How do Film Magazine Reviews differ in style, layout, content and mode of address? by Myles McCaulskey

As we can see there are many Film Magazine circulating across the UK today and are available for a

large number or audiences interested in this market. Examples of Film Magazine reviews are:

Total Film

Sight and Sound

Pre-Vue (In House Film Magazine)

Uncut

Little White Lies (Art House Magazine)

These are some of the magazines seen in the UK which make references to films at the Box Office in the UK. However, although these magazines will share conventions, the mode of address, layout and style will fundamentally be different.

Here are Some Example of Film Magazine Reviews from some of the leading Film Magazines in the UK:

Film Review by Pre-Vue

Film Review by Sight and Sound Magazine

Film Review by Total Film Magazine

Overall these are some of the ways that the mode of address, style and layout differ between some of the leading UK magazines. All magazines follow the same basic conventions like using Serif style Font for the Headline and Sans Serif for the main body of the article, however other variable have been changed to give each magazine a unique style and approach to the audience. This allows the audience to find a range of magazines and the specific one they are after, whether they be glossy, full range analysis or a positive promotion of the film as seen in Film Magazines such as “Total Film” “Empire” and “Sight and Sound” some of the top Film Magazines in the UK to date.

Mode of Address:

The Mode of Address is a variable that changes between Film Magazines. This can be seen as Popular UK Film Magazine “Total Film” uses basic language which most of the general public will be able to read, as they attempt to direct the Magazine to a younger and more upcoming Media Audience. This is done for a significant reason. “Total Film’s” main target audience are young people who use film as a form of enjoyment, diversion or general interest rather than and audience who use film as a cultural or more educational experience. This type of mode of address can be seen in “Sight and Sound” magazine in which that attempted audience are ones of a more sophisticated background, who view film as an intellectual hobby rather than just for the sole purpose of enjoyment. This is seen as words such as “Platonic Relationship” have been used “Sight and Sound” articles, a key term that a limited number of people may know what means, but this film magazine expects its audience to know what the term means, showing a range in mode of address between simple language “Total Film” and the could be perplexing “Sight and Sound” Magazine. “Sight and Sound” provide an in depth focus of the film in question, one that would bore the common “John Doe” average cinemas fan. This could be contrasted with “Empire” Magazine which provides the audience with a limbo of reviewing as it is aimed at a general audience with experience and casual cinema goers to sophisticated cinema intellectuals all being captured by “Empire’s” Mode of Address. This provides the perfect balance between “Sight and Sound Magazine” and “Total Film” which are extremes in opposite directions of Magazine Film Reviews. 

Moreover, in house magazines can be seen as a derivative of “Empire” and “Total Film.“ On the other hand, In-House Magazine’s like Pre-vue are published and produced on a much smaller scale of A4 or A5, changing the perspective of the film Review. In House Film Magazines when assessing a film like “Did You Hear About the Morgans” seen above in the “Pre-Vue” article, focus on the synoptics of the film and the positive element of the film. This usually means an overshadowing of the bad elements or by acknowledging them, but placing a positive twist on the perspective side. An example of this can be seen in Pre-Vue, which states:

“…The essense of the story may be familiar, but with Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker at the helm it feels fresh and there are plenty of laughs to be had…”

This is different to other Film Magazines as it can be seen that they forget the bad and focus on the good. In terms of layout they do have the large image and split the page into columns. They incorporate breakout boxes and have the facts about actor’s e.g. “A Closer Vue Section” with facts containing Hugh Grant. Furthermore, the mode of address is again chatty and informal, making the audience seem comfortable when reading the article. From this it can be seen that, In house magazines promote and bring more audiences in to the cinema, with positive reviews of films at the Box Office.

Layout:

Layouts of Film Magazines are unique to the Film Magazines Company.

Columns: This can be seen as there are only 3 columns within the in “Total Film” article of “The Road” whilst on the other hand the more in depth sophisticated Film Magazine “Sight and Sound” has 6 columns on it article about “The Witnesses” or “Les Temoins.” This is significant as this technique has different connotations to the Magazines target audience. For example a young person or member of the public who are just looking for a short article to read about an upcoming film, would most likely pick a magazine like “Total Film” whilst an intellectual person looking for an in depth account of a film at the Box Office would certainly read 6 column “Sight and Sound” which provides the audience with a detailed account of the film, living up to reader expectations.

Typography: The use of Columns can be amalgamated with Typography. “Total Film’s” article on “The Road” incorporates a big font and larger spacing along the line creating an illusion of a full depth article, when in fact minimal information is present on the page. Moreover, situated in these 3 columns is a Breakout Paragraph which is generally used as a page filler. This changes the direction of the magazine as it provides the audience with a new set of information about the film without interrupting the review. However, this style can be countered in “Sight and Sound” which uses small font to maximize the columns provided for the article. This is primarily done due to the depth of the article as it is more detailed then “Total Film” due to mode of address and target audience for “Sight and Sound.

Headlines: Headlines are an important part of Film Magazine reviews and they commonly differ from magazine to magazine. This can be seen in some of the examples I have looked at. For example Film Magazines “Total Film” “Empire” and “Pre-vue” use the name of the film as their Heading for example “Pre-vue” use the Headline “Did you hear about the Morgans”  which is in fact the title of the film. On the other hand, more in depth Film Magazines such as “Sight and Sound” take on the more newspaper headline approach with a light pun incorporated in the headline. This can be seen in “Sight and Sound Magazine” which uses the title “A Time to love and a Time to die” as a headline for the review, which is not the title of the film, differing from “Total Film and Empire” which would have used the title of the film “Les Temoins” as the Headline of the Review.  

Strap Lines:  Strap lines are important to a Film Magazine as they are tiny subheadings which provide the audience with more information about the film in usually one sentence. This can be seen in the “Total Film” Magazine review I have used which states “No Country for a middle aged man (and his boy)” which is the primary strap line seen under the Heading in the Review. Strap lines vary between film magazine depending on the mode of address as in “Total Film” dominantly use puns ,whilst in “Empire” the aim of the Strap line might be to pose a question of a rhetorical thought to the audience, and in “Sight and Sound” a strap line may give an overview of the Film e.g. “Andre Techine’s new film explores the impact of the Aids epidemic on a group of Parisians…” seen in Sight and Sounds article by Ginette Vincendeau. Depending on the depthness of the article, the mode of address and the headline, the strap line will vary between Film Magazines. The strap line establishes the tone of the review to the audience, whether it be light hearted, cynical or an in depth approach to the film, the strap line tells the audience the mood of the review and the audience who should be reading this review.