Conventions of Film Websites

Many recent films have websites as this is now a vital and large proportion of marketing. There are many reasons to making a website for films including the fact that it raises more awareness of the film and helps people find out information about the film. There are many conventions of a normal film website however some exceed these conventions and others simply have the film synopsis and the trailer embedded into the website.

Below I believe are the conventions of a good, informative film website:
-Starting page with a video clip/trailer
-Background picture from film
-Fonts/quotes/titles
-Option to enter the official site
-Animations during the loading of the site
-Sound
-Toolbar at the top of the page
-Basics – storyline, cast, crew
-Videos, photos, downloads
-Promotions

I believe that the above conventions are definitely conventions of which we should be looking into when making our own website.

I have looked into websites that are of the romantic drama genre and found that New Moon and The Time Travellers Wife are good examples of very complex, informative websites. What I really like about the New Moon website is the fact that you have the choice to enter the New Moon official website or the Twilight website; however this would not be appropriate for our website as we have not made a series. I also like the way that at the bottom of the entrance page there are links to social networking websites for example Facebook, Twitter and Myspace. I think that this is something that we need to look into as our target audience will be those that use social networking a lot. This is also a very widely expanding form of promotion, you can now on Facebook choose which type of person your advertisements are shown to by their age, gender, location, job, and even what they talk about a lot to their friends; as well as this you can now also make a page for the stars of your film so that fans can interact with them and keep up to date on the film. I believe that linking this to your website is a brilliant idea as it raises more awareness of your film. They also have a link to iTunes where you can buy the albums from the films and where you can buy audio books and other apps, I think that this is another really good form of promotion and shows that they are up to date with today’s technology and using everything that they can to use the right forms of promotion. They also have a link to their YouTube channel in which you can watch the trailers and T.V spots as well as subscribe and comment about it, I believe that this again creates excitement for the film.
The New Moon website like many other film websites has a photo as the background, I believe that this photo is very relevant to the film and shows you how Jacob is going to stand in between Edward and Bella and it also shows how Jacob and Edward don’t like each other, the picture has low key lighting which shows us that it is going to be quite dramatic yet the contact with Bella and Jacob shows that there is going to be some romance in the film. The music that is played when your on the website is very creepy and quite tension building which also gives you the feeling of the film, I believe that the picture and music have been very carefully thought about and planned for this website and this is something that I think we really need to do as well.
The New Moon website also has three sections where you can either enter the Cullen House, La Push reservation or the Volturi Estate, in each of these sections you can interactively look round and find out information about each of the characters and download their wallpapers, I believe that this is very good and shows how well marketed this film is however I think that it would be very hard to make a website this good.
This is the New Moon website: www.twilightthemovie.com/

The Time Travellers Wife is another good website as although it doesn’t have an entrance page like many others it does have a tool bar at the top and the background is animated as he disappears and reappears which I think really attracts the viewer’s attention and helps you to understand what the whole film is about. I believe that this website has a lot of information on in which is very helpful to potential viewers of the film. Other film websites that I have looked at like The Proposal (http://www.theproposalmovie.co.uk/) and Valentines Day (http://www.valentinesdaymovie.com/) don’t have any information on them other than the synopsis which I think is not very good and when making our own website I think the we should consider what The Time Travellers Wife has got on their website to help us to make sure that we put all of the information needed. On this website there are six main headings: about the film; video; photo gallery; downloads; soundtrack and promotion. Under the section about the film they have another four headings which are: the synopsis; cast; filmmakers and production notes. Under the heading downloads you can download wallpapers and screen savers which I believe is an easy way to help promote your film and would be good for our film. You can also listen to and buy the soundtrack under the soundtrack heading.
This is The Time Travellers Wife website: www.thetimetravelerswifemovie.com/

Location Change

Although in our drawn storyboards and in the shooting script we have shown that we are going to film an establishing wide shot and the inside of a posh house we have decided to change this to filming in a posh hotel in Canary Wharf. Because of this location change we have decided to add in some extra shots below shot eight. These include a shot of her sitting in the restaurant which will be a mid-shot and an over the shoulder, two shot of her at the reception desk. We are also going to film the car shots (shot nine and twenty-two) outside of the hotel and the shots her dropping the phone (shot nineteen and twenty) on the hotel premises. To get this location we had to contact the hotel and get confirmation to film on their premises and were also given a set of rules of which we have to keep to including the fact that their logo is not to be shown in the filming and the manager must be with us and check the film. The reason that we have decided to film in a hotel is because it shows that she is of wealth and has money to spend on unnecessary stays at hotels and eating in posh restaurants.

