Research on Film Magazine Reviews

I will now analyse film magazine reviews from British magazines such as ‘Empire’ or ‘Total film’.
The purpose of a film magazine review, similarly to the film’s posters, is ultimately to increase the audience awareness and revenue that the film will receive. The magazine review tries to engage the audiences who read and the article will try to promote the film by giving the institutes or writers opinion on a film that is usually positive and gives a brief overview of the film synopsis. This allows the audience to gain access to an informed opinion without needing to see the film, depending on what film magazine the audience will be reading will depend on the bias the audience will be subject to.

For example there are different magazine producers that make different style film magazines for different purposes and different target audiences, for example the magazine 'Total' usually reviews all its films in a positive light towards its lower class target audience and is rather casual chatty and simplistic, ‘Total Film also tries to incorporate elements of humour with captions from screenshots of the film. As oppose to ‘Sight and Sound’ in which the language is very sophisticated, formal, academic and leaves rooms for the audience to think and make assumptions.


The main film magazines in the UK include ‘Empire’, ‘Total film’, ‘Sight and Sound’ and all of their reviews are very different in terms of their written styles, layout, content, mode of address and their technical conventions.

like mentioned earlier 'Sight and Sound' is a film magazine for artistic purposes for audiences who have a real passion for films and want quality film reviews that still leaves room for the audiences to make inferences into the film. Compared to other film magazine reviews this magazine contains lots of columns in its layout still including pictures however take up less space in order for a detailed analysis of the film. in this edition of 'Sight and sound i have also noticed a breakout box to the right that contains the directors and views on the film, in this case he explains how his film should be thought of 'beyond the framework of heterosexual vs. homosexual' and his filming techniques and characters he portrays. This magazine review expects that the audience already has knowledge of classic famous films and directors by referencing directors other films and using them in comparison. another thing i have noticed is that 'Sight and Sound' that usually includes an introduction that gives a quick sum up of the film in the first paragraph, from this example we can tell the film is about aids in a group of Parisians possibly from an optimistic point of view. in the centre we have a large picture that is contradicting the theme of the film because we witness two couples dressed casually pouring drinks in possible celebration or on holiday looking very happy and if we keep reading the annotation of the picture we are notified that the main character is later diagnosed with aids.

A different film magazine review is called ' Total Film' which is aimed at a completely different audience, possibly for the younger or less educated audience. in this magazine we can see a very different layout and style, firstly at the top of the page we see a large picture with the magazines logo and section title in the top left corner, on the bottom right of the picture there is a caption for the picture that often makes an attempt to create humour out of the picture. In this example we see a nuclear stricken waste land and the caption says ' after another muddy year, they vowed it would be their last Glastonbury'. Secondly we only have two main columns containing the analysis of the film. The small column on the left of the magazine is called a call to action in which the magazine tries to include the audience by suggesting other films of the same genre or category and directs the audience to an internet site with more reviews.
One good idea in this magazine film review that I have noticed that no other magazines include is a predicted interest curve where the magazine tried to show the quality and entertainment of the film throughout its duration in the form of a line graph.

By analysing these different magazine film reviews I have noticed a few typical conventions that always occur in magazine film reviews depending on the company. However in a serious magazine film review directed at an intellectual audience the magazine will always include certain conventions such as the magazines 'house font' which is the company’s choice of font or fonts that don’t change over time. These are the typical technical codes and conventions for the magazine film review media:
Section title
Headline
Strap lines/taglines
Introduction
Subheadings
Breakout boxes
Columns, usually in three
Pictures
Graphics and logos
Font and typography
Call to action
Issue information
Subheadings for images

Research on Film Posters

I will now analyse a few film posters especially into their technical conventions and characteristics. The purpose of a film poster is to advertise the product to the target audience, the poster tries to encourage the audience to view the film and the poster would be very much for the financial, commercial processes of the film such as incorporating third party endorsements to increase the products revenue being the core reason and purpose of the posters. These film posters appear in dense public areas to increase the amount of people that see the posters, this can include in the underground, on billboards, busses, newspapers anywhere that the advertisers can get a range of audiences or the target audience to see the poster. The more the film producers pay out for adverts in more forms of media will increase the amount of people that are aware of the film and a range of audiences using different forms of media. Film posters alert the audience to the genre and/or theme of the film and let the audience recognize popular actors/stars casted, with an indication of the plot or events, this could influence the audiences opinion of the film after seeing the poster and effect the audiences will to see the film.

