Website Front Page Research

I carried out research into the websites of five current media products when I started the initial planning for my website front page. There has however been a significant period of time between this research and actually designing the page which is the point that I am at now. Due to this I have carried out further research into one new film ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ (Samuel Bayer, 2010) which is yet to be released and one film from my original research ‘Saw VI’ (Kevin Greutert, 2009) which has already been released. This is mainly in order to refresh my memory on the codes and conventions of movie websites and thriller film websites in particular. Now I am at the stage of actually planning to design my website front page I also have some more specific ideas about what I need to research.

Since my initial research some of the films whose websites I looked at have now been released and so their website front pages have changed and now focus on the DVD release. As my website front page is for a film which is yet to be released I felt it was essential that my main research focused on the website for a film that was also yet to be released which in this case is ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’.

Textual Analysis

A Nightmare on Elm Street


The main thing I noticed both during this research and my previous research is that nearly all thriller website backgrounds were black. ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ uses a seemingly ‘more is less’ approach with their website. There is a clearly predominantly black background which is used to promote fear. The close-up of the lower part of the antagonist’s face and hand is the only direct visual reference from the film on the page. The colour scheme of this picture is very dark with just a mixture of black and a deep red. This colour scheme is used consistently throughout the website front page with the range of colours being limited to black, red, white and gray. I’d associate this strategy with the act of branding to an extent. In the same way that Cadbury’s just have to put purple in their adverts and everyone knows which company’s product it is advertising by using a set colour scheme throughout the audience will begin to associate the image of the antagonist and the black and red writing with the film.

There is one part of this website’s layout which seems to go against the normal codes and conventions which is that of the title being in the top right portion of the screen and the picture top left. This almost seems to show that the image of the antagonist is, as far as the producers of the film are concerned a more important part of the marketing of the film than the film’s title. Using the rule of thirds the most powerful place on the screen is the top left portion as we are trained to read a page from the top left to bottom right. Due to this most film’s place the film name in the top left section of the film as the name is generally the most important marketing tool.

The title uses the largest font size of any text on the screen emphasising its importance on the page. It is also consistent with the colour scheme of the website as it is red on the black background. By extending the red beyond the letters and spraying it around them it almost gives the effect of blood being splattered. As this is a thriller this was clearly an intentional act used to promote fear and the idea of pain as some of the main features of the film. By revealing this sort of detail about the narrative on the website they are more likely to attract their target audience and thus the website advertising could be deemed effective.

Another important feature to note not just about this website but all websites for films which are yet to be released is that the date is normally next to the title and is always very noticeable. This is a very important part of the marketing as if the public don’t know when the film is coming out this could cost the production company a great deal upon release due to reduced ticket sales.

The average size of a website page is approximately 800 x 600 pixels as this is the size of the average computer screen. Something I have noticed throughout my research however is that film websites are more like 800 x 1000 pixels. This extra space on the bottom of the page is used for the credits and legal blurb. For the actual advertising of the film this is the least important text on the screen which is why according to the rule of thirds it is placed at the bottom, and it is also why it is in the smallest writing, particularly the legal blurb. The font of the credits is a seemingly important feature of movie websites and in fact posters that have the credits. It is very thin writing in grey and includes the main people involved with the production including the actors and also the name of the film. This style is universal across all the film websites and seems to be an accepted convention of the film industry.

Saw IV


With regards to my research on ‘Saw VI’ most of it confirms that of ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’. The colour scheme is very dark and the sizing and placing of the text is similar. The main extra details that I picked up from the Saw VI website was the use of links to social networking sites such as ‘Facebook’, ‘MySpace’ and ‘Twitter’ and also ‘YouTube’. This has become a common feature on movie websites recently as they understand the below-the-line marketing power these websites have. By making their own pages on them they get lots of free advertising which can only be a good thing when trying to promote a film.