A2 Media - Film Review Research

1. Where are film reviews found?
Film Reviews occur over a broad range of
media platforms. There are magazines such as
‘Sight & Sound’and ‘EMPIRE’that are
specifically tailored for producing film reviews
and news. These magazines often publish both
online, and bimonthly by post as to reach a
wider audience. They are typically aimed at
people who have a keen interest in film, or are
critics themselves. The reviews are often
highly opinionated, witty and outspoken.
Magazines such as ‘EMPIRE’are targeted more
at male film watchers, thus the images on the
magazine covers and the informal, chatty tone
used may be indicative of this male-dominated
audience. Film reviews are also posted in
newspapers such as ‘The Guardian’and ‘The
Sun’. However, the quality of writing and
language used can differ greatly based on the
newspaper the review is under. For example,
‘The Sun’is regarded as a biased, right-wing
newspaper, that has a weak moral compass for
publishing exaggerated information that may
have been obtained unethically. In contrast,
‘The Guardian’is considered to be more central
in-terms of politics, they are most notable for
their articles on the ‘News of The World’
hacking scandal of 2011 and have been praised
for their succinct and factually accurate reports.
Aggregate sites such as ‘Rotten Tomatoes’and
‘Metacritic’are also highly popular websites
that provide film reviews, ratings, clips and
images. These sites are most popular amongst
young people. They give a brief overview on the
plot outline as well as a rating (out of five
tomatoes) and percentage score. If the film
scores 60% and over the film is considered
‘fresh’ and if it scores under 60% it is regarded
as ‘rotten’ by the site. This differentiates viewers
on films worth going to watch, and films that are
better off avoiding. Unlike newspaper and
magazine film reviews, the reviews can be
provided by any member of the site. Anyone can
post their personal opinions on the film and give
it a rating. These ratings are considered the most
reliable as there is more than one source given.
This site combines the film review and score the
critic has given, with the reviews and scores
given by the audience. This gives the website
visitors/members a sense of importance and
shows that their opinions matter.
The site ‘IMDb’similarly provides film reviews,
clips, trivia and news.

2. ‘The Sun’is a daily tabloid newspaper, publishing in
both the United Kingdom and Ireland. They had the
largest circulation of any daily newspaper in the United
Kingdom, until the ‘Daily Mail’overtook them in 2013.
they currently have an average circulation of 2.2 million
copies and an average daily readership of 5.5 million.
They are well-known for their controversial headlines
and articles. One of the most recent controversies was
an article about migrants by The Sun’s columnist Katie
Hopkins. She referred to migrants in Britain as
“cockroaches” and “feral humans” sparking many
condemnations from other columnists and critics. Alex
Zane is the most notable columnist under the film
review section of ‘The Sun’. As well as publishing a
grand total of 569 reviews on this site, he has also
published reviews of films such as ‘The Wolverine for
The Sun. The Sun’s ‘showbiz’ section of the paper also
includes information about celebrities, gossip, music
and film trailers to give more substance to the review
and provide more information about it’s stars and the
plot-outline. ‘The Sun’online site largely appeals to a
young audience from the ages of 15-34 (approximately
4 million readers). Thus, it succeeds at targeting the
younger generation and providing information (however
it’s validity may be questionable!)
The ‘Film and Reviews’section of The Guardian is
a highly reputable source for film reviews
covering a range of movies, from Hollywood
Blockbusters, to low-budget Independent films.
The Guardian was constructed with the intention
of safeguarding “journalistic freedom and liberal
values” and to construct articles “free from
commercial or political interference”. Currently,
Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian’s film critic)
publishes most of the film reviews. His reviews
are highly regarded by readers as opinionated, yet
fair. His most notable column ‘Peter Bradshaw’s
film of the week’ covers his personal current film
favourites. The style of writing in The Guardian is
considered sophisticated and tasteful,
incorporating a more formal and respectful tone in
it’s reviews. The target audience of The Guardian
are typically liberal, middle-aged, educated males.
52% of readers are male with the average age of
readers being 44. Despite this, their use of online
articles which are able to be accessed free of
charge have made the newspaper more appealing
to a younger audience. They have also released an
app, meaning the newspaper can be accessed by
any tablet or smartphone users.
‘The Independent’is regarded as an
economically liberal, politically centrist online
daily newspaper. They originally published in
the form of a Broadsheet Newspaper, however
they changed to tabloid format in 2003. Due to
lack of circulation, the Newspaper became
digital on the 12th February 2016. The ‘Culture’
section of the online newspaper contains
information about TV + Radio, Film, Music,
Books, Art and Theatre + Dance. The film
section provides reviews on both independent
and large Hollywood films as well as providing
film news and trailers. Anthony Quinn is the
central film critic for ‘The Independent’with his
recent reviews covering up and coming films
such as ‘Blue Jasmine’ (2016) starring Cate
Blanchett. 64% of readers are male, middle-class
and well educated. Predominantly, people from
the age of 18-24 and 35-44 make up the highest
age demographics. Due to this, the target
audience will correspond with the
demographics. Thereby the film reviews will be
well written and aimed at the age range that is
most likely to watch the film.
Newspapers:

