Web design for filmmakers
Precocious and creative people as they are, filmmakers have recognized early on the advertising value a good website will provide their high-budget films. Typically, a film website contains the usual mix of wallpapers, trailers, actor backgrounds, and other relevant information that will serve to promote the film to moviegoers by building interest to it online. These sites are practically stuffed with stunning visuals using the most advanced formats, the design of which probably could not be credited to the filmmaker’s own skills. In most cases, there is a professional group behind every film’s flashy website. A professional web design team can charge studios substantial amounts for its services, far more than what independent filmmakers can afford. Fortunately, there are cost-effective alternatives to these overpriced hype builders.
Filmmakers and producers often bump into persons or groups that, under normal circumstances, are inconsequential. There are hidden benefits to meeting all kinds of people, though. Some of them can prove to be the key to useful networking opportunities. One such contact may connect the filmmaker to a capable web designer who charges relatively lower than his high-profile counterparts. Failing that, other options are available.
One such option is to advertise the film’s website needs using print media. Using this method, a budget can be specified to tell potential service providers how much the filmmaker is will to pay for a website design, eliminating the hassles of price-haggling. Depending on the budget, a website can range from passable to high quality outright. The beauty of this is that, with proper knowledge of going rates, a contractor can reasonably expect the degree of quality in the design that corresponds to his or her specific budget.
One alternative that is often overlooked, yet is the most obvious, is for the would-be contractor to do the design him or herself. Learning the basics of HTML is simple enough and, given time, individuals unschooled in proper web design can come up with working websites. For the independent filmmaker, making one need not be overly complicated. The goal of a film website is to inform the viewing public of the upcoming film, and can be effective even if the content provides this information in the simplest and most straightforward way possible. Other means of promoting hype can also be used to augment the overall promotion campaign.
To build interest, flashy images and animation may be added to the film website. Viewers are apt to gloss over defects in the design if the content itself is sufficiently interesting. A good Photoshop-enhanced image or two will do wonders in sprucing up a website. When all the desired elements are in place, get an outside person’s opinion to critique the design as a finishing touch.
The Internet may seem like a forbidding jungle to the unversed, and this may prove true to some extent. It has the capacity to magnify or degrade websites within it, and with them the owners of those sites themselves. To come out of the online woodwork would require a modicum of creativity, an aspect that levels the playing field for both large film studios and indie filmmakers alike. The goal remains the same, which is to create hype, and the filmmakers all share a common trait, which is a creative genius. In the web, at least, a big budget is not critical to success.
