Textual Analysis: Film Review Conclusion

Through my research and my textual analysis of film reviews, I have learnt many things about the expected codes and conventions present, both through the layout of the review and the choice of language used.

1. There is often a small box to the side of the review that presents the essential key information about the media product, e.g. the name of the director, cast (if applicable), duration of film, genre, rating etc. This is used to inform the reader about the product without having to read the whole review; for example, if the reader was looking to read a review about a product that was classified as a 'romance', they could turn to the 'genre' section to see if the current review applies. I plan to apply this convention to my own work as I feel that readers would be more inclined to read on after having read the key information, e.g. synopsis.  
2. When looking at the image:text ratio, I found that in total, the image occupation of the page never took up more than a third of the layout. This often appeared through the insertion of two large images, or one large image (often the headline image) and two smaller ones. Images are used in order to grab the attention of the reader and assist their knowledge and understanding of the text; as well as this, it may appear too formal and unappealing if the whole spread was simply text based as a block of text is often classed as too long or uninteresting. I plan to use a large image of London as my headline image on the top of my layout, much like that shown in Empire magazine. This will be the only image present on the first page of the spread, with the second image appearing at the bottom right of the second page. I feel that if I aligned the two images, it would not be as eye-catching nor aesthetically pleasing, as two vertically placed image appears more abstract and interesting to the eye. 
3. After reading many film reviews online and in print, I found that one strictly followed aspect of the typography is the use of a serif font throughout the article. I found this to appear more professional however I was unaware as to the technical aspects behind this choice; I looked it up online and found that serif typefaces are credited for enhancing readability and reading speed of long passages due to the serif helping the eye travel across the lines (www.fonts.com). I had previously felt that serif fonts were simply more decorative and prettier to look at, but now understand that the font choice and typography can also affect the legibility of the text. I will follow this convention as after having researched it, I feel that this is an important factor that contributes to the effectiveness of the text as an entirety.