Monday 11 October 2010

Film Magazine Review Page (Three Different Films)



Empire Film Reviews: Lust, Caution
The use of images on the magazine page is fairly simple. There is only one image at the top of the page and fills half the page. The image used is shown to represent the genre of the film which is drama. The woman is lying on the man and they are making intense eye contact and this reinforces the title of the film and why they use ‘Lust’ but at the same time they use ‘Caution’ which may suggest that there may be a twist in the plot of the film. The columns are also organised in a simple way and this may relate to the modesty of the film. In total there are four columns used and is started off by a general summary of the film and main facts. The use of columns is very significant in a magazine review page as it makes the writing easy to read and flows succinctly. The style and size of fonts used are very typical of a magazine review. The title of the film is the in the biggest font on the page and this is done for obvious reasons and to let the audience know what the title of the film is. Underneath the title is a short sentence from the editor summarising what he thinks about the film in a short stretch. However at the bottom of the page is a sentence which is second largest in terms of font size. This is another comment from the editor of the page and this may be done to suggest the importance of the words used. Also there is an instep on the photo of the film which gives a few facts and is named ‘Look closer’. It talks about some few facts about the director of the film (Ang Lee) and is additional information given to the audience. The colour of the writing of the columns is ain black and this is the standard colour used in any magazine review page as it is the main information. There is a box at the beginning of the columns and the sub titles (such as: director, cast, etc.) are in yellow. This is done to differentiate different information and it makes it easy for the reader to consume and understand.  At the very top of the page it says ‘In Cinemas’ which lets the audience know that they can watch it. It also says that it received 9,000 reviews on empireonline.com. This gives the film critical acclaim and it enables the audience to come to terms with what other people think about the film. The method used to rate the film is using stars and this film has been given a 4 star rating which on the Empire film website means ‘excellent’. The star rating system allows the reader to judge how the film will be like and links in with the rest of the review page.



Total Film Reviews: Capote
In this film magazine review page, there is also only one image used to present the whole film. This is done to connote the overall simplicity of the film and allows the reader to judge the film form one picture, which may be difficult at times. Another reason why only one image is used is to tell the audience or try to portray what the genre of the film is which a biography/crime/drama. It can be judged that the film is a crime or drama by the way the man is dressed (in a suit) and the fact that he is holding a cigarette in a relaxed mood.  Also because he is at a restaurant and this setting is typical of a film of this genre. The columns are laid out in a straightforward manner. The columns are separated by dotted lines and it makes it easier for the reader to digest and this is common amongst Total Film Review pages. The style and fonts used on the page are relatively simple. Next to the title of the film is the age rating which is in red. Beneath the title is a little caption added by the editor saying ‘Art and death meet in superb biopic…’ This slows the reader to have an insight of what the film might be about. Underneath this is the release date of the film and is in a blue box. This is done to make it bold and standout as the release date is a vital element of a new film as it informs the audience when it is coming out in the cinemas. The summary of the film is section is a small box and is highlighted in bold to also make it stand out. Apart from this, there are not much colour or font styles used in the film magazine review. The fact that the film has not come out yet is important for the promotion of the film and the content of the review as people do not know what the film is about, it is integral that the review is up to scratch and is of high quality. The method used to rate the film is different form the Empire Film Review page. In this page, they use an interest curve. This is a graph that demonstrates which moments of a film are likely to hold the viewer's attention. The graph line is relatively high and starts off at ‘entertained and gradually rises to ‘thrilled’ at the end. This is a clever tool used by Total films because it makes their reviews unique and it lets the audience know what they will feel like when they watch certain parts of the film.  Next to this is a blue box which states that the reader will like this film if you have seen other films which are similar. Beside this is another box which shows the editors’ verdict and what they think of the film and underneath this, a star rating system is used and in this case, it is given four stars.


Sight and Sound Reviews: Disaster Movie           
This film magazine review page is quite different from the other two. Once again, one image is used in the right hand corner of the page. A memorable picture is used to allow the audience to know what the main genre of the film is which is comedy. Underneath the picture is a caption which says ‘New comedic nadir...’ and is says the main actors which star in the film in relation to the picture. The columns are also organised differently form the other two as there is only one, long column stating the actual review. This may be beneficial to the reader in a sense that they will not have much to read. The main column is in the middle and to the left of this is detailed information about the credits (producers, visual effects etc.) next to this is a column stating the whole cast of the film (the actual actor and the character they play in the film. To the right side of the main column is another four columns giving details about the credits (directors, music, etc.) this information may not be necessary for the reader and they will not want to read so much information about the ‘key hairstylist’ for example. The overall layout of the columns on the page is diversified and this may relate to the actual film itself and the fact that it is comedy; it is light hearted and is not taken seriously. At the foot of the page is a box stating the synopsis of the film and the box is coloured a different colour to make it stand out from the rest of the writing. The style and size of fonts used is very simple.  The title of the film is in bold black writing as this is probably the most important thing on the page. The caption underneath the picture is in red writing and so are the words ‘credits’ and ‘synopsis’.  On the page of the film, there is no rating system used. This may put off readers and potential viewers of the film as there is no judgement of the film in terms of stars or interest curve. Therefore, the reader is left to judge what they think about the film which could be beneficial as they are not influenced by any other opinions from other people.

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