1. Research into a film‟s website,
focusing on the home page of the
website.
2. • First of all, the website home page follows a very basic colour
scheme of Black, Orange and White. It does this so it does not
confuse the audience, with lots of colours, that have essentially
no meaning. The colours do create meaning, as it‟s the same
colour as the clothes the characters on the site are wearing. The
colour scheme seems to fit the main image on the site, not
straying away from the main colour scheme of the image, this
was probably planned to be this way, and if we look at different
aspects of the film „package‟ then we see that the colour scheme
is pretty similar across all the media products following the film.
In regards to what is actually on the homepage, there isn‟t much,
in comparison to what we feel there might have been.
The main actor and name of the film are the most highlighted
pieces of text on the website, and are very easily seen. The
reason that text is most apparent on the site, is so people know
where they are. However, the text isn‟t that huge, and most
attention is drawn towards the image. Underneath the „Title‟ there
is text showing the release date, followed by links to take you to
other areas of the website. This text is not huge, as there is
simply no need for it to be any bigger than it already is. The text
is easily readable when scaled to the size of the actual
homepage, and although it serves a purpose to let people know
where to go to find the information they want, the main
information is already apparent, so it can be argued that the text
is not particularly important. Also, to the left of the website is a
„gallery‟ that shows images of the film. Although this is not
„needed‟ it does add a certain element of creativity to the website,
and helps to make the page look slightly „busier‟ and like there is
more to it than just text. We could say that because it says
“Decorate Your Desktop” at the bottom of the gallery, that it adds
more publicity, as it‟s asking people to add the images to their
computer, meaning anyone that used the computer, would see
the images. However, this may not have been thought of in
development, and it‟s there simply to add something more to the
3. • This website is very different to the one previous, but not in all
ways. First of all, the major thing we see is the large video box in
the middle, that shows the trailer for the film. This is clever, as it
adds a lot to the website, and makes it memorable to an
audience. Much like most websites, it follows a very blatant
colour scheme, featuring mostly black, with orange and white
also. The colour scheme just makes it easily readable, and not
confusing for an audience. It also helps to highlight the text, with
the white on black, again to make it easily readable.
The links to navigate the page are much more prominent on this
site, being at the top of the page, and in quite large text.
This is used to let the audience know how to navigate the site,
and is needed more so than the last site, as the text to this
website is smaller and not as prominent as the Coach Carter
website. For example, the title of the film is much smaller and
doesn‟t stand out much at all. This is because the video acts as a
title, so the smaller text title is not needed as much. Underneath
that is a synopsis of the film, which again is not really prominent,
as the website relies on the video as the main source of
information. The text is simply there to reiterate that. Another
feature on the site is the advert for the „Rocky Sound Board‟ to
the right of the page. This is simply there to try and show people
they can purchase „merchandise‟ for the film. So, just a way to
make a little bit more money on the film. It is quite large, as they
want people to notice it, and go and purchase it. As it‟s quite a
large franchise, the makers know they can make money on it
from little things such as an iPhone soundboard, as people want
to own something like that as a novelty. The production company
„MGM‟ is shown in the top left, but all other companies involved
are under „Licensing‟ to avoid legal conflict. This website is very
simple, and there is not a great deal features.
4. • This website home page is slightly different to the other two
looked at, but not overly. Much like the first site, there is a large
image in the centre, that draws most of the attention, but there
are things layered on top of it. The most prominent item on this
site is the title „The Blind Side‟ and the most famous actresses
name just above it. This is because, unlike the Rocky website,
there is no video to show the title, or explain the story, so there
needs to be something explaining that. However, we can see in
the links at the bottom of the large image, there is a link for
“Videos” however, the home page needs to show information,
and not just assume people would search through the site to find
out what they want to, as an audience often does not have the
patience to do such as thing. One thing majorly different is the
explanation of what is featured in the DVD/Blu-Ray, in the
middle. This is a marketing feature, used to show people the
technological aspects of the film, and attempt to market the film,
not just on the story, but show an audience that the viewing
experience would be good. Also, the images of the DVD and Blu-
Ray add more to it, as it shows an audience some basics, such
as using the Blu-Ray technology, without an audience having to
read the lengthy text. On this homepage, we see good use of
modern technology as social norms. At the bottom of the site it
advertises the film‟s Facebook „Page‟ and Twitter, along with
other social networking sites to follow updates on the film. In
modern media, social networking is quite heavily utilised, as it
targets a huge number of people around the world, as social
networking is a huge modern social norm. The links to the social
networking sites are quite large, and stand out, using the easily
recognisable logos. This is so people do notice them quickly, and
want to use them, almost as following the „Uses and
Gratifications‟ theory. An audience would feel they are personally
gaining something, because of the links. The last thing to notice
is where the „credits‟ are. They are at the bottom of the page, and
do not stand out too much, so that people do get their attention
5. • This website is really quite different, in comparison to the others
looked at. The website for Ted is much „busier‟ than the others,
and features many more items on the page, but they are all
relevant. Like all the other sites, this follows a very simple colour
scheme to avoid confusion, and generally make the site look
professional. On the site, there is one large image in the centre,
that takes up most of the attention, that depicts what we assume
will be the main characters. This helps the audience to make
links with faces they recognise. To back this up, the actors
names are in the top right, and are quite easily spotted. This
again, helps an audience to create links with names they
recognise and spark memories of what the actors have been in
before. Also, it helps put names to faces, as many people want,
as it would annoy them, if they could not find out the name of the
actors shown in the picture. What the author of this site does that
is unconventional, is the they put the links around the site in quite
random places. There isn‟t a great deal of „flow‟ to where the
links are, but it does keep them tidy, by almost bordering where
the links stretch to, on the site. This works well, as it‟s new and
different, but it‟s not confusing, as would have been risked when
creating the site. The tile is quite bold, but not as bold in
comparison to the rest of the page as other websites. This is
done as the title, although important, is not needed to be that big,
as it‟s positioning and colour makes it stand out. This is just a
different tactic to many other website developers. This site,
although different, works very well, as it‟s very easy to follow, and
although busy, nothing seems to be out of place.
