Review Analysis: My Brother the Devil (2012)

Review Analysis: Tyrannosaur (2011)

Review Analysis: Fish Tank (2009)

An Introduction to Sight and Sound and its Reviews

Sight and Sound belongs to the BFI, and is a monthly publication that covers all UK releases of that month, despite the extent to which they are released.

The review is meant to enthuse the reader- persuasive writing is used.

They are kept short, the pages offers a review, full cast and crew credits, essential film information and a synopsis.

There are parts of the magazine that are intensely academic, however, it covers every UK release that falls within in the time period, whether it is arthouse or mainstream.

It mentions events, including festivals, in detail with write-ups, reviews and appraisals. These are events in which dedicated fans, students and academics are likely to visit. It covers all major art festivals, as opposed to just the main ones.

Feature articles include a variance of film topics.

Feature Poster Analysis: The Selfish Giant (2013)

The two most predominant features of this poster are the title text and the image of the boy with the horse. This may be successful in portraying the name of the film, and giving it imagery to associate with it.  Intertextuality is seen here in the title, as it is a reference to an Oscar Wilde story of the same name. This may suggest that the short story serves as a basis for the film. The red writing stands out against the neutral grey background. This colour connotes danger, which may suggest some themes and events in the narrative. The grey may also represent a dull and boring background in which the protagonist has emerged from. Overall, the colour palette is quite cool and therefore suggests a more melancholy mood to the film. Meanwhile, the protagonist is portrayed with a horse in this version of the poster. The choice of subject matter might suggest a setting within a rural area, or that of a working class nature. The clothes that the boy is wearing further supports this suggested connotation as they are casual and therefore suggest working class representation.

The shapes in this poster serve for negative space all around the superimposed image of the boy and horse. This means that there is room for all of the text around them, as well as one extra added graphic of the electricity pylons behind the title. This hints at events in the narrative as they are an important part to the story, as well as to the setting. 

The title of the film is most definitely implied to be the most important piece of text on the poster, as it is the largest and most brightly coloured out of the whole composition. The text that follows within the clear hierarchy created, is the star ratings along with their reviews. There is one that fills the width of the poster, with two smaller ones underneath. These are easily accessible for all types of media audiences, and so creates a higher chance of more mainstream audiences seeing this film. Along with the reviews and ratings at the top, there are also more ratings below, which may emphasise the positive feedback that the film has received from the mentioned inter medial companies that reviewed it. Following this is the director credit, which appeals to only those who know the director by name, instead of by film name. This may only appeal to the more media literate and appreciative, as they are likely to analyse a poster for longer than the average audience member, and recognise a director by their name without reference to their previous films. Finally, and conventionally, the credits in the bottom of the poster are the smallest and less easy to see.

The font itself is a basic san serif typeface, which might emphasise the issues and themes surrounding working class representations, and lack of opportunities for such social groups.

There isn't a tag line for this poster, which may suggest the context of it. Considering the dimensions of the poster, this may have been designed with the purpose of advertising the film on billboards or similar, as it would only fill up half a page, or sideways within a film magazine like Sight & Sound. 

Feature Poster Analysis: Somers Town (2008)

The first feature of the poster that is noticed is the striking yellow text against the black and white format of the image. The colour yellow carries connotations of happiness and joy, whilst black and white may prompt a more emotional response. The lack of colour might connote a lack of something within the film, in a figurative sense, or to strip down and take away things from the image that might interfere with the directors intended message. The yellow on the grey background might imply that the protagonists begin with a dull scenario, and throughout the narrative, find something that makes them happier. Meanwhile, the mise en scene within the poster, specifically costume and location strongly suggests issues and themes surrounding the working class and poverty. 

The shapes in the poster allow for positive space to fill the bottom half, whilst there is negative space left for text and graphics in the upper half. The main focus of the two characters are shown at the front, whilst their background is shown in shallow focus. This might imply that the characters are breaking away from their background, and not letting it restrict them. This may suggest themes of determination and perhaps youth activity, as the boy has a camera around his neck, therefore hinting at a hobby.

