Webcinema
** Annual Awards 2005 **
for Independent Film-Makers

Welcome to the third annual Webcinema Web Site Review Of The Year, for 2005.
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 online 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, with a special emphasis on merging digital production and internet broadcast.

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 2005

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.

This year the Webcinema link list composed of 59 web sites for review. There were five sites identified as dormant/dead with links leading nowhere (Division Street Films | Dayton Film | Smugcowmen | Iron Fist Motion Pictures | Mountain Outlook) and four new sites had been added to the list during the year from new members of the network (Barcelona Films | Meager Film Productions | rMedia Events | Mindquake Films).  Compared to the 56 sites reviewed last year there was no substantial change in the numbers of active sites for review, suggesting a steady maintenance of the network's membership.

As is now a standard principle 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 I 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 internet 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.  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 normal with such a range of participants to the network there are many site styles on display. From those 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 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.  This can cause confusion in any reader of a site, who can become lost in the maze of styles and images.

This last year has shown some remarkable changes to some of the sites on display.  This shows the continuing commitment those teams have for their web site as an integral part of their work and the confidence they have for their efforts.  In other cases a well-designed site noted last year hasn't changed, suggesting that the members are confident of their design.

As with last year I have had to place a little more emphasis on the use of Flash for site designs.  Not only have a couple of the sites jumped out at me in this category but I believe more designers are now becoming adept at using it to give their visitors a better visual experience.  However, I have also noted a couple of sites making use of cascading style sheets in their HTML formatting.  This style method is certainly going to become more influential in creating and managing HTML coded sites for the ease of creating a single universal site style through one command style file.

You must still remember that many site optimisation"experts" advise against using Flash if you want your site to be indexed more easily on the web for search engines, but again I can see that there is a good reason why Flash can help in downloading graphics, video clips, animation sequences.  If, though, you wish to reach the widest audiences then a coded site design will still outshine pure Flash sites for ease of search by web spiders and search engines.

The Flash-based sites I have seen do exhibit one disadvantage - fixed fount sizes and colour schemes that make them difficult to read.  It's popular amongst film web sites to adopt a white text on black/dark background to mimic the theme of the cinema, but this can make the text more difficult to read.  I have often seen sites with Flash or lots of graphics use text that is more difficult to read because of this reverse style.  The text tends to blend into gray and then becomes almost unreadable. 

A solution to this for your own web site is to adopt founts that are clearer, cleaner, in outline, to make them easier to read, and use a slightly larger size to counteract the effect of this colour blending.  And note, for comparison, how this text you are reading is small and remains easy to read with a clear black on white contrast.

One point I continue to remain critical about over these last few years 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. If this doesn't work such images make reading difficult, even eye watering. Plain background colours would be better.

Another aspect of ease of use is the way you provide menus and links to navigate a page or a site.  This year I noted a couple of problems where designers have opted for a single long page but not provided a way to jump back to the top, and in one case their main navigation menu was at the bottom of the page, a difficult place to reach unless you want to force your visitor to read through the whole page - very irritating and could have the adverse effect of driving your visitors away in frustration when they can't find the menu easily.

A site remains a way to reach your community, your customers, your prospective partners or employers.  Many new and young film-makers haven't established a career big enough to justify a large site, but some have shown remarkable innovation in conveying even a handful of paragraphs. A review of the current membership list will show you how this has been dealt with in various formats.

As with last year a problem that continues to appear is the intrusion of 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 and this has disrupted a couple of the member sites, obscuring text, menus, headers, etc.

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 your 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.

Conclusion

The 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 and artists.

Finally, as a warning of what not to do, like last year there is one site which locks you in once you've clicked on it the way old style porn sites tried to seize your browser.  Looks like they haven't rewritten it since last year.

** Awards 2005! **

This year has seen some remarkable and interesting changes to some of the leading sites in the list.  Some have been refined and expanded since they first appeared here, and some have been totally rewritten, making judgment more interesting as visits to these sites has been entertaining and educational.

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) Scissor Kick Films - A good example of a smaller Flash web site, but does emphasise the problem I mentioned with text and colours that become difficult to read.
(b) Living Stone- Imaginative use of Flash to guide visitors around their studio facilities.
(c) Emission-Control - Last year's runner-up. This agency's web site shows good clear use of CSS for HTML site optimised design, but could do with an adjustment to make clear that many of the navigation links are password protected.

Runners-Up
This year I've chosen not to select a runner-up from the list. There were a few good sites that struck me but the biggest problem was identifying which should be given an award over the others.  Rather than upset everyone else I decided, for this year, to stick to the two main prizes. Better luck next year everyone!

Best Flash
Fresh Water Films
For the last couple of year Fresh Water Films have presented a nice Flash web site but one that didn't inspire.  This year they've struck back with a vengeance and produced, a quirky, imaginative and plain fun web site that everyone should visit just to enjoy what can be done with Flash.  If they keep this up they could go on to win for another few years.  Unless someone else wants to take up the challenge?

Best HTML
Nimble Productions
Winner in 2003, I was surprised myself when I chose them again, but the simplicity of their style, and consistency of the features of the site and the natural growth that has occurred and been absorbed successfully this year through the expansion of their Gallery page, and its informative effective style that offers a subdued and professional presentation of their work should be seen and studied by anyone looking to begin their career web site in film and media production.

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.

Contact Norfilms and Webcinema
Mail To: The Little FAQer
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copyright, Michael Bond
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