Hang on… News Posted by Seb Patrick on 13th September 2005, 18:38 …haven’t you got something in your eye em dee bee?
Come on. Two of us are doing courses that involve film and/or TV, one of us works in a cinema, one of us is trying to find work on movie magazines, and we’re all just generally obsessed with either films, TV or both. Therefore, it’s an absolute dream come true to have our own entries on IMDb. Especially for those of us who’ve always held vague aspirations towards acting, too. Given that the film fits perfectly the criteria for appearing on the site (i.e. that it’s actually being released), what’s wrong with submitting it? I don’t see it as a featurette – I see it as our short film, which happens to have become part of a featurette…
You’re also going to reach a much bigger audience than many of the small films listed on IMDB. I say, why not? Remains to be seen if it’s any good though…;-)
Remains to be seen if it’s any good though…;-) I’m fully prepared for a massive slagging off on some comedy forums and possibly even mag reviewers (if they can be bothered to even mention the fan films).
> A Life in Lame has one… Anyone know who submitted that? And why they bothered with that instead of the doccos…? :-) The IMDB listing is slightly misleading, of course, because Yeah No Yeah No isn’t an independent feature on the DVD. It’s part of a 20 minute piece – Red Dwarf Fan Films, which includes the other winner (how about an IMDb entry for his flick?), the intro and montage. Nevertheless, far be it from me to detract from what remains a great achievement. Good film, chaps and chapesses. P.S. Saw the first DVD emulation today, which meant CLICKING A LINK AND WATCHING TM:YNYN AS IF ON A DVD…
(how about an IMDb entry for his flick?) This is a very good idea – in fact, it’s a shame we’ve not heard anything from James Hickey since he won the competition. As for the Life in Lam? submission, I don’t think anyone here knows anything about that. Like you say, it’s strange how someone chose that feature over any of the others… At least it means the Dwarf DVDs have some representative on IMDb, anyway. The IMDB listing is slightly misleading, of course, because Yeah No Yeah No isn’t an independent feature on the DVD. It’s part of a 20 minute piece – Red Dwarf Fan Films, which includes the other winner (how about an IMDb entry for his flick?), the intro and montage. Yeah, I reckon a note to this effect would be something worth adding in the entry.
Me and Flib both attempted to submit it. I think the entry that’s up now is a composite of both our submissions. The cast and crew lists take longer to create, though. Andrew : It’s true that the film (as classified by BBFC, and as accessed, etc. etc.) is part of an overall larger feature (I reckon 20 minutes is too long to call it a featurette); but the way I look at the IMDb listing is that it refers to the film itself, as produced by us. Perhaps I’m breaking the competition’s copyright laws by thinking this (!), but my attitude is that it’s a film in its own right that *went on* to be included on the DVD (admittedly, though, if it weren’t on the DVD we probably couldn’t have got it listed because there’d have been no release date). Of course, it was made for the competition, and wouldn’t have been made without the competition (eternal gratitude, etc. etc.); but I think once we’d finished making it we were all of a mind that we would have been just as proud of the finished product irrespective of whether or not it had won. On the other hand, if putting a note in the entry would be considered the polite thing to do, I’d be more than happy to do so. Did you know that by listing Red Dwarf (and other things) in the “references” section, we automatically get a listing in THAT title’s “referenced by” section? If you’ve never seen Dwarf’s “referenced by” bit, go and have a look – it’s fascinating reading (did you know The Truman Show supposedly references it? Die Another Day?) Actually, though, this gives me a thought, a question about the feature – will the two movies be selectable independently of one-another from a submenu? Or will you have to watch one to then see the other? If so, what kind of process did you use to decide the running order? ;-)
Seb – just to be clear, I don’t post here under any official capacity, so my thoughts on IMDb listings, etc., are my own, not GNPs. There’s no question of copyright infringement or any such thing. This is all just me. And my personal opinion is that it’s a bit like Daniel Kleinman putting in separate listings for his 007 title sequences – short films with their own crews comissioned for a larger feature. But I’ll concede it’s not an exact parallel, and for the effort and tanacity (if not the self-aggrandisement), I say more power to your elbow! I also think that it makes the franchise look silly on an oft-visited database – listing some DVD features, as and when fans find it amusing to do so, but not all. Do the lot, or do none. *shrugs* I’ve never added my own IMDb stuff because I felt uncomfortable doing it. If you don’t, well, I guess putting your own info on there has its rewards, too (right Cappsy? ;-)). It certainly seems unfair to James Hickey that he’s being ‘left out’ for no better reason than him not being…well, a self-publicist. If the entry was for people’s information – as the IMDb should be – it’s reasonable to think that there’s other Dwarf (and other) DVD information that’s equally worthy, and that this entry should really be properly qualified and explained in the interests of accuracy. But if, on the other hand, it was just put up there for ego…to me that feels like an abuse of the system. > Actually, though, this gives me a thought, a question about the feature – will the two movies be selectable independently of one-another from a submenu? Or will you have to watch one to then see the other? If so, what kind of process did you use to decide the running order? ;-) Heh. Well, as you know it’s a 20 minute, single-feature piece. Montage, DN intro, film 1, film 2. As it happens, your film is first. Doug picked the order, I think. But no, they’re not viewable individually from a sub-menu. However, just today I added chapter stops at the start of each film so they can be easily skipped to.
