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.
Frame 