1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

ArticleHeadline

Subheading

Pull quote

Main Image

Caption

Text (feature article)

Date and page number

Website

Overview

TitleSecondary image

Conventions of Film MagazinesWhat type of film magazine was it intended for?

Our film review article is made to represent the style of Empire and Total Film magazines, therefore I have used a bright colour scheme and kept a colloquial, informal tone within the article. As our film is aimed at young people, Total Film is the perfect magazine to review it, as it includes lots of iconography and doesn’t give too much of the film away. We made the style of our article short and catchy to appeal to it’s audience, it uses humorous language and lots of adjective’s to give an opinionated review of the film while leaving enough to the imagination. Also, to keep with the conventions of Total Film I have utilised a lot of space using images; screenshots of our film to have visual impact on the reader. The colours used on the double page spread are bright and vibrant to attract the audience’s attention, suggesting it is made for Total Film. When conducting researched we concluded that Total Film is more appealing to our target age group, therefore tried to follow every convention to make it look like an article from this magazine, overall I believe it would successfully fit in with the magazine’s house style.

Examples of Total Film and Empire Film Reviews

These are two examples of film reviews from Total Film and Empire magazine and relate to the layout we used in our double page spread. The use of one main image and a few smaller images is effective as it gives a varied idea to what the film includes.

How does it adhere to layout and design conventions? (Analyse colour scheme, font choice, positioning and link to your reader and style

of magazine). The layout we used is similar to those in Total Film magazine, using one large image and two smaller screenshots . This gives the audience a visual insight into the film and appeals to our audience more than text would.

The headline and subheading are both positioned at the top left hand side of the page as this is where the eye is drawn to first. It first indicates the feature then the title and star of the short film. This simply shows the theme of the feature then the title of the film about to be reviewed.

I have positioned a main image on the left hand side of the page, slightly overlapping onto the second page to give the audience a lot to look at, as images are just as important as text in Total Film magazine. The two small images are extra indications of what the film is about.

I used the colours black, red and blue as they are bold and stand out against a white background. I think these colours will appeal to my audience as they have a dramatic effect on the eye and will draw people in to read it.

When making the article I looked in Empire magazine and used their style of page numbers and dates on my own product. I think this evens out the page and looks professional and stylish, which will appeal to my young audience. I have also added the website at the bottom so readers can find out more information and interact with the film.

I made a logo for my magazine feature ‘The Small Screen’, by creating a silhouette of a clap board on Photoshop. This is effective as it associates the reader’s mind with films as soon as they look at the page.

I have followed the conventions of film magazines by using captions on the images to give a clue into the storyline of the film.

The overview of the film is bold and contains the relevant information the audience need to know about the film.

I have used a simple font ‘Arial Black’ for the article to make it legible for the audience. I have used a slightly fancier font for the title of the film and the pull quote, this font is used within the film credits and this gives a house-style to our products.

Analyse the title (What should it do and how did you attempt to achieve an effective title?)

The title of our review page in the film magazine is called ‘The Small Screen’. This title came from a feature in ‘Total Film’ called Screen. As our film is a short film we decided to make our page a feature dedicated to short films, hence the word ‘small’ in the title. ‘The Small Screen’ is an effective title for a short film feature as it creates a sense of short movies. Also the alliteration makes it flow and will attract the audience. The title is meant make a bold statement and catch the reader’s attention to make them read on, I believe this title does that.I chose the colours red and black as they are bold and will stand out on the page, I also made the ‘S’s black for a more professional look. Furthermore the logo of the clap board gives visual impact to the title which is effective as the target audience is more drawn to images than text.

This is the feature from Total Film where I got my inspiration.

Analyse the mode of address and article content (who were you writing for and how did you address your reader - how did you speak to them? Refer to examples

by quoting parts of your article and analysing the purpose.)

The review of our short film was intended for Total Film or Empire magazine therefore had to have a casual, friendly tone to appeal to it’s young audience. I opened the article with a rhetorical question, ‘what more do you want crammed into a five minute movie’ to grab the reader’s attention and keep them involved. This technique is also used in an example from Total Film magazine in their review of ‘Hall Pass’ (‘Would you allow your other half to have a week of consequence-free horn-dogging in order to enliven your relationship?’) . I have used colloquial language such as, ‘weird’, ‘rather sad’, ‘unreal’ to sound friendly and relate to the young audience. This will keep them reading and sounds like language they would normally use. The review gives opinions, but also keeps the reader involved ‘rather sad when you think this is only five minutes of your life staring at a screen’ . This is humorous and will bring a personal feel to the review to keep the audience reading. This humorous was added as a result of my research , finding that a successful article contained humour. The article is entertaining and addresses the reader personallyand humorously and is not too over informative. The review doesn’t give too much of the plot away whichmakes it perfect for Total Film or Empire.

Click here to see the Total Film review of Hall Passhttp://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/hall-pass

What "rules" did you follow when writing the review? (Refer to examples)

When writing my review I had to take into account the target audience and what they would expect from a good film review. I used casual language and rhetorical questions to keep the reader involved and to keep their attention. The rules I followed were to keep the sentences short, to use lots of images and to not give too much of the story away. I believe I followed these rules when making my article.

Analyse the images you used and the captions you created.

This photo is from our car scene in the film, in which technology (mobile phone) causes the main disaster in the film. I like this photo as it shows his face and the phone, but also the surroundings, which include tree’s, which link to the main theme of the film. I captioned this photo ‘Dangerous driving?’ to question the audience so they can make their own assumptions about what is happening. Also, the alliteration creates effect and gives the picture more impact.

This is another image from the film and shows a close up of the wedding ring. I think the shallow depth of field on the image draws positive attention to the beautiful ring and will make the reader wonder what the story behind it is. I have captioned this photo, ‘All that is left…’ to create dramatic impact and to shock the audience into watching the film/ reading the review to find out what happens.

This is the main imaged used in my article, it shows the tree and the two main characters and has a soft atmospheric look to it. I like this photo as it is a central image of the central parts of the film. I have used the caption ‘Teenage sweethearts, William and Jane (Appleyard and Mannix)’ to give the actor’s names, which is what is done in Total Film magazine. I think it shows the happy element of the film which the audience will be content with, but will question the happiness when looking at the other photos, therefore will want to watch the film to find out the story.

Did you use pull quotes? (Explain why you used them and how you selected them)

I used this pull quote in the center of the page as it was an effective part of the article. I decided to use the font I used for the film title as it related directly to the film and this font was used in the film credits. I used the colour blue to keep with the house style of the page, but also to give an emotional, calm feel to the page. I used this quote as the abstract nouns, ‘fear, guilt and regret’ as they help the audience grasp the main concepts of the film and enables them to decide if they are attracted to the film. The quote has been specifically chosen as it highlights a positive opinion which will beneficial to the film’s appeal and generate interest in the film.