Film reviews are created as a way of advertising a film further to a specific target audience. However this only works if it promotes the film positively. If it is a negative review, the film is less likely to become popular and gain a profit, because other forms of media have already put doubt in the audience’s mind. By analysing film reviews, this will allow me to help form an idea of how to approach the advertisement of my own short, and how to structure a realistic, in-depth film review, as if written by a journalist in Empire magazine.
From looking at The Babadook article written by Kim Newman, I have discovered a rough outline of how I could structure a film review, and what type of information I could include. Film reviews do not describe everything that happens in a film, but merely analyse and talk about the specific strengths. Or if it is a poor review the specific weaknesses. In this case, the columnist had purely positive things to report on this text.
I annotated the article before analysing what I could draw from the review, as this allowed me to get a full sense of what the journalist was saying and their views of the film:
In regards to the visual layout, the image shown at the top of the article is often taken from the actual film, as this is what the writer is talking about. A caption is also used including witty humour, and they have also inserted their own tagline ‘The Book Friend.’ This is suggested to be ironic, seen as you don’t actually find out that the monster ‘Babadook’ is ‘friendly’ till the end of the film. There are conventions of the genre of the text shown in the image, through aspects like the low-key lighting, and the framing of the shot, showing the character looking vulnerable and isolated in the centre of the shot, creating an eerie atmosphere and clearly establishing the genre to the audience.
The first written section portrays the most important information to the audience, such as, the release date, certificate rating, director, cast, running time and plot. This gives the audience a very brief outline of the film. The plot illustrates the basic events of the text, therefore showing the audience what they should expect from the product, and giving them a basic understanding of the film before reading the review, so that they can understand the writer’s opinions.
By using a visual arrow at the start of the review, it gives the audience a clear start to the article. Newman introduces it straight away with the genre of the text and targets the reader by relating the film to an everyday situation, this is made to engage them and so they start to feel nervous about normal circumstances that they find themselves in. Words such as ‘insanity’ are used to reinforce the horror genre and psychological aspect of the film, which I could use when writing my own film review to portray the witch cult genre and gothic theme of my media product.
Newman continues to develop on the director of the text, and introduces the first feature of the film and presents some specific details of the character profiles, so that the audience can develop an established character in their imagination, before reading on with the review. The columnist also develops the scene and setting of the film, by talking about terror and death, which is inevitably a feature of the horror genre, and establishes a clear picture of how the film could play out. By talking of death, the film seems darker and more mysterious to the audience, which would target an even more specific adrenaline seeking audience and could encourage the viewer to become thoroughly engaged with the writer’s verdict.
The journalist also gives a backstory to some of the characters behaviours to cause the reader to relate and empathise even more with them. It also illustrates and explains how the situation becomes gradually out of control, as the characters start to turn insane, this builds suspense for the audience, as they are constantly kept in tension throughout the film, until the genuine jump scares occur.
Newman also talks as if she’s addressing herself along with the reader/audience, by saying “at first, we’re trapped […]” which causes the reader, although they may have not seen the film, to feel as though they had. This friendly, informal tone of the review may cause the reader to feel advised to see the film. Throughout the review the writer talks of the development of fear, which represents how the audience also becomes terrified and begins to empathise with the son, who originally just seemed like a nightmare kid, but as the storyline unravels the audience realise he has a reason to be afraid. By showing the development of fear throughout the written review, this can link back to the actual film and show the conventions the director has adhered to in relation to the build up of tension and suspense.
There is also comparison to other texts from the same genre, such as, The Shining, this will target a wider audience, and draw evaluative points on how they rate against each other. Newman also explains some of the unconventional features of the film, such as, the mother – taking place as the psychotic, insane character, when generally a male takes this role. The actors are also mentioned and appraised on their performance in the film. This gives further advertisement to the publicity of the performers.
Intentions of the film are also initiated through its link with contemporary ghost stories and how it is “genuinely scary in its jump moments,” and how there is a “lingering sense of dread that will stay with you for days.” By directly addressing the audience, this could cause them to be provoked to watch the film, due to this psychological, adrenaline aspect of the text impacting on reality. The aim of the “expressionist style” is talked of to explain the aim it has to impact on the audience, by being unconventional and not simplistic. The talk of the finish to the film being “disturbing” could unnerve the reader and give the review an edge, which represents the film. The final paragraph expressing the height of tensions that Newman has depicted.
The verdict is used to refer back to the genre and explain the quality of the text and the final rating that this professional reviewer has applied to the product. The whole review sets up an impression of whether this writer’s opinions should be valued by the reader, and Newman successfully completes this and makes her response valid in the final rating of five stars.
I also annotated previous student examples of film reviews under this genre, as this helped me to understand the brief and the structure of which they had interpreted the task. This also illustrated to me the similarities between the structure/detail of their work and the reviews from Empire magazine.
Emily Allen - A2 Media 