What are the main film magazines in the UK?

It is clear, that film magazines are very important in giving; unbiased opinions for potential audiences, to further attract people and promote the films by giving trustworthy opinions from people of high standing. There are many film magazines around the world that review the different aspects of up-coming films, but there are three main magazines in the UK which are: Total Film, Sight & Sound and Empire Magazine. They are all very different in the way they approach writing film reviews and each magazine differ in style, layout, content and mode of address. The fact that they differ means that they have different audiences for the different magazines. There are also art house magazines available, which do reviews on more independent movies, and a popular magazine for that type of film is: White Lies. . Besides these magazines there are also ‘In house’ magazines available, which are free magazines which the audience can read in the actual cinema. They can be found in the key chain cinemas like: VUE, Cineworld, and Odeon. Total Film and Empire are almost on the same level, in competition with each other as they have a lot in similar with each other.

Empire - Empire is a British film magazine published monthly, by Bauer Consumer Media. Empire is described as the 'UK's premier movie destination'. Empire features the news, does reviews on mainstream Hollywood films and features new upcoming releases of films. They are a male affluent ABC1 (upper, middle and lower-middle class) magazine which reviews and promotes mainstream, Hollywood films. Alternatively, all these features can also be found online as well as on print, to reach out to the widest audience possible. The fact that they have an audience of ABC1 males mean that they are the top of the social class system and can afford to subscribe to magazines. The C2, D and E are obviously the less affluent and Empire is not a magazine that would attract that sort of audience. The cover itself has a glossy effect, with a large dominant font used for the title, to convey the powerful film reviews that will be found inside the magazine. The layout of the magazine goes for the bright and eye-catching effect so things “jump at you” from the page. As it appeals to a large scale of people, there are no art house or independent film reviews found inside. 76 % of the audience that read Empire are males and that is why the magazine offers things like free games and that is why the mode of address of the magazine is quite humorous and lacking serious content.  

Total Film - Similar to Empire, Total Film is a British magazine published every four weeks by Future Publishing. It provides mainstream reviews of Hollywood films and has a range of features such as: DVD/Blue Ray news, interviews and previews with famous actors/aspiring actors and a range of opinions from different actors about films. Like Empire it has a glossy effect with bright colours, fonts and images that jump out of the page at the reader. No art house or independent reviews would be found in this magazine as it is all for a mainstream audience. Unlike Empire, it would focus a bit more on established/aspiring actors and directors, including in depth talks with them and their work. Like Empire, the mode of address is quite informal and chatty which is for a younger audience. Total Film’s audience are not people who want to read because they look at film as a cultural art, but people who want to read the reviews for entertainment purposes. This magazines audience have a more casual approach towards film, and are just plain cinema goers. 

Sight and Sound –  Sight and Sound is a British monthly film magazine, published by the British Film Institute. It provides in-depth interviews with well-known film makers, informed and independent film news and comments (Unlike Empire/Total Film), traditional articles which bring film history to life and new cinema releases. Sight and Sound is very different in comparison to Total Film & Empire as it has more of a niche audience, because of the more formal mode of address, style and content. Sight and Sound write reviews to promote the directors/actors, giving a more educated opinion about their style etc. This magazine is more detailed than the first two and has a simple layout because of their different target audience. The mode of address, assumes that the people reading it are interested in art house films, and like films as a cultural art. The layout and style is detailed, with many segments to the actual article like a synopsis, commentary on themes, introduction etc. Sight and Sound is quite a Specialist magazine that uses extravagant language, to given an educated perspective to its niche audience. 


 

Little White Lies – This is also another well known magazine, but is just for independent cinemas and not as well known as the other three. It focuses on Films cinematic subject matter, which is great contrast to all the other magazines. The magazine surrounds independent reviews, commenting on the art aspect of film and cinema. Compared to Empire or Total Film, the mode of address is formal but at times directly talks to the audience and can be slightly informal. It keeps to the general conventions of a magazine layout, but clearly has a niche audience because of the general unique style of the magazine. The articles found inside, are intelligent, informative and intellectual discussions about the love of film and cinema.

In House magazines are similar to the mainstream magazines such as Empire and Total film but are only brief so are a size of A5. They don’t look glossy or have several features because they are simply about giving reviews on the films. Compared to the other film magazines they are quite un-biased because they are placed in an actual cinema, and need to generate more profit, so it would be silly to give bad reviews as that would make people not watch the films in the cinema. Unlike the other magazine reviews In house magazines main focus is on the stars, the actors/actresses and use that to attract people to see the film. The mode of address is chatty and informal to keep the positive tone of the film review, as they want to promote the audience to come to the cinema again.