A less contemporary poster which is more of a classic Hollywood mainstream film is the official star wars poster. I believe that this classic poster is a good example of the producer’s attempts to interest the 1977 audience into this new futuristic space theme. Similarly to the gladiator poster this film also has a tagline saying 'a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away' this is to let the audience know a bit about the films theme. Next I have noticed that the majority of film posters have the main character or protagonist on the films poster, this is often done to alert the audience to the actors, if the audience likes the work of certain actors, these actors will influence whether the audience would like to see the film. From the background the audience infers future information about the theme or genre of the film from the spaceships, robots, and the bright ' futuristic' light. As we move down the poster we see the title of the film in its trademark font that has developed over the years, also used in the credits of the film, and below we can find the billing block that includes the actors, producers and third party corporations . However, I noticed this poster dedicates a lot of space for the billing block and less space for the title of the film to accompany room for the montage of pictures, this is not usual in contemporary posters, they usually have the title clearly visible and the billing block very small.


Over time the posters were merely to advertise a mainstream film that was 'coming soon' and the aim of the poster was to interest the viewer, and recently there has been an increase in the attention for the advertising market in film posters. This attention is causing the conventions of film posters to develop in order to sell the product more efficiently to the audience; one method of this is called specific audience advertising which is explained below.
For the most effective advertising in posters, producers create a range of specific audience posters designed to sell the film most efficiently by targeting different groups within the audience such as age or gender. For example two posters of the same film could be released with one poster having a pink backdrop that would be aimed at girls; the other would have a blue backdrop targeting boys.

A good example of this is by the producers of the Harry Potter posters:

This audience specific poster is aimed towards the young female audience by advertising the narrative of a possible fantasy based romantic theme that could be interesting for the fans once noticing the second protagonist from the trio in the background indicating a plot of romance. This can be supported by the 'lovely' pink lanterns shining above that wouldn’t be in another audience specific poster directed at or even the official release poster. This is the official film poster for ‘Harry Potter and the half blooded prince'. In this poster the 'Harry Potter' logo isn't even completely visible which is a different option, this is because of the familiarity with this franchise. I also noticed that in this official poster the release date is made clearly visible, a marketing technique.

In this more contemporary example of the official 'Gladiator' poster I have noticed a few things that the majority of other mainstream film posters share in common.
Starting from the top working down, I noticed a catchphrase from the film known as a tagline, or slogan that sums up part or the whole film to the audience. Between this tagline we have our main character Russell Crowe with a sword and roman armour with an extra diagetic gaze pictured at a low angle suggesting power, this extra diagetic gaze involves the character looking directly at the camera in order to engage the audiences. Secondly we can guess the theme of this film by the characters armour and the background where we can see part of the Collusium. Underneath we have the names of the director and the main character in appropriate style and font to the roman era and finally in much larger letters we see the title of the film 'Gladiator'. Underneath the title in the small print are producers, advertisers and other third party corporations.



From researching a range of existing mainstream film posters I believe I can clearly identify the technical conventions of a film poster. I have noticed that in all film posters semiotics are used, this is the messages or meanings we can understand from the film poster from looking at the signs, symbolism, written messages and visual images. This is how the producers of the poster allow the audience to quickly process a lot of information about the film from visual imagery in the short space of seconds that people will spend looking at the poster. For this reason advertisers consider all the visual imagery, colours, titles fonts and even layout with the aim to increase the chances that the people that see the poster will also go and see the film.

There are many codes within film posters. Technical codes are considered when producing a film poster and this includes the use in the construction of a text, e.g. if there is a tagline included or film title or billing block. There are film posters that do not have a tagline or even a visible title.
Secondly written codes are considered carefully, this is the range of contexts in which words are used in the text itself, e.g. the actual words themselves that create a tagline or title.
And finally the last codes are symbolic codes, these are the system of signs embedded within the poster in the forms of connotations of images, colours used and even the font style. All of the technical conventions of film posters have to be considered within technical, written and symbolic codes to make sure the right audience is being targeted and that the audience is making right inferences into the film poster and about the film.

