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This topic comprises 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
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Author
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Topic: Theatre Websites
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 04-06-2004 10:10 PM
Our showtimes are on the front page, but we're in a real small town, so there is a lot of local interest in our history. To that end, we have quite a few pictures of the theatre in the "old days" and a ton of pictures of people who have worked here.
I also have a collection of show calendars from the 30s to the 80s that I put on the site. I'm also a numbers nut, so I have plenty of "facts and figures" and a Q&A section, plus a booth tour, pictures of old tickets, newspaper articles about the theatre, and so on and so on.
But for anyone who doesn't want or need all that (which, admittedly is most people), the showtimes are right up front with an easy link to "more information" -- synopsis, rating reasons, exit times and so on.
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Richard C. Wolfe
Master Film Handler
Posts: 250
From: Northampton, PA, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted 04-09-2004 01:32 AM
Mike... From one Roxy to another, allow me to also express my satisfaction with your website redo. An excellent job indeed. I love theatre websites with lots of pictures, and you certainly have them. And of course the important stuff... what's playing and when is easy to find as well. I'm in the process of working on a new homepage for our site as well. A much simpler one. The current attraction is there on a scroller, and all information both for films and live shows is only one click away, but there is still too much stuff on the home page that is of no interest after the first time someone visits.
As to the importance of websites. I think they are becoming more and more important as each month passes. Where else can you advertise so much information for almost free. It only costs me $12.00 a month to maintain my website. I can't buy 1/4 of an inch per day of newspaper advertising for that amount. We get 5 to 10 new subscriptions to our e-mail newsletter each week. The only place anyone finds out about it, or can sign up for it is at the website, so I know people are going there. Just let me make a mistake on the website information, and boy do I hear about it.
Our site is at www.roxytheaternorthampton.com
We have pictures as well. Not as many as Mike, but we're working on it.
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Matthew Stevens
Film Handler
Posts: 37
From: Colorado Springs, Co
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 04-13-2004 02:12 AM
Those are all great websites, but from what I have noticed is that the webmaster has choosen an "off" color scheme, here's a good color scheme chooser (http://www.pixy.cz/apps/barvy/index-en.html); there is a lot of text, and what my web design teacher says is that the font verdana is the easiest to read, also, try a darker background (after a while, light from the screen begins to hurt your eyes).
Also there is a lot of cool tricks (galaxy bakground, java script on your background, flash beginnings) but nothing that looks "appealing" like a tail on your mouse doesn't really look all that professional for a theater website. I also found it hard to find out exactly where I was, I tried to look at the title bar, but I only found the name of your theater, nothing about where I was (try bread crumbs). Out of all the websites I looked at, I thought this was the best. http://www.franklincinema.com/ It was simply, looks professional, and is very easy for your customer to know exactly what they want and maybe more.
I'm not saying I'm the best at web design, I will post my website for everyone to critic, but I'm a web design major at college right now, and I have heard it all. www.kimballstwinpeak.com
To get a little off the subject, I will be quiting my job at the theater in a coulple of months, and I am building a ColdFusion Based website to make it as easiest as possible for a manager or owner to update after I leave. I will also include, time stamps, so they don't have to update on the hour that the new films are playing. I also help with this website http://www.sceneinthesprings.com/movies.cfm
This is in coldfusion and has time stamps. Very cool.
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 04-15-2004 12:06 PM
re: http://www.roxytheatre.net/
The photo on the main page will look better if it is cropped to fit the defined size on the page.
Actual Size: 450x322
Size on Page: 350x290
Otherwise, a very informational and interesting site. The historical photos provide a great sense of the history behind the theater, and the current photos add personality.
Also, congrats on putting the address including city and state on the front page. Many sites assume that you know where they are located, and that just doesn't work in the greater connected world we live in.
On some of the other sites, IMO, frames should be avoided whenever possible. They are very customer unfriendly and should be avoided like the plague. Also, make sure that your pages have proper titles, as those titles are used in search engines and in bookmarks. A title of "Page 1" does someone absolutely no good when they are looking for your site in their bookmark list.
The site I produce is not geared to one particular theater, but rather a place to get showtimes and information for many theaters and movies. Feel free to visit and let me know what you think, constructive criticism is always welcome.
http://www.bigscreen.com
Rather than just treat showtimes like a commodity like so many other sites (Yahoo Movies, Amazon movie showtimes, etc.), I work with theaters to develop better and more in-depth information. That's why you won't find showtimes for every theater in the country. We do list showtimes for every theater in Wisconsin, and we're expanding as theaters contact us and/or we contact them. Use the zip code of 53151 to see how the site operates when you're nearby to theaters that are listed in our guide.
I would be very interested to hear what people here think of the site. To find examples of what theaters have done with us:
http://www.bigscreen.com/Marquee.php?theater=CapitolCinemas
http://www.showtimecinema.com/
I'm working with some theaters now to design a separate site, and providing their showtimes via BigScreen, so they don't have to manually update their site with each week's showtimes.
I agree with the point about Verdana being very readable on the screen. In the 9+ years I've been doing web design, I've tried many different typefaces (at least, since that was possible, anyway), and keep coming back to Verdana as my choice for most projects. It doesn't fit every application, but it's pretty close.
As far as web sites in general go, I tell my customers that the site should reflect the nature of the business and be consistent with their other marketing efforts. The experience they get at the web site should be in keeping with the experience they get when visiting the theater, when seeing an advertisement, and when calling for information. That consistency builds the brand and presents a clear message to customers.
A disjointed web site can make people get the impression that your operation is equally disjointed, so doing a good job with it is just as important as providing a good experience in the theater.
If you're in a popular area, online ticketing can be a god-send for your customers. It's all about convenience, and if they can buy tickets to your theater in advance, and they can't for the theater down the road, that's a competitive advantage for you.
One item that many theaters overlook is listing the available concessions. Everyone expects you to have soda and popcorn, but what kinds of soda do you offer? More importantly, do you offer additional items, such as pizza, hot pretzels, hot dogs, etc? This can be an important fact for people if they're trying to decide if they can eat at the theater before the film, or if they need to plan on hitting a restaurant beforehand.
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