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.