This document discusses how the creator of a new film review magazine analyzed existing film review magazines to identify conventions and incorporate them into their own magazine design. It provides examples of several common conventions, including headings, subheadings, film specifications, plots/introductions, kickers, standfirsts, bylines, and ratings. The creator applied most of these conventions, like headings, subheadings, and ratings, but challenged one convention by not including a standfirst. Overall, the document outlines how analyzing other magazines helped the creator design their magazine to look professional by following standard review conventions.

1. Film Review Magazine
How existing products helped me to
create my film magazine

2. Heading
Some magazine pages will have a heading to
introduce the viewer that I is a review film
review. This gives the viewer a better insight
to what is on that page they are viewing
Below are three examples of headings that I
have picked up and they are quite
conventional, so I had decided to put a
heading in my magazine to make it look
more professional and appealing to the
viewer.
My heading has a nice colour scheme as the
colours contrast and makes the headline
pop out. I have also put a key for the rating
of the film at the end to make it easier for
the viewer.

3. Headline
These are the headlines of the films that
the magazine pages I have looked at, they
are slightly positioned at the bottom
below the header.
On the Spiderman headline they have a certificate, so I have took
this in to account and inserted a certificate clearly showing that the
film is not suitable for ages below 14.
The titles are bold and stand out from their background, for
example: the Avatar title stands out from it’s orange background
whereas my title stands out from it’s white background due to the
black bold text.
The style of the font is san-serif, I have also taken this in to account
and have used it on my headline.

4. Subhead
The subhead is the one liner which stays below the headline and acts as the one liner
for the story. This is a convention of magazine film reviews and it is evident in the
magazines I have been researching.
You can see on the right that
there is an subheading below
my heading.
From looking at the magazine
reviews I had identified it as a
convention.
And as you can see that it has
been applied to my magazine
double spread.

5. Film specifications
From looking at these film reviews, I have noticed a trending
pattern: they include details about the film such as
director, certificate, running time ECT.
This is a convention of film reviews, since it sums of the
specifications of the film, therefore giving the viewer more
information on the film before they choose to carry on
reading the main article.
I have looked at what kind of specifications film magazines
publish and I have created this content to be used in my
magazine.

6. Plot/Intro
The introduction is very important and it’s a convention of film magazines.
The introduction is the first paragraph the viewer reads so it must be
interesting and appealing.
I have described the whole concept of my film in a
paragraph, words such as
‘interesting’, ‘friendship’, ‘challenge’ and ‘school’ have been
used to draw the attention of my audience, whom are
between the ages of 15-23
Above are examples of magazines that have a
plot/ intro to give further information.

7. Kicker
Newsletter kickers are typically set below the main headline in a font size larger than
the body text but smaller than the main headline. Font and style varies from
publication to publication. Usually, headlines and kickers are in the same font so
readers recognize that the heading introduces the content.
Newsletter kickers can introduce the content or signal a regular column through a
short phrase or sentence. Through a kicker, the writer can target a specific audience.
Since they don't have to identify regular columns in the main headline when they use
a kicker, writers have more freedom in writing main headlines. I have applied this
convention to my magazine and it is evident in the magazines I have researched.

8. Standfirst
This convention was challenged in my double spread since I did
not apply the convention to my magazine.
No Strings
Attached, I Am
Legend and Pirates
Of the Caribbean
The Spiderman and Avatar film
have a Standfirst. I
reviews did not have a
challenged this by
Standfirst.
not inserting one in
This is because it’s not
to my
necessary maybe since there is
magazine, and it
enough appealing content to
works really well
draw the audience in. Also a
with out it to be
Kick back is used to draw the
honest.
reader in to reading.

9. By-line
The by-line is the name of the author the film review. In some cases, by-lines may be
used to give credit for photographs or illustrations. The by-line is found appears
between the headline and start of the article, prefaced by the word "By" or "From" or
other wording. The by-line could also appear at the end of the article and this what I
have done as I had seen it evident in the magazines I have been researching.

10. Ratings
The ratings are out of five stars and they indicate how good the film is. This is a
convention as the review needs a visual display of how much stars the film was
awarded.
I have applied this convention from looking at
other magazines.

11. A3 double spread/ dominant image
This is a popular convention that is evident in all films reviews
As you can see I have applied it to mine. My film review is a
double page spread with a dominant image on the right. On
the photo Is a caption which says ‘where is the love’;
following my genre comedy, I thought I would make it funny.

12. To Conclude
Image from film
Heading
Header
Subhead
Film specs
Caption
Plot
Kicker
By-line
Rating
Content