Magazine Review...First Draft

This is our first draft of our magazine review. It includes a picture of the main character, Paul, a still from the short film and the production company logo. It also has a bold title, release date information and the article itself. However, after recieving feedback, we have decided to make several changes to that layout. This is because our own personal opinions mixed with the feedback of others concluded that the layout didn't look much like a magazine. This is because, to start with, magazine layouts seldom include a background any other colour than white, so this will be one of the changes we make. Another issue we picked up on was the images involved. The image of Jacob (Paul) includes him wearing an outfit than is not seen in the film, so this may confuse readers. The production company logo is also unneccessarily large and covers up part of the title, which will cause a reader, who does not already know the title, confusion. There is also little emphasis on the supporting characters, so this will be added in to the article.
Once these changes have been made a newer version will be uploaded.


-KW

How we are constructing our magazine review...

We are about to begin our contrustcion of our magazine review for our short film. We are planning on using the software 'Adobe Illustrator'. This is the best programme for us to use as it will allow us to use professinal layout and will give us more freedom in the design. We could use easier programmes such as Microsoft word which would save time, however we felt it better to use Illustrator as it looks more professional and is overall better quality.

 

 

 

 

-KW

Film Poster...Final Version

 

Here is our finished film poster. I quite like the poster for a number of reasons:

 

Strengths:

-It is fairly minimalistic as to avoid giving too much of the story away

-It follows the conventions of a typical film poster

-I feel like it is quite intriguing

-We shot the image ourselves

-It has relevance to the story

 

I do however believe that there are some improvements that could be made if we were to have more time to reproduce it.

 

 

Weaknesses:

-It could be more interesting/have more images

-More reviews could be put on to draw in more viewers

-There is no production company logo

 

 

-KW

Examples of magazine reviews...

 

Below are a few examples of real magazine reviews of films that have appeared in magazines such as Empire, which is dedicated to film. These reviews all follow the conventions of typical magazine review layouts, but they are all slightly different as to make them unique.

This magazine review is one done by A2 students. They have closely followed the typical layout and their outcome looks effective and realistic.

This is a magazine review layout which I could follow in the creation of my own magazine review of my short film.

-KW

What do I want from my poster?...

What I want from my film poster is what any film company/creator would want. I want my poster to act as advertisement for my short film. Other than the obvious, I also want my film poster to intrigue and attract my target audience and maybe a wider market to want to watch the final film. I feel like so far this could be the case as the film poster doesn't give too much away but it still references socks, which is what the film uses as a stimulus. I feel like it does target our desired audience as the writing stands out and is fairly simple, so it is likely to draw in a younger audience who would consider themselves as Mainstream film viewers or Mainstream plus.
I also want people to admire the poster and agree that it does not give too much about the film away but that it is also effective it attracting an audience to watch the film who have no prior knowledge of the film.


-KW

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

Does a bad review ruin a film's chances?...

In my opinion, it would. The majority of people are influence on reviews, whether written or heard through word of mouth.
A trailer of film is there to attract a target audience. If one was to be intruiged by the trailer and later hears that the film is underwhelming from more than one source, then they are likely to not go to watch the film. This is because we are influenced by other poeples opinions.
If one reviewer badly rates a film and a collection of others highly rate it then the audience are likely to take the majorities opinion. It works vice versa.
However, a review also requires an unbiased opinion. If the reviewer was to review a film by a director they have a negative opinion about then this would represent a bias opinion. It is the fault of the audience to research thoroughly into a specific film's reviews to make sure they recieve a full evaluation.
An example of a recent film with a bad review is Grunge Match by Nick de Semlyen from Empire Magazine. They gave the film 2 out of 5 stars (poor under their ratings).
Plot: Two old boxing pros (De Niro and Stallone), long-time rivals now in the autumn of their careers, are lured back into the ring for one final glory bout.
Review: Sylvester Stallone is the old paunchy, grumpy one and Robert De Niro is the other old, paunchy, grumpy one in this big-screen adaptation of the classic Balboa-versus-LaMotta pub debate. As a couple of washed-up stumblebums training for a rematch, they gamely send up the movies Grudge Match is inspired by (Rocky via a meat-punching joke; Raging Bull via a puppet show in a dive bar), but unfortunately, despite the dream-team pairing, this is a dreary, spark-free affair that seems to take forever to get into the ring. Alan Arkin’s dick jokes are as good as it gets.