• by Larissa Faw , January 15, 2015

Today, the Academy Awards announced that Birdman was nominated for nine Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Michael Keaton. The film received a promotional boost from independent digital agency TVGla, which along with the film’s producer Fox Searchlight created an interactive “For Your Consideration” campaign designed to raise awareness of the film to Oscar voters.

The shop built a Web site that brings viewers to a place that looks like one long shot inside the confines of the St. James Theatre where much of the film’s action takes place.

The Web site takes the viewer literally "backstage" into the theatre, through an interactive map of the interior space. As the viewer navigates from room to room, the effect is designed to replicate where much of the action of the movie takes place. The link to the site is here.

The site was created to specifically highlight the various nomination categories that Birdman — and its cast and crew — might be best considered for. Pop into the kitchen and a “Best Film Editing” banner pops back at you. Travel past the wardrobe area and you get accosted by a Best Director pop-up. Barge into “Riggan’s Dressing Room” and you get Best Actor messaging in your face.

As viewers walk down the interactive hallway of the site, additional information about the movie is revealed and various elements from it are showcased, including the full script, which is located inside the "Best Screenplay" icon. Full Birdman suits and masks are displayed, as are film trailers. The agency also included a superhero poster that was promoted on the movie's Facebook page. 

Although the concept was originally designed to raise awareness of the film to Oscar voters, the site is also designed for fans of the film that are now able to discover details about cast, characters, story lines, and costumes that they may not have known before. The experience is enhanced (or not depending on your point of view) by a ceaseless percussion beat that might have accompanied a beat generation poetry reading in a West Village cafe circa 1960.