Magazine Article Research

The purpose of a film magazine is to inform and to entertain. They contain reviews of films and interviews with filmmakers and cast members. A film magazine needs to find a balance between promotion and criticism.

Conventions of Film Magazine Reviews

– An overall opinion of a film

– Good points

– Bad points

– Reference to director throughout

– Release date

– Age rating

There are usually large stills of the film with the text arranged around them.

The review itself consists of film terminology as the film should be analysed in a somewhat proffessional level rather than from a regular viewer’s perspective. Also, the formality of the language used in the review will usually be in tune with the tone of the magazine.

 

Existing Film Magazines

By looking into various articles as well as other features within these magazines, I was able to find out the target audience and social demographics of them.

Empire

The slightly informal language and layout of this magazine suggests that it is for younger adults aged between 18-30 however, it does not come across as childish. The majority of the films featured in the magazine are popular Hollywood pieces as the magazine itself is very popular and well known. The magazine is very image-based with a lot of high quality images. This gives the impression that it is more focused on a superficial aspect of film and markets itself based on this. By researching various copies of this magazine, I have found it to be quite masculine-focused with a large emphasis on action movies.

 

Little White Lies

The formality of this magazine showed me that it is intended to be for serious film buffs and a mature audience. The most striking aspect of this magazine is the consistent occurence of its unique design. The magazine cover has an illustrated image of the main character in the film that is featured in the issue. This also expands through the design work within the magazine.

The images are not completely interwoven with the blocks of text but rather are their own pieces within the magazine. The unique artwork allowed the magazine to win a Magazine Design and Journalism Award in 2008 for Best Designed Consumer Magazine of the Year.

 

Sight & Sound

Sight & Sound is a major industry magazine. Published by the British Film Institute, it comes across as much more of an information source than a form of entertainment.

The magazine’s layout clearly lists the credits of the film from Director all the way to Hairstylist. This level of detail is what makes this magazine a strong information source. Also, the film reviews are all laid out one after the other throughout the magazine which makes it a go-to source for people who wish to find information on all of the latest films like film professors and film students.

Magazine Article Development

The overral idea for our magazine article was to hold the formal aesthetic of Sight n & Sound but with a touch of informality in order to appeal to a larger audience.

The layout of the magazine was inspired by Sight & Sound. We appreciated the minimalist structure of the spread as well as the headings of the pages.

We wanted the design work of the article to be very simple and clear in order for the audience to look at the magazine as a serious showcase of work.

 

 

I drew upon inspiration from reading exisiting film reivews in order to execute them in writing the review for Frame. Making sure to maintain a good level of analytical film language throughout, I created a tone which holds a light character to it without sounding immature.

Full Review

A Sky-scraping Success
Roma Fadero commends the architectural artistry behind Frame—the latest short to leave its mark at Timecut Film Festival.

Children. Can’t live with them, can’t populate without them. It is undeniable to say that offspring are a complete chink in the engineering of one’s lifestyle.
Frame follows a young architect as he faces the possibility of becoming a father in his heavily constructed world. Instead of taking the predictable route of following the conflict between husband and wife, the storyline revolves completely around the perplexed protagonist and how he is finally forced to face reality; that life can not always be decided. New filmmakers – Tofiel Choudhury, Jamie Smith, and Nimesh Serma bring the world a film exploring a forced break in nature and psyche.
Anticipation for this film varied across the film community when first-time writer and director, Choudhury announced at Sundance last year that he had an idea for a short film. “I want to make something that reflects my personal view towards procreation by creating a character that has an entire lifestyle built around not having children.” Choudhury teamed up with long-time friends Smith and Serma to carefully construct this character and put him on screen without being at all judgemental towards parents.
The team come from a background of film industry heads and used this as a platform to gain attention to their upcoming film. With a harsh array of critics ready to sink their teeth into these young directorial virgins, it is safe to say that the pressure of making a mark was on.
The film begins with a conversation which sets the audience up for the background of the film. Although conversation sequences run the risk of being tedious, the mystery of the issue being discussed leaves the audience wondering what could have bought up this emotive exchange in words. Reminiscent of something from 500 Days of Summer, the relationship between our two introductory male characters breaks away from our usual boy-girl romantic opening.
The female lead is seen in only one scene of the entire film even though she is essentially the source of our protagonist’s woes. Looking back on this decision as an audience member (and quite the film-nerd), it is clear that the boys wanted to make the film about our protagonist, not about a relationship. Sagun Pun makes her debut in film with the emotional scene which reveals that she wishes to be a mother in the relationship where “we agreed—no children. Nothing that could disarray our straightforward lives”.
A prominent theme of architecture is clearly displayed in the film with beautiful shots of Canary Wharf which take the centre stage in the film during a voice-over. The metaphor of the methodical life of this character is visualised with the help of London’s angular nature and its corporate skyline.
The ending of the film is left rather ambiguous but shows a definite change in the protagonist. Bringing to light his sartorial precision which is highlighted in the opening of the film, the film ends with the total opposite—he untucks his shirt, loosens his tie, and takes off his jacket completely. Yet another metaphor for his structured lifestyle, the character’s appearance completely relaxes. The beautiful music of pianist, Mattia Cupelli is suddenly uplifting and suggests that there will be a positive change in the character’s life. Will there be a baby? Who knows, but one thing is for certain—he finally understands that there is no blueprint for reality.
One thing I really love about this film is the way in which love is not integral nor is it romanticised but rather shown through the light of logic. The brother-in-law character tells his sister’s husband “what about meeting Lily? Was that something you designed?” — I really feel like this is what truly breaks the character out of his architect bubble. Love is the one thing that can not be put down on paper in a comprehendible way let alone a platform that can be planned through and through.

This is an incredible short film about human nature and just how natural our individualistic worlds can become.

 

We screenshot parts of the film in order to display them on our review.