Deconstruction of horror film websites

We also looked at different horror film websites to understand what we needed to include and what would be effective for our own film website. Below are some of the websites that we deconstructed: 

Sinister

http://www.haveyouseenhim.com/

Website is simple, well presented and easy to understand and to coordinate.

Four main sections; The Movie, Gallery, Video and Features which each take up a large section so that they stand out.

Shows Images of screenshots of the movie on a slideshow which constantly change allowing the user to get a feel for parts of the film whilst not giving away too much of the plot.

Pictures displayed show clearly that it is a horror film as there is a man who may be the victim with a  scared facial expression and is holding a bat which shows that this film may also include violence. A sense of mystery is created by showing unknown images from the film such as the ladder and the home movies.

Scrawny font used for subheadings to fit in with genre whilst the title 'Sinister' and the other words uses bold writing with a slight shadow effect to stand out and highlight the important information.   It is placed at the bottom so not to distract from the other images but is still unavoidable.

"From the producer of 'paranormal activity' and the Director of 'The exorcism of Emily Rose'" written to adevertise other famous films the producers have made to suggest to the viewers that if they like these other films then they will also like sinister. The names of these other films are also written in capitals to stand out more.

 'In Theaters Now' is written in bold and bright red letters to promote that the film has now been released and to advertise people to buy tickets to come and see it. There is also a  'Get tickets' box in the top hand corner which has links to ticket selling sites 'fandango' and 'movietickets.com'.

The tagline 'Once you see him, nothing can save you' so that people have a vague idea of the plot and horror genre so they know whether they want to see the film.

A review "Genuinely smart, scary" and where it's from is shown at the top also on a slideshow and changes constasntly to show more reviews. This shows the viewers good things that others thought of the film to persuade them to also go and see it. 

Links to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and websites such as Google and Youtube are shown so people can share the website with others and gain more viewers. 

Has a dark background with lots of shadow to again show the horror genre and suggests mystery as things could be hidden. This contrasts well with the white and red writing which makes it stand out. The use of red also gives connotations of blood and gore. 

There is a link to a motion poster on the side to again show more footage from the film.

Audio sound plays when the website is opened. The song is eerie, slow and creepy which fits to the genre.

When 'The Movie' subheading is clicked the word will cross out and link to a page which displays information on the synopsis, production notes, cast and filmmakers of the film. Shown below on left.

When The 'Gallery' subheading is clicked it takes the viewer to footage and images from the film. Shown Above on right.

When 'Video' is clicked it links to the official trailer to again promote the film. Shown below on the left.

When 'Features' is clicked it takes the viewer to a page with a game where people can upload pictures of themselves and turn it into a sinister drawing which is effective in including in the user, as well as displaying a motion poster and sinister news. Shown above on the right.

Entity

http://www.entitythemovie.com/

This website is also simple but displayed slightly differently to the Sinister website.

The Trailer is the background and takes the whole screen. This is effective as the viewer can straight away watch it to get a feel for the plot and genre of the film.

On the left hand side there are large logos of the awards that the film has received from various festivals to show the viewer how good it is and persuade them to see it. It also has a quote from the director to give a vague description of the film.

On the lower right hand corner there are logos of the production companies that were involved in the making of the film so that they gain recognition.

The title is written in big bold letters at the top so that it stands out from the rest, with the tagline 'we may forget the past, but it never forgets us' which briefly suggests the plot whilst making obvious that something bad will happen and that the film is horror.

Higher up on the right there is a 'follow us' tab which links to social networking sites so the page can be 'liked' and advertised to others.

A murky green, bright red, white and black colour scheme is used which is effective as the black and white contrast each other whilst the red and green also contrast each other.

At the bottom there are links to different pages showing the trailer, synopsis, gallery, cast, downloads, clips, production and and contact information. Here are some screenshots of the pages these link to. The title and colour scheme is kept similar on all of these pages to show a pattern and consistency as well as having different screenshots from the film as the background to promote the film. Lots of information is displayed for the viewer about the film.

Mama

http://www.mamamovie.com/

The background of this website shows a drawing of an image from the film with a small child hiding behind a woman which is most likely her mother as that would relate to the film 'mama'. The child's expression looks evil and twisted and is gripping the mothers' wrist tightly which suggests that in the movie the child is not innocent and controls its mother. in addition, the mothers face is not shown as they may not be important to the film and disposable. the child also looks like they are hiding behind the adult which may show that they are hiding their evil side.The butterflies in the frame connote happiness, childhood and innocence however it is contrasted with the dark night background which indicates evil. In comparison to the dark black, the pale child also stands out to show the importance of this character to the film. 


The title is written in big in white so that it contrasts with the black and stands out. It also has a shadowy effect on it to make it look eerie and suggests the horror genre. Above it says the presenters name and what else they have to created to show that if the viewer liked that film they may like 'Mama'. 

Underneath there is the tagline 'A mother's love is forever' which indicates that the main plot of the story is about a mother and their child and suggests that even when the child has been bad or behaves evil they will always be loved. This again takes away the innocence of children. 

Underneath the title there is a 'tickets and showtimes' subheading with links to different ticket selling sites such as yahoo movies, fandango and movefone as well as a box where individual zip codes can be typed in to find a theater nearest the viewer which is showing the film. This is effective as it makes it simple for the viewer to buy tickets so they are more inclined to do so. 

Logos of the production companies are displayed in corner to gain recognition for the ones involved.

There are also four other images with subheadings which link to different pages relating to the film. This makes it simple to find the area that the viewer wants to see. These include the trailer, look inside, research on lost children (relates to plot of film) and a competition to make a 'mama chillegragh' and share it to include the viewer. These are screenshots of these pages.

On the homepage there are also social media links including a live twitter feed where fans can tweet positive reviews to share and advertise to others to get more viewers with a 'tweet' link and 'follow us' link to make it simple to share . There is also a Facebook 'like' and send button and a number next to it to show how many people have 'liked' it to show its popularity. 

As well as these four main subheadings there is also a menu list with pages linking to the video, cast/crew, about the movie, gallery, downloads and production notes with lots of information on the film. All these pages also have a similar style to the homepage to keep the genre consistent and make it more simple to follow. 

An audio has also been added so that when the homepage is opened it plays an eerie song with slow low beats with sounds such as creaky doors and hinges to set the mood of the genre for the viewer and reinforce that it is horror by creating fear. 


Elements we can use in our own website:

• Screenshots from the trailer
• Showing the trailer on the homepage
• Links to gallery, cast/crew and production
• Logos of production companies
• Reviews
• Links to social media- Twitter feed, Facebook 'like' button
• Title that stands out
• Tagline
• Dark colour scheme
• Make it simple to use