Films are an interesting subject area in terms of blogging. All of us see and have opinions on film and as such, it’s a topic covered regularly by many bloggers as a matter of course. Many diary bloggers write film reviews and lots of the more broad ‘culture’ blogs have film sections. So, finding film reviews or news on blogs in the UK is an easy task. But, it’s not as easy as you might think to find dedicated and specifically film-only bloggers with regularly updated blogs, decent, consistent content and a lively community. Perhaps the relative difficulty in writing about film (seeing films regularly is expensive, time-consuming, gaining technical/historical knowledge takes work etc.) has meant that the big traditional print media names still dominate in this area.

Man With A Movie Camera

Blogger Profile

All of the above is not to say though that ordinary people aren’t out there blogging about film; more that blogs run by media publishers (which account for 21% of blogs) dominate heavily in terms of influence. 66% of bloggers are actually enthusiasts and 13% are corporate, but the big boys are almost exclusively run by traditional names. This domination is also reflected in the location of most film bloggers. London, Britain’s media capital, is home to more than half of all UK film bloggers, with Camden the most popular borough. The south-east, north-west and Scotland take the biggest spoils from the remainder, sharing around 10% each, with Edinburgh, Manchester and Liverpool emerging as regional hotspots of UK film blogging. As is often the case, most bloggers are male; outnumbering women 4:1, film blogging lacks female voices. The predominant age of UK film bloggers is 25-34 (42%) with younger bloggers aged between 18-24 making a good showing with 15% of bloggers.

Social Media

Nothing too unusual here, in that Twitter is used heavily with 80% of blogs having an associated account. In terms of numbers of followers, the top 5 tweeters are again dominated by the big names with Empire, Total Film and Guardian Film among them. Under half of blogs have a Facebook page with Youtube, Flickr and LinkedIn rarely used.

Content

Feature articles and reviews are the main components of film blogs, with ¾ of all blogs featuring both. List-style articles (ie, top 10 film noirs etc.) are more prevalent here than in other similar blogging areas. Comment pieces are not the norm, with less than half of blogs carrying them, but many feature news articles. Naturally, How To articles are rare, with only 4% of blogs with this kind of content. Just over 40% of blogs carry advertising.

Here are 5 of our top UK film blogs:

Den Of Geek

Den of Geek
In a way, typical of many film blogs, Den Of Geek is a media publisher blog that combines film content with other entertainment subjects; and it’s gained a hugely influential place within culture blogs this way. With its idea of ‘geek content’, it appeals to a particular type of person who know that they probably won’t get football chat or Big Brother gossip, but will find out about the latest comic book adaptation or Dr Who news.

Blogscore – 10

Mark Kermode

Kermode Uncut
If the words “hello to Jason Isaacs” means anything to you, you’ll probably guess that I’m a devotee to @wittertainment and am of the opinion that Mark Kermode is a legend. And I’m not alone in this, which explains the popularity of this blog,  acting as something of an ‘Extras’ companion to his weekly Radio 5 slot/podcast with Simon Mayo, featuring news on the show, Kermode’s own diary, video reviews and shorter news pieces.

Blogscore – 10

Philip Bloom

Philip Bloom
Film-maker Philip Bloom is probably the most influential of his kind blogging in the UK. His extremely social blog features diary entries, kit reviews, tutorials and opinion pieces and through it, he’s attracted a huge number of highly involved fans; his Twitter following alone places him above many much more established names in film blogging.

Blogscore – 8

Film Intel

Flicks & Bits

Film Intel and Flicks and Bits
Not associated with media publishers or corporate bodies, Film Intel and Flicks & Bits are two of the few truly influential enthusiast film blogs. With reviews, news and feature articles on simply designed blogs, these two might not garner the kind of interaction that the larger blogs do, but they’re still well read, independent blogs that have sway over film-goers.

Blogscore – 7 (both)

Or How I...

…Or How I Learnt To Stop Worrying and Love To Blog
An honorary mention must go to SML’s very own Ben Keightley, whose …Or How I Learnt To Stop Worrying and Love to Blog demonstrates the seemingly bottomless well of film knowledge that regularly spouts from the man. Ask Ben what he’s up to tonight; he’s going to the cinema.

Blogscore – 2 (but he’s on the up!)

About The Author

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library, responsible for developing the content within Social Media Library. Paul lives in a world of blogs, blogs and more blogs, scouring the web and plucking out the juiciest information he finds. Previous to this, he worked as a Music Press Officer. He is also a freelance writer, an organiser of Scrabble Sunday and blogs about the things he does here.