Firelight Films

The Problem

Firelight Films and Firelight Media were already a staple in the film industry.  With popular documentary films at the forefront, their work speaks for itself.  However, the branding and website lacked a bit of the modern quality it needed to provide a consistent beautiful design eclipsed by their work.  It was our job to help them refine the brand, maintain a classic look and feel, but appeal to a modern filmmaker and viewer in today’s age.

Client’s Dilemma

Firelight was amazing at storytelling as documentary filmmakers.  However, the online platforms lacked substance and a solid user-centric experience perfect for filmmakers and viewers alike.

• Firelight Films and Firelight Media were two separate entities that needed to be different, but still relatable.
• While Firelight made amazing documentary films, they weren’t showcased on their websites and online platforms.
• Both websites lacked the infrastructure needed to scale efforts with a powerful CMS
• Users needed to be able to view the latest short films, purchase classics and view the latest filmmakers in their cohort.

The Solution

Our first plan of attack was to study other studios in the space.  We performed a competitive analysis on the top studios and found a few common threads we could leverage on the buildout.  We decided to build two seperate website entities:  Firelight Films - focused on producing documentary films and Firelight Media - cultivates future filmmakers and showcases their work.

• We decided to create two separate entities with similar design attributes.
• Simple user experience on-site with an emphasis on films, past work and filmmaker stories.
• Complete CMS build of intricate details including a Filmmaker repository, documentary film hosting capabilities and interactive video elements
• Built two seperate, but closely related Brand Guidelines for each in regards to color palette, launch strategy and content.

The Result

After a 90 day sprint, Brand Discovery and iterations which included sitemap development and wireframe design based on historical data and analytics history, we built 2 website platforms serving specific audiences (with a tiny bit of overlap).  What resulted was an atronomical lift in time on site and website traffic.

• Users spent 30% more time visiting and browsing the website (videos were hosted, as well).
• The brand guidelines for both brands were distinct and rewarded with prasie from the design community
• It was easy to update ANY CMS items from the editor via Webflow.  Team members could make updates on the fly with 0 code.
• 42% lift in website traffic after the redesign and redirect submissions.

The Showcase

Throughout the project it was a blast collaborating with a production studio that trusted our vision and penchant for user-based decisions.  The Firelight Films team was ecstatic with the work and can easily make updates to the website on a whim without breaking content due to the web building platform, Webflow.