Film review research

1. FILM REVIEW
RESEARCH
HELK Productions

2. Purpose of a Film Review
 To inform. The review needs to tell people
who is in the film, who it is by and where or
when readers can see it.
 To describe. The review should describe the
story, characters and some of the action -
without spoiling the plot or giving too much
away!
 To analyse. A good review gives an opinion on
whether the film is good or not and why.
 To advise. Finally, the review should tell the
reader whether or not to go and see the film.

3. Font
Bold: In my process of research I found that text which is in
bold is normally key places in the film e.g. Paris or it’s the
name of the film, text which is in bold tends to be key parts of
the review, things that the reviewer considers to be important
and vital to explain the film.
Italic: Text which is in Italic is either the year the film was
released, the production company, the director and key people
or information about the film and not the storyline.
Underlined: I saw a trend in film reviews that any text in
reviews such as the one we produced, don’t have any text
which is underlined, as Italics and Bold are obvious to the

4. Structure
 Introduction: this gives an overview of who is in the
film and what it's about. It also sums up the reviewer's
conclusion about the film (so readers can form an
opinion without reading the whole of the review)
 Paragraph 2: the reviewer then describes the plot
and the action, while informing the reader which
actor plays which role.
 Paragraph 3: the reviewer then analyses the film,
talking about the director and then the actors, looking
at good things as well as bad things.
 Finally: the review informs the reader when the film
is out (and sometimes, in a local review, where it can
be seen).

5. Images
 In a film review make sure that you don’t use
images which don’t contain important
information e.g. don’t use one image of the
main character and then another one of his or
her’s funeral as it will give the plot away that
he/she eventually dies, use images with the
main character or interesting shots which get
the reader intrigued as it will increase the
chances of them watching the film.

6. Target Audience
 The target audience for film reviews varies, publishers
such as EMPIRE and Wired are aimed people aged
25+ as ages upwards are avid film watchers, the
youngsters tend to watch trailers and watch reviews
for the films online whereas film goers who are 25+
tend to read in depth reviews about films.