The History Of The Film Genre
The film magazine genre is a growing industry that is shifting in focus and constantly expanding, more magazines are being produced with different and more specific focus’ in film.
Trade
Kine Weekly (1889), Today’s Cinema (1957), Variety and Hollywood Reporter are all trade film magazines. Trade was the start of the magazine genre, they were made for people that worked in the film industry.
Fan
Empire (1989), Picturegoer (1913), and Motion Picture Story Magazine are all magazines made for the fans of film. This style emerged when film magazines started to shift their focus to the audience instead of people in the industry.
Highbrow
Little White Lies (2001), Sight And Sound (1934) and Monthly Film Bulletin (1934) are all highbrow film magazines. Highbrow are very serious and have more of a focus on intellectual Art House films, independent cinema and some foreign cinema. They think of film as “Art”.
Niche
SFX (1995), Fangoria (1978) and Supernatural (1969) are all Niche film magazines. An adaptation of the fan style magazines, Niche focus on one very specific area or genre of film, for example Supernatural focus’ on Sci-Fi and horror rather than a lot of different films, and SFX focus’ on Fantasy and Sci-Fi. The point is that the magazine digs very deep in to one specific genre or aspect of film to best please the fans of that area.
Advances In Technology
Magazines nowadays have a strong online presence with the rise of the internet, Total Film, Empire and SFX are all a good example of this. These are not just online advertisements, these magazines have full interactive websites with reviews, interviews, blog posts and writers articles. Websites are also a good way to publish breaking news and information that would be outdated by the time a magazine is printed, the bigger news and articles are still always featured in the article.
Audience Needs And Lifestyle
Film magazines seem to be more about interviews and reviews because of the internet. Sites such as twitter connect people instantly and the audience can view spoilers and information quickly without buying a magazine, so the film magazines focus more on behind the scenes access that the internet can not deliver.
Changes In Style
Film magazines have scrapped the simplicity and are very rich and visual nowadays, for example, most film magazines now offer exclusive images within for the reader. Magazines like Little White Lies are heavily focused on graphic design, especially their front covers that are always very intricate and abstract.
Changes In Content
When film magazines started they were based only on current films and what they were about, they even sometimes included a whole plot summary so people did not have to go and see the film.
These synopsis’ then evolved in to reviews, this was then what the reader bought the magazine for, they want to know if a film is worth going to watch, reviews are still a huge part of film magazines to this day.
Film magazines then started to focus on the stars of movies, this came about when the genre started to aim their issues towards women. This became popular because the readers loved to find out gossip about their favourite actors and actresses.
Nowadays magazines are fairly balanced, they feature pretty much everything. From reviews, interviews, articles, gossip, news and more. The magazines cover everything to do with films, the stars and the crew behind them. This attracts a wide range of readers because the balance covers a diverse range of film topics. Magazines make sure they are always one step ahead of the internet with their diversity and exclusivity.