Props

The meaning of props, in terms of media language is ‘any movable articles or objects used on the set of a play or movie’. Props are very important when creating a film as they help portray more meaning, than most characters can give off through dialogue. For our teaser trailer we are using minimal props because our production is more focused on the characters emotional state, however the different scenes (sites/locations) help us incorporate different prop styles in terms of ‘class distinction’ such as houses, cars etc.
One of the main props in our feature is the mobile phone. It is featured in one of the most important shots, when the girl gets bad news about her mother, and suddenly drops the phone. This is very effective as it shows the character is distraught about they have heard. Another prop that we will use is a ‘high-end’ car which will clearly illustrates her family hierarchy in the London society. The differences in class are very important in our teaser trailer, as this is the core of our storyline.

Costume

We have decided to make sure that the clothing of the girl reflects her posh, rich background. We are going to do this by making her style very sophisticated. The types of costume that she will be in are well fitted jeans, neck scarf’s, shirts, leggings, dresses, boots with a heel, heels, trench coat, and other similar outfits. We are also going to make sure that she has a lot of accessories to make it look like she has money by giving her oversized bags, sunglasses and jewellery. She will be wearing a wide variety of colours to show how wide and varied her wardrobe is as well as how she has every item she could possibly want. To emphasise this more she will be wearing many different outfits throughout the trailer. Her clothing is also going to reflect her age by making sure that it is up to date and fashionable which also shows that she can afford to keep up with the trends.

Below you can see a sample costume:

William (the posh boy) is also going to have a very sophisticated style so as to make sure that the audience get an immediate visual image showing them that he is of wealth, upper class and from a high status background. He is going to wear neat blue jeans, shirts and a black suit jacket. We have chosen to put him in jeans instead of a full suit as we thought that a full suit would look to over dressed and unrealistic for a boy of 17 years old, this is why we have chosen to dress it down with neat jeans, however he still looks very sophisticated and wealthy. We have also decided that the suit jacket is going to be black as this symbolises sophistication.

Below is a sample of the sort of outfit that he will be wearing:

Williams’s style is going to be a contrast against the boy that has a lower class and lives in Basildon as we have chosen to put the boy of lower class in scruffy jeans, trainers and either a hoody or zip up jacket. All of these items of clothing show that he doesn’t care about how sophisticated he looks and also gives the audience an idea that he is not as wealthy as William and is from a lower class. The scruffiness of his jeans and trainers are going to show that they are very old and the worn and that he cant afford to keep buying new clothing as regularly as an upper class person. However his relaxed style will reflect the fact that he is a very easy going person.

Below is a sample of the sort of outfit that he will be wearing:

Storyboard

Drawn Storyboards

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Drawn Storyboards

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Location

London
We chose to set part of our trailer in greater London as there are many famous and recognizable landmarks, which symbolizes wealth to live in this area it is very pleasant. We will also film in Bond Street to show the shops which the character is surrounded by to signify that she is upper class.

Baslidon
We chose this location as it shows a big contrast between a regular working class town and a high-class area, which are basic and ordinary. There are no famous landmarks to show how simple and unexciting it is. This is key in showing the characters misplacement in the area.

A park
We have chosen to film in different parks on numerous occasions, as this is a romantic setting. There is many romantic features such: greenery, plants, lakes and wildlife. It is also a very peaceful and private place, so therefore there will be not interferences.

Shooting Script

Mood Board

Synopsis

To begin, the girl is very happy in an upper class London area, where she fits in nicely. However things suddenly change after her mother dies and drastically she is forced to leave London in exchange for Baslidon, where she will live with her father, leaving behind her boyfriend and friends.

Immediately, it is clear that she doesn’t fit in, in the area and is having a hard time adapting to the new setting. Despite this, in time she becomes very close to a boy from town and begins to fit in more and more. Meanwhile back in London her boyfriend is still missing her and has become totally unaware that his girlfriend is in love with someone else and distant in her memory.