Research: Similar Products (Review Page)

Connor O’Reilly9290

Connor O'Reilly 9290

Introduction

Before I start drafting ideas for the short-film review page, I need to deconstruct some existing products and understand the conventions and why they are used so often.

It is not common for a short-film to have a whole page review (usually there are more than one short-film reviews on a page, typically 4-5), so this is why I have analysed feature length film reviews as they have the same conventions as short-film reviews.

CAPTION

BODY COPY

COVER LINES

LOGO (of this section of the magazine)

DROP-CAP

END BLOB

FURNITURE

FURNITURE

HEADLINE

INDENTED COPY

LOGO(Of the magazine)

SANS SERIF HEADLINE

SERIF COPY

TEXT WRAP

FILM REVIEW PAGE CONVENTIONS OF AN EXISTING PRODUCTEmpire

MagazineSeptember

2013Review of “The

Way, Way Back”

MAIN IMAGES

Review Page for The Way, Way Back Headline – The headline is one of the most

important elements of a film magazine review. This is because it is one of the first things that the reader sees, so it is important to make sure it stands out. In this review page, they use a large yellow sans serif font on a black background. The colours used are part of the house style too so a great sense of uniformity is felt by the audience, which makes it comfortable for consumers. It is a convention for the headline to be a sans serif font because it is the easiest typeface to read when used at a large font size.

Main Image – The main images are also some of the most important elements of a film magazine review. They are also one of the first things that the reader sees, so it is paramount that they use interesting images that will attract the reader to read this review. They tend to be shots of the main character in various parts of the film. It is a convention to have 1 – 2 main images. In this case, 2 main images are used and do not overcrowd the page.Body Copy – The body copy is conventionally a serif font because it is a small font size and serif fonts are the easiest to read at this size. The body copy is typically split into columns in the bottom half of the page. This review page follows these conventions. It also wraps the text around an additional image which makes it interesting for the reader to look at.

CAPTION

BODY COPY

COVER LINES

LOGO (of this section of the magazine)

FURNITURE

FURNITURE

HEADLINE

INDENTED COPY

SANS SERIF HEADLINE

SERIF COPY

FILM REVIEW PAGE CONVENTIONS OF AN EXISTING PRODUCT 2

Total Film Magazine

Review of “The King”

MAIN IMAGE

VERDICT BOX

Review Page for The King Verdict Box – This example had a few extra conventions. One of

these is the verdict box. This is a very important piece of furniture for a film review page because it acts as a synopsis and a conclusion for the film. It explains how many stars it got and why it deserved that amount of stars given. It is an important part of the review because it immediately tells the reader what the film is like. In this review page, it stays within the house style of the magazine but uses white on black text to make it stand out. This is a good convention to use.

Main Image – In this example there is only one main image that takes up just over half of the page. The overall composition is still comfortable to look at. In my opinion, one main image is better than several because it allows the reader to reflect on the type of movie that the review is on. This main image represents the film as being a drama because there is no action. There is also a suggestion of romance because the woman is leaning on the man. It is a convention to have the main image represent the film in the best way possible.

Body Copy – The body copy is sans serif font, which is not a convention of a film review page. However, it gives a modern feel to the magazine and is not too small, so it is still comfortable to read. The copy is indented, which allows the reader to know that it is a new paragraph and gives them time to reflect on the previous paragraph. The columns are split by dashed lines which also informs the audience that the copy is in columns and makes the composition nice to look at and read. House Style – There is a strong sense of house style which creates uniformity. This attracts an audience because it is nice to look at. In this case, the house style has the colours: blue, red, white and black.

Connor O'Reilly 9290

Conclusion

Doing this research task I have a much better idea of the conventions of a film review page.

I will be sure to include many of these conventions when drafting ideas for my film review page such as: a sans serif headline, strong house style, a verdict box, etc.