Film magazines- Reviews

Film MagazinesThere are not that many film magazines on the market, however there are two main ones which are very popular. Both ‘Film’ and ‘Empire’ are very well known and feature the very latest Hollywood blockbuster releases. Cinemas also offer magazines with information about upcoming films and reviews such as Odeon’s magazine and Cineworld’s Unlimited. I could not find any magazines that were specifically for short films, however some film festivals offer brochure like magazines. Animation magazine would be the most appropriate magazine for my animated short story to be promoted in as it would reach the right audience. As my film will be aimed at children, I could also have features in children’s magazines such as CBBC.

Film ReviewsMy short animated film will be generally shown at independent film festivals. The reviews for it will also be in magazines produced specially for independent films (given out or bought from festivals/ internet), or as it is mainly aimed at children, in children's magazines such as CBBC. I was unable to find any magazines of this type, so due to my large target audience, I looked a 4 different film reviews from 4 different target audience magazines.

15- 40yrs females

16yrs+ males and females

12yrs+ males and females

25yrs+ males and females

Conventions of a magazine film review

Large image dominating ½- ¾ of the page of the main protagonists

Often a secondary image/ still from the film which is much smaller

The title of the film is nearly always in a large bold font (quite often in capital letters) either at the top or bottom of the main image

Below this title is normally some kind of tag line Either before the review starts of after it, there

will be the name of the director, running time, studios/ production company, stars, brief plot outline and the release date

Finally there will be a star rating by the magazine

Reviews- heat

5- List of top 10 films currently in the cinema. These have a short couple of sentences giving a brief outline of the story, a star rating and the film classification.

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1- Large main image of the main characters of the film. This is accompanied with a caption.2- Title of the film is in a large serif font, in the same house colour as the other titles (purple). The main article features 7 different headings/ sections about the film. These are:Stars of the film, Director, The Plot, What's right with it/ good points, What's wrong with it/ bad points, verdict and a star rating.

3- A smaller, secondary image/ still from the film. This is conventional for a film review to include this.4- Star profile- offering the reader information about who the star is, interesting facts about them and the previous work they have done.

6- Shorter reviews of other films out this week. These include the same 7 things as the main review but with shorter summaries.

7- A final film review- This offers 5 things about a newly released film which you should know along with a star rating.

Reviews- Empire

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1- Large main image of the main character of the film. This is accompanied with a caption. In the top left corner of this image is a banner with the genre of the films reviewed on this page.

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2- A smaller, secondary image/ still from the film. This is conventional for a film review to include this.3- Shorter reviews of other films out this month (include same features as the main review just more brief).

4- Title of the film in a sans serif font (in capitals).

5-Details about the film- the release date, stars and director6- Review of the film. This includes a stand first, quotes from the director and the magazines opinion on the film.7- This magazine also includes an also coming review which includes brief details about an upcoming film. The copy includes highlighted quotes and points to grab the readers attention as being the most important pieces of information.

Reviews- Odeon1

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4- Title of the film in a sans serif font (in capitals) followed by the review. This includes a brief outline of the plot and the stars that are in it.

1- Title of the page, along with a tag line. This is in a banner which spreads across the page

3- Large main image of the main character of the film. This is accompanied with a caption.

2- Details of the release dates of future films along with a very brief outline.

5-Details about the film- the release date, stars and director6- A did you know fact about the film. The colour of this really stands out against the background, as it is seen as an exclusive feature.This article/ review is more unusual as it is in an A6 sized magazine which means the double page is A4. This would be the sort of size of a magazine for a film festival.

Reviews- Live (Mail on Sunday supplement)

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1- Images of the film during production and also stills from the actual film. These image are more of a montage which is unusual, as reviews normally only include one main image. These are separated by a gutter.2- Title of the film in a style that matches the genre. It appears to be quite an animated font fitting in with the animated film.3- Stand first/ brief summary of the film and its review. This is followed by the buzz word ‘exclusive’ to attract readers.4- Rhetorical question/ tag line referring to the film article. 5- Large main image from the film. This is very conventional of a magazine film review.6- Review/ interview with the director of the film, explaining the storyline and production of the film.

7- Small image of the director placed in the centre of the text columns.

Article Analysis

I found it difficult to find examples of short film reviews in magazines, however managed to find an example of an article about how one was made. This article is from the magazine Animation, and consists of a number of images of the producers at work. Under each image is a caption explaining the process and narrating the images you see.

I really like the unusual layout of this article. The page mainly consists of images, and around these are short captions. These are placed around the images following their shape. You would not see this style of article in any type of magazine other than one based around the creative genre.

This article about the day in the life of an animator really caught my attention due to the use of bold bright colours. The way each of the images are framed in different colours and are different sizes make it look almost animated in itself.

Animation Magazine This magazine is the one of the types that

my animation would be seen in. Animation Magazine is a monthly

publication covering the animation industry, including different reviews about film and television animation, visual effects and video games.

Founded in 1986 by Terry Thoren, the print magazine is published every month in USA, and features articles on current animated movies and short animated films, animated television series, visual effects from big productions, interactive design of titles and software releases from different studios inside and out of USA and independent producers.

Editorial covers all forms of animation; 2D animation, 3D for animation and visual effects, or stop-motion, and the profiles of the artists behind the productions.

It also includes stories about what's happening within the world of animation including information about new programs and software packages.

The covers of the magazines vary from hand drawn animations to modern computerized ones.

The masthead for the magazine often changes colour dependent of the issue and cover image. You can still easily recognise the magazine though by the font style on the masthead.

http://www.animationmagazine.net/

Animation Magazine