Analysing Websites

This page is dedicated to the critic of websites.

David Allcock's site is simple even though he is a creditable artist who designs storyboards for film. The grey background adds a professionalism that seems to run as a theme through many film makers websites. The space itself is left purely to the illustration and the text is is not obtrusive. Again the simplicity makes it easy to navigate to the most important points of interest that employers would be looking for.

The gallery page can be navigated on it's own and maintains the same grey background. Not only does it allow the viewer to browse illustration automatically but each window has a subsection and pop up menu to further browse through subject. Downloads are also possible in a separate pop out window. Altogether a very well presented sight where the illustrations are the focus.

 Having looked at an illustrators site my next choice was to try and find what I considered a well organised moving image site. I came across Aaron Proctor after I typed in DOP's into Google search engine. It was then selected from a massive database of other DOP's and Production Film people. While Aaron's site is organised it lacks presentation and seems to be a huge collection of all his work that would take you endless days to sift through.

 I can see that he is a professional but do I really need to sit through hours of work to know that? Perhaps selecting the very best of his work would have been enough. I do on the other hand like the fact that the headings are consistent. On reflection Aaron's website tells me he's very confident and capable but wants to do everything all at once. I'm sure he's very good.

I didn't have any luck with going directly to 'film makers websites' under that heading, so I typed in 'Filmakers Portfolios' and I got into an agency website and was able to select from a list of various jobs. The website, right, was linked to production designers.It's a simple and uncluttered site that you can easily navigate. No frills no nonsense sight with just enough good copy to make it credible. Of course working on top quality productions helps give credibility.As yet I haven't find a website that really rocks.

Left, the biography page from a link selection top right is simple but effective.
The photos don't link to anything, all the links are at the bottom of the page or directly above a picture.I've not been very impressed with trying to find direct routes to film makers websites except through agency lists. Trying a combination of sentences and key words in Google search is tiresome as you end up wading through what I would term junk sites to get to what you want and then it isn't specific.

I can understand why a lot of film makers, photographers and artists prefer to go through open forums and social websites such as You Tube, Facebook, Bebo, My Space and Vimeo. Indeed, to create a high profile it seems necessary to create a press kit that can ultimately be released to third parties. This could eventually lead to links on your website that connect with larger agencies.If you have a website without the right tags or keywords the search engine can't do it's job so those points are probably more important than the web-site.                                                                                                                                                       The Vimeo site is probably one of the best  filmography sites on the web with clear categories and tags plus the pulling power of Vimeo itself. It's the collective that seems to win through time and again. Do well on these sites and  the links will be of lasting value and an additional link for your site.