Magazine Review Research- The Witnesses

The Witnesses is a 2007 French dilm directed by Andre Techine. It is about an afaair that happens with a married man and his partner who is dying with AIDs. The film focuses on the themes of troubled relationships and homsexuality. The review of the film is very detailed, in the fact that within the first 2 columsn the writer, Ginette Vincendeau, reveals the entire film's plot. Therefore, it gives awaythe article's main focus. As it won't be about telling the reader's to go and watch the film because it looks good or has an interesting story. But, it will be explaining how the themes are adressed and explains more about the view of the film from a more academic point-of-view.

The review of the film in this magazine can be borken up into 6 sections. The first being that Ginette gives a complete synopss of the film, next she then starts to explain abiut the narrative structure of the film and breaks it down to the original foundations. She mentions other books and film referances throught the article. As if she is expecting the reader to already have some background knowlegde into French Cinema. This shows the her mode of address/target audience for her article are people who view cinema more as an art form rather than just entertainment. This is also shown through the structure of the article and the amount of referances she makes.

The layout of the article again shows the type of audience that this could appeal to. The average teen would not read a film review this long which therefore can give an insight as to where this would be printed. It does follow the normal convetions of a magazine review with the use of th breakout paragraphs and boxes. In the top right-hand corner, is a small interview with the film's director about what he feels his film aims to show. Overall, the article is a little too heavy but is balanced by the critism in the middle two columns of the text.

For the short film, we aim to make, i think writing an article in this kind of detail would chnage the auidence we aim to attract. Especailly as the themes we are aiming to include are more light-hearted and becausae of the film's length, it would be wrong to explain every ascpect of the film in a review. I think also it would take away that element of fun and enjoyment of watching the film because after reading the article, you'd end up knowing too much. So, your experience would be different to other people who watch it becuase of that fact.