Film Noir: Film Review

Ancillary Product: Film Review

The other product we needed to make had to be related to our film. I decided to do a short film review that would fit into a newspaper or perhaps a part of a magazine's double page spread which is dedicated to the latest film releases.




This film review is one that uses inspirations from magazines. I would like to rectify it and use inspirations from websites that have film reviews on them because nowadays the internet has a mass audience and could draw people to our film from anywhere in the world.




I decided to base my film review design on one from 'empire magazine online' because the magazine is based solely on films and therefore people who read the website will want to read the reviews on upcoming releases.


This is a screenshot from a review from the Empire magazine's review section on their website. I want to make my second review look more like this - it's much more professional and will appeal to a much wider audience. Another reason why this is really good inspiration for a film review online layout is because the film we have made is quite appropriate for 16+ so this kind of layout is much more appropriate for that audience - it fits the kind of target audience we had in mind when creating the film. The review above doesn't really appeal to adults.

Some other examples I took inspiration from included:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/apr/26/albert-nobbs-review

The guardian is a newspaper that is aimed at adults and so looking at their reviews online meant I could see what kind of things would be appealing to adult audiences.
The actual reviews are fairly short - one photo is enough, usually placed at the top (most likely to catch attention) and information about the actors down the left hand side. This kind of layout is one I will use for my own web review.

http://www.radiotimes.com/film/cyt69/avengers-assemble

This web review has much more writing in it, still one picture but quite a light hearted manner about the whole review. Pictures are down the right hand side which connect readers to other pages. The simplicity of the page makes it aimed at slightly younger readers - it doesn't really attract the older adults but could serve well in attracting our audiences of young teenagers.

http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/92527/damsels-in-distress.html

This review has an awful lot of writing on it - enough to deter someone from wanting a quick read, or to be able to make a decision on whether they have an interest in the film swiftly or not. Again there is one image that shows a part of the film but the page is covered in information about other things. I definitely do not want this in my web review because it will deter people from reading what you want them to. I like however that you can add comments on the film below - that's something that 'We Media' has made possible and I think would be a good idea to incorporate into my own web review page.




Through asking feedback on which layout would make you feel "more obliged to believe the review and so go on and watch the film" so that I could choose one to use as my official ancillary product, it was said that:
"The first one has good photographs that draw me to the film but the background colour is off putting. The simple layout of the second is much more appropriate and persaudes me to read it." Adrian, aged 40
"The colour choice on the first one and the small amount of detail in the actual written review makes me not so keen on going on and watching the film after viewing it. The second one can provide me with convincing information and a layout that makes me feel it is age appropriate." Suzanne, 40


As you can see I followed the layout from the original empire but added the date and magazine name on the right hand side at the top, and also had pictures of the film at the bottom. I chose to have the kiss as the main one because it is the main part of the storyline, and relationships are quite often what draws people to watch films. The other photographs I chose initiate action - Ben with a gun will attract the male audiences who like action films, the seduction with the wine glass will attract both men and women (Laura Mulvey male gaze; women wanting to be like the character) and the photo of the two in the office to show a certain aspect of the pair which is less suggestive - it leaves the audience wondering what is being said in the clip for him to have so much interest in her words. In a lot of web reviews I looked at there was one main photo to show the storyline, but adverts down the side containing other pictures on differing subjects. As I wasn't having adverts I wanted my web review page to appeal still and so did this by adding some more images of the film.
I created my review for a web page, not a magazine or newspaper because this way it would perhaps reach a wider audience. As you can see from comparing the two they both have quite simple reviews and state more information on the storyline and the actors rather than the secrets of the story. One example review I read on a film coming out was:
"Based on a true story, Moneyball is a movie for anybody who has ever dreamed of taking on the system. Brad Pitt stars as Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A's and the guy who assembles the team, who has an epiphany: all of baseball's conventional wisdom is wrong. Forced to reinvent his team on a tight budget, Beane will have to outsmart the richer clubs. The onetime jock teams with Ivy League grad Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) in an unlikely partnership, recruiting bargain players that the scouts call flawed, but all of whom have an ability to get on base, score runs, and win games. It's more than baseball, it's a revolution - one that challenges old school traditions and puts Beane in the crosshairs of those who say he's tearing out the heart and soul of the game"
This was taken from a popular review website called 'Rotten Tomatoes' and was about the film 'Moneyball.' As you can see it is short, sweet and to the point. That is what I wanted mine to follow ideally.

The text on the review reads:
"Bonnie Kensington sets out to seduce a detective who is weakened by the death of his father. She uses both her Mob Boss Bobby (Ben Humberstone) and Detective Carter (Ed Beard) to gain herself a rather large sum of money, The two men both fall victim to her enticements and unfortunately twists in the story mean that the justice for his father that Carter wants does not come with revenge as he expected it. Bonnie (Ellen Bradford) is a brilliant character. Ellen is at the top of her game in this. On the whole the film has a good storyline and definitely would have you questioning the favours you do for anyone in the future."

A lot of reviews I read had compliments in them for certain actors and their performances, especially in empire. This made me decide to put in the compliment about Ellen, because she was a particular favourite when people spoke about the acting they liked in the film.
Usual conventions of film reviews involve bracketing the names of the actors after the character's name has been introduced in context. I did this to make sure I followed these conventions.

I used a simple colour scheme of black and red in the texts and two cream 'embossed' boxes down the side to make sure adult audiences weren't deterred by the colour scheme. Empire magazine does similar themes on their pages, so I wanted to use theirs as inspiration.

Overall I made sure the layout and language was suitable for the ages of 12A which is the rating on our film. The ages of the people who are most likely to look at our film online are 16+ as they are the people who tend to read empire magazine, and so I made sure it was certainly appropriate for them.