In appreciation of all the nominees for the 2016 Academy Awards, here is another perspective at the 57 different nominees — their official film websites.
Some highlights of looking through them all include:
- How many official film sites used Tumblr as their platform? 6, but one wasn’t working so well.
- How about using Facebook as their official site? 2 — and both were distributed by Netflix, a digitally born company that ought to do better next time.
- How about WordPress? 8.
- How many sites rolled their own code? 30!
- How many run a banner ad for something else above the fold? 1! Blasphemous!
- How many films didn’t have a clear official website? Definitely one! Woah. We’re here to help.
Now, on with the show:
“45 Years”
- 45yearsfilm.com [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role
- Website powered by Tumblr
“The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared”
- musicboxfilms.com/100-year-old-man-who-climbed-out-the-window-and-disappeared–the–movies-119.php
- Nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- Custom HTML5/PHP website with some TypeKit typography
“Amy”
- amy-movie.com
- Winner for Best Documentary
- Custom HTML5 website
“Anomalisa”
- anomalisa.com [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film
- Custom HTML5 website with some Google Fonts typography
“Ave Maria”
- avemariafilm.com
- Nominated for Best Live Action Short Film
- Custom HTML5 website with some Fancybox jQuery
“Bear Story”
- bearstory.cl [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Winner for Best Animated Short Film
- Website powered by WordPress
“The Big Short”
- thebigshortmovie.com
Winner for Best Adapted Screenplay - Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Directing, Best Film Editing
- Custom HTML5 website using React boilerplate
“Body Team 12”
- bodyteam12.com [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject
- Website powered by WordPress
“Boy and the World”
-
“Bridge of Spies”
- bridgeofspies.com [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Sound Mixing
- Custom HTML5 website with lots of JavaScript and some TypeKit typography
“Brooklyn”
- foxsearchlight.com/brooklyn/ [there’s also brooklyn-themovie.com running on Tumblr, but it’s not loading consistently]
- Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Adapted Screenplay
- Generic studio template housing a custom HTML5 website with some TypeKit and also Google Fonts typography
“Carol”
- carolfilm.com
- Nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score
- Custom HTML5 website with Bootstrap CSS
“Cartel Land”
- cartellandmovie.com
- Nominated for Best Documentary
- Website built in Adobe Muse
“Chau, Beyond the Lines”
- beyondthelinesfilm.com
- Nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject
- Website powered by Squarespace
“Cinderella”
- movies.disney.com/cinderella
- Nominated for Best Costume Design
- Custom website with a banner ad at the top — wha?!
“Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah”
- lanzmannfilm.com
- Nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject
- Website powered by Go Daddy Website Builder
“Creed”
- creedthemovie.com
- Nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
- Website powered by Tumblr
“The Danish Girl”
- focusfeatures.com/the_danish_girl
- Winner Best Actress in a Supporting Role
- Nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design
- Custom XHTML 1.0 website with Bootstrap JavaScript among other libraries
“Day One”
- dayonefilm.com
- Nominated for Best Live Action Short Film
- Website powered by Squarespace
“Embrace of the Serpent”
- embraceoftheserpent.oscilloscope.net
- Nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film
- Website powered by VHX
“Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)”
- patrickvollrath.com [NO LONGER ONLINE] [not technically an official site for the one project]
- Nominated for Best Live Action Short Film
- Website powered by WIX
“Ex Machina”
- exmachina-movie.com
- Winner for Best Visual Effects
- Nominated for Best Original Screenplay
- Custom HTML5 website with some Google Fonts typography
“Fifty Shades of Grey”
- fiftyshadesmovie.com [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Nominated for Best Original Song
- Website powered by Tumblr
“A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness”
- sharmeenobaidfilms.com/portfolio_page/girl-in-the-river-the-price-of-forgiveness/
- Winner for Best Documentary Short Subject
- Website powered by WordPress
“The Hateful Eight”
- thehatefuleight.com [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Winner for Best Original Score
- Nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Cinematography
- Custom HTML5 website by Familiar crafted with a handful of JavaScript
“The Hunting Ground”
- thehuntinggroundfilm.com [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Nominated for Best Original Song
- Website powered by WordPress
“Inside Out”
- movies.disney.com/inside-out
- Winner for Best Animated Feature Film
