Post 37b - Independent Film Magazines

Independent film magazines generally focus more on independent films or art-house styled films and are aimed towards a maturer audience with a different demographics. Magazines such as Sight & Sound and Little White Lies are examples of these types of magazines. 

These magazines will have their biggest feature of each issue as their main covers. Sight & Sound, a BFI magazine, has a simple layour which has changed in recent years. The image below is of the new design of front cover, which generally keeps the main focus on the person at the center of the page and uses contrasting colours to make the text read-able.

These magazines have difference conventions to the bigger magazines. Their layouts have smaller text to include more information for the reviews. An example of a 4 pages spread of a main feature in Little White Lies layout is below.

There is a clear difference with this magazine, in comparison to one such as Empire, which is that there is a lot more writing for this one film. There are multiple different text fonts and sizes for specific parts of the review. A large sized first letter displays the professional look of the magazine and it frames the rest of the text. The quote is large and a different font to signify it's importance. The layout and style of the final 'scores' for the film is always the same, bottom right of the review with three distinct sections. The size of the numbers make these the most prominent part of this section of the review. The use of numbers signifies the importance of quality in films, the fact that it's not the universal used 5 star system, highlights the focus on the film and the film only.

The images used in the Little White Lies reviews are all screen-caps of the films, rather than using promotional images or poster images, these images don't give the film away, but more show of the stylistic aspect tothe film, as shown in the Shame review, with one photo taking up the majority of two pages of a toned down shot and the other images very bright and golden but with the character having as solemn a look as the other two in the first image.

The language used in Little White Lie is clearly directed more towards a mature audience or those with intrests in indie/arthouse films. An extract from just after the start of the review reads like this. 'Shame is a film that attempts to penetrate the psyche of a thirtysomething nymphomaniac named Brandon (Michael Fassbender; a man whose every waking minute comprises a cyclone of shallow intercourse and crushing indignity. In its most explicit moments, McQueen's film is inescapably divisive, regardless of its overarching nuance. But Shame always seeks to ofer more than hot flesh and quick thrills.' The maturity of the sexual nature of the film is directed to an audience that isn't focused on explosions or action, rather the cinematography and how the subject of a 'nymphomaniac' was dealt with.

Muted colours and a simple black and white layout contribute to the professional style and layout of this magazine.

From a look at Little White Lies, we decided that as a group we would use this magazine for our film review. Although rather than having our film as the main feature, it is rather part of the 'reviews' section and is just a double page spread.