But if, on the other hand, it was just put up there for ego…to me that feels like an abuse of the system. The idea of IMDb came up during the filming weekend and we all agreed that it will be cool to have our own IMDb listings. That could be construed as egotistical reasons, but… well, I see it as harmless publicising, really. I fully agree that we should have a detailed explanation about the situations regarding the film on there, and once we know more about the other winner, there’s no reason why we couldn’t add his film, too. But adding someone else’s films seems a bit presumptuous, to me. For all we know, James may think it’s a rubbish idea and not want to be party to it…
If I knew enough about the other film, I’d submit it. But if you saw the stupid amount of information submitted for ours, no-one but one of us could have done it. And yes, the documentaries should be listed. As should the Howard Goodall thing, the Loredo thing, the Red Dwarf USA thing – it’s all worthy of being added.
There’s no question of copyright infringement or any such thing. This is all just me. Oh, I know. To be honest, the remark I made about copyright (which by the exclamation mark was meant more in jest than anything) had to do with the comment I made about seeing the film as “our” film, that GNP were putting on a DVD, when in fact the competition rules stated clearly that winning entrants would become copyright GNP, and thus basically no longer our property. Not that this is something I object to – we wouldn’t really have a right to do so given that there’s probably as much Rob/Doug material in there as there is stuff written by us lot. And my personal opinion is that it’s a bit like Daniel Kleinman putting in separate listings for his 007 title sequences – short films with their own crews comissioned for a larger feature. That’s not a bad comparison at all, actually. But like I say, the submission was put in with the emphasis less on the film as a DVD feature, and more as a film that we made that is *also* a DVD feature. Almost as if we’d just made it for ourselves, for the hell of it, if you see what I mean. This is what I meant by the earlier copyright remark – such an attitude, I understand, can be seen as a bit cheeky. It certainly seems unfair to James Hickey that he’s being ‘left out’ for no better reason than him not being…well, a self-publicist. The intention of the listing certainly was never to be smug and leave James’ film out. As you say, it’s got as much right to be there as any; and as Cappsy and Flibble say, we personally wouldn’t put the entry up simply because it’s not our place to do so, and we don’t know so much about the film. Again, I feel I should stress that we got the film listed as an entity in itself, not in the context of being a DVD extra. Even before this conversation started, I had wondered about James’ film; I even did a search for it. Personally, I’d love to see it listed. If the entry was for people’s information – as the IMDb should be – it’s reasonable to think that there’s other Dwarf (and other) DVD information that’s equally worthy, and that this entry should really be properly qualified and explained in the interests of accuracy. No disagreement here. But if you look at the various bits of information that IMDb submissions require, most of us simply don’t know enough about the features to list them; I’d guess also that most people don’t really feel it’s their place to do so. But if, on the other hand, it was just put up there for ego…to me that feels like an abuse of the system. I can’t deny there’s an element of “Ooh, look, we’re on IMDb” ego about it. Remember, we’re none of us professionals, so seeing the title of the film in such an official capacity really is an exciting thing. But personally, part of the reason for wanting a listing is to do with self-promotion. Ian, for example, is hoping for a career in filmmaking. It’s a pretty big CV point to be able to point to a film that he co-wrote and directed before the age of 20, listed as an official release on IMDb. Similarly, when applying for jobs at the moment I’m keen to stress my creativity and my writing experience – my name on IMDb as a writer adds a bit of legitimacy to something I’ve done (not to mention the fact that I still like to keep my hand in at acting, so being an IMDb-listed actor doesn’t harm my going for roles, either). And to be perfectly frank, I don’t see shameless self-promotion as an abuse of IMDb’s system. You can’t spend more than a few minutes on the site without being bombarded by testimonials about how up-and-coming actors used the site to help get their face and name recognised, helping them to get work. As well as being an extremely comprehensive database of info, it’s one of the other reasons the site exists; it’s one of the things you pay large subscription fees to help you achieve, in fact.
Plus I get to go into work and say “Oh, I’m on IMDb as well now, isn’t that nice”, and everyone else says “Really?!” Not that that’s why it was added, I hasten to add – IMDb should, in my opinion, be a listing of everything on Film, TV and Video ever created, and if that includes a small film I worked on, then so be it.
> did you know The Truman Show supposedly references it? That’s ‘cos Lister and Truman both want to go to Fiji.
> Not that that’s why it was added, I hasten to add – IMDb should, in my opinion, be a listing of everything on Film, TV and Video ever created, and if that includes a small film I worked on, then so be it. Which I’d believe if you were doing your level best to add anything you knew about that wasn’t currently listed… (And I know you don’t have every detail for a lot of those things, but title, cast, crew, duration, aspect ratio and shooting location – that info is available for all the Dwarf DVD stuff.)
OK, I’ll add the documentaries soon. However, for recent stuff, I do feel it should really be the producers doing it :)