3. ‘Rotten Tomatoes’is widely regarded as a film
review aggregator, founded in August 1998 to
provide film news and reviews. Despite this over the
years they have also reviewed TV shows as the site
began to gain more popularity. The name refers to the
traditional practice of throwing rotten tomatoes if
there has been a poor stage performance. They are
best known for their ‘Tomatometer critic aggregate
score’. This is where Rotten Tomatoes staff collect
online reviews from members of the site/ film critics
and then come to a conclusion whether it is a positive
“fresh” review or a negative “rotten” review. If the
positive reviews make up 60% + of reviews then the
film is considered “fresh” whereas if they are less
than 60% they are considered rotten. Each review
consists of a critics consensus, featuring a brief
summary of the reviews used in the entry’s aggregate
score. ‘Rotten Tomatoes’are widely recognized by
film watchers and critics alike. Localized versions of
this website are available in the United Kingdom,
India and Australia. They are currently in the top 200,
according to website ranker Alexa and place around
550 globally. The ‘Rotten Tomatoes’user community
has allowed a range of different people to correspond
with one another and submit their opinions about
film and television.
Aggregate Sites:
‘Metacritic’ is an aggregate site that currently
reviews music albums, games, movies, TV shows
and DVDs (and also used to review books). For
each product that is reviewed a score out of one
hundred is given. To reach a total score, based on
all reviews of that product the total has to be
averaged. The three colours system (green, orange
and red) indicates whether or not a product is
worth endorsing. Whilst ‘Metacritic’ has mostly
gained recognition for it’s video game reviews,
they also “cover a broad range of media (Jason
Dietz). Their “Metascore” system is as follows:
‘Metacritic’ also has ranked films, video
games etc such as the Top 10 “Best Movies of
All Time” list. Currently, Metacritic’s Alexa
ranking is 1,505 with a substantially large
viewership and members of the site.
‘IMDb’ is an online database/aggregate
site proving information of films, TV
shows and video games. Some of their
well known features include cast and
production crew lists, fictional characters,
biographies, plot summaries, trivia and
reviews. ‘IMDb’ is largely recognised by
the film industry, and is where actors and
crew can upload their personal résumé and
pictures for a small fee. If you are a US
user, you also can have access to movies
and television shows e.g CBS as well as a
variety of independent film makers. They
are currently in the top 49 on the Alexa
ranking and have over 65 million
registered users as of January 2016. The
films are rated from a scale of 1-10 by
many users, before a mean score is
produced. The site encourages interactions
between different users by featuring
message boards which regularly include
debates about film, actors etc. Users also
can make their own personal lists based on
categories e.g ‘Top LGBT films on
Netflix’