In this post, I will look into two websites by filmmakers and compare both of them. This research will help me on creating my own website by considering the use of colors, layout, typography, image, useability, navigation, and my overall thoughts on the website.
I will be looking into Hirokazu Kore-eda and Dany Cooke's website, with both being filmmakers and quite experienced in the filmmaking industry. I would like to learn from two websites of two very different directors, with Kore-eda a 60-year-old filmmaker that is internationally known, and Cooke a young freelance filmmaker.
Hirokazu Kore-eda's Website
First off, I will talk about Hirokazu Kore-eda's website. From the home page, the website looks very simple, with a showcase of stills from his films. I noticed that his website only consists of Top, News, Profile & Works, as well as Message in the navigation, with the layout being centered and in a long bar. When I scrolled down, there is his twitter feed, news feed, and contacts using the Japanese language. That said, this is the Japanese version of the website as his website also has an English translation which is very convenient.
When I clicked on the English translation, I was moved into the Profile & Works sections with English translation. It lists his place and date of birth, the University he attended, and his journey of starting in documentaries to a list of all the films he directed or produced. Below that is the Works Introduction section, which is a collection of all of his works. When I clicked on one of his works, which is Maborosi (1995), it opened a short card on the film, which shows its year of production, his role in it, the cast, a short description of the work, screen time, and the awards in which the film achieved.
Moving on, I soon discovered that the only English translated page is the Profile & Works section, with the rest of the page such as Top, News, and Message in Japanese. The news is divided into years, ranging from 2013 until the present time. However, there is only one post from each year, perhaps giving a short summary of the work he made in that year. The Message section consists of a list of all the posts he made, divided by date. Each of them contains his message to his followers.
Looking at other aspects, Kore-eda's website has a white with a slight green tint as the background. The website is vastly dominated by empty white spaces, which may emphasise the images and texts. Most of his text is in Japanese, with dates in bright cyan and the others in black. On the English-translated page though, the font used is serif. As such, the color theme of this website is white, cyan, and black. Layout-wise, as his website doesn't contain too much, the layout looks very clean and easy to follow, with the majority of the texts left-aligned. This simple layout and design also help in navigation, making it easy for people to understand the website instantly.
Dany Cooke's Website
Moving on, I will now look into Dany Cooke's website. As a freelance filmmaker, his works consist of fewer feature films, but more independent works on various projects. From the front page, he emphasises his job as a filmmaker, director, and cinematographer. He also added his own quote on the value and beliefs he has about his profession. That said, the background is a video loop of his work, all with a variety of locations, stories, and camera techniques in it. There is also his navigation on the top, consisting of About, Services, Portfolio, and Contact. When I scroll down, there is his collection of major works, all in a grid with moving videos and interactive functions as you hover your mouse over it. Once I clicked on any of his videos, it will lead to a playable full video.
Moving on to his About page, contains the same quote from the home page, but also three short paragraphs describing who he is, where he is, his range of work, and what this website is about. On the same About page is his CV, which includes his full credits, his gear, the programs he uses, his license, and his abilities. On Services, he added more on the various jobs he can do, the clients and brands he worked with, and also on how he provides an Aerial Cinematography service using his drone, which helps in aerial videos.
Moving on, his Portfolio page also consists of all the works he has made, which are categorised into the roles he fulfills in each work. All of his works have video footage and interactive functions as my mouse hover over them. I think the categorisation is great, as simply clicking on one category such as "Director", quickly makes all the other non-directorial works he has disappeared. Lastly, his Contact page is very simple, only consisting of a short description, his phone number, and his email.
On other aspects, Dany Cooke's website is more reliant on dark colors and white text, as well as using sans serif as his font. The layout of this website is generally more centered and balanced, but with images and videos dominating the page. The negative space that is used is colored black but is significantly less compared to the number of videos. Along with various other interactive features his website has, and with the website dominated by playable videos, the website feels modern. So, through the interactive features such as categorisation and the interactive video when touched by the mouse, and the clear Menu on top, navigation of the website is very easy to follow.
Comparison and Conclusion
From both websites, I have learned many things. From Kore-eda's perspective, as he is a feature filmmaker and most of his projects are large feature films that are acknowledged internationally, his page is far simpler and has the addition of a News section. I learned that Kore-eda likes to emphasise his images and texts using dominant white spaces. He used more brighter colors like white and cyan, using a more left-aligned layout for texts, and is more native-based with the use of the Japanese language and an emphasis on his portfolio for international followers with the use of an English translation. Kore-eda also has a blog aspect to his website, with the Message section's purpose being for him to communicate to his followers.
From Cooke's website, I learned how to make a more modern-looking website. I find it modern through particular things such as its interactive features, the number of high-quality videos, and the emphasis on independent work. All of this may attract his followers because it gives off the feeling of Cooke as an adventurer, trying various genres and jobs, being universal and versatile at the same time. His page is also dominated by dark colors but has significantly less amount of negative space compared to Kore-eda's. I feel one important lesson I learned from him is to include a list of my works, CV, gear, programs, license, abilities, and brands/clients he worked with too.
I feel that Cooke's website is more user friendly, interesting, and modern. I really enjoyed the interactive features and his videos which I find to be more appealing than Kore-eda's in terms of useability, navigation, and design. That said, I also understood that simplicity and white spaces can significantly help in emphasising pages with lots of texts. I realised that Cooke's website is very different compared to Kore-eda's who's CV has already reached international stages as a famous filmmaker. Kore-eda has a News section and a more personal way of communicating to his audience, while Cooke's feels more of a client-based website, emphasising on how he is an adventurous freelance filmmaker. Along with that, I learned that in my website, English should be used to reach an international audience and including native languages can also significantly help to make the website feel more open to natives. Typography-wise, I have learned reference from both on the fitting size of typography and the use of serif fonts to create a modern feel to the website. From this, I feel that the website a filmmaker creates, truly depends on the type of filmmaking jobs they do. Since, I myself haven't had much experience, learning from both of them, I know that I want to put my most effort to making my website emphasise my talents and abilities, while being appealing, user friendly, and very open to other people.
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