Film Reviews Analysis: Part 2!

I will be analysing this page as a whole, and two of the reviews, "Lincoln" and "Inside Out".

This is a page from a TV guide, who's purpose is to tell audiences what is on tv and when, and to advertise certain TV shows and films. Film reviews can double as advertisements if the review is particularly positive. However, even if the review is negative is still creates PR for the film, and people may want to see it to decide if they agree with the reviewer. 

Lincoln's section of the page is split up and 4/5ths of it is taken up by a screenshot from the film. In fact so much of the space was taken up by this picture that they had to overlay the name of the film on top of it to fit it in. The reviewers have included a star rating and the date, time, and channel that it is being shown. Two bubbles tell the reader that it is a "Premier" and that it is "The big film" of the week. The text starts off with the main actor's name (to create interest in the review and film by attracting fans of this actor), and goes on to talk about his performance in collaboration with the director. Again this name drop attracts fans, and audiences to the film and review. After that it gives an overview of the film, and leaves a cliffhanger to encourage people to find answers by watching the film. It then sings the films praises once more, encouraging people to watch it, and lists some of the other cast members. 

Inside Out also uses lots of their allotted section for a screenshot of the film, about 2/3. This is interesting and is something that I had not considered before I started my research. Often reviews do not include the film's posters but instead choose a interesting screenshot from the film. This is done to give their readers a feeling of seeing something new and a sneak peak into the film that they want to see. This is defiantly something I am thinking of doing for my film review.  The text starts with three positive adjectives, telling the audience right away the writers opinions of the film, in a short and concise way. Following that is a synopsis of the film, with opinions interwoven throughout. At the end of the review measures it up against other films from within the same genre and from the same animation studio

In this double page film review spread, not so much of the space is taken up by pictures. Often I find that a lot of the allotted space is taken up by screenshots from the film and posters, but this magazine has focused more upon the film review text. It has used two different colours for text, back and red. The black is used as the main colour, and the red is used as an accent to accentuate certain key points and quotes.

The same colour scheme has been used as above as these reviews came out of the same magazine. This review is different, however, as over half of the double page spread is taken up by a screenshot from the film. This page includes a sub heading unlike some other reviews I have looked at. It also contains film details and a plot summary outside of the main review text. This is also somethingI have not seen before in my research. The inset splits the review up into digestible chunks, as otherwise it looks to be a lot of intimidating text that would take along time to read. 

Half of the review space is taken up by a screenshot from the film, and the other half from the text part of the review. Part of the text, some background details are actually placed as a insert on top of the screenshot, as it is so big it must have taken up too much of the space for the review. The colour scheme is as discussed above again and this review also includes a subheading. The insert creates intrigue as it is big bold and easy to read and people want to find out why "a well cast ensemble go to waste". this encourages readers to both continue reading the review and watch the film. They have also included a summary of the review at the end, and have used a typical 5 star system to give a quick, easy, and understandable review of the film.