REVIEW: Researching Different Film Magazine Audiences

When researching film magazines I found that there are a huge variety of different magazines which in turn all have different audiences.

For example, when looking at FHM, we found that this magazine's film reviews were clearly aimed towards men and this was noticable due to a collection of things. Firstly, the language used in the review is informal, evidence of this is shown by the use of slang such as 'textbook' and 'shit-eating'. The langauge seems to be quite manly which obvisouly makes it easier for the men reading FHM to relate to. The use of subheadings such as 'Where', 'Who' and 'When' gives the reader a simple explaination of what the film is about and also other important facts are spoken about in a trivia box. A comic spin on the review also hints that it is meant to be funny and is not a 'serious' film review.

Next, I looked at Empire. Empire is a well- known film magazine and when I researched this magazine I felt that the type of audience that would buy this magazine would be film lovers of both sexes as it talks seriously about films but also inserts the odd comic turn to a review. The language is straightforward and an easy read. Therefore I feel that this is why Empire has a variety of audience.

The third magazine I looked at during my research was Sight and Sound, which I felt was a individual magazine. This of all the magazines was the one which was solely focused on speaking about the film. Evidence of this in the magazine was that there was far more text reviewing the film than stills from the film. Also, the presence of the credits along with the review shows they are very focused on giving the reader as much information about the film as possible. Unlike FHM and sometimes Empire, the language is very analytical and very formal throughout. I feel that the type of audience that this magazine would attract would be the type of film lover who would solely like to know information about a film and not bother with the old joke.