Magazine review language

Magazine reviews tend to use funny, colloquial language and swearing, to appeal to the reader by using language they would use. As mine is a family film, there would be no swearing, and the funny language might not fit. Magazines also use quotes from the films being reviewed, which I can't do, because my film, with the edited end scene, is silent.

Reviews I have seen also use language similar to that used in the film, for example a review of Sherlock Holmes uses a wider vocabulary, as the characters do in the film. This makes my film review a little easier to write, as there is no speech I don't have to fit to a style of speech.

In my research, I found the following, an article titled 'How to write a short film review'. I won't follow this plan, however it is useful to have a very basic structure to follow, as I found most film reviews are diferent based on the genre of film, style of magazine and who wrote the review (and their preferences).

From: http://www.ehow.com/how_5211353_write-short-film-review.html

Instructions

1. • 1
     Start with a quick summary of the film and your opinion. This should take up the first paragraph and should not be more than three sentences. Identify the name of the film in this paragraph and any important association the audience may have. For example, a woman is far more likely to read a review of the baseball film "Money Ball" if it's introduced as Brad Pitt's new film "Money Ball."
   • 2
     Use the next paragraph to summarize the plot or expand on your opinion. This graph needs to be a few sentences long, but edit out anything inessential. Do not explain more of the plot than is necessary for the reader to understand that review. You do not need to lay out the full details of the plot in a short review.
   • 3
     Use the next paragraph to give credit to something good in an otherwise poor movie, or to say something that a good movie could have done better. This graph is optional, but it does suggest to the reader that the writer approached the film with a critical mindset. The most useless reviews, short or otherwise, are those written by a fan (or anti-fan) who only insults or praises the film and does not explain "why" he felt that way.
   • 4
     Close the review with an anecdote or wrap-up that also summarizes why you either liked or disliked the movie. A closing graph may also point out exceptional performances by the actors, a director, or a cinematographer.

Never give away the ending of a film in any review. Nothing angers film fans (or editors) more.

Scene issues

Because the my older brother, who was going to be the other person in the last scene is ill and has alot of uni work to do, if I can't find an alternative I'll have to change the whole scene, which could take a long time, to create, organise and film.

I might go back to my original 'happy ending' idea, which, rather than symbolising leaving your childhood behind as an adult, would symbolise holding on to your childhood through adulthood. Having this ending would mean that I wouldn't need another actor, only someone to man the cameras, filming could take up to an hour and after this the filming will be finished, and editing and music would be the only things left to do.

I would need to film:

1. Several quick shots putting up posters in different places.
2. Walking past the shop with the doll in the window.
3. The shot of me noticing the doll in the window.
4. Going into the shop.
5. The doll being removed from the window.
6. Walking out of the shop with the doll.

All very quick shots, which will make up the ending of the film.
After editing, I can prepare music. I'll need to take note of times of the film, and what mood these times are, so that music can be played in time with the scenes. If not, I may have to experiment with garage band.

Magazine review - layout plan

This is the basic layout for my magazine review, which will be a double page spread of multiple reviews. I looked mostly at 'Empire' magazine and 'Film' magazine for layouts, and I noticed the biggest difference between short film reviews and feature length reviews is the length of the review. Which is why the space for writing is so small. I also noticed that there was mostly no correllation betweenthe main film being reviewed and the adverts for films in the cinema or reviews of other films, other than maybe actorsor genre, general things that would appeal to those interested in the main article. It's from this I decided to review 'Traffic Warden' and 'Sorry I'm late', and if I have space for another 'For My Blossom'.
I can't sort out the photos or the main review until all filming and editing is finished so I can get screenshots or stills, though I can write out the shorter reviews of actual short films (of the same, childish, family genre). Also, I can do the smaller parts of the review, e.g. basic plotline, film details etc.
I'll have to find styles, fonts and colour schemes too, I'm thinking of light colours to fit the genre of the film without using pink or blue, to make it clear that the film isn't aimed at males or females specifically, and I'd choose more rounded fonts (as opposed to the more square, harsh-looking fonts which would look out of place).

Magazine review - research piece

To make a magazine review, I decided to look at other film review articles. As I couldn't find a short film review article, I used a feature film article as a basic idea. (The boxes contain little notes about some aspects of the article, click the image to make it bigger)

Although, this clearly isn't the genre of film I want to use, or a short film, though the basic layout will be very useful, in creating my magazine review.

Magazine review

So, the other ancillary task (other than the poster) is a magazine review. I'll have to find magazine reviews for short films, the type of magazine, find an audience appropriate magazine, and how it's set out. I'll also have to see what programme to use, I've never used photoshop (successfully, anyway), so I'll have to find a programme which will look like a magazine article, and upload to the blog.

Poster

I know that it's unconventional to have so much blank space on a poster, and so I tried to fill it out, using the little tear-off tabs sometimes at the bottom of missing posters, with details written on them. I decided to have 'Missing' and then the fake website which would further advertise the film, whilst still having the look of a poster. I'll upload this finished product when I'ts finished, and I've decided if it looks better or not.

Distribution

As there'll be a radio advert for my short film, I'd need to think about where people would find my film. Most short films are found either on Youtubes (Many are posted after short film festivals) or on specialised websites, or sections of bigger websites devoted to short films, such as the BBC Film Network short film section. So I think my short film would be on the internet, and maybe have its own website (Like 'Sorry I'm Late'). That way the advert could say something like "Missing. The new short film by Lyndsay Essex. Find it on www.missing-shortfilm.com." There is a problem however, as it is more of a silent film, there will be no voice clips available, so I'll have to think of a way around this, and use the background music from the film in the advert.

I had a rethink since writing this, and I thought that my target audience wouldn't be people who would listen to the radio, my target audience being young adults and teenagers. So I decided to change my ancillary task from a poster and a radio advert to a poster and magazine review.