I chose this film in particular because it is similair to ours, in that an entity exists in some part in the character's mind. The site creates an unnatural atmosphere by using interactive elements, such as the very first part; Donnie is shown in a fake but believable Windows Internet Explorer pop up, and the viewer has to mouse over a button and click it to proceed. The sequence of orders are unsettling to the viewer because it is as if the film is taking over their computer. This is successful in the sense that it creates an ideal mood for its audience, but restricting because it is time-consuming and difficult to find ordinary information about the film, which would not work for us in our ancillary task as we ideally want to create an initial homepage that links to more specific areas of information about our film.
The Blair Witch Project
This website is much more of a simple accessible site than the Donnie Darko site. First, a few lines pop up: "Celebrating the tenth anniversary..." etc. that would not apply to our film. However, when the user reaches the main page after 20 sec or so of titles, it is very simple; containing headers leading to the areas "Mythology" "The filmmakers" "Aftermath" and "Legacy". These subjects are intrinsic to the plot and concept of the film, and make the website similair to the Donnie Darko site, in the way it shows a log of events involving the forest, for example, which let the ordinarily imaginary content of the film intrude on to the user's computer, the same place they would get information about real life, although the button on the homepage "order now" dispells the illusion and makes the page more commercial, a real fault in the website.
1408
This is a much more conventional movie site. Following the link first takes the user to what is essentially an advertisement, with snippets from reviews and stills from the movie on one page. After clicking the "Enter site" button, there is another page showing the theatrical trailer of the movie, then after this finishes, the poster of the film is the background to the page. The user then has to click "Enter site" again, which takes them to the main site which is pictured above. A "room service menu" contains links to "trailer" "synopsis" "cast & crew" "photos" and "tv spots". It also makes very clear the stars John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson's names beneath this. The links provide a more casual source of information about the film, most likely targeted at an audience who are interested in the film or have seen it and want to know more, and the links provide some simple information and features for this audience. In contrast to the previous two sites, there is much less content that brings the film into the real life of the user; it is more centric on the commercial interests of the consumer. Considering 1408 was less of a success than Donnie Darko and The Blair Witch project, perhaps the choice of website features was not as much of a success either.
From this research, it seems that films similair to ours in concept and tone can have websites as high concept as the films, and the main aim of these websites is to create an atmosphere that brings the film close to reality. Also, the weaknesses of these websites are that in making a fourth-wall breaking bridge from film to user, it detracts from the movie's identity as a film and its commercialness by not having any black and white sections like "about" "cast" and such. At this stage our website should somehow bridge the gap between commercialness and an atmospheric creation.
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