A Web site is now as routine a part of the movie publicity machine as print advertising, trailers and star interviews.
You can watch trailers, listen to cuts from the soundtrack, and download movie star images for screensavers or for wallpaper. On some sites, you can even interact with the cast and crew in chat rooms or watch live Webcasts from the set and premiere. Of course, some allow you the privilege of buying movie merchandise on-line too.
But the quality of the sites varies wildly, from sites that look like they are there just so the movie posters can list a Web site to elaborate sites that add depth to the overall product and often encourage interaction.
Take “Godzilla,” the Web site, (www.godzilla.com), as intricate, obvious and adventurous as the movie could be. No pictures of the monster yet, but there’s a downloadable sound file of its roar.
Virulent green on a black background with a design that screams high-tech horror, this multilayered site has been on-line for months with content that changes often enough to bring in repeat visitors. One of the most innovative offerings is the “G-Peg” of the day, a downloadable photo from the movie that stays up for only one day.
For “Godzilla” fanatics or those of us who could never figure out the difference between the various Godzillas and the other monsters in the series, there’s a well-executed “Godzilla” database that should answer every question.
As good as it is, though, “Godzilla” on-line has some flaws.The last item in a “beefed-up” news and press archive is from last summer. Links to the Vivo plug-in needed to view nifty welcome messages and other videos didn’t work. Download before visiting to prevent frustration (www.vivo.com).
Or try “The Truman Show” (www.thetrumanshow.com), a totally shallow site that looks good and, as of a week before its premiere, provided darn little in the way of content. Three rows of television screens display rotating images from the film and sometimes text. For now, all that’s available is a trailer.
Then there’s the battle of the heavens. The Web site for “Armageddon” offers a dramatic high-tech image with a countdown clock ticking off the days, minutes and seconds until the movie hits theaters. A suitably apocalyptic message explains that the “Armageddon Link” isn’t secure (that mean’s ready) yet. You can download current trailers and the Super Bowl commercial. The 10-meg trailer might be worth it if you have a fast connection or a lot of patience. At (www.armageddon.com)
But head-on competitor “Deep Impact” (www.deep-impact.com) is up and running with an in-depth site that appeals to anyone interested in space. If space isn’t enough, the Web producers offer bios and a small, easily loaded photo gallery for each of the 14 central cast members, instead of the paltry few provided by most sites.
You can download outer space images, clips and wallpaper. (Hale-Bopp now slices across this writer’s screen courtesy of “Deep Impact.”) Trailers range in length from manageable to a potentially masochistic 18 megabytes.
The folks at “Deep Impact” also understand that many visitors will be looking not only for movie info but for more in-depth information about the subject. To that end, they offer an n.e.o. (near earth object) tutorial with images and other educational opportunities. There’s also a mysterious inactive link to the Impact Survival Network that should make a second visit worth the trip.
“Lethal Weapon 4” (www.lw4.com/) is another well-designed site and makes good use of the medium. The producers tap into the “LW” series aura by including content about each of the first three. Fans will want to visit just for the downloadable posters. This may be the most wired set in the business. They do live Webcasts from the set and routinely post exclusive photos for the site.
Usually, typing in www and the name of the movie gets you to the right site. Not so with the new Robert Redford heart tugger, “The Horse Whisperer.” Type in http://www.horsewhisperer.com/ and you wind up at the Web site for Frank Bell, a fella who does horse whispering for a living. But it does have a link to the movie, www.thehorsewhisperer.com.
The text is hard to read against a dark background, the pictures are small and blurry, but the bios are detailed, there’s a lot of information about the art of horse whispering and lots of pictures of Robert Redford.
If you’re having trouble finding a movie site, check the newspaper ad for an address or use your favorite search engine to track it down. Be sure to look for the word “official” because fans sites crop up as quickly as the real thing.