Through extended film poster research the typical conventions of a film poster include:
Names of the main actors or popular stars.
A picture/s of the main actor or an iconic image that is linked to the film.
The film Title.
A tagline, slogan or caption about the film.
Background imagery.
The billing block.

Audience Research

The BBFC guidelines state that:

18+ Certification

LANGUAGE: There may be frequent use of strong language (eg 'fuck'). But the strongest terms (e.g. 'cunt') will be acceptable only where justified by the context. Continued aggressive use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

IMITABLE TECHNIQUES: Dangerous techniques (eg combat, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on imitable detail. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

DRUGS: Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse


12+ Certification

Films certified 12 often have mild restrictions to strong language (eg 'fuck') therefore such words have a tendency to be used infrequently and racist remarks are a great cause for concern. These films are very strict on the violence presented in them. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, and any misuse of drugs must be limited and should not be promoted or instructional.


15+ Certification

In such films any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, use of illegal drugs or any other activity likely to encourage bad behaviour are permitted however they have to be exceptionally justified by the content of the film.

I am aiming to target an audience of young adults and youth at the ages of 15+. In such films we often see an interpretation of youth today, therefore allowing the aimed audience to relate to the film. These films represent teenage life and therefore attracting them to be interested in the film by directly relating, this teenage audience is also a good group to introduce educational short films that could tackle difficult issues but have a moral or a hidden meaning to the short film.
My target audience of 15+ will be slightly less informed then 18+ which gives me the opportunity to inform them on the world they are growing in, at this age the youth is finding their legs through puberty into adulthood, a time where a youth feels independent but also confused by hormone fluctuations. This part of their life in which by this time they have many social friends/groups and may be introduced to new things and ideas for example alcohol. I believe that this age can be very important in deciding the future in terms of balancing out the youth’s social life and work, and that it is good at this age to start being informed and pointed in the right direction in life.
If my target audience was 18+ then the effectiveness of these educational type short films would decrease in my opinion, younger minds are easier to influence and mould. Therefore according to the BBFC's guidelines, my portrayal of violence, offensive language, injury and blood must be limited or justified by the content of the film and the portrayal of drugs must be limited, not promoted or instructional. This is especially true when educational videos are shown to the class by teachers, the teachers are cautious of what messages are portrayed to the students and the typical way a teacher decides whether a film is appropriate is the age certificate of the film. If I make an educational short film I must be careful of what concepts or messages I portray to my certificate age group to make sure the content is appropriate for my audience.

In terms of my target audience I also have to consider how they would gain access to my product, in this generation the youth/teenagers are experiencing less contemporary medias such as the newspaper, radio and even television, and replacing these media institutions with the internet due to its wide range off access and compatibility with all medias. Now convergence is allowing all form of media on the internet from radio to newspapers that can be accessed all over the world. Therefore to achieve the highest viewing rate for my target audience it would be best if my production was made available online possibly via the video sharing site http://www.youtube.com/
Another way my product could be viewed is at short film conventions or competitions, this method will allow contract signers and advertisers to want to get involved in my products funding or distribution.

What is the purpouse of a short film?

How do short films differ from mainstream, full length films?
One big difference between the mainstream full length films and short films is obviously the duration but this factor causes many differences between the two such as the products purpose, production, financing and final outcome.
The duration of the short film enables a faster production rate with low financial expenses but the revenue from the product isn’t considered an income, therefore the purpose of the product is within its artistic style of the producer, this creates an independence from the mainstream film by the products economic restraints and the final outcome. The less effort and costs to produce a short film, the less financial risk meaning the producer can influence his short film more in order to create the desired effect. This allows the producer to influence his final outcome more with experimentation; innovation and its originality and quality will be decided on how much the audience likes the short film. One big purpose in this for the producer is the promotion of the short film or even himself as a director, this is done at film festivals such as Cannes every year in France to make a name for themselves for future prospects or opportunities.
Other purposes of short film involve experimentation and education. Some short films try to incorporate experimentation as explained above in the attempt to create originality that which the audience has never seen, possibly related with the promotion of the short film or producer trying to create aesthetical enjoyment for the audience. Another reason for experimentation is the fact that producers can tackle difficult issues such as social breakdown and propose a different point of view or way of thinking, which in turn would make the audience think about society and humanity.
Finally the last main purpose for short films is for educational reasons, a lesson or moral can be learnt by witnessing events in the form of a short film. I believe this can be a effective way of communicating messages to the youth due to their lack of interest in news, radio and even television, now the youth is much more involved with the internet because of its view on demand characteristic. This is why I believe if my production was posted on the internet and with a target audience of the youth it would be a great success. Educational films are used extensively throughout lower education and are very effective compared to seeing a situation visually on a screen then just conceptualising a situation, the point of the lesson is clearly expressed.
The production of short films is short and therefore there is not any large financial backing to fund the production or a large cast crew, the producer will be working with balancing economical restraints with the quality or the short films outcome, this is not the case for mainstream films.
For mainstream films, the purpose is usually to make money. Contrastingly to short films, the purpose of full length mainstream films is for the audience’s aesthetical enjoyment, and in this way the product produces a higher revenue income than which expenses were paid for during production, if it is a success. Therefore the production of these mainstream films are very expensive and usually require investors that aid the production financially expecting low financial risk which would influence the outcome of the final product resulting in little economic freedom with no room for experimentation or innovation. This is all very different to short films but both genres have their own purpose and reason. An example of this is ‘The passion of the Christ’ which would hint some good cause or a tribute but instead was a great success and made millions.
A range of examples of mainstream films include Titanic, The Bourne trilogy, and the Harry Potter series.

