Total Film
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© Future Publishing
Total Film, published by Future Publishing, is the United Kingdom's second best-selling film magazine. It offers film and DVD news, reviews, and features. The magazine launched in 1997 and published its 100th issue for April 2005. It celebrated its 10th birthday with the April 2007 issue. It is issued every four weeks (13 times a year).
Contents |
[edit] Features
Each month, TF provides a range of features, from full-length interviews, with established and up-and-coming actors and directors, to major film previews, from Top 100 lists to retrospective pieces — all illustrated with film stills and profile shots. All issues contain The Total Film Interview — an in-depth chat with a celebrated actor or director, along with a critique of their body of work and a rating of each major film to date.
In 2006, Total Film released a magazine featuring the top 100 films, as selected by a readers' poll.
[edit] "Screen"
"Screen" is the main cinema reviews section. Major releases receive comprehensive coverage, with a star rating out of five and the magazine's own Predicted Interest Curve™ — a graph that demonstrates which moments of a film are likely to hold the viewer's attention. Also briefly listed are similar recommendations under "See this if you liked..." Smaller films receive a concise review and rating. The end of the section is devoted to the current US and UK box office charts, TF's own "Top 5" and summaries of any films that were not reviewed in time for that month's print deadline.
[edit] "Buzz"
"Buzz" (formerly two sections entitled "Access" and "Rough Cut") provides details on upcoming films including new releases, film events, new talent, interviews and fun articles.
[edit] "Lounge"
"Lounge" (formally "Spin") is a home entertainment guide, including latest DVDs and (occasionally) soundtrack CDs, movie-related books and games. There is also a periodic retrospective of a particular film, entitled "Lounge Loves", as well as other large-scale features that are DVD-related.
[edit] "The Total Film Quiz"
This four-page section generally includes a Montage round, a crossword and a variety of questions. Answers to the Montage and crossword are made available in the next issue whereas answers to the quiz questions are readable with a mirror in that specific issue.
[edit] Other sections
The magazine usually finishes with a one-page parody of a recent release entitled "The Abridged Script".
Each month, TF offers a DVD or other film-related prize for each published letter.
There is also a monthly competition, which can be entered by post or text message. Prizes are usually hardware of some sort.
[edit] Covers
Subscribers receive the bonus of a limited edition "blurb-free" cover each month, i.e., logo and artwork with no text. In addition, TF is sometimes produced bearing four different covers in the event of a major release (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe being one example).
[edit] American offshoot
In September 2000, Imagine Media, a US division of The Future Network, plc. (the company that, at the time, published Business 2.0, Digital Foto, Games Business, MacAddict, Maximum Linux, Maximum PC, Next Generation, Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine, PC Game, PSM, Revolution, T3 and Total Games) launched Total Movie, the American offshoot of Total Film. A major selling feature was the enclosed DVD with each issue filled with trailers, game promos and short films. Some of the latter included the Star Wars/COPS parody, Troops, The Dancing Cow (photographed by renowned cinematographer John A. Alanzo), The Killer Bean 2, The Second Comeback and Paranoid (adapted from the poem by Stephen King — the first Dollar Baby ever released on DVD). In spite of a promising beginning with a number of acclaimed articles (including a column by Film Threat creator, Chris Gore) and issues that provided comprehensive information, the publication lasted only four editions (#1 Sep/Oct 2000, #2 Dec/Jan 2001, #3Feb/Mar 2001, #4 April 2001) and in late February, 2001, Imagine Media announced that it was closing the doors on six of their publications. According to a press release issued by the company, the Future Network stated that closures were "designed to streamline the company's portfolio, reduce operating costs, pay down debt and enhance profitability." The UK-based publishing firm closed 20 of their 134 titles across the globe, with six in the US (including Total Movie, Revolution and T3) and six in the UK.
Total Movie was then purchased by Versatile Media One who picked up where Imagine left off and published issue #5 in October/November 2001. The overall quality of the magazine was perceived to be not up to the initial publication and large numbers of complaints from subscribers about missed issues and missed DVDs were sent to the magazine's offices in Los Angeles. Versatile Media One printed another six issues (#6 Dec/Jan 2002, #7 Feb/March #8 May/June #9 August) and Total Movie folded once again after issue #10 in September 2002.
[edit] Total Film Forum
Since 2004 a number fans of both films and readers of Total Film magazine have been sharing their views and experiences on the Total Film Forum. It was started in 2004 and has grown ever since. It suffered a decline in usage in 2005 but after the introduction of a new site administrator in the form of Liz Hawkins the forum has once again found it's legs. +
- Now with a mixture of those often referred to as "The Old Guard", the newer and the not so new members, Total Film Forum has reached a fine balance between fans of classics, fans of blockbusters and the good old fashioned "wait in line for 30 hours wearing your spiderman suit" fanboys. - - Over the years the site has been diligently kept in check by the fantastic moderators Kiba and Jonesy and also, more recently, directing_dude1. - - Long standing and important members include. - Morris, Jonesy, Kiba, Stikkl, Kesker, Guyver, Mike McClennan, Welchy, Xtine, Ultan, directing_dude1, LBTV, Zippykins, punchb0wl and many many more. (For a full list see the total film user list at http://forum.totalfilm.com) - - Over the years Total Film Forum has survived lulls, suspected death and even sometimes overcrowding! It still stands as one of the most close-knit online film communities.
[edit] Total Film around the world
Licenced local editions of Total Film are/were released in many countries like Turkey, Russia, Serbia, Croatia (no longer published) etc.
