post 17: film review

When looking at film reviews I compared both Sight and Sound Magazine and Empire Magazine.

Sight and Sound Magazine is a magazine created by the British Film Industry and reviews mainstream, as well as art house films, however it is known to focus on more serious and industry based films. The magazine it self has come under criticism as many readers have said the magazine shows elitism, puritanism and upper-class snobbery. Empire Magazine is a monthly published British film magazine by Bauer Consumer Media. The magazine rivals with Total Film Magazine. Empire reviews both mainstream and art films, however the main articles focus mainly on mainstream films.

When looking at articles from both magazines I picked out certain traits that were apparent when they reviewed a film. I began looking at a review for the independent film 'Frozen'. In this review there is the title of the film at the top and directly below it is a brief summary of who the director is, who the actors are, the certificate, running time and country it is released in and year of production.

We then get to the main article which firstly begins talking about the directors previous work, and makes reference to her short film 'Mavis and the Mermaid'. It then begins talking about the film and mentions what camera the film is shot on, and talks about the location of the film, which is Lancashires Morecambe Bay. I noticed straight from the beginning that the words used sounded very articulated and spoken by someone who possibly speaks like this regularly. We then get to the lead actor and a breif peice of her history is mentioned. The characters portrayal is talked about, and reffered to the film helping the reader create a link between the the lead actor and what the film is about.

I then looked at an Empire Article and looked at how they wrote an article compared to Sight and Sound. I noticed immediatley that the tone of writing was completley different
as it was more relaxed and informal compared to Sight and Sound. Also with Empire there is a certain wit which they incorporate into their writing. For example on the main picture on the right of Colin Farrel there is a smal gag. You wouldn't find this in a Sight and Sound article. When it came to using pictures there were some differences such as Empire use the picture to draw the audience in, whilst at the same time they are very similar as they use the title character in the image associated with the film. It shows that they both use the star power to bring the audience in. Also at the end of the article, as this is a DVD release article as well it includes some detail as to what you will get in terms of extras with the DVD. After that there is a rating system which they use to allow audienes know what they think really quickly.

After comparing the two articles I decided to base my article on Empire Magazine as it is more visually interesting and also I like the layout and how they structure the article with everything making sense with the article, then the extras and finally the star rating. Personally I believe that the star rating is good as some people will flick through a magazine and if they see something with a high star rating there is a good chance they will stop and read the review if they are interested.

When it came to writing my actual article I had to take myself out of a directors perspective and view the film from a analytical point of view. I began by talking about what the film is about by comparing it to some big budget hollywood films that are similar. After that I informed the reader that this was a debutant film. I went on to introduce the actors and the director and mention as to what the do in the film. Following on from that I talked slightly about the title character and what he symbolises through out the film. As a concluding paragrah I highlighted weaknesess and gave it a star rating.