My Custom WordPress Site For Universal Pictures' The Five-Year Engagement
It's my pleasure to announce a recent custom WordPress site I built for Universal Pictures under contract with the award-winning interactive agency Jetset Studios. It's Tom and Violet.com, a faux wedding / engagement blog written in the voice of Tom Solomon, the lead character in "The Five-Year Engagement." I developed the site in WordPress from design mock-ups designed by Jetset Studios.
The site takes us from the moment Tom Solomon, played by "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"
and "How I Met Your Mother"
fame, proposes to Violet Barnes ( "Charlie Wilson's War"
and "The Devil Wears Prada"
) right up to the opening day of "The Five-Year Engagement" on April 27, 2012.
Each week will see a few new blog posts, including video blogs from Tom / Jason. For added verisimilitude, each post includes comments from the rest of the characters in the film, and visitors are invited to play along and leave their own comments on the Guest Book.
Using WordPress As A Platform For Transmedia Storytelling
Taken as a whole, as the experience of Tom and Violet.com roles out over the coming months, it will act as both a prequel of sorts and as a parallel story to the film.
"If there were such a thing a method-acting-via-technology, "The Five-Year Engagement" would really take the cake!" — Huffington Post
Tom and Violet.com is testament to how existing tools — coupled with some creative problem solving, highly creative writers and artists, and a willing client — can be used to create compelling branded storytelling. I'm proud of this one!
I enjoyed the challenge of creating a custom WordPress site designed not to be a blog in the traditional sense… but to present pre-conceived blog-like content. While the site uses pre-existing plugins and a commercial theme framework, I had to employ a great deal of customization and craft a unique child theme.
What can I do for you?
Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people. Seeing this somewhere other than mattselznick.com? Please click through to comment directly on the post!
