Post 17: Ancillary Task 2 - Film Reviews Part 1

In order to write a film review, I must first understand the conventions of them, and a few of the ones that go against these and choose what I want to include in my film review. I have looked at two reviews of 'The King's Speech' from two newspaper articles, and noted downsome of their conventions, how I felt when reading them and what I liked and didnt like about these.

I will start off by looking at newapaper articles.

The Independant - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-kings-speech-tom-hooper-113-mins-12abrthe-next-three-days-paul-haggis-128-mins-12a-2179616.html

Whilst reading this article, I felt that the context of it was very relaxed and friendly, and played on words such as ' sh-sh-shooin', which is miniking the speech impediment from the film. I found that this made me as the audience relax and calm down when reading. This would most likely been read by the majority and average people, by this and the fact that they talked mostly about the story line and the actors. The image on this article caught my eye and this was a unique selling point of the actor Collin Firth. I also realised that this film review wasnt massively long, but infact vastly shorter. I think this was done so that a wider audience would more likely read this as it is small, and was easier to read.

The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jan/06/the-kings-speech-review

Compared to The Independant, this film review contained much more information, such as the stars in the film, the certificate of the film, the runing time and the genre of the film. This came alongside more facts about and around the film. The overall tone of the film was more serious than the Independant, as there was alot more information overall about the film for the reader, however the language they used wasnt too over powering for the reader. This was also detailed, far more than the Independant, as there was ten paragraphs, rather than the three from the Independant. There was some similarities, including the unique selling point in the form of a picture; this was of again Collin Firth, but with this one there was also Helen Bonham Carter.

 Magazines like Sight and Sound do not have a section for short films, but if I choose to include my film review in a magazine like this, I could say that my short film is a special feature article. This is a widely read magazine, and would get me quite alot of audiences of all ages.




I also started looking at magazines and websites.

Total Film Review

Total Film is a magazine, but you can also access this through the internet, and I like this as it widens the audience. With one of the Total film review, they felt like they were more interested about the plot of the film and who was in it, rather than what was good and bad about the film. This also felt light hearted as they used jokes and words from the film; a language that everyone can understand. However they did include the stars in the film, the certificate, the writters and the genre, and also used a picture which again is a unique selling point. This review was also short, but I think this was neccesarry as it is meant the be like a quick read.   http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/hall-pass


However, what I liked about this review was because it was over the internet, other people were allowed to comment on what you felt about the film, and with this twist, as a reader you could get more than one point of view on the film and different perspectives.




  Film Guru


Thtough this wedsite, I found a short film review and found it was also friendly, with not too many words used. They also talked about the technical element of the short film, which I hadnt seen in any of the other film reviews, and I liked this. They also included the title, the cast members, the director and a rating of the film. Another element I liked about this short film review was that they writter of the review included his own opinion of the film, which wasnt evident in the other reviews. This also had a short overview of the plot of the short film.

These are the conventions that I noted down about film reviews;




Film reviews Always have;
- A Title
- A bit of the plot
- The Certificate
- The Director's names
- The Writter's names
- The Cast member's names
- A picture of some sort as a unique selling point
- A certain tone of language, either friendly, calm or serious


I think that more people are likely to read a shorter film review as they dont have too much time, and is good for 'on-the-go'. By having these conventions, they are able to acum,ilate the necessary information about the film to then decide weather or not to go and see this film. The pictures also help, as they give the audience a feel of the film and show the main character which more often than not make people want to see the film as they are a really famous actor or actress.


Film reviews Sometimes have;
- Long paragraphs
- Their own opinion
- The running time
- Facts about and around the film
- The genre
- Interaction with the audience (over the internet)


The language used in the review is mostly aimed at a specific age group, friendly and calm would be for young teens to adults, and sufisticated and longer would be aimed more for older ones. The facts could interest both.


Things I will include in my review
- The Title. This is because the audience will need to know what the film is called.
- The Genre. Including the genre will help the audiemce to make quick decisions about weather or not they would like to see the short film. This will also help draw in the audience who specifically like the genre.
- Some of the plot. By including only some of the plot this will wet their appatite and make them want to see the film and find out more. This will also help to keep the review shorter for people to read 'on-the-go'.
- The Certificate. The certificate will again narrow down the audience that will want, or even be able to see the film.
- The running time. This will help people to see if they want to watch the fillm.
- The names of the - Director.
                             - Actors.
                             - Camera men.
                             - Lighting men.
                             - Production Designer. The names of these roles wont neccesarily make the audience want to go and see the film, but they need to be recognised for the jobs they have done; this also shows that even though it is a short film, alot of work and preperation ha gone into this.
- A picture - I feel that a picture is necessary as this can lure people in out of curiosity, and can give a clue about the film.
- An opinion - Having an opinion in the review will help to show the audience that they actually liked the film, and didnt write it for the sake of it, and their opinion may help them make the decision weather or not to see the film.
- A rating - Even though a rating of the film may not be the reason why a person will or will not see a film, but this may help them either way to make a decision. This could also show the quality of the film, as it is only a short film it will need all the help it needs.
- Both relaxed and friendly language as well as serious - The language can either make people want to carry on reading or make them put it down, and if I have a mixture of both, this will increase my chances of having the biggest audience that I can get to see my short film.


I have many choices and desitions to make about the placement I will use for my short film, such as would I prefer it to be in a magazine, in a newspaper or on the internet. They all have their advantages however I feel more inclined to have my film review over the internet. Most of society is technological and most homes have access to the internet, and this will deffinately give me the largest chance of a wide audience. The other advantage of this is that people can share what they like on websites like facebook, twitter and blogger.
  
As my film is more aimed at this age, I think this will have a bigger effect; they would all have this in common. However older ones have access to this too, so I will not be limiting my audience to a specific age range. I have taken into acount that only a certain age will read newspapers and a certain group will read short film reviews quickly, and this would reduce the number of possible audiences.


As I have also seen in some film review websites, it allows the reader to comment underneath the review, and I feel this is an advantage as the audience will always have a constant flow of opinions and many ideas about the film. This way, the reader will gain a wider knowlegde from this than any newspaper or magazine. For these reasons, I will have my film review in the style of Film Guru.