where are film reviews found? (newspapers, aggregate sites)

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re are film reviews found? Film Reviews occur over a broad range of media platforms. There are magazines such as ‘Sight & Sound’ and ‘EMPIRE’ that are specifically tailored for producing film reviews and news. These magazines often publish both online, and bimonthly by post as to reach a wider audience. They are typically aimed at people who have a keen interest in film, or are critics themselves. The reviews are often highly opinionated, witty and outspoken. Magazines such as ‘EMPIRE’ are targeted more at male film watchers, thus the images on the magazine covers and the informal, chatty tone used may be indicative of this male- dominated audience. Film reviews are also posted in newspapers such as ‘The Guardian’ and ‘The Sun’. However, the quality of writing and language used can differ greatly based on the newspaper the review is under. For example, ‘The Sun’ is regarded as a biased, right-wing newspaper, that has a weak moral compass for publishing exaggerated that provide film reviews, ratings, clips and images. These sites are most popular amongst young people. They give a brief overview on the plot outline as well as a rating (out of five tomatoes) and percentage score. If the film scores 60% and over the film is considered ‘fresh’ and if it scores under 60% it is regarded as ‘rotten’ by the site. This differentiates viewers on films worth going to watch, and films that are better off avoiding. Unlike newspaper and magazine film reviews, the reviews can be provided by any member of the site. Anyone can post their personal opinions on the film and give it a rating. These ratings are considered the most reliable as there is more than one source given. This site combines the film review and score the critic has given, with the reviews and scores given by the audience. This gives the website visitors/members a sense of importance and shows that their

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Page 1: Where are film reviews found? (Newspapers, Aggregate Sites)

Where are film reviews found?Film Reviews occur over a broad range of media platforms. There are magazines such as ‘Sight & Sound’ and ‘EMPIRE’ that are specifically tailored for producing film reviews and news. These magazines often publish both online, and bimonthly by post as to reach a wider audience. They are typically aimed at people who have a keen interest in film, or are critics themselves. The reviews are often highly opinionated, witty and outspoken. Magazines such as ‘EMPIRE’ are targeted more at male film watchers, thus the images on the magazine covers and the informal, chatty tone used may be indicative of this male-dominated audience. Film reviews are also posted in newspapers such as ‘The Guardian’ and ‘The Sun’. However, the quality of writing and language used can differ greatly based on the newspaper the review is under. For example, ‘The Sun’ is regarded as a biased, right-wing newspaper, that has a weak moral compass for publishing exaggerated information that may have been obtained unethically. In contrast, ‘The Guardian’ is considered to be more central in-terms of politics, they are most notable for their articles on the ‘News of The World’ hacking scandal of 2011 and have been praised for their succinct and factually accurate reports. Aggregate sites such as ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ and ‘Metacritic’ are also highly popular websites

that provide film reviews, ratings, clips and images. These sites are most popular amongst young people. They give a brief overview on the plot outline as well as a rating (out of five tomatoes) and percentage score. If the film scores 60% and over the film is considered ‘fresh’ and if it scores under 60% it is regarded as ‘rotten’ by the site. This differentiates viewers on films worth going to watch, and films that are better off avoiding. Unlike newspaper and magazine film reviews, the reviews can be provided by any member of the site. Anyone can post their personal opinions on the film and give it a rating. These ratings are considered the most reliable as there is more than one source given. This site combines the film review and score the critic has given, with the reviews and scores given by the audience. This gives the website visitors/members a sense of importance and shows that their opinions matter. The site ‘IMDb’ similarly provides film reviews, clips, trivia and news.

Page 2: Where are film reviews found? (Newspapers, Aggregate Sites)

‘The Sun’ is a daily tabloid newspaper, publishing in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. They had the largest circulation of any daily newspaper in the United Kingdom, until the ‘Daily Mail’ overtook them in 2013. they currently have an average circulation of 2.2 million copies and an average daily readership of 5.5 million. They are well-known for their controversial headlines and articles. One of the most recent controversies was an article about migrants by The Sun’s columnist Katie Hopkins. She referred to migrants in Britain as “cockroaches” and “feral humans” sparking many condemnations from other columnists and critics. Alex Zane is the most notable columnist under the film review section of ‘The Sun’. As well as publishing a grand total of 569 reviews on this site, he has also published reviews of films such as ‘The Wolverine for The Sun. The Sun’s ‘showbiz’ section of the paper also includes information about celebrities, gossip, music and film trailers to give more substance to the review and provide more information about it’s stars and the plot-outline. ‘The Sun’ online site largely appeals to a young audience from the ages of 15-34 (approximately 4 million readers). Thus, it succeeds at targeting the younger generation and providing information (however it’s validity may be questionable!)

