Film Magazine Deconstruction 

I looked at a range of film magazines to help me in my construction of my film review page. I realise that my main aim is to balance authenticity with production values. 






EMPIRE


Industry info: Commercial magazine; for the general public. Mainstream publisher.
Audience: General public; 18-24 is the demographic audience. Mainly men.
Quantity of film coverage- Lead review: Kiss Ass and Clash of the Titans- lead reviews. Wide variety of films are reviewed ranging from a two page review, to half an A4 review. 





SIGHT AND SOUND

Industry info: BFI- subsidised 

Audience: General public: Mainly for media literate people interested in film. Not commercial- small scale art house.

Quantity of film coverage- Lead review: Lead review- In a Foreign Land; not a well known film, reflects the type of magazine. Again, a wide variety of reviews- ranging from long to very short. Almost like a film bible- all films will at some point be reviewed in this magazine.

LITTLE WHITE LIES

Industry info: The Church of London- design and publishing company

Audience: Has been considered a 'highbrow consumerism'- more upmarket and less commercial.

Quantity of film coverage- Lead review: No lead review. Pretty equal amount on each film. Films are split into categories in the Contents page to make it easier to find the review you want.

SHORT LIST

Industry info: Free- funded by publishing

Audience: Casual magazine- commercial. Aimed specifically at men; 18-30

Quantity of film coverage- Lead review: The Social Network- lead review, also on the front cover of the magazine. That was the only film review- magazine also features fashion, cars, sports etc.

TIME OUT 

Industry info: Commercial; general interests listings magazine

Audience: General public; causal. Adults more than children.

Quantity of film coverage- Lead review: Another Year- lead review; acclaimed director, Mike Leigh- type of film mirrors the magazine.

TOTAL FILM

Industry info: Commercial, mainstream publishers.

Audience: Casual- general public- not specialised. 

Quantity of film coverage- Lead review: Due Date- lead review- took up most space. A range of films- all different genres. 

SIXTH SENSE

Industry info: Camden School for Girls 

Audience: Students, teachers and parents.

Quantity of film coverage- Lead review: Three films reviewed. Most striking- Shutter Island. Other two- Precious and Funny People.

Film Review page deconstruction: EMPIRE

First page of review

Second page of review

The main review in Empire magazine is Scorses's 'Shutter Island'.

Although the layout of the review isn't full of manipulated photos which use a variety of impressive effects, all in all it is successfully made and shows digital excellence.

The entry point is the large photo of DiCaprio and Ruffalo from the film, and this takes up the majority of the space- perhaps even three quaters of the spread. This is something that I will consider when making my film review- I like the idea of having one large photo which can sum up the film. The title of the film, written on the top left hand corner of the review, is written in turquoise, it is bold and capitalised yet does not take up a large amount of space on the page. The slug written beneath the title is done in what looks like Times New Roman (black italics) and is significantly smaller than the title. The use of different fonts and font sizes here differentiates the title and the tag line and encourages us to focus on the title of the film first.

What makes the layout more interesting are the little effects it includes, such as the pull quotes from the main article; this is written in white capitals and is framed in a box the same colour as the title of the film. Similarly there is a bleed on the right hand side of the spread where a text box covers a picture; it says 'Look Closer'; we are told that the two actors in the film worked with eachother previously. I think this small bit of information is a great idea as it takes us away from the film for an instant and informs us about the actors. I think it would be a good idea for me to include a bleed on my review page perhaps giving the readers some facts and figures about match.com- I feel this would interest the people reading the review.

VIDEO DIARY
How shooting my film really went...


DAY 1: 26th October 2010

DAY 2: 6th November 2010

DAY 3: 14th November 2010

Audience Feedback- First draft of film

I showed my class teacher the first draft of my short film and generally her comments were very positive.


She praised me for having a range of shots, with interesting types of lighting, and for making the film in such a way that she was interested in the character and wanted to know more about her.


The bits of the film she said I could improve on was the transition from the first shot to the second as I was filming the same footpath but the camera moved slightly so the positioning of the shots weren't perfect.


