Building a website for your film can be an effective way to promote and showcase your work. Here are the steps you can follow to build a website for your film:
- Choose a platform: Decide which website building platform you want to use, such as WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace. Choose a platform that is user-friendly, affordable, and offers the features and customization options you need for your film's website.
- Choose a domain name: Choose a domain name that is memorable, easy to spell, and relevant to your film.
- Design the website: Choose a template or design the website from scratch, taking into consideration the type of film you're promoting and your target audience. Make sure the website is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and has a clear call to action.
- Add content: Create a homepage that provides a brief overview of your film, including its title, genre, and synopsis. Add pages for the cast and crew, a gallery of images and trailers, and a press section that includes reviews and articles about your film.
- Promote your film: Utilize the website to promote your film by adding links to your social media accounts and encouraging visitors to sign up for your film's email list.
- Optimize for search engines: Optimize your website for search engines by adding keywords, meta descriptions, and alt tags to your pages and images.
- Launch the website: Launch your website and start promoting it to your target audience, using social media, email, and other marketing channels.
Building a website for your film is a cost-effective way to reach a wider audience, showcase your work, and build your brand. By following these steps, you can create a professional and effective website that will help you promote your film and reach your goals.
How to Build your Film Website
You can do it yourself or hand over to your webmaster who will find the process easy and clear to get your film website up and running quickly.
- Setup your hosting account
- Choose a domain name
- Install Wordpress
- Choose a theme
- Create the category pages for your articles
- Add a newsletter for your fan signup form
- Connect your social accounts
- Write articles and press releases
Your film website is the foundation where you drive all traffic to grow your film audience by signing up to newsletters and updates.
See an example of the main pages
As Wordpress would be the fastest and easiest to maintain, let's install your film website.
What to include on a film website
Film Title
Important: Check IMDB.com if the name of your film exists, if it does, change your title.
Google the name of your film to see what kind of results come up and if it's related to the subject of your film.
Tip: If you need to change your film title, try finding a name that relates to your audience, like a place or keyword.
Key Art
Do not add the title or any text, just a clean image (1920x1080px)
Good place to design your image is canva.com
Make sure the image is original without copyright
Trailer
Your teaser or trailer available on YouTube or Vimeo
Film Status
This is the current stage of your film, you can change as you progress
- Concept Stage: This is when you have the idea, and the script is written
- In Development: Key Producer(s) are on board and the film is green-lit (going ahead)
- Pre-Production: Key Teams (Director, Cinematographer, Cast) have signed onto the project.
- in Production: Next crew comes on board (Production Manager, Line Producer, Assistant Director, etc). Budget and locations are in place.
- Shooting: Actual filming is taking place in studio or locations
- Post Production: Shooting is complete, film is in editing phase
- Completed: The film is finalized and looking for Distribution
- Available to Watch: Film is available in cinemas or VOD platforms
Tip: You are more likely to get response from distributors if your film is in post-production, but a completed film is the best option
Goal: what do you want to achieve
- Looking for Funding: You are looking for investors to fund your film
- Looking for Distribution: Here Distributors can find you to make an offer for distribution
- Watch my Film: You will have a link available to drive audience to watch your film
IMDB Listing
This is highly important, it will be the first thing Distributors, Media and Film Festivals check.
See how to add your IMDB listing
Write your Logline
The logline is what you would find in film guides to convince the viewer to watch your film
Write your Synopsis
The synopsis is telling the story in a concise manner
- Add the synopsis no more than 300 characters
- Write in a visual manner, giving the mood and development of the characters
- If your film is in 3 acts, write 3 paragraphs
- Do not give away the ending
Duration
The length of the film
- How many minutes does your film run for
Add Genre
Genre is a standard list in the industry to classify your film for the audience, media and distributors
- See how to choose Genre for your film
Add Theme
Theme is a wider category and defines the audience interests by keywords
- Example themes are: Spirituality and Faith, Health and Fitness, Family and Children, Bollywood, etc
Country of Origin
- Which country is the originator of the film, not where it is shooting, but production base
Key Crew and Cast
Add the names of the people contracted to your film
- Just add the Key Crew and Cast
- Director is required
Technical Details
- Year of Release
- Camera and Lens
- Shooting Locations
- Frame Rate
- Rating
- IMDB ID
That's it! Once you done, you can publish.
- Share your film to social networks, send via whatsapp and email to drive awareness
- Audience: Include your social links and get new fans for your film
- Statistics: Add Google Analytics to see where your film audience is coming from