NEWSLETTER #3
September/October 1995
edited by Col Needham
Welcome to issue 3 of the IMDB newsletter. The newsletter is intended to
keep database users and contributors informed of the latest developments
from the management team. Comments and suggestions are welcome and should
be directed to me at the address above.
Sorry for the delay in producing this issue. Just keeping the database
up to date continues to consumer more and more of our spare time.
See the further information section at the end of this file for more
information about The Internet Movie Database (IMDB).
Contents
This is a regular section giving information about the current size and
growth of the IMDB. We receive between 15,000 and 30,000 additions
every week from users all over the world.
Number of filmography entries: 755,844
Number of people covered: 243,615
Number of movies covered: 54,748
Size of the database (Mb): 62
Recent milestones:
- technical section boosted to over 40,000 entries
- actresses section passed 150,000 entries
- over 11,000 movies now have known complete cast listings
- 4,566 laser discs covered
by Michel Hafner
Effective immediately there is a new title policy in the database.
There are changes in two areas: primary title selection and
capitalization.
Primary title selection: From now on the primary title of a movie is
its original title in its country of origin. Other titles used before
(eg the English title) become alternative titles. The majority of
titles have already been swapped, however, if you notice any that still
need to be done, they can be mailed in with the keyword AKA. I will
catch the conflict and resolve it.
Capitalization: From now on we distinguish three types of
capitalization for movie titles:
- All capital letters at the start of words, with a few exceptions:
English
- All lower-case letters at the start of words, except first word
and article at the end, plus some exceptions (names etc.): French,
Italian, Spanish, Scandinavian languages
- Mixed: German
If you have information about other languages (e.g. what type of
capitalization is the norm in the context of movie titles in reference
data bases, let me know. New movies are
capitalized like that starting now. The titles already in the data base
will be adapted if necessary in the following months
All contributors are herewith invited to take note of the new rules and
mail in their data accordingly. Thank you!
by Peter W. Simeon
The long awaited laserdisc list is now ready for distribution. All
access methods to the database are currently being updated, so it may
take a few weeks, before you can access the laserdisc.list in the same
way as you access the other lists. If you are interested in having the
list now, you can just download it from the ftp sites and browse it
with your favourite text editor.
The mail-server can accept submissions made with the keyword interface.
A new LaserDisc template interface, which only deals with LaserDiscs,
is under construction and will be available in the future.
If you have an Amiga, you can download the original database file for
Datamat. (Datamat was sold in USA by Abacus under the name Data
Retrieve). The file is called LaserDiscs.lha in the /amiga directory.
The LaserDisc list is basically a stand alone database, which is
included into the movie database. It contains information about all
kinds of LaserDiscs (e.g. Movies, Music Videos, Documentaries, TV
Specials etc.). For each LaserDisc there are 33 attributes, which cover
every possible detail about a title. Links from and two movies will be
provied by the different access software packages.
The long term goal is to have a list with every LaserDisc which was
ever released. We want to include also all information about out of
print titles. Of course, this list will never be complete, but we can
try to collect as much data as possible. If every LaserDisc user sends
in the titles he/she owns, we will have many titles covered in a short
time. To save time while submitting data, please check if the titles
you own are already in the list and only submit new titles. You are
however encouraged to send comments about the quality and corrections
of existing titles. As soon as the LaserDisc template interface is
online, you can send a list of titles to the mail server and get back
all existing information about the LaserDiscs in your collection. Until
today I have collected data of 4566 titles.
IMPORTANT NOTE on international characters: Starting with this list we
support international characters with the ISO Latin 1 character set. If
you do not want or are not capable of using ISO Latin 1 characters, you
can process the laserdisc.list with the tool "stripiso", which can be
downloaded from any movie database site. This tools will replace all
ISO characters in this file with ASCII characters. Many Unix platforms,
MS Windows and the Amiga support ISO Latin 1 fully by default.
by Giancarlo Cairella
The "Alternate Versions" list includes information about director's
cuts, special editions, restored versions, censorship changes and
deletions, unauthorized/unofficial cuts, television versions.
Contracts under the terms of the Hollywood Director's Guild allow about
six weeks for a director to assemble a cut without studio interference.
This is fully edited and has a synchronized sound track; however, it is
usually not color-corrected nor density-corrected and may not have the
final music and effects track. In more recent times, due to an
expanding video aftermarket, the term director's cut has acquired a
popular meaning that implies a finished final print, officially
prepared by the director or with his consent, and usually including
scenes not included in the original theatrical release. Many director's
cuts/special editions are re-released in theathers or on video.
Examples: Blade Runner, Aliens, Close Encounters of the Third
Kind. Classic movies are sometimes re-released (usually many years
after their original premiere) with never before seen or long-lost
restored scenes. Examples: Spartacus, Lawrence of Arabia, The Wild
Bunch.
Censorship laws often impose changes or deletions before a film can be
given a certificate and released. In the U.S.A movies are often cut
after being submitted to the MPAA in order to avoid a X or NC-17
rating; sometimes the deleted scenes are restored for the video or
laserdisc release, or are left intact in the European release. Other
countries have different censorship standards: U.K. releases routinely
cut any scene that suggests violence or mishandling of animals (ex. the
mouse sequence in The Abyss).
Sometimes a movie is cut or otherwise modified from the original
version without the consent or the knowledge of the filmmakers. A
frequent occurrence is when a foreign distributor decides to remove
scenes to reduce the film's running time in order to get more showings
per day or to make it more appealing to the local audience, often by
including a different music score.
Finally films, especially R-rated ones, are routinely cut or altered
before they can be shown on network television or airline planes to
delete objectionable language and frames or to fit a two-hour time
slot. These changes are routine, don't necessarily represent alternate
versions and will not be considered for inclusion in the list, unless
very extensive. However, TV versions which add new footage (ex.
1941), significantly re-edit or change existing material or
substitute new scenes (ex. Basic Instinct) in place of deleted
sequences will be listed.
by Mark Harding
Earlier this year Paul Egge from the MPAA contacted us and offerred
to supply up-to-date information from CARA, the ratings body for
the US. We accepted his offer :-)
Each week CARA meet to discