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Peter Gorgels
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Name: 24 Hour Cinema Server Design: VPRO Digitaal http://cinema.vpro.nl Hilversum, January 1998 |
Aside from music, one of the most popular topics of conversation is probably film and television. It usually provides enough common ground between people to keep a hearty discussion going for hours. This communal interest provides the basis for this online database service created by the experimental department of VPRO, one of the Netherlands' main independent broadcasting organisations. Analogous to FireFly's experiments with music databases, VPRO has developed a searchable film database/archive that is connected to an individual rating system. Logging on to the VPRO's 24-hour Cinema Service, users are provided with a set of tools: namely, filters that allow them to customise and personalise their interaction with the database. Searching the Cinema Service database is facilitated by a clear interface, consisting of a number of filters. The user can select films based on filters such as 'actor', 'director', 'title', 'genre', 'year' and 'country', or any combination thereof; each selection can then be saved and stored. Yet this alone wouldn't distinguish the experience from any other database. What does make the Cinema Service special is the added value of filters such as 'voted', 'advice' and 'TV'. Each user can give ratings to films in the database, ranging from one to six stars. These films are then stored in the user's personalised filter, labelled as 'voted'. Cross-matching the user's personal ratings with the collective ratings of all the users, the Cinema Service can then recommend new films to the user. These are stored in the personal filter called 'advice'. Ultimately, the 'TV' filter will present only those recommended films that will be shown on TV within the next four days. Apart from a film database, the Cinema Service also serves as an interactive TV guide. It regularly informs the film fan about when a film that matches his or her 'taste' will be shown on TV. When film fans combine the 'TV' filter with their selections, the Cinema Service will inform them by e-mail when a film that might interest them will be featured on TV. One of the World Wide Web's most important design principles is 'proximity'. By means of hyperlinks, information that is physically distant, yet conceptually related, can be connected. Good navigation will take you on a tour along information that has a meaningful relationship. This is one of the Web's greatest strengths. In the VPRO 's Cinema Service, proximity plays an important role in a variety of ways. Obviously it is an important navigation feature, but this also applies to the inner workings of the database itself. Films with similar ratings will be connected, thereby creating a web of 'taste patterns' that can be of use to the film fan. Furthermore, there is also the proximity of time and space. Twice a week, information is sent out via e-mail. Much like a roadside billboard that informs those who pass it every day, the Cinema Service's e-mail keeps modern film fans informed as they rush along the digital highways. Since the Cinema Service is a database-driven site, most pages are generated by pre-designed templates, illustrated by randomly assigned images. The general feel of these templates resembles film reels as well as the film timetables commonly found in Dutch cinemas. This screen design in the Cinema Service, dominated by a series of five-pointed stars, elegantly supports both content and functionality. In rating the films, one of the site's main features, appreciation, is expressed by these starry icons. The fact that they play such a prominent role in the overall style is no surprise once you realise that this is actually what the site is all about: rating films, starring in films, movie stars, etc. Even the VPRO's own film magazine is called Stardust. But the nicest thing about VPRO's Cinema Service is that in the end, everybody is a star: not just for 15 minutes, but for the full 24 hours. This review is an excerpt from the book Website Graphics Now, an international source book on the best in Global site design. Website Graphics Now was edited by Mediamatic and published in July 1999 by BIS Publishers in co-operation with Thames and Hudson. For more information on Website Graphics Now read the introduction, or see the complete selection.
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