Webcinema
** Annual Awards 2004 **
for Independent Film-Makers

Welcome to the second annual Webcinema Web Site Review Of The Year for 2004.
These awards are to highlight, promote and encourage independent film-makers throughout the world through the Webcinema network by acknowledging the best of their web sites. I hope that this will set an example to other film-makers and encourage the wider public and prospective investors to take a greater interest in the work and talent of new and upcoming film producers in every part of the world.

Michael Bond, Norfilms.

About Webcinema

Every site in this review represents a member of the Webcinema network of independent film-makers.   The network is a way for independent film-makers, whether solo producers, directors, film artists or small commercial or community production companies, groups, etc., around the world to meet, exchange news, views, help and advise each other via the internet and the webcinema mailing list server. 

Founded by independent film-maker Jonathan Sarno in New York in the late 1990s as part of the new wave of digital film-makers, the network has grown to embrace the world with active members in Europe, the Far East, India, the Middle East and America and encourages new uses of the digital production arts alongside the mainstream film and television industries.

In 2003 Norfilms offered its support to Webcinema members by hosting a link page through which every member with a web site for their work can promote themselves to the public.  This link page grew to include a frequently asked questions list and, most importantly, a link for anyone else interested in joining the Webcinema community.

The Review for 2004

Judging any awards is difficult if you wish to remain objective. We all bring our own opinions with us and I'm no different. However, with the experience of several web site designs I hope I've brought some clarity and objectivity to the results.

In all 56 web sites were reviewed for the awards this year. There were five new entries to the list and several links were no longer available. The variety of the remainder continues to offer the full scope of tastes and choices.

In making this review I have stuck to a couple of rules: (1) where an organisation has registered two or more sites, a main site and a site specific to a project I have chosen only to review the main site as representative of those film-makers; (2) where a member site is devoted to a non-film subject I have skipped it unless they have an independent film-oriented section - this is a review and award for film-makers and we have kept to that policy.

Finally, the review was conducted entirely through Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5. This is NOT recommended for all uses and users, but was the safest and simplest choice as it currently remains the most popular browser.  Normally all member's sites are checked and tested through Netscape/Mozilla browsers because these are more compliant to the latest internet design and coding standards - if it breaks in Netscape/Mozilla then you have a problem with your site.  This year I did notice a few problems with a couple of sites where applets and other code didn't download properly.  I strongly suggest that all members test their sites with several different browsers to ensure that the widest audience in the world can enjoy your work.

Site Styles and Contents

As with last year there were a variety of site styles on show. From those obviously written by a single individual through to those clearly produced by graphic/web designers. However, this is not to say that "professional" involvement has had a greater, or lesser, effect on my decisions.  In some cases a professional site design exists more to show off the talents of the designers and this can result in something that a wider public who are interested in film content will not appreciate.

Whether professional or not one of the deciding factors in judging the sites has been the consistency throughout a site.  In some cases a visually striking home page will veer off into wildly different directions as you follow the links to other pages or subsidiary sites associated to a particular production.  This can cause confusion in any reader of a site, who can become lost in the maze of styles and images.

Since last year there have been a few alterations to sites, reflecting changes in direction and growth in confidence for members. In other cases a well-designed site noted last year hasn't changed, suggesting that the members are confident of their design.

In consideration of experience from last year I have had to split categories into those based on simpler web coding, using HTML page formatting, and those based on Flash.  The year has seen a couple of new sites coming up on the previous awardees, and this has caused me to shift the balance of a final decision in favour of Flash because of the difficulty of identifying a clear winner in that category, so this year's runner-up has come from the Flash side of the review.

Many site optimisation"experts" advise against using Flash if you want your site to be indexed more easily, but again I can see that there is a good reason why Flash can help in downloading graphics, video clips, animation sequences. Where Flash has appeared I have been a little critical but not as demanding as non-film design professionals.

One point I continue to remain critical about is the use of gateway or welcome pages.  These pages just provide a visitor with a logo or graphic, causing them to click further to enter the proper site.  Most optimisation advice throughout the web design community is to avoid such pages as they do little to enhance a site, giving no information and forcing the user to wait for a second page to read about the nature of the site.

Despite suggestions made in the 2003 review several sites remain fixated with one design style which continues to upset me and which should be addressed - the use of background images. While a "soft" translucent watermark can improve a design you must always be careful to ensure that the overlying text is readable. In some cases this hasn't worked and the chosen background images made reading difficult, even eye watering. Plain background colours would be better.

