A gold standard for entertainment websites
foxmovies.com
20th Century Fox came to us with the mission of bringing their theatrical website into the modern era. A primary goal was to create a central hub that aggregated all of their social media marketing in one place. This was a concept that wasn’t really being explored at the time in the entertainment website space. We pioneered a format that worked so well we ended up getting hired by a number of other studios to replicate it. The craziest part of the project was that 20th Century Fox didn’t have a brand guideline for theatrical. So, our efforts inadvertently established the fonts and colors still in use by Disney today!
A secondary function of the website was to replace all of the one-off websites that Fox was building for its film releases. This move would dramatically simplify their process for the digital marketing of their films. I set up a template that expanded dynamically depending on how many creative assets were available at the time. The components in these themed pages would beautifully expand and adapt depending on the release of new film posters, trailers, or interactive experiences. During my time in entertainment, I must have designed 50 or so unique film pages for 20th Century Fox.
problem statement
Design a website that showcases an elegant feed encompassing all the social media accounts affiliated with Fox Theatrical, with the added functionality of serving as a central hub to replace individual film websites.
research insights
Exploring new territory
During that time, the majority of entertainment studio websites consisted of single-page, inelegant flash-based video galleries that weren’t compatible with mobile devices. This presented a wide-open opportunity for innovation and change, and we enthusiastically embraced it by creating a feed-based experience reminiscent of Facebook. At the top, we featured striking hero images for upcoming films and ticketing, while below the fold, we implemented lazy loading and aggregated feeds that incorporated content from various social media accounts affiliated with Fox.
Executing on our plan
The QA process for Foxmovies.com spanned a period of two months, primarily due to the rigorous responsive testing required. Given the diverse range of content display modules incorporated, it was imperative to ensure that this high-caliber public website delivered a flawless user experience across all conceivable screen sizes.
Custom film pages
A distinguishing feature of foxmovies.com was the incorporation of custom film pages complete with branded buttons, fonts, background images, and interactive segments. The complexity of these pages lay in their ability to dynamically expand and encompass new content as films progressed through their release lifecycle. Substantial efforts were invested in devising a responsive module system that would augment the sections depending on the number of film posters, trailers, featured activities, or ticketing modules. Throughout my time at pxl bros, I was responsible for designing a total of 42 such pages for everything from the latest superhero movie to popular rom-coms.
Getting a foot in the door
The consolidation of Fox Movies’ latest titles on a single website proved instrumental in achieving strategic marketing objectives such as cost savings, search engine optimization, and streamlined content management. Nonetheless, the most notable outcome was the transformation of our small five-member team into an esteemed creative agency within the entertainment industry. This, in turn, attracted a significant influx of entertainment clients, prompting us to significantly expand our creative team to accommodate the heightened demand.
The inclusion of social updates modules played a pivotal role in securing major clients such as Universal, FXX, Fathom Events, Open Road Films, New Regency, and Cornerstone. In fact, the success of these modules led us to develop a standalone product named ‘Ensocialize,’ which garnered substantial popularity. This product empowered clients to create dynamic, moderated social walls for projection during live events.
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