Website Essentials

Today I've been exploring some documentary websites in order to just kind of see the necessities of what they all include and to gather inspiration for extra things I can include in order to make my website stand out. Since the two of the main case studies I have been looking at are Thespians and First Position, I of course first headed over to their website; the only problem is that Thespians, since it seemed to be such a low key and small scale film, has a very limited website and First Position's website, although it appears in a google search, will not open for the life of me. Nevertheless, both films found a way to be beneficial to me anyway.

The heading of Thespians' websites Home Page 

For one, the Thespians Home Page has a very clean and dark "backstage" vibe that with the poster and website, as I've been saying, I think I'm trying to embody. I also saw that on the bottom of the Home Page is a reminder that says "15% of the net proceeds from the sale of this film will benefit Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS", which is a huge organization that many theatrical events and institutions commonly choose to donate too. Specifically, which is why I think Thespians contribution to that foundation is so relevant, is because Florida State Thespians and even many of the participating districts are huge donors to  Broadway Cares. I never thought about it before, but perhaps if I chose to donate proceeds from my TV documentary to Broadway Cares, this could spark interest in my target audience to even further support and consume my project. I think this would be a cool way to do that, but I also need to further consider how it will be distributed, because for example if I choose to have the show streamed on Netflix, like Making a Murderer, I wouldn't be making direct proceeds from my consumers and therefor, probably would not have much left over to donate, but it's something to consider. Other than that, like I mentioned, their website is pretty rudimentary and only includes the basics. 

The simplicity of the text on Meru's website allows for
beautiful changing images to play behind it

Cartel Land's adapted poster art as its home page screen

I also took a look at a few other documentary's websites, though, disclaimer: none of them are TV documentaries and none of them deal with the arts, but I figured this would still be helpful. Earlier in the year when my class did a documentary unit we took a look at a few documentaries, two of which were Meru and Cartel Land. Meru is a sports documentary that captures the intense art of mountain climbing while Cartel Land is about two vigilante groups trying to take down violent Mexican drug cartels. Although the sites are both very different, since they are catered to two very different films, they both have a few aspects in common.One thing I noticed is the similar techniques used on their Home Page. Cartel Land as soon as you open the site, the trailer for the film automatically begins playing. Meru's website doesn't do this in the sense that the trailer plays automatically, but it's Home Page is so clear of text other than the title and a button that says "watch trailer" that you, as a consumer, are definitely inclined to check it out. Part of my project is not to make a trailer, but what better way to peak interest in my documentary than to give a sneak peak? so I certainly plan on putting together a trailer I can feature on my website, even if it is a small one. Visually, both Home Pages are very interesting. Meru's is engaging because the visuals are always shifting from pictures and short videos from the documentary, which are not only visually stunning, but also visually very intense so I think this choice is an excellent one. Cartel Land's Home Page features its promotional poster which is what I think I'm leaning more towards since my documentary is not as heavily focused on intriguing visuals as something like Meru is. An article from MovieStud.io discussing website creation for films confirms this choice as a possibility because it mentions a "trailer, still from your movie, or your poster art" when discussing the design for the websites home page. Something this article says that I love and will definitely consider when designing my home page is that "Film is a visual medium so the front page of your site should reflect that."

Something cool I noticed about Meru's website is that other than the necessary tabs that should be featured on all promotional movie/ TV websites is that they have a page just for photos, which of course is brilliant since the film is so reliant on beautiful visuals and cinematography that document the climb. This inspired me and gave me the idea to do something like this, but instead feature a page that is filled with my troupes various performances which capture our teamwork and talent, the entire purpose of the State Festival and competition. I think this page would be great not only to give a closer look at the troupe, but also to give my consumers extra content to consumer and will ultimately "whet [my] fan's appetite for more" as an article on Film Courage predicts.

Other than that, all three websites pretty much feature the essentials which seem to be:

• Home Page
• Synopsis/ About
• Distribution Information
• Contact Information/ Social media buttons/ Mailing list
• Press (unlikely for me since press wont be covering my piece anytime soon)
• Filmmakers (which in my case, would only be a page about my, so I'm thinking of either not including this page at all, or doing a "meet the cast" type of thing in order to, again give more content and allow viewers to create a personal relationship with the piece.)

 Lastly!!! Another feature I'm thinking of adding to my website is a playlist that will play automatically once on the site. I'm thinking of doing this in hopes of making the site more interactive, giving it a specific ambiance, and also because this will be a way to get around not being able to use songs I wanted to put in my documentary, but still including (legally) in my project.