Film Magazines

The purpose of a film review is to analyse and evaluate upcoming or new films so that audiences can make a balanced judgement as to whether or not they want to see the film. A film review will get across the genre, narrative and structure of a film, giving the audience enough knowledge and understanding of the film, but not giving away the whole plot. An audience values editorial opinions over adverts. A film review article can be seen as non biased as it comes from a 3rd party opinion, and not from someone specifically trying to promote the film, but from a journalist. This can be risky for the film marketing campaign as they could receive bad reviews and low ratings which would put people off wanting to see the film. On the other hand, they could get an outstanding review and use it as credibility to put on film posters. However, some film magazines, such a pre-vue are written for a specific cinema, and the only role of the article is to convince you to watch the film and avoids a balanced judgement. 

Different types of film magazines target different audiences, and therefore will have different purposes when writing their articles. A magazine will be written for the magazine audience, not for the audience the film is aimed at, which makes it vital for audiences to find the magazine that suits them. This also opens a large market for film review magazines, as as long as you can find an audience who will want to read what you're writing, you could review all the same films as another magazine, but in a totally different light. A Film review is different from a poster as it relies more on written codes and context, rather than symbolic codes and pictures, however, they are important too. Film reviews have different conventions to a film poster, the conventions are as follows:

• Section titles
• Headline
• Strap line
• Introduction
• Subheadings - these break up large pieces of text, making it easier to read.
• Breakout paragraphs
• Breakout boxes
• Columns - the amount of columns on a page will vary according to magazine, depending on the audience the magazine is aimed at. Small columns filled up with mainly text will suit magazines who take film very seriously, or academic film reviews. Magazines with larger columns, filled with words and pictures will be for those interested in films and wants to read about them, but only because they need to decide if the film is worth seeing.
• Pictures
• Graphics/Logos
• Font and typography - Titles are usually done in sans-serif, whilst bulk text is done in serif.
• Call to action
• Byline - informs you as to who has written this article. The more well known the journalist it, the bigger byline they will receive. 
• Issue information

The main film magazines in the UK are Total Film, Empire and Sight and Sound. All 3 magazines are trying to reach out to different target audiences and although they follow the basic conventions of a film magazine,  they do this through their style, layout, content and mode of address.

This is an example of a film review in a magazine called Total Film:

Total Film is a magazine that is published every 4 weeks and is the 2nd biggest selling UK film magazine. It had 5 main sections; dialogue, buzz, agenda, screen and lounge. All quite relaxed titles that discuss different types of films. It uses casual, basic language that everyone can understand, but at the same time makes it enjoyable to read. For example, the strap line reads in the above article, "No country for a middle-ages man (and his boy)." This is a play on words of the book/film "No Country for Old Men" which was written by Cormac McCarthy, the same novelist who wrote the original book, "The Road". This type of strap line is trying to attract the readers attention, but it is also assuming the audience will be able to work out the link between the two films, and again assuming the audience know at least a little about films. It is designed to suit a younger audience who watches films as a means of enjoyment but also has a keen interest in film, but not as far to say the magazine is designed for academic purposes, this is connoted by their mode of address. 

Total film uses a range of colours in the their articles to show different sections and to draw your attention to the different breakout boxes. The use of graphics makes the whole page look aesthetically pleasing. The graphic at the bottom left hand side of the above article is a diagram which clearly shows how interesting the film is. The way it is laid out is reader friendly, and all the text is spaced out and separated into sections, rather than having everything incorporated into one main text. 
  In this particular article, there is one which picture takes up the top half of the page. The image and text are equally balanced which connotes that neither one is more important than the other, and also suggests that this is not an academic film journal, such as the likes of Sight and Sound. The caption below the main image reads, "After another muddy year, they vowed it would be their last Glastonbury." This is supposed to humorous, and actually has nothing to do with film, it is purely for entrainment purposes, which again connotes the type of audience Total Film is trying to attract.

The typical Total Film article will give you a brief description of the film, making sure not to spoil the plot or tell you what happens at the end. It also gives a balanced judgement as to whether it is honestly a good film or not. Total film will also make references to other films, for example the "see this if you liked... " break out box. The article will then end with an overall summary and be the deciding factor on whether they think a film is work seeing or not.

This is an example of a film review in Sight and Sound:

Sight and Sound is the official film journal of the BFI (British Film Institute). It was first published in 1932 and has ever since played a big role in the film industry.  Sight and Sound is a boarder line academic journal. The mode of address is very pretentious and analytical, suited best for those who don't just watch films for enjoyment, but study them as an intellectual hobby. An example this mode of address comes from the above article, "It is also typical of French auteur cinema that the lead female characters are middle-class and artistic while the working-class woman is a garish prostitute." The article is very opinionated and uses language that not everyone may understand, for example, "verisimilitude". However, the article does try to incorporate a little, so called humour, into their article in their image caption. It reads, " Aids Memoir", which is a play on words. The caption then goes on to list the actors in the photograph and then describes exactly what they are doing, with no messing about. 

Sight and Sounds stick to a very sensible blue header and blue text for the caption, but apart form that, all other text is in black, again denoting the prestige of the magazine and what type of audience it is trying to attract. There are 3 images within this article, however, the writing is still prioritised and takes up more space the images. There are no graphics used to identify the section title, which makes the page look more sophisticated. 

The typical Sight and Sound article will include 7 main sections. The first will be references to other films and name dropping, we see this in the 1st paragraph of the above article, "Homosexuality takes centre stage rather than being relegated to a subplot as in J'embrasse pas (1991) Les Roseaux sauvages (1998)" This assumes that the audience is very familiar with other french art house films, and can also read french. The second section will be a very detailed synopsis of the film, covering the whole narrative, even the ending. This will then be followed by an analysis of the narrative, including a balanced judgement. The fifth section refers to the academic themes of the film, followed by context information, then ending with a summary of the film. 

The types of films that get the most coverage in Sight and Sound are independent art house films. The writers of Sight and Sound assume the audience knows a lot about films, directors and certain vocabulary. 


This is an example of a film review in Prevue:

The film magazine "Prevue" can be picked up for free in the foyer at vue cinemas and is known as a In-House magazine. The sole purpose of the magazine is to sell all films currently being shown at the cinema in order to gain customers. As you can see when reading the above poster, there is no analytical criticisms of the film, there is nothing bad to be pointed out about it, which I am sure is not truly the case. The mode of address in this film review is chatty and informal. A prime example of this is the over use of punctuation on the line, "What do you think!?"

Empire magazine is cross between Total Film and Sight & Sound, it caters for those who enjoy films and an intellectual level, but does not into detail as far as Sight & Sound.

Film magazines, such as Total Film and Empire are also available to subscribe online. These versions of the magazine are made to be more accessible for commuters and workers on the go. It gives viewers the flexibility to read the magazine at just a click of a button, as it is sent directly to their emails, the day it is released.