Film Reviews - Research and Brick

Research:I first decided to look at the website for the film magazine 'Empire' as it would give me really good ideas into how to set out my film review and how to write it. I have decided i am going to be creative with the piece and create my own little page from my own (made up) film review website. The Empire website helped me decide what needed to go on the page (for examples actors names, directors, pictures, plot and review) - However i have put my own spin on it which took a while but i really like the end product.
One of the main thing i realised about all the film review websites is that they weren't too long, there wasn't pages and pages of text that may have been shown in magazines or website. I wanted to make mine short and snappy, not giving away too much (like in the Empire magazine website or the rotten tomato website) - therefore have taken inspiration from industry products to create my own film noir film reviews.

I looked at many different reviews and i chose bits that i liked and didn't like - then sorted them to decide what to add into my review. I designed a basic format for how i would like the lay out my film review and i really like the colours and designs as they make it jump off the screen.

My design:

First i made it into a simple grid format, i didn't want to over complicate it and make it look messy - then i chose the red background with the black font on top because i thought this stands out nicely, the fonts are Castellar, Cooper Black or Times New Roman as i want to keep it simple and easy to read (I have also added effects like shadow and reflection to make it seem more professional). I added the website name one side of the top then the date on the other side. To make it look like someone had really just clicked on this review off the website i added sections with blue arrows at the top saying "Back to Film Noir" and "Next Review" as if a reader has chosen this review from a list of film noir reviews on a different part of the website. At the bottom i have added a section for readers to write their own reviews (with the use of a hyperlink) and put a box where readers can go directly from this page to twitter - to tweet about the review/film, this is a very modern function that makes it slightly unique. On the left side of the page is where i had added all of the information about the film, the poster, a link to watch the film online, audience ratings so far (using stars) and a link for the audience to rate the movie in stars themselves. The right section is mainly made up of two sub-sections, the plot (what the movie is about) and the review (thoughts/good and bad points etc).

I then decided to do two film reviews on real film noir movies (I have chosen Brick and Double Indemnity as they are two completely different films in this one genre) and then go on to do a film review of my own movie, Lustful Injustice.

My film review for Brick:

If you cant read the writing i will copy it onto here:

Plot:

High school teen Brendan Frye, found himself at the center of a drugs war after pushing his way into the stoner cliques at his school to try and find out where his scared ex is…and then who murdered her. Two gangs become at war after Emily (de Ravin) was framed for stealing a ‘brick’ of Heroin, selling half, and then returning it filled with detergent. After many fights, shootings and sex with gang member, Laura (Zehetner) – the real killer of Emily tries to frame him, but Brendan already worked it out. Laura had set Emily up in the first place and had stolen the brick herself; he leaves a note for their principle to check her locker then tells her all he knows. In a final twist she reveals that Emily was 3 months pregnant when she died, meaning that it was his baby.

Review:

A very well written modern twist on the film noir genre, however it does take a little while actually to get into and understand the story, but be patient. The acting is done amazingly well and it has obviously had a lot of work put into it to make it look exactly how Rian Johnson pictured. The one thing they may let it down is its believability – not many high schools in America are drug gang lead with smooth talkers and gun fights every two minutes, however if you can get past that then it is definitely a film worth seeing. It is not authentic to the film noir genre however has hints of conventions here and there if you look closely, it has more of a neo-noir feel to it that I think most audiences will appreciate and find intriguing.

I think the piece is well written and in my own personal style of writing which gives it and relatable touch, i decided not to write too much for each section so a reader wouldn't skim over it and i am very pleased with how it came out. I think it looks professional which is really good because i could only use Microsoft word to create it as i don't have a photo editor like photo shop on my home laptop. :)