I just finished adding the final touches to the official website for Blood + Roses. I spent the last 2 weeks working on the site. When I design a website (I design and administer all of my websites), the first thing I do is look at similar websites on the internet. I checked out all the website for films, especially ones that are just about to be released, for how they look, what they have on them and how they function. I have noticed that all these sites have a synopsis, an image gallery, wallpapers for people to download, a list of the cast and crew, a links page and videos. These are the basics that I will need for a website.

A lot of these film websites use Flash to operate. It makes them look, well flash. I don’t have Flash. I use Dreamweaver, which is a HTML Editor, so some of the effects they use I can’t do. It would be nice to have a Flash site designed for the film, but it would take a long time to produce. I would need to learn how to use Flash. And then it would take time to design all those flashy effects. Next time I will get a Flash designer on to do the site.

Once I have looked at all those sites and found a couple I can use as a template, I start designing the website. The first thing is the general layout. The material that will appear on every page of the site. I already designed a trailer page for the film, so I used some of the material from that page. I used all the links and company logos, and place them onto a blank canvas in Photoshop. (I use Photoshop to design all my sites) I try placing them in different places on the page, until I find a place I am happy with putting them. Then it is onto the look of the site. Navigation Bars, where the material will appear on the screen, borders, titles, stuff like that.

Then when the general layout is finished, I work on the look of each individual page. In this case, what was going to be the main photograph for each page. Again this is a matter of elimination. I try a different photo for each page, until I find the one that looks right. I then play around with the colour, cropping, size, trying everything to get the best out of each photo. Also at this point, I design the wallpapers for the site. These are pictures you can download and use as a Desktop Picture. They are a great way to promote the film.

After the design of every page is finished, it’s then onto the contents of each page. I started with the Synopsis page, which is the first page you see when you enter the site. I had to write an outline of the film’s story. I had a couple goes at writing it, but couldn’t come up with anything I was happy with. I asked Ben Woodiwiss to have a go and he wrote the synopsis which is on the site. Then I worked on the Links, Downloads and the Cast & Crew pages, as they were simple to do. They were all text files. (I might go back and redo the Cast & Crew page, as I have found a way of doing it better) Then I left the Video and Image Gallery pages, as they would require Javascript code to work.

Then I break each page down into it’s elements, so I can import them into Dreamweaver. The Navigation Bar has to be broken down into it’s individual buttons and states (what it looks like when it is selected and not selected), the contents of each page, backgrounds. It’s all trial and error  until you get it to look like it does in Photoshop.

The Video and Image Gallery I have to use Javascript for them to work. I had the code for the Video page, as I had it in the Trailer page already. For the image gallery, I had to find it. I trawl the internet looking for code for Image Galleries. A lot of them weren’t very good, but I was lucky to find one that looked really good. I had to change the code, so it would fit my page, but after a lot of playing around, I got it to work.

The Video page was the last page I added to the website. It now is up and fully functional. I am very happy with how it turned out and I have had a lot of positive feedback from people who have already been on the site. Take a look for yourself at http://www.bloodandrosesmovie.com. I will be adding exclusive photos and videos on there soon, so keep an eye out for them.