Website Analysis #3

This is personally my favourite short film website out of the 3 I've chosen to analyse, heavily because of its design. While it has all the requisites of a good website, such as easy navigation as evidenced by the tabs, or a clean, minimalistic design, or large font for the title, what draws me most to it is the picture in the centre, as most viewers will be. 

The central positioning of the large almost-full-page image is one reason it is so eye-capturing and interesting, but that's definitely not all there is to it. Since the documentary is a short animation film, the same intriguing animation style is used for the image, showcasing its two main characters, with the elderly man on the left presumably being the eponymous 'grandfather'. The stark contrast of the dark, gloomy background with the unforgivingly bright landscaped foreground creates a disturbing, uneasy feeling in the viewer, perhaps establishing that the setting of the film is dangerous and creepy.

This makes me think it is an adventure film, with grandfather and grandson venturing through a journey through the dark woods, with the grandfather's soothing drum beats calming the grandson every time adrenaline kicks in. There is an 'about' tab, which gives more information on the film, a 'trailer' to provide a quick preview to whoever's interested, and a 'gallery' tab with pictures and clips from the movie. Most short film websites tend to have these particular tabs in particular in terms of conventions.

Website Analysis #2

This website is a tribute to the disasters the Syrian population continuously endures without rest. A large background image is used to showcase two characters, presumably from the movie, interacting with each other and what seems to be the mother, or an unknown third person on the mobile. The background image itself tells a story: at first glance, the subjects can easily be interpreted as father and daughter engaging in a conversation with the mother of the household through the phone. This suggests that they are separated from her in some way, further established by the longing and anguished facial expressions they display. Perhaps the daughter lives with the father in separation from the mother after a divorce. However, considering the contest, it is also likely that they are refugees in another country after the Syrian revolution while the mother is still stuck in Syria, or vice versa. Now these characters are left on their own without her guidance to look to. The mood is quite pronounced in its gloominess.

 The colouring in the image is deliberately subdued and dark to contrast with the bright font in the foreground - light green and white. The shadows are somewhat pronounced to highlight the title of the website and film - A Syrian Love Story. The background image also opts for a minimalistic dispersion of colours, with no eye-catching range of colours or special emphasis on the highlights in it. The dark, unsaturated low lighting used for the image further emphasises the sorrowful, gloomy, melancholic mood reflected in the characters' disheartened expressions. This is the first convention the website ascribes to.

One convention it fails to adhere to however, or perhaps deliberately discards altogether to build suspense and hype, is displaying the short film on the homepage - or on the website at all. Only the trailer is provided as evidenced by the bright green button on the centre of the screen. The design of the webpage is extremely minimalistic with very few tabs shown, all in small font.

However, the typical social media links are on display, with a twitter status update bar embedded on the webpage. All the minimalism and lack of exposure captures the audience's attention due to the highly unusual method of promoting. People go on the website expecting a video of the full film or at least the trailer, however the website makes the viewers work for it - making them click the button at the centre of the screen. In this day and age of passive entertainment, viewers will find the change refreshing and intriguing. The mysterious nature of the project can be viewed as tempting - the target population now is more drawn than ever and actually want to see the product.

Website Analysis #1

Momentum is a short 2013 film directed by Boris Seewald. The website is fairly minimalistic with regards to design; a slightly blurred still from the film is used as the background for the website. The texture of the wall provides just enough decoration and intrigue while the blurred character and bland background maintain this intrigue by deflecting attention from the background and providing room for the main film to be displayed.

There is very little content on the page that could possibly distract the viewer from the film - after all, the video is right in the middle of the homepage making it impossible to miss, decorated with an array of awards and nominations to showcase its impressive and innovative quality according to critics. The awards display to the viewer the several times this film was worthy enough to win a title, drawing the viewer in and keeping their attention, with the thumbnail sustaining their intrigue and curiosity. The entire layout is constructed to deliberately put the spotlight on the short movie.

The website is reasonably easy to navigate - all the tabs are situated at the top on a black bar. The black shade is elegant and is in accordance to the theme of the website - simple yet interesting. The writing of the font is obviously smaller than the title of the film, which is written in large white font to contrast with the bold black colour scheme below it. The audience's attention is also captured by the capital letters of the film title, displayed once at the top of the website and once on the actual film file.

Marketing is also important, and albeit not as important as it is for feature films, the filmmakers - or in this case filmmaker - need to garner as much recognition in social media as possible to ensure the film's relevance long after it has been released. The social media links for the film are all displayed in small buttons at the top which adhere to the black-and-white colour scheme of the written content, with the social media logos displayed instead of the title of the website.

There are also more awards displayed at the top in subdued colouring so as to not take away attention from the main components of the website. The viewer is invited to watch the film instantaneously as they visit the website, and are compelled to do so since they are likely on the website because they were already interested anyway.

Although not stretched out to fill the entire screen, the film takes centre stage. The large background image of the still from the film serves to remind the viewer of the compelling character and adds a little vibrance and zest to the rather dull colour scheme. This adheres to the convention of having large high definition photographs in the background that only complement the content rather than overpowering it. This is apparently a very important theme as the website clearly tries very hard to maintain this; there are no fun widgets to distract the viewer or large embedded tweet bars nor is there any diverting flash content for the audience's eyes to follow.

That somewhat subverts some movie website conventions which usually try to make the website as much of an exciting and engaging experience as they possibly can. The absence of widgets and social media 'reminders'/displays and flash content serve to make the website inconspicuous, not necessarily done. The website serves one function that it has thoroughly fulfilled: get viewers to watch the film.

Conventions of Websites of Short Films

Logline

A necessary exploration into the unpredictable world of catastrophic car crashes.