With many independent producers, especially newcomers to the community, there is little to report.  A web site is just a way to establish a personal presence on the net, increase your profile and prepare for things to come.  Some designs have managed to address this very well with only a handful of paragraphs, or just  a single page site.  A review of the current membership list will show you how this has been dealt with in various formats.

In other cases a good site content can be marred by overly heavy graphics and style detracting from the need to present the content. Although there was one notable new entry this year (naming no names) that came close to winning the html award the large blocky graphics just wiped out any chance of presenting a clear image for the media production company. Part of this problem may simply be to do with the use of web site design software and templates to create a site.

The use of templates leads me to another problem that arose this year and which several members ought to address if they can - the intrusion of your site design by adverts from the site host.  If you have a web site hosted on some internet services they can splatter your own pages with adverts for products and services.

While adverts can be managed in some cases this should be explored in as much depth as possible to ensure that they are not damaging the site's presentation.  Several times I came upon advertising banners from Tripod which destroyed the site design and any sense of a smooth experience for the visitor.

In all the overall quality of web sites from Webcinema members has a lot to offer, from the simplest to the most sophisticated there are lots of ideas to choose from and through every site we can see the talent skill and work that everyone is putting in to their main work - new generations of film makers.

Finally, once again there is one site which remains on the list only as a warning to others in what NOT to do. This is a site that could offend any visitor. Whether this is deliberate or not I cannot tell but when you click to visit it takes over your browser, removing all navigation bars and preventing you from leaving. The only way to resolve this is for a visitor to close and restart his browser. While we might expect this from a porn site it shouldn't happen anywhere else. This is a site that needs rewrite urgently (sorry guys but it had to be said).

** Awards 2004! **

As there has been little change for many sites throughout the year it has been difficult at times to choose, whether to select a new site for an award or repeat the award for the same member again.  I won't say I wasn't tempted to do the latter, but I felt that there were sufficient changes to deserve a fresh look at the finalists.  One point was the greater, and clever, use of Flash this time around, so this year I have leant a little more in favour of that tool and that category. However, don't think you should all rush out to splash Flash all over your sites for next year, I may revert to "simpler" sites for the 2005 review.

Notable Credits
Like last year I'd like to mention a couple of sites to show both how difficult it was to decide in the finalists and encourage you all to explore the member's list for your inspiration:-
(a) Brillig Productions - An imaginative site based totally on graphic images - just plain cute.
(b) automatic.biz - The art of the minimal and runner-up from last year.
(c) andreystankevich.com - 2003 flash winner. A site which has to be highlighted again for its use of Flash and consistency. It was VERY tempting to award the Andrey as Flash winner again this year.

Runners-Up
Emission-Control
I'm going to break my little rule about gateway pages and too much Flash here because Emission Control have show a major improvement since 2003 in creating a clean and simple site for all to visit and use. This literary agency/production company have kept all distractions out of the site to impress me with a clear stylish "corporate" presentation.

Best Flash
kbroFILMS
The choice of Flash winner was DIFFICULT but the clarity of the site finally, but only barely, made this the choice for the year. The site is clearly a film-maker and the presentation makes it an entertaining interactive experience.

Best HTML
shootandslice
A new member for 2004 Shoot and Slice make for a quick, simple and consistent site throughout.  The speed of download shows how well they have managed to optimise their site for visitor experience. (The trick is called "javascript includes".)
Although the gang at Shoot and Slice have a lot of web skill they haven't let it go to their heads and have created an efficient and easy experience for any visitor.

Congratulations to everyone.

Film-makers Join Webcinema Today - It's FREE!
If you're an independent film-maker and want to exchange news and experiences with others around the world the webcinema list server is open to any new applicant.
FREE Registration with the list server allows you to post your news, notes and questions to other film artists sharing your own interests.  The more people who join and use the network the greater the benefit for all concerned.

Don't forget -
Investors WANTED!
Yes, like any good independent film-maker Norfilms is always looking out for a good healthy investor or ten looking to enter show business! Unlike most Norfilms has have associations with leading UK Bank and finance sources to reduce your risk to nothing (100% principal protection guaranteed by a leading European bank) contact Norfilms for more details and how to become involved with tax benefits, escrow management of funds and a wide slate of commercial productions.

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copyright, Michael Bond
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