Film Promotional Website
Role: Project Manager & Content Strategist/Writer
Company: Aesthetic Technologies, Kolkata • Client: Shyam Benegal & Sahara One Motion Pictures, Mumbai • Duration: July 2004 to December 2004
Introduction
This project was for a feature film named, ‘Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero’ by one of the most celebrated Indian film makers, Shyam Benegal. The film was based on the last five years of one of the greatest leaders of Indian independence movement, Subhas Chandra Bose, who was given the title of ‘Netaji’, meaning 'the leader’. Bose had taken a secretive journey across the international borders, resulting in his mysterious disappearance. The makers of the film wanted to depict Bose through his journey from India to Germany, via Afghanistan and the Soviet Union and then back to Singapore, where he formed the Indian National Army to fight the British for the freedom of India. They wanted to raise an awareness and revive the charisma of a forgotten leader by running an extensive media promotion for the film and get more people to watch the film.
My role was at the client-to-company interface level. I helped in creating a strong information architecture for the project, based on my access to the creative materials and client brief. I created the storyboard and wireframes of the key pages of the website, keeping the business and the client objectives in mind and the Development team referred to the wireframes to create the final website. Additionally, since I was the liaison between the client and the Development team, I was responsible for planning and overlooking the project timelines to ensure the team meets all client deadlines.
Approach
During the same time, circa 2004, the Internet was penetrating fast into all major industries in India including, banking, commerce, telecommunication, media and so on. Every business, either had started or was building an online presence. Therefore, to achieve the film maker’s objective, we decided to use a new medium. We launched an interactive and informative website on the film. At that time, it was a first of its kind in India.
Our project objectives were to:
Spread the message of the film to a larger group of audience
Build people’s interest on the subject
Gauge people’s response on the film before the release
We engaged the audience through interactive games, behind the scene shots, small snippets of information about Bose and so on.
Home Page
The website opened with an introductory animation leading to the Home page.
Note to the Development team: Fill the page background using 1027x768 wallpaper images that fade-in and out every three seconds. Include a background score to play softly in loop. Add a mute button.
Journey Page
Since the basic plot of the film revolved around Bose’s journey, the makers were very passionate about that section of the film. Therefore, we wanted to use the most gripping part of the film to generate interest and awareness. We designed The Journey page as one of the most important section of the website, with a list of all the eventful cities from Bose’s journey, their names, dates and events: Calcutta, Peshawar, Kabul, Berlin, Singapore, Tokyo and Rangoon.
Note to the Development team: Each card background should be a still from the film depicting an important event in that city. Each card will have name of the city and a description of the important events that had taken place in that city.
Find the Route Game
This was a highly engaging minesweeper style game. The users learnt more about the route by guessing the right sequence of the dots on the map. Upon a correct guess, we rewarded the user with more information of that particular leg of the journey. The user had three lives throughout the game before they could start over.
Note to the Development team: As the user selects a dot on the map (on the left) in the correct sequence, that stage is revealed on the timeline (on the right). After three wrong attempts, the dotted line to the next dot is revealed on the map and the next stage is revealed on the timeline.
Complete the Portrait Quiz
This was a basic objective-type quiz, connected to a visual reward. We presented a random set of ten questions related to Subhas Chandra Bose’s life. Each correct answer completed a bit of Bose’s poster, which the user could download and print.
Note to the Development team: As the user provides a correct answer, a bit of the poster is revealed. After two wrong attempts for each question, the correct answer is revealed and a bit of the poster is revealed on its own. After the entire poster is revealed, provide download, print and skip options. On skipping, the user is taken to the next question.
Challenge
Defining the scope and managing the project to deliver a solution to the client’s satisfaction
The biggest challenge in this project was to define the scope and manage the project timelines and deliverables and client expectations accordingly. The initial client brief was: to raise an awareness by running an extensive media promotion for the film. Thus:
We had a deadline to meet because the promotions had to start a couple of months before the set movie release date.
We had to decide on how to achieve the objective, which meant deciding on the actual deliverables, defining the project scope and setting the appropriate client expectations.
From a project management perspective, it was difficult, not only to define the scope, but also to stick to it. Since we had started with a blank slate, setting the client expectation at the outset was critical. However, we did not want to compromise on either the quality of the deliverables or our reputation of putting our clients and their expectations first.
The key was to collaborate and communicate. We kept the client informed and involved at every step of the process:
After multiple rounds of discussions and brainstorming sessions with the client team, we decided on an interactive website.
Deciding on the deliverable was just the tip of the iceberg, the bigger challenge was to manage the client’s expectations along the way in order to deliver on time and remain within budget. So we implemented the phase-gate process to manage the project. Getting client sign-offs at critical stages of design and development ensured we are on the same page with the client throughout process. It reduced unnecessary iterations and helped us deliver on time.
Last but not the least, our contingency plan was essential to the success of this project. We had incorporated enough buffer time when scheduling critical deliverables and assessed and planned for the risks involved, so we did not have to compromise either on quality or on our client expectations.
Impact
The film was very well received by audiences across the country.
It made 240 million (INR) in the box office and a profit of 30 million (INR)
Recognition
The film had received two awards at the prestigious Indian National Film Awards, 2005. The Indian National Film awards are presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, a body set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.
