Tag Archive for 'marketing'

Hollywoozy

Published
by
James McNally
on July 23, 2008
in Web Sites
. 2 Comments

Through the wonders of Twitter, I discovered today that domain name expert (and Toronto native) Bill Sweetman has officially launched Hollywoozy, a blog about domain names for Hollywood movies. Bill gives the studios a star rating from one to fivebased on the quality of the domain name they’ve registered for each film. It’s a weird idea that just might be crazy enough to work. Haven’t you ever wondered why your favourite film’s website is so hard to remember, or why they have to add “movie” to everything? Hollywoozy will enlighten you.

But I have to wonder just a little about Bill’s own choice for the blog’s title and domain name. Is it memorable? Sure. But does it give any clue what the blog is about? Not really. I guess it was better than HollywoodMoviesDomainNamesRatings.com.

Kidding aside, I am glad that not only is this an interesting corner of the film marketing world to cover (this will join Chris Thilk’s Movie Marketing Madness blog in my Google Reader feeds), but that Bill can use this potentially entertaining subject to educate people a little about naming domains.

Baz Luhrmann: From Set to Screen

Published
by
James McNally
on April 24, 2008
in Directors and Web Sites
. 2 Comments

This may be old news to some, but I’ve just discovered Apple’s wonderful Set to Screen series of podcasts. As part of their Education website, Apple has teamed up with director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!, William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet) to explore all aspects of creating a feature film.

The film in question is Luhrmann’s Australia, a period piece about an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) who inherits a ranch in rural Australia just before World War II. Hugh Jackman also stars. I’d actually heard little about the film as well (what sort of film blogger can I claim to be?), so it’s a good promotional move for Luhrmann to build interest in the film, which will not be released until November.

The educational aspect involves presenting a creative challenge at the end of each podcast, which students have to complete. Winners are chosen and prizes awarded.

I’ve yet to watch these, but am looking forward to checking them out in more detail.