Film Review Research - A2 Media Studies

2. Sight & Sound is an International Film magazine, first founded in 1932, which continues to publish issues
monthly to this day. The magazine is renowned for publishing reviews of all film releases each month,
including those with a limited (art house release). This sets the magazine apart from other widespread film
magazines which only produce reviews on large, Hollywood blockbuster releases. They also provide a full
cast and crew list under each review to credit/discredit those involved in the production of the film. Their
polls on the 'Greatest Films of All Time' are particularly well-known in the film industry, including films the
critics were most appealed to and the films the directors considered greatest. Recently in 2014, they have
also conducted a list of the 'Greatest Documentaries of all Time'. Despite this, 'Sight & Sound' have
continually been criticised for it's lack of diversity in poll participants, which has led to a greater number of
film critics and directors from all across the world to join in with the poll as to avoid bias and
underrepresentation, taking into account their gender. socioeconomic background, race and ethnicity.

3. Sight and Sound magazine has been published by the British Film Institute (BFI) since 1934 whose role it is
to ensure the equal representation of contemporary life, to educate people about film and it’s impact on
society and to promote access and appreciation of British and World Cinema. They are labeled as a
charitable organisation, most well known for containing the world’s largest film archive (the BFI National
Archive) containing over 625,000 television programmes, over 100,00 non-fiction titles and 50,000 fictional
films. Whilst the majority of the titles in this collection are British, they also include significant
internationally renowned titles from across the world. The BFI also run several IMAX cinemas: BFI Southbank
and London IMAX, both located on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. The London IMAX has the
largest cinema screen in the United Kingdom and is well-known for it’s 3D Film screenings.

4. Sight & Sound is particularly well-known for releasing issues including a wide range of different genres,
including low-budget independent films as well as larger blockbuster productions. The BFI’s royal charter
establishes their aims as promoting and preserving film-making and television in the UK in a way that is fair,
thus they make sure that Sight & Sound covers their quota through equal representation and by attempting
to be inclusive in the film genre and budget types they include in their magazine issues.

5. After reading through some ‘Sight & Sound’ film reviews I can gather that the magazine’s target audience
are primarily aimed at educated, intelligent readers that would be read largely by middle-class film
enthusiasts/journalists but has later developed distributing projects as to reach a larger, more diverse
audience. Since January 2010, the BFI have developed a series of different case studies for each film and
review that they promote to discover new ways of reaching audiences in distribution. An example of this is
the film ‘Catfish’ released on 17th December 2010 by Momentum Pictures; inspired with the theme of social
media, they distributer released a multi-platform simultaneous release launched with a Q&A premiere
partnered with ‘Lovefilm’.

6. One of ‘Sight & Sound’s aims, as stated in the October 2015 issue entitled ‘The Female Gaze’ is to write
women back into film history, by acknowledging 100 female directors who have been disregarded in the film
industry. This included citing women such as Jane Campion, Greta Gerwig, Isabelle Hupperton, Tilda
Swinton, Claire Denis and Agnès Varda who have made their mark through the films they directed. The BFI,
as part of the ‘Sight & Sound’ magazine aim to encourage people to build up a strong relationship with film
and to ensure that film culture is accessible. They also want people to have access to a broad variety of films
across all genres and platforms as well as inherently linking education into their plans to boost audience
choice.