What are the conventions of a short film?

I will now research the conventions of a short film by analysing a selection of existing short films to identify narrative structure, themes and style, genre, sound, editing, cinamatography and their mis-en-scene in preparation for planning my own short film. i have selected a few short films i have seen in school but i will also use the video shareing site, http://www.youtube.com/ to find some popular examples or existing short stories that have previously won titles and rewards.
The three short films i have chosen to analyse contrast each other and are very different in terms of their conventions.





One short film that I have witnessed within my education is called 'Double Take'.
The narrative of ‘Double Take’ is a non linear, open ended circular narrative and it can be argued to be multi-stranded as we not only witness our main character the thief but also from the hidden identity’s perspective as he films or filmed the thief.
This short film has no dialogue at all with lots of kinetic camera work to add the realism of the digital camera also incorporating the shrill grainy recording of the diagetic noise and ambient sounds. This short film is about a thief stealing bags for money, I believe a purpose of this short film has a moral of justice that crime will not prevail, in the sense that the thief had to pay for all the things he stole but not to justice. The open ended narrative lets the audience wonder what could have happened to the thief and to what extent he was punished for his crimes. I believe the purpose of this short film would be targeted for youthful audiences such as teenagers or young adults but may not necessarily have a set target audience. The producer could of tackled the theme of pick pocketing or stealing from a entertaining point of view with the purpose of aesthetical enjoyment in the idea that the thief got what was coming to him, possibly the reason for the no closure in the narrative is due to not concentrating too much on the theme of pickpockets but instead focusing on the clever use of cinematography and twisting narrative.

Another short story that is slightly different to 'Double take' is called 'Alive in Joberg' posted above. The producer of this short film, Neill Blomkamp uses a unique documentary style that is very different to the majority of other short films in the way the narrative is presented through characters talking to the camera and a voiceover. However what is similar to ‘Double Take’ in terms of the narrative and plot is that we are not told how, why or then the aliens arrived, there was no opening to the story as Toderovs theory would suggest, also to add to this there was no conclusion to the problem or narrative closure. This short film just explains the facts and how they are; it does not inform the audience into before or after events. Because there was no beginning or conclusion Neill Blomkamp could not develop the characters sufficiently for the audience to be engaged and has a few 'human' actors that are used as a narrative tool in the developing plot. This theme of aliens with a spaceship hovering above cities is quite an original idea, leading the purpose towards enjoyment of the short film, there is lots of editing of footage with CGI effects and lots of realistic costumes of aliens or bodysuits with a high body count to make the short film a good quality realization that the audience will enjoy.