Whilst leaving the photograph the main aspect of the poster, the text fills the negative space which is the sky above the flats in the background. This works well as it has almost been designated to text from when the still was taken, which shows thought being put into what was going to be written. Other than the title, the text matches the monochromatic colour palette of the photo, which allows the title to be effective in clearly being identified as the name of the film, and easy to associate with the image. It  seems the same or a similar font has been used throughout all of the text, although there is a mixture of upper and lower case and wording of different sizes. This definitely suggests a hierarchy and the statements in which the producers of the poster would want the consumers to read the most. The director has been recognised for his other film, which has been referenced, which shows example of intertextuality. Along with the credits from intermedial companies, these are the largest pieces of text on the poster following the title. This might suggest that the producers want to draw in an audience that is likely to recognise the director from his previous work as opposed to his name, which is shown in smaller font, or those that like to watch based off of others opinions. Meanwhile, the billing block and the references to film festivals are much smaller, which helps in making the poster look cleaner and neater. The laurel leaves suggest that this is a further release of a poster, after attending several festivals and being nominated for awards. 

The font itself is a basic sans serif typeface, which might lend itself to the connotation that the characters lead quite dull, basic lives.

The reviews and the star ratings are a conventional feature of a film poster, in which even less media literate audiences will understand and will be able to access. The adjectives used are also quite accessible to those of a younger reading age, which immediately gives the consumers the influence of a shared positive viewpoint amongst the intermedial companies mentioned below in a smaller font.

There is no tagline for this poster, which might suggest the context. It raises more questions about the content of the film considering there is no hints given. This poster has already suggested that it was making its rounds of various film festivals, and has been rereleased. Considering the dimensions of the poster, this may have been used as a traditional poster to advertise on billboards or similar, as it would only fill up half a page, or sideways in print format.

Feature Poster Analysis: Tyrannosaur (2011)

The main focus of the poster is the illustration, which predominantly shows a dinosaur buried underground. Above it, is a man holding some sort of weapon. Connotations carried might include history, past issues resurfacing and death, as well as violence and destruction. The variance of colours is low, with a neutral colour palette being used. Deeper colours, particularly brown, may be associated with cold and dark connotations. This might further support the suggested issue of death, and set up a bleak mood for the film. 

The divided shape to the poster that has used in this poster two divide the living and the dead might suggest binary opposition within the film. It also carries the aforementioned connotations in a simple, yet contrasting way.

The text for the poster fills the negative spaces left by the illustration, especially with the reviews, as they formulate a triangle shape around the houses and trees. This shows that thought has been given to leaving enough room for the other conventions needed for it. The title takes up the largest part of the poster, going across the middle, making it clear in its aim to present the film to the audience. A similar font is used for the reviews and the credits, which makes the poster look neater and less cluttered, also in the way that similar colours have been used to match the illustration in the background, keeping in the same colour palette. Meanwhile, intermedial reference is made in the laurel leaf image in the bottom right hand corner, in that the poster has been created to show that it has won an award at the Sundance Film Festival. Also in the bottom is the billing block, which cannot be read clearly by just looking at the poster at this size, which is a positive aspect of the poster, because it emphasises the larger credits, such as the actors and director.

The font itself is fairly basic in that a similar serif typeface might be found on several computer programmes as one of the default fonts. This however, might be effective in creating a more serious tone to the film's poster, and therefore maintaining the correct mood considering the content.

The reviews use a dark, and bold font to clearly state the thoughts of several different magazines and newspaper film reviewers. The mention of the media text it has come from employs a wider media context for the audience to understand. The star ratings are displayed, which is a common convention of posters, and is easy to read for all types of audience, as a simple 'out-of-five' mark gives a good idea of general opinion of the film. The star rating for the top review has not been included, but instead has been made bigger and bolder than the other two. The adjective 'best' used in the review might suggest the highest rating for it, and also gives the poster an easy to read quote to place at the top of their reviews, possibly to draw in an audience. 

There is a tag line missing from the poster, which might suggest the context of it. It also includes the festival award laurel leaves, and so it might imply that this is not the first version of the poster, and that it has circulated several festivals before re-releasing another poster specifying its accomplishments. Given the dimensions of this poster, it looks as if it was designed for a billboard or other types of wall hanging or advertisement, as opposed to a page in a magazine for example.