- Chris
Website Research
To gain an insight as to what a website for a film looks like, I did some research into websites for well known, existing films, to be able to recognise the features included on the websites so they can be applied to our site.
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The Woman in Black
The first site I chose to analyse was "The Woman in Black" film website, which is dark and has an old fashioned design to it. The website itself has a limited number of elements to it, with things such as animations when changing the page and a soundtrack playing in the background missing.
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Video
The first page titled "Video" displays on screen a window where three videos, which can be selected below the window, can be played so the people on the website can get a glimpse of what the full film is going to be about if they've never seen the film before. The page has seven video clips you can watch which gives the people viewing the website a good idea of what is included in the film and in turn is likely to attract people to watching the film. However, this type of design is something that I will look to stay away from when constructing the website for my film, as I feel that amount of videos gives too much of the story of the film away.
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Gallery
The next page is similar to the last, as there are 12 pictures from "The Woman in Black" film. The pictures are of high quality, you can view the images in a gallery format and they can be downloaded from the website. This is a feature that I will look to include on the website, as it's a way of giving something back to the people who have watched the film, through these downloads. The images build interest for the people who view this website, as they will want to see these moments as they happen in the full film. The interactivity of this page and the array of downloadable images is interesting and is something I will look to provide on the website for my film.
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Story
The next page titled "Story" is simply just the plot of the film on screen with no interaction available. The plot itself is interesting and will entice people to want to watch "The Woman in Black" if they haven't seen it, but the page is limited as you are not able to read all of the text from the plot due to poor construction of the website. This is something I will avoid when creating the website for my film.
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Games
The last page, "Games" is the only fully interactive page on the site, as there are three games to choose from that the audience can play. These are "Haunted Memories" "Puzzling Visions" and "Haunted Details". The first game "Haunted Memories" opens up in Facebook which is a good use of cross promotion as the game may be advertised on Facebook which would encourage people to view the website. The other two games open as links to do with "The Woman in Black" website. This is an interesting feature to include, but with no experience in making a game, this would be an unsuitable option to implement into the website for my film.​
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The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
The second site I chose to analyse was "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" film website, which is a dynamic website and has an array of features . The website has a number of elements to it, such as animations when changing the page and high quality images throughout. I will analyse a few of the pages I find most interesting that catch my eye and in turn will attract other people to the film.
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Videos
The first page I am going to analyse is the "Video" page. The page displays three videos which are to do with the film, these being the full trailer, the teaser trailer and a music video titled "Billy Boyd Music Video". The full trailer and the teaser trailer give an in depth view of what the film is going to be like and having watched the film previously, they do this job well without giving away too much of the storyline in the film. This is something that I will look to do for the website, but there will likely only be one video rather than three.
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Gallery
The next page is the "Gallery" page which displays an array of high quality, vibrant images from the film. When the page loads the images are instantly put into a gallery mode where you can click to see the next image. This is a feature that I find interesting, as it means you can see the images clearly due to them taking up the whole screen. Although the images do show a lot of the scenes in the film, they don't give away the storyline, as they are just images of the characters within the film rather than of whole scenes. I may include this in the website for the film trailer, as I believe it could captivate the people viewing the people viewing the website, in turn meaning they watch the trailer.​​​
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Story
The next page is the "Story" page which unsurprisingly gives a summary of what happens in the film. It gives an in depth view to the background of the making of the film by including the name of the producer and it also notes some of the awards the film has won, so that the people viewing the page know how highly rated the film is. However, the text itself is in a small box at the bottom of the screen and is fairly hard to read due to the small text. This in turn may put people off of going onto this page and may disinterest some people. This is something I will stay away from when creating the website, as I want to be able to ensure that the attention of the audience is on the website and its features, not its flaws.​​​
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Cast and Filmmakers
Next is two pages, the first is "Cast" and the second is "Filmmakers".
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Firstly the "Cast" page is similar to the story page as the text is in a small box at the bottom of the page in a small font. But the page itself is interesting as you can interact with the page and click on each individual name of the cast members, which then provides a summary of them as actors and the characters they play. As well as this, when you click on a name of one of the cast members, for example "Ian McKellen" the information about him will come up in the text box as well as their picture being shown changes to the character they play in the film. In this example Gandalf is shown on screen. This is a feature that I would like to use n my website, but due to their only being one actor used in the trailer, this wouldn't be as effective.
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Secondly, the "Filmmakers" page shows all of the important people involved in making the film, such as Peter Jackson (Director, Producer, Screenwriter) and Guillermo Del Toro (Screenwriter). The page is the same as the "Cast" page as the text is small and in a box at the bottom of the page, with the text explaining the accolades of each person involved and the role they had in the making of the film. However the picture being shown doesn't change like on the "Cast" page. This is something I may implement, but similarly to the "Cast" page, there are only two people involved in making our trailer, so this wouldn't be as effective as it is on The Hobbit website.
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The Conjuring
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The third and final site I chose to analyse was "The Conjuring" film website, which is a dark and mysterious website. The website has a number of elements including animations for the backgrounds of the pages and animations when changing from page to page. I will analyse some of the pages that gain my attention and that catch the eyes of other people who visit the website.​​
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About the Film
The first page I am going to analyse is the "About the film" page which has three sub sections on the synopsis, the cast and the filmmakers. The page has a background of the house that was used in the film with an animation of a noose swinging. The page overall is intriguing as it includes the three sub sections listed above which have their own separate pages in the other film websites I analysed.
Each sub section provides a small summary to explain to the viewers on the website what the synopsis is, the role and awards of the cast members and the role and awards of the filmmakers. This gives the people viewing the website a vast amount of background information of the making of the film. As well as this, you can click "read more" on the filmmakers and cast sub section which gives a full overview of each person who had a role in the creation of "The Conjuring". I would include this in the website for our trailer, but with only two filmmakers and one cast member, this would be ineffective.​​
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Gallery
The second page is the "Gallery" page which presents lots of high quality images from the film for the viewers of the website to be able to download. Similarly to "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" film website, as soon as the gallery page is opened the images instantly pop up in a gallery mode where you're able to see an array of images. This page is interesting as it clearly shows images from different parts of the film, but they don't give away the plot of the film, as they are just images of all of the different characters within the film. This is something I will consider using for the website as it could draw the attention of the people viewing the website meaning they are more likely to watch the trailer.
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Videos
The next page I am going to analyse is the "Videos" page, which includes two trailers of "The Conjuring" film, these being a teaser trailer for the film and the full trailer. The teaser trailer gives an insight into what the film is going to be like which when it was released will have created a lot of hype and excitement over the full release of the film. The full trailer gives an in depth view of the whole film as this is when all of the filming has been done for the film. Having previously watched the film, both trailers effectively connote the horror genre and are successful in giving an insight into what the film is like, without giving away the storyline of the whole film. ​​​
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Downloads
The "downloads" page is the last page I am going to analyse. The page has a background of a person in a rocking chair with the doll from the film "Annabelle" staring at the viewer. This is creepy and gives the website a more frightening feel to try and put the viewers of the website in the same environment as the film. The page offers four different uses for the downloadable images, these being for wallpapers, iPhones, Facebook and Tablets. This I believe brings the viewers of the website closer to the film, as they can download and use these images as their phone wallpaper and various other things, which in a way is a free form of merchandise. This is a feature that a lot of people who liked the film will enjoy. This is something I will look to try and include on my website as it is an effective way of offering something different to a lot of websites.
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