In the section of the film where Tina is sitting on the sofa, my teacher commented on the order of the shots. My shots were quite mis matched- I had a long shot then a close up then a mid shot. Instead, she told me to get gradually closer to the character so I changed the order of the shots from long shot to extreme close up- this looks slicker and the film now flows more fluently.


The title sequence at the start of the film is in the style of a typewriter so each individual word appears one after the other. I was told to either find a classic typewriting font or, for coherency issues, to keep the same font I used on my poster.  

Location Shots

Location Shots

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Storyboard

Here is my storyboard.
There have been a few shot changes during filming as I decided that I could improve in some ways. However, this is almost exactly how the film will look.

Storyboard

View more documents from larabusinaro.

Shooting Schedule

HALF TERM: Shoot all the PARK scenes on one day: 26/10/2010 at 1-3pm
CAST NEEDED: Olivia Camillo: 1pm

Lara Businaro and Alan Aberdeen: 1.30pm

Italia Camillo and Enzo Darra: 2pm
Sat 6th/ Sun 7th November: Shoot HOUSE scenes during DAY, EVENING and NIGHT. 

Shoot CAR PARK scene during NIGHT

CAST NEEDED: Tina Yeomans: 1pm- 4pm (Saturday)

7.30pm and 10pm (Saturday)

11-12pm- Re-do any unfinished scenes (Sunday)

Cristian, Chiara and Marco Yeomans: 7.30pm (Saturday)

Neil Yeomans: 5pm (Saturday)

                 

Tina Yeomans and Maurizio Businaro: 11pm (Saturday)

                           

 Sat 13^th November: PARK scene at end of film: 1-2pm

Tina Yeomans: 1-2pm
Guido Pietrobon: 1-2pm

Sun 14th November: Shoot unfinished HOUSE scenes during DAY, EVENING and NIGHT

Characters

·              Tina Yeomans 

·                     Cristian, Chiara and Marco Yeomans- Tina's three children

·                     Voice of Olivia Camillo- Tina's sister 

·                     Lara Businaro and Alan Aberdeen, Italia Camillo and Enzo Darra 

·                     Guido Pietrobon - Plays ALAN (the seemingly good date)

·                     Maurizio Businaro- Plays TIM (the bad date)

·                     Neil Yeomans-  Peter

·                     Neil Aberdeen- Jonathan

Health and Safety

My three cousins are under 16 so I have received permission from my Aunt Tina to film them.

I am carrying my camera and my tripod in waterproof bags and if it rains I will be sure to put it away. I will carry both pieces of equipment around me at all times to limit the threat of theft while I am filming in public places.

I have already asked Waterlow park café for permission to film in the park and for a later scene in the café, and they have agreed to allow me as long as no children under 18 are in shot. If anyone does not wish to be filmed I have to make sure to appeal to their wishes and not film in their direction.

I also must be sure that none of my filming equipment is in the way of the public paths as this could lead to someone being tripped up.

Props and Costumes

• Book- 'Wuthering Heights' for lonely woman in the park
• Umbrella for the end of the film when Tina and Alan walk off together
• Perfume Tina sprays as she gets dressed
• Black dress and coloured dress for Tina to choose from
• Black boots and black jacket
• Black bag

Equipment

·         Canon EOS 7D camera

·         Tripod

·         Mac Book Pro

·         Lamps and torches for mood lighting

U

PRODUCTION NAME

The inspiration for my production name 'Sick Rose Production' came from William Blake's poem The Sick Rose.



William Blake

"O Rose, thou art sick!

The invisible worm,



That flies in the night,

In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy;

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy"

The reason I chose this name is because the juxtaposition of the words 'sick' and 'rose' highlights the bitter sweet nature of love and the fact that it has the power to disappoint. 

The word 'rose' also has strong connotations with love and my film is essentially,  a subverted love story.

The production name does not explicitly include the word 'love' which was also deliberate as in case I wanted to make another short film in the future which was of an entirely different genre, there wouldn't be any reference to 'love' in the production company.