Web design
Cinematic Website Design
Cinematic website design treats a site like a short film: staged scenes, deliberate pacing, and interaction that reveals the product instead of decorating it. I'm Masoud Zarei, an independent creative developer based in Shiraz, Iran, working with clients worldwide, and I handle the creative direction, UX and front-end build myself. It suits brands whose product, space or story needs more than a template can carry.
- Price
- Projects start at $500
- Reply time
- Within 24 hours
- Works with
- Brands worldwide, in English or Persian
What cinematic means on a website
Cinematic, on a website, is a set of decisions rather than an effect. Each screen is framed like a shot. Scroll sets the tempo. Type, imagery and motion share one visual language, so the visitor reads a sequence instead of a stack of sections.
People also search for this as immersive website design or interactive website design, and the work overlaps almost completely. What separates good from busy is restraint. Motion should direct attention and then get out of the way; a page that animates everything has nothing left to emphasise.
It earns its cost when what you sell has an atmosphere: a gallery, a destination, a product with a story. For a plain brochure site, a simpler build is the honest recommendation.
What's included
- Creative direction
- The visual idea, the story the page tells and the order it tells it in, settled before any code.
- UX and page structure
- Wireframes and a page sequence built around what a visitor needs to decide, from the first frame to the enquiry.
- Visual and motion design
- Typography, image treatment and a motion language: what moves, how fast, and what stays still.
- Responsive front-end build
- Hand-built HTML, CSS and JavaScript, with scroll animation where it earns its place. Phones get their own layout, not a shrunken desktop.
- Performance and accessibility
- Reduced-motion fallbacks, visible keyboard focus and sensible loading, so the cinematic layer never blocks the content.
- English and Persian
- Left-to-right and right-to-left layouts designed together, so neither language is an afterthought.
How a project runs
Brief and direction
We talk through the product, the audience and the one feeling the site has to leave behind. I come back with a visual direction and a page outline.
UX and storyboard
The page is laid out as scenes: what appears, in what order, at what pace. Wireframes come before any polish.
Visual design
Type, colour, imagery and the motion language, designed on real content instead of placeholder text.
Build
Responsive front-end, scroll animation and tuning on real devices, from a wide monitor to a phone.
Launch
Final checks across screen sizes, then live. Training and post-launch support are included.
Selected work
Shirazjourney is client work. Hiva Gallery, CASIO 44C and Jameson are self-initiated concepts, shown as such, with no client results attached. Past clients include Dr. Saeedi Clinic and Sepid Food Complex.
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Client workShirazjourneyA destination-led site where imagery, place and pacing carry the story.
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Self-initiated conceptHiva GalleryA calm gallery interface with large media and deliberately paced interaction.
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Self-initiated conceptCASIO 44CA watch launch framed like a short film. Not a Casio commission.
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Self-initiated conceptJamesonA product-led story in an editorial frame. Not commissioned Jameson work.
Questions
How much does a cinematic website cost?
Projects start at $500. Where a project lands above that depends on the number of screens, how much custom motion or 3D the brief needs, and how much content has to be produced alongside the build. Clients outside Iran pay in cryptocurrency only.
How long does a cinematic website take?
A typical project takes from two weeks to 45 days, depending on scope. A single scroll-led page is a different job from a multi-page brand site, and the schedule also moves with how quickly copy and images arrive. I confirm the exact timeline once I've seen the brief.
Can you work with a brand outside Iran?
Yes. I'm based in Shiraz, Iran (UTC+3:30) and work with clients worldwide in English or Persian, over email, Telegram or WhatsApp. I reply within 24 hours. Meetings are scheduled in advance by appointment; there are no fixed overlap hours.
Is cinematic web design the same as immersive or interactive design?
Close enough that I treat them as one discipline. All three mean a site built as a staged experience: scroll-led pacing, strong imagery and motion with a purpose. What differs between projects is how much is custom-built and how heavy the interaction gets.
Does it work on phones and for visitors who turn motion off?
Yes. Phones get their own single-column layout rather than a shrunken desktop, and the motion layer steps back for visitors who set reduced motion in their system, so the content stays readable.
Tell me about the project
A few lines on the brand, the product and the date you have in mind is enough to start. I reply within 24 hours.