent which I think is very original. I also really like the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, again I prefer the book however I think that the film is very original and the characters are portrayed very well. I really like the film Cruel Intentions, I think that the story line is very original