Short Film Review Page Deconstruction, (magazine name: Total Film)

Photo of review page

The magazine name: ‘Total Film’ 

Date of issue of the magazine: ’Summer 2007’

Film reviewed: ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’

 

General design and composition

   The orientation of the whole page here is landscape, which takes two pages. The image placed on the right page and text with small helping image on the left.

   There are three columns of texts altogether. The column texts are placed on the left side vertically and in some places divided by helping photos and kickers.

   The overall color scheme is black, red and white. The text in this case is black, white is the overall background and we can see sometimes red and yellow writings in some places (probably to attract attention on the page).

Text elements

   The main headline of the page is ‘screen-new movies on order of merit’, after this heading of the page we can see the name of the film which this page is about. Kicker in this case would be small red circle which has writing (movie of the month). This will attract people to read film review, when they turn page. There are also two pull quotes in the text. There are two side bars on the page. One and the most visible side bar on the right page with photos of other films and with some writings about them. The second sidebar is on the bottom right side of left page which starts with word ‘In short ’. Text becomes bold in some points of the texts; it meant be made that way to made order of the text. We can see when we should start to read side bars or the actual review of the film. The fonts of texts are a bit different in different sections of writings; for example words are not only changed to the ‘italic’ style of writing but also text fonts being changed. The head lines are in the other font style than main text even though it has different size. The sizes and fonts of texts made like that for reason, so page does not look plain and that all texts are actually divided between each other. Also the reason for different fonts and sizes could be order in which creators wanted people to look at the whole text within the order, from biggest to smallest. The order in which people would look at this page would be: headline of the page, in this case it is name of the section of the magazine. The second that we can see is comment of the name of the magazine section. Next that people would see is name of the film which will be observed. The next thing which brings out attention is text and what is related to it. First we see in the text is pull quote which is coloured red and does not really has any writings and it has a graph. The reason why this pull quote is the most noticeable is that graph of how interesting this film was rated would push people to read this text. Second that we can see in the text is pull quote coloured yellow, white and black; it is not as bright as first one because it meant to be less important than first ‘red’ pull quote. It is still visible because of its yellow colour fonts. A drop cap in this text would be the red circle, as when you look at the beginning of the text you would first look at the red pull quote and than at the text. Other type of pull quote in the text is column on the bottom right side of the left page, it seems to be quite important for me because bold font style used.

   All bits/elements on the double page are placed straight, and it does not create or reflect any genre of film by being printed that way. Styles of fonts for all writings are quite ordinary, helping images are without any Photoshop editing so it does not look like particular style/genre of film, like (gothic or comedy).

   The specific colours of pull quotes were chosen on purpose, red is the most seeable colour on the page; we can see that there are quite a few things coloured red, we understand straight away that it is important after we read it. The meaning of the writing which is written in red should be positive for reader so after reader reads it he/she would want to read the rest of the text. Rating of the film is coloured red as well, as it could be the factor to reader to read the whole article. Pull quote with yellow bits is less important we can understand that because it coloured less recognizable colours; which is black and a bit of non-bright yellow.

   Text on the whole page is interrupted with pull quotes, dropcaps. Text is divided onto three parts to make it read easily pull quotes and dropcaps are placed in the middle of the text to make text look more interactive, and make it look more interesting. If review pages would not have any pull quotes or other decorative bits of texts audience would think of it as boring, as people read magazines for fun and wants to be entertained by the magazine.

   Yes the quote on the left page where it says: ‘Pirates of Caribbean: At World’s End’. The actual name of the film is ‘Pirates of Caribbean’ and the quote ‘At World’s End’ was added by the publisher. The reason for this could be that the actual scene in the film involves an end of something in the film. So after audience reads the quote thinks that there is something going to happen. Also just under the main quote of the film we have a smaller one about the main hero, which brings to us the USP which is the main actor. The quote says: ‘Captain Jack delivers spectacle. And talk. Lot of talk…’ for this quote we have a supporting image on the right page with a photo of the main actor.

