1. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. Article Title Secondary image Headline Overview Subheading Main Image Text (feature article) Caption Date and page number Website Pull quote
3. Conventions of Film MagazinesWhat type of film magazine was it intended for? Our film review article is made to represent the style of Empire and Total Film magazines, therefore I have used a bright colour scheme and kept a colloquial, informal tone within the article. As our film is aimed at young people, Total Film is the perfect magazine to review it, as it includes lots of iconography and doesn’t give too much of the film away. We made the style of our article short and catchy to appeal to it’s audience, it uses humorous language and lots of adjective’s to give an opinionated review of the film while leaving enough to the imagination. Also, to keep with the conventions of Total Film I have utilised a lot of space using images; screenshots of our film to have visual impact on the reader. The colours used on the double page spread are bright and vibrant to attract the audience’s attention, suggesting it is made for Total Film. When conducting researched we concluded that Total Film is more appealing to our target age group, therefore tried to follow every convention to make it look like an article from this magazine, overall I believe it would successfully fit in with the magazine’s house style.
4. Examples of Total Film and Empire Film Reviews These are two examples of film reviews from Total Film and Empire magazine and relate to the layout we used in our double page spread. The use of one main image and a few smaller images is effective as it gives a varied idea to what the film includes.
5. How does it adhere to layout and design conventions? (Analysecolour scheme, font choice, positioning and link to your reader and style of magazine). The layout we used is similar to those in Total Film magazine, using one large image and two smaller screenshots . This gives the audience a visual insight into the film and appeals to our audience more than text would. The overview of the film is bold and contains the relevant information the audience need to know about the film. I made a logo for my magazine feature ‘The Small Screen’, by creating a silhouette of a clap board on Photoshop. This is effective as it associates the reader’s mind with films as soon as they look at the page. The headline and subheading are both positioned at the top left hand side of the page as this is where the eye is drawn to first. It first indicates the feature then the title and star of the short film. This simply I have followed the conventions of film magazines by using captions on the images to give a clue into the storyline of the film. When making the article I looked in Empire magazine and used their style of page numbers and dates on my own product. I think this evens out the page and looks professional and stylish, which will appeal to my young audience. I have also added the website at the bottom so readers can find out more information and interact with the film. I have positioned a main image on the left hand side of the page, slightly overlapping onto the second page to give the audience a lot to look at, as images are just as important as text in Total Film magazine. The two small images are extra indications of what the film is about. I used the colours black, red and blue as they are bold and stand out against a white background. I think these colours will appeal to my audience as they have a dramatic effect on the eye and will draw people in to read it.
6. Analyse the title (What should it do and how did you attempt to achieve an effective title?) The title of our review page in the film magazine is called ‘The Small Screen’. This title came from a feature in ‘Total Film’ called Screen. As our film is a short film we decided to make our page a feature dedicated to short films, hence the word ‘small’ in the title. ‘The Small Screen’ is an effective title for a short film feature as it creates a sense of short films. Also the alliteration makes it flow and will attract the audience. I chose the colours red and black as they are bold and will stand out on the page.
7. Analyse the mode of address and article content (who were you writing for and how did you address your reader - how did you speak to them? Refer to examples by quoting parts of your article and analysing the purpose.)
8. What "rules" did you follow when writing the review? (Refer to examples)