- Nominated for Best Original Screenplay
- Custom HTML5 website
“Joy”
- foxmovies.com/movies/joy
- Nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role
- Generic studio template housing a custom HTML5 website with some assets served by Amazon S3
“Last Day of Freedom”
- lastdayoffreedom.net
- Nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject
- Website powered by WordPress
“The Look of Silence”
- thelookofsilence.com
- Nominated for Best Documentary
- Website powered by WordPress
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
- madmaxmovie.com
- Winner for Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing
- Nominated for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Directing, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects
- Custom HTML5 website with some open-source JavaScript libraries like MediaElement.js
“The Martian”
- foxmovies.com/movies/the-martian
- Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects
- Generic studio template housing a custom HTML5 website with some assets served by Amazon S3
“Mustang”
- cohenmedia.net/films/mustang
- Nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film
- Custom website
“Prologue”
- No official website
- Nominated for Best Animated Short Film
“Racing Extinction”
- racingextinction.com
- Nominated for Best Original Song
- Website powered by Squarespace
“The Revenant”
- foxmovies.com/movies/the-revenant
- Winner for Best Cinematography, Best Directing, Best Actor in a Leading Role
- Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects
- Custom HTML5 website with some assets served by Amazon S3
“Room”
- roomthemovie.com
- Winner for Best Actress in a Leading Role
- Nominated for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Directing
- Custom website
“Sanjay’s Super Team”
- pixar.com/short_films/Theatrical-Shorts/sst [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Nominated for Best Animated Short Film
- Custom website
“Shaun the Sheep Movie”
- shaunthesheep.com/movie/
- Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film
- Custom website
“Shok”
- shokshortfilm.com (which is getting a lot of traffic right now and frequently offline)
- Nominated for Best Live Action Short Film
“Sicario”
- sicariofilm.com [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing
- Custom website
“Son of Saul”
- sonyclassics.com/sonofsaul/
- Winner for Best Foreign-Language Film
- Custom HTML5 website
“Spectre”
- sonypictures.com/movies/spectre/ [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Winner for Best Original Song
- Generic studio template housing a custom website
“Spotlight”
- spotlightthefilm.com
Winner for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay - Nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Directing, Best Film Editing
- Custom website
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”
- starwars.com/films/star-wars-episode-vii-the-force-awakens
- Nominated for Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects
- Custom website
“Steve Jobs”
- uphe.com/movies/steve-jobs
- Nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role
- Custom website
“Straight Outta Compton”
- straightouttacompton.com [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Nominated for Best Original Screenplay
- Website powered by Tumblr
“Stutterer”
- stuttererfilm.com [NO LONGER ONLINE]
- Winner for Best Live Action Short Film
- Website powered by Weebly
“Theeb”
- theeb-filmmovement.tumblr.com
- Nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film
- Website powered by Tumblr
“Trumbo”
- bleeckerstreetmedia.com/trumbo
- Nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role
- Custom website
“A War”
- magpictures.com/awar/
- Nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film
- Custom website
“We Can’t Live Without Cosmos”
- No official site
- Nominated for Best Animated Short Film
“What Happened, Miss Simone?”
- facebook.com/whathappenedmisssimone/
- Nominated for Best Documentary
- Website powered by Facebook
“When Marnie Was There”
- marniefilm.com
- Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film
- Website powered by WordPress
“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom”
- facebook.com/winteronfire/
- Nominated for Best Documentary
- Website powered by Facebook
“World of Tomorrow”
- vimeo.com/ondemand/worldoftomorrow [not technically an official site for the one project; see bitterfilms.com for the official site for the filmmaker]
- Nominated for Best Animated Short Film
- “Not exactly official” website powered by Vimeo
“Youth”
- foxsearchlight.com/youth
- Nominated for Best Original Song
- Generic studio template housing a custom HTML5 website
For all screenshots, we took an old standard (1024px width by 768px height) and removed the browser chrome to reach a 690px height. We made an animated GIF if video was involved, but not if interactions were required (e.g. closing a lightbox). We truncated some of the loading screens to cut to the chase.
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