Images

   There are quite a lot of pictures on the page, firs picture is the main one and it takes the whole right page. The orientation if the photo is vertical. Picture is related to the article as we see the main hero which was described in the quote. There are some other pictures on the bottom right side of the right page with images of other different film followed with quotes. The name f the column with photos and writings is: ‘see this if you liked’. This can give a thought to the reader that if I did like this review of film I should certainly go for the films listed there.

   There are no particular style of the picture, as this supposes to be a screenshot so people actually can see how this film would look like if they watch it, also the overall style of the magazine is quite simple as if magazine would be in a particular style; only a particular reader group would read it. This magazine is made in quite simple style so it is not concentrating on the particular group of people and can be approachable to everyone.

   Miss-en-scene on this picture is in the theme of the film. On the picture we can see a middle shot on the main hero who has got the appropriate clothes for the pirates on, as the whole film is about pirates. The other reason why this photo was chosen for this article is that it represents the clothes/idea of the film and it shows the USP in the same time.

   The relation between photo and main article is that we have writing/quote ‘captain Jack delivers spectacle. And talk. Lots of talk’ from this we can understand that Captain Jack talks a lot and like causing problems and the supporting image for this on the right page; we see that someone is holding Captain Jack on the neck.

   The caption on the main photo is a phrase: ‘Johnny was a bit worried when Chow went in for a kiss’ this might be a very brief explanation of what is happening on the picture. The other small pictures on the bottom right side of the same page do not have any captions for each one, there is only one big caption which says: ‘see if you liked’.

Graphic furniture

   There is not much graphic furniture. First one is the black line on top of the pages; this line has some kind of drawn circle on the left top side of the left page and this circle carries on through two pages and this black line has page numbers of other main film articles. Other graphic furniture is stars which are placed between the lines in the text; it is there with explanation of how many stars for what and what is good and what is rubbish. The stars are places under the main heading on the left page. The other graphic furniture we can see is page number and website of the magazine you can see it on the right bottom of the right page. The last graphic furniture is a small red circle with drawn yellow computer mouse on it with internet link with it. The last graphic furniture is placed just under the pictures of other films.

   There are no logos of magazine on the actual page but there is website written with page number. We can certainly see the style of the magazine; it is represented by using grayish colours and limited colour scheme.

Tone and register

   The tone of the writing is informal because narrator of the text appeals to us/readers. Text is written for people aged between twenty to fifty, as text is not too informal which would not suite elder audience and text is not too formal which will suit more young audience. The text is funny in some ways, sarcastic addressed to the main hero. Text is not made in formal or sophisticated way. It is also not irreverent as the narrator does not try to insult the main hero. The whole text is made in the way to appeal to the reader and interest him in the text.

   The thrust in the film is made on all aspects, those are: narrative, actors and USP. Narrator was mixing all of those aspects in the text without any order. Narrator was describing that film could not be good enough for home preview because of too much shooting. The actors as the narrator says talk too much, there is length of conversation and less quality of it. The unique selling point in this film would be the fact that this is another series of the trilogy, and as the other parts were attractive the other series would be reasonable to watch.

A2 G324 Advanced Portfolio (Short Film Brief)

What genre is my film?

   The genre of this film is “Abstract”, with some elements from love drama.

 

General treatment

   The film will be about life of two young people which are arranging date. Though out the whole film we will see only their hands, and their hands will express their emotions, mood etc. I might use the changed “Nokia” logo as the beginning of the film which will look like: two hands reaching to each other and writing above – “Hands, connecting people”. I also might do something to graphic; like making it black and white or use the brighter colours to represent love drama. As I will make film about hands the props are going to be: nail varnish for girl and man’s hand should look unkempt which would be opposite to girl’s hand. The unique selling point of my film would be its abstractionism, as this film will look odd. The idea of my film is to treat the concept by emotions and feelings which I will try to express by hands in the film. If I would pitch to a funding body, I would go to Arts Council as they “work to get everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people’s lives. Also they support a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, carnival to crafts”. Taken from Arts Council website.