The final short film that I will analyse is called 'Panic Attack' by Fede Alvarez who developed his work and achieved an £18 million contract. In this story there is no dialogue, just a score and diagetic sound accompanied with lots of CGI effects, we first witness a child playing with toy robots and then huge CGI robots and futuristic looking spaceships or planes all heading in one direction together, at this point the audience are engaged and under suspense wondering what is going to happen and were are these robots heading to? Similarly to the previous short stories I have analysed the narrative structure is not bound by acceptable norms, therefore does not have a narrative opening due to its limited duration, for example where did the robots come from? Fede Alvarez uses lots of kinetic handheld camera to incorporate realism in the situation for example the earth shaking footsteps of the giant robots as we witness a shot from a characters point of view. It is only after a few scenes were we witness the child playing and the robots until we see the title of the film that crackles into view via white noise and scrambled pixels on a TV, an appropriate tool for introducing the title in this genre suggesting a lost connection. The rest of the film is a depiction of possible events if this was a real situation, the city is damaged, people are killed, and the grand finale is a big explosion that was the robots main task where everything is destroyed bringing narrative closure. Similarly to the previous short film 'Panic Attack' does not have a beginning, we like the people in the film only witness the robots not when they landed but when they arrive to the outskirts or the city, however this film does have a conclusion that lets the audience know the robots final motives and does not leave an open ended finish.

Concluding, i have come to realize that the short film genre has little, if any standerdised conventions that are expected in a mainstream film, i beleive a large factor effecting this is the duration of the short film unlike in mainstream films, the audience are not dismayed if they did not like the short film as it did not take up much of the audiences time. Secondly the producer can experement more with conventions and try incorporate innovative, new ideas to make a name for themselves through promotion like Fede Alvarez and 'Panic Attack'.

Due to the short duration short films do not need to include a typical narrative structure meaning they do not need a beginning or an end, unlike mainstream Hollywood films that are expected to follow Toderove’s theory of a beginning, middle and end. Short film producers can experiment more with cinematic effects or themes to create their works of art, hard hitting themes such as drugs or social breakdown can be tackled as the audience are not confronted with these issues for too long, often these themes are tackled with a moral or used for educational reasons. Cinematic and sound can be developed into different styles creating an unnatural shot with the effect of tension and uneasiness in the audience, the creativity is really limitless.

Researching and analysing these short films will have an impact on my production, I will try to use and develop some of these conventions that I have studied above for example I will use kinetic camera work to incorporate realism or create a documentary style production with a voiceover pushing the plot. I now have a better understanding of the short film genre and its conventions and purposes; I believe I am in a better position to start planning my production.

Research into Short Films

Definition of a Short Film: The technical description of a short film was originally coined in North Africa, their definition referred to films lasting from 20 to 40 minuets. However in Europe it can refer to films that have a last from 1 minute, or have duration of 10 to 20 minuets. The only real classifications of short films is their duration but also their narrative style, for example short films include circular narratives however it is not compulsory for the short story to have a beginning or end. There are no limits to the short films genre or themes either so the possibilities are endless. The reason for this is that the audience does not spend much time to watch a short film therefore can only be dissatisfied to a certain extent.
Many European forms of short films are dependant on visual drama or plot twists. Short films are usually a brief fictional narrative that can be multi-stranded, usually presenting a single episode or scene with a limited amount of characters. Other conventions of cinematography use in short films include close ups, jump cuts, stop action and handheld kinetic camerawork. Finally a Short Films purpose is not usually commercial because they are not financially providing, and are financially safe during production, but short films are more experimental or for work of arts and innovation by cinematographers with a purpose or moral of the short film. Other reasons for the production of the short film are aesthetic enjoyment and education purposes.

Short films are very different compared to full length feature films, in contrast Hollywood blockbusters are made to make a financial profit; this limits the producer’s ability for experimentation in comparison to the short film. In a short film if the audience does not like the film or does not understand it, they have only wasted a short time of their attention, however in a full length feature film a possible 2 hours could be lost if the audience are not entertained. Therefore full length feature films are limited with experimentation of possible hard hitting themes or innovative narrative structures with no narrative closure, full length feature films are usually forced into typical chronologically occurring narrative that is easy to comprehend with a plain beginning middle and end. Typical to Toderove’s three part theory of films that start with an equilibrium situation, something then effects this situation and then becomes a disequilibrium, and finally the situation is solved or won creating a new equilibrium. However short films rarely follow Toderove’s theory, this is partly due to the film not having a long enough duration to introduce and portray all of these stages or the theory, therefore short films often do not have a narrative closure and can experiment more with narrative structure. In comparison, if the audience sat through a full length feature film that did not have a narrative closure the audience would feel slightly cheated as if the film finished abruptly, but if this was a short film with no narrative closure the audience would be less likely to consider it a waste of time.