Magazine Reviews...What, Where, Why?

The concept of a magazine review is fairly simple, it is a review of something- a book, a film, a song, an album, a TV show, that is displayed in a magazine. In this instance, we will be looking at magazine reviews of films, so that we can create our own one about our short film. Reviews like these appear in pretty much every magazine. But they will have their own categories. For example, the latest Paranormal Activity isn't going to be reviewed in a magazine such as 'Go Girl', which is aimed at pre-teen girls. At the same time, a film about Barbie won't be reviewed in a mens magazine such as 'Nuts'. Theres a place for all.
However, there are several magazines that dedicate themselves to all things film, such as Empire. Most genre's of film will be at least mentioned in magazines like these. These magazines may not shift as many copies as popular magazine genres like fashion or sports, but they are crucial to the film buffs and aficianados in discovering new films.
Magazine reviews can play a vital role in the advertising and the marketing of a new film. This is because people can read a review of a film that is soon being released, and then make a decision right there and then as to whether they want to see it.

Film reviwes in magazines usually include several things:
-a bold title of the film
-an image or two from the film, usually a still
-a synopsis of the film's plot- but without giving too much away
-a rating out of 5 (sometimes 10, depending on the magazine)
-a cast list
-details of the film (running time, release date, certificate rating, country of origin)
-name of director
-an honest overview of the reviewer's opinion of the film

Here is a magazine review of the film, 'Up', with the conventions clearly labelled.



-KW