We have specifically looked at the magazines Empire and Total Film as they are two of the most popular film review magazines. We will use one of them as the template structure for our our own review (as though they decided to review our film like a blockbuster).
EMPIRE:
Total Film:
To familiarise us with using the software Quark Express, we made our own Empire front cover. Although this does not relate to the magazine review task, the tools on how to layer and position images will help us to create a successful movie poster. Here are our Empire front covers:
Lewis:
Jess:
Dean:
We brought two popular film magazines to investigate the conventions of a magazine review. We have taken reviews from both magazines and will look for the conventions, and house styles of each magazine. They will help us to pick features and use in our own magazine review.
Empire (Double Page) :
Here is a double page spread review for the upcoming "Wreck It Ralph." Empire have chosen to have two stills from the movie as the main focus of the review, this is an advertising technique. To do this they have used the rule of thirds and placed the images in the center to attract the audiences attention. There are three columns of written text which includes a list of; Release date, certificate, and cast. These are all vital pieces of information needed to inform the reader about the film in an attempt to see if the film suits them. Within the article there seems to be a particular style and a consistency of colours. From research this is the house style of Empire magazine and this same layout would be seen on every review. The blue arrow at midway down the article suggests where the review starts, and this co ordinates with the "Look Closer" speech bubble that is over the bottom image. Empire have also included using the blue to highlight important pieces of information such as the release date etc. The title is written in bold and clearly tells the reader what the article is about. We have also noticed that there is a black border along the top and bottom of the page. Within the footer of the page there is the page number, issue number, the name of the magazine and the Empire web address. We like this idea and may use this technique when we are completing our magazine review.
Total Film (Double Page) :
Here is another two page spread review, but from Total Film magazine. We have chosen this magazine to compare to the Empire double spread to investigate how different companies have different house styles and if there are any other techniques used that we would like to use when making our magazine review. Again like Empire the main focus of this article/review is the image from the film. Similarly the film title is also in bold and a large font to inform the reader about the piece. This magazine review however has used a coloured square over the first letter of the review to indicate where the article begins. Unlike Empire, there are multiple columns of information but there is only one column that is the length of the page. Throughout the article there are headings that use the house colour which brakes up the article and starts a new topic after each heading. We like the idea of using one colour throughout the article and will consider this style or convention when creating our own magazine review. Also at the bottom of the page is the page number and additional information such as a webpage that can be used for further reading or to enable the reader to watch the trailer of the film they have just read about.
Empire (Single Page) :
This single page review is similar to the double page review and is found in the same magazine, therefore will have a similar layout and colour scheme. The bold text to introduce the article or review is a convention of all magazine film reviews and we shall use this convention when creating and writing our film review. The short blocks of text also make it more appealing to the reader and brakes up the text well. The pull out quote at the top right of the page is also a convention of this particular magazine and is written in a larger text than the rest of the text and is written in italics to make it stand out.
Total Film (Single) :
We have chosen this single page review from Total Film magazine to compare to the double page spread of Empire. Both magazines are reviewing the same film but have chosen to use different stills from the film, but after reading the articles they both include similar details such as a simple plot line, cast, and star ratings from newspapers. In this magazine they choose to put the pull out quote within the text but with a run around to make it stand out from the other text whereas Empire magazine position it differently and tend not to use a run around which is odd because a run around in a convention of any reviews or articles. Similarly both reviews have a caption written in white upon the picture, detailing exactly what is in the image, we shall use this feature in our review. With in Total Film's review of Wreck it Ralph and Zero Dark Thirty both have a predicted interest curve in the bottom left hand corner. This feature was found on more than one occasion when we was reading through the magazine. This curve indicates to the reader where the most interesting points within the film are and when to expect the more interesting bits such as the rising action and where the less interesting plot points are such as the resolution. We like this feature and may include this within our own review.
To familiarise us further with the software, we made a mock up of a film review within a magazine. We tried to follow most conventions of film reviews. However, we have not written a full review of our film , firstly because we have not created our film and secondly there is a block of text that is used to fill in written space and does not take away from the actual layout of the review known as Lorum Ipsom. Below are our attempts:
Lewis:
Jess:
Dean:
To further our research and to see the conventions of film reviews we decided to deconstruct a film review to enable us to look closer at the features.
After deconstructing this article we have noticed a handful of features that reoccur throughout each magazine, they include:
- Bold, large title
- Columns of text
- Pull out quote/Run around
- Look closer box, positioned over image
- Image from film
- Page number/Issue/Web address in footer
- Colour scheme/House Style
- Star rating
Our next step is to create our article layout and to actually write a film review for our own film. This will be completed after we have made our final cut.
Final draft:
Final draft:
Here is a revised version of our magazine review, to fulfil the feedback we had off our target audience.
No comments:
Post a Comment