1. Molly Turner
Media magazine review analysis
1. Magazine reviews are often laid out so that there are quite a few on a page. Sugar
magazine follows this convention by having reviews of one DVD, one music DVD, one
album, two films, two TV programmes, and three singles over a double page spread. At
the bottom of the page, there is a small black page number next to the magazine's
website address, which is written in pink; as this is a girly colour, it relates well to the
target audience. The pages show mainly images of the casts, singers or stills from the
film, but have a small amount of writing beside each image to expand on what exactly
the image is showing. The captions are written in an informal, colloquial style, which
appeals to the magazine's target audience of females between the ages of thirteen to
seventeen, and uses second person in order to speak directly to the audience, therefore
engaging with them.
2. Shout magazine's film review page is similar, showing four song reviews, one album
and one DVD. All are made up of images and text, though the film review has a large
picture of the front of the DVD box and the others have smaller images. The pictures all
have yellow circles by the side with black text telling the audience when the item is
released, which would be useful as people will know when to go and buy it. There are
no page numbers or institutional references on this page and the writing style of the
magazine varies throughout. These particular articles are written colloquially in second
person, similar to Sugar, again to identify with the target audience of young teenage
females. They also include quotes by the artists; this has possibly been done to get the
audience to buy the item as they feel that the artist has spoken directly to them.
3. Since totalfilm.com's reviews are online rather than in actual print form, they are
much more in depth and detailed, tending to write a synopsis of the film's narrative as
well as a review. It relies a lot less on images to attract the audience, choosing to have
only one still from the film at the top of the page with the text below. This could be
because people are expected to have searched for this review rather than just have
stumbled upon it whilst flicking through a magazine. The purpose of this article is to
inform about and advertise the film. The writing style is objective and the article is
written in Standard English, making this text suitable for all audiences, but perhaps
aimed more at people around the ages of twenty five and above.
4. Empireonline.com's film reviews are similar to those of totalfilm.com. They have also
chosen one large still image from the film to reinforce what they're saying, but they’ve
separated the review into sections of ‘plot’ and ‘verdict’. The ‘plot’ section is a lot longer
is written in objective Standard English verging on informal (implying that this text is
aimed at a younger audience than that of totalfilm.com – perhaps around fifteen to
thirty), with the purpose of informing the audience rather than communicating with
them directly - although there is a section beneath the review in which people can post

2. their own review and rating of the film, allowing them to get involved. There is a star
rating beneath the review and a box entitled 'film details' beside it, containing
information such as the certificate, running time, actors, directors and screenwriters.
This enables the audience to see who was in the cast and who was involved with the
production of the film, therefore telling them if any of their favourite actors are in it,
etc, which will entice people who maybe aren’t too keen on the genre of the film to see
it because of who is in it.
5. Marie Claire’s reviews are slightly different, being reviews of make-up products
instead of films. There are large images of the various products in the middle of the
page, with dotted lines leading off to brief articles explaining what the product is, how
much it is and where to buy it. The writing style is much more mature here, using
‘feminine’ words like ‘modern’ and ‘sensual’ to engage with their audience of older
females, perhaps from the ages of twenty five and above. However it is still colloquial,
as we can see from phrases such as ‘pre-party pick-me-up’ – this could have been done
to show that although this is a magazine for adults, it’s not exclusive and does welcome
younger readers. The bottom of the page sports the page number in bold and the date
alongside it; again, no institutional references. This could be because magazines for
children and teenagers, such as Sugar, tend to encourage readers to participate in the
magazine through the use of web 2.0, by doing things such as sending in letters and
playing games on the website – magazines for adults tend to be much more one sided
and don’t offer such an opportunity for audience participation.