The ‘Film and Reviews’ section of The Guardian is a highly reputable source for film reviews covering a range of movies, from Hollywood Blockbusters, to low-budget Independent films. The Guardian was constructed with the intention of safeguarding “journalistic freedom and liberal values” and to construct articles “free from commercial or political interference”. Currently, Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian’s film critic) publishes most of the film reviews. His reviews are highly regarded by readers as opinionated, yet fair. His most notable column ‘Peter Bradshaw’s film of the week’ covers his personal current film favourites. The style of writing in The Guardian is considered sophisticated and tasteful, incorporating a more formal and respectful tone in it’s reviews. The target audience of The Guardian are typically liberal, middle-aged, educated males. 52% of readers are male with the average age of readers being 44. Despite this, their use of online articles which are able to be accessed free of charge have made the newspaper more appealing to a younger audience. They have also released an app, meaning the newspaper can be accessed by any tablet or smartphone users.

‘The Independent’ is regarded as an economically liberal, politically centrist online daily newspaper. They originally published in the form of a Broadsheet Newspaper, however they changed to tabloid format in 2003. Due to lack of circulation, the Newspaper became digital on the 12th February 2016. The ‘Culture’ section of the online newspaper contains information about TV + Radio, Film, Music, Books, Art and Theatre + Dance. The film section provides reviews on both independent and large Hollywood films as well as providing film news and trailers. Anthony Quinn is the central film critic for ‘The Independent’ with his recent reviews covering up and coming films such as ‘Blue Jasmine’ (2016) starring Cate Blanchett. 64% of readers are male, middle-class and well educated. Predominantly, people from the age of 18-24 and 35-44 make up the highest age demographics. Due to this, the target audience will correspond with the demographics. Thereby the film reviews will be well written and aimed at the age range that is most likely to watch the film.

Newspapers:

Page 3: Where are film reviews found? (Newspapers, Aggregate Sites)

‘Rotten Tomatoes’ is widely regarded as a film review aggregator, founded in August 1998 to provide film news and reviews. Despite this over the years they have also reviewed TV shows as the site began to gain more popularity. The name refers to the traditional practice of throwing rotten tomatoes if there has been a poor stage performance. They are best known for their ‘Tomatometer critic aggregate score’. This is where Rotten Tomatoes staff collect online reviews from members of the site/ film critics and then come to a conclusion whether it is a positive “fresh” review or a negative “rotten” review. If the positive reviews make up 60% + of reviews then the film is considered “fresh” whereas if they are less than 60% they are considered rotten. Each review consists of a critics consensus, featuring a brief summary of the reviews used in the entry’s aggregate score. ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ are widely recognized by film watchers and critics alike. Localized versions of this website are available in the United Kingdom, India and Australia. They are currently in the top 200, according to website ranker Alexa and place around 550 globally. The ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ user community has allowed a range of different people to correspond with one another and submit their opinions about film and television.

Aggregate Sites:

‘Metacritic’ is an aggregate site that currently reviews music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs (and also used to review books). For each product that is reviewed a score out of one hundred is given. To reach a total score, based on all reviews of that product the total has to be averaged. The three colours system (green, orange and red) indicates whether or not a product is worth endorsing. Whilst ‘Metacritic’ has mostly gained recognition for it’s video game reviews, they also “cover a broad range of media (Jason Dietz). Their “Metascore” system is as follows:

‘Metacritic’ also has ranked films, video games etc such as the Top 10 “Best Movies of All Time” list. Currently, Metacritic’s Alexa ranking is 1,505 with a substantially large viewership and members of the site.

‘IMDb’ is an online database/aggregate site proving information of films, TV shows and video games. Some of their well known features include cast and production crew lists, fictional characters, biographies, plot summaries, trivia and reviews. ‘IMDb’ is largely recognised by the film industry, and is where actors and crew can upload their personal résumé and pictures for a small fee. If you are a US user, you also can have access to movies and television shows e.g CBS as well as a variety of independent film makers. They are currently in the top 49 on the Alexa ranking and have over 65 million registered users as of January 2016. The films are rated from a scale of 1-10 by many users, before a mean score is produced. The site encourages interactions between different users by featuring message boards which regularly include debates about film, actors etc. Users also can make their own personal lists based on categories e.g ‘Top LGBT films on Netflix’