   My mission is to: create a short film without using any actors except their hands, and film should be mainly filmed in the close up to actor’s hands. The potential problems could be in choosing actors and having enough shots to fill in the five minutes. The name I was thinking about for the film was “Hands” which is seems to be straight forward name. For the poster I am thinking of hands reaching to each other like in Nokia logging background and writing above which says Hands, but at the moment I am not sure how poster would look like.

What is the purpose of my film?

   The purposes of my film are: to show the audience that our life could be expressed by our movements in this case “hands movements” the other purpose is to film something new and unusual. First of all my film should be entertainment. In this place film is entertainments and show case of my skills as I asked to prove that I am creative. You can also relate it to a post-modern art because it would not be a traditionally filmed piece of work with traditional actors and traditional props.

Real examples of similar products

   On the CD of Media Magazine “Short Circuit 2006” I found films called “Paper Chase” which is quite similar to idea that I have. It is similar because it has no lyrics; also there is a meaning or in other words a story line. The other film which I found on that media CD is called: “Fairground Ride”. The film is about rollercoaster ride. Film was filmed by placing camera on the end of the bat, and putting non-diegetic sound of screaming people, to let the audience understand that it is like the attraction. This idea is similar to mine because it is abstract and has a story line.

   Here are the real examples of film posters. I like them because they all look abstract and they all have an interesting or unusual variety of colours. I want to make my poster in the similar way because my film is going to be filmed in abstract way, so poster for my film will look in the same style.

 

  Those are texts reviews which I have found. I like those review pages because they are big which means they will attract readers’ attention, also I have quite a lot of space on the right which lets me place there what I want and make the page more interesting.

 

Target audience: age, gender, hobbies, interests etc.

   There is no particular target audience at the moment, because the film I am planning to make does not really relate to any genre. I think that my future film would suit a range of people in the age from 16 to 25. For even older audience this film may be seen as a silly and childish, the reason for this could be actors which would be aged 17 in the film. The possible gender for this film could be girls, as this film would remind romance or love film. The possible hobbies of my target audience would be internet/computer and mobile phones. As in the film I will use shots when actors write to each other something by using those devices. As watchers would think – “Oh I use this, so it is cool film…” Occupation of my TA is student as people from 16 to 25 are mainly studying. My audience is likely to listen to pop music and watch TV programs like “Big Brother” as girls in this age usually watch reality shows.

Will my magazine have elements in that appeal or include the TA directly?

   The elements which will appeal to my audience might be props like mobile phone messages or computer and internet. The reference to modern culture would be mobile phones and iPods, which my heroes will use. The language my heroes will use in texts will be modern with slang elements in it. The mise-e-scene will be a nail varnish on girl’s hands as to represent the stereotypic of the film. The locations of the film would be in the school and maybe at home to represent the age and life of the actors. I also might some music in the end or through out the whole film, the reason for this is to fill in the empty sound spaces in the film.

What sorts of other media would be useful to research to support my TA?

   To help my research on how to attract the audience I will be searching some film reviews in the magazines. This would help me to understand how to write a reviews and how to attract the audience. The examples of magazines which I will look at are: “empire”, “film comment” or “total magazine”. The other useful media which will help to look at other short films i.e. the way it is made and the way posters are produced will be BBC Film network: (http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/).

Also there is one more media which I could use to find out about how to produce film reviews and to place advert of my short film. This source could “Guardian” and “The Times” which have a Friday film and book review.

Consumption of TV, internet etc.

   For the advertising my short film I would use youth channels. The example of channels like that would be E4 and some music ones like VH1 and MTV. The TV programs where I can place adverts would be music charts, and in case of entertainment channels like E4 would be Big Brother. Time of my adverts would be evenings, when all young people came from school and watching life shows etc. I can also use mornings, just before the school starts as students or my TA would watch TV before they go to school, as youth might watch some music channels. The websites which carry short films like mine would be BBC and Independent Lens which is placed at: (www.pbs.org/independentlens/insideindies/shortsfest/).

   The examples of magazines which may advertise my short film would be Empire and Total Film magazines. DVDs which could have advert of my short film are likely to be love story films. Such as Mama Mia or Sex and the City, this is also could be related to cinemas; where some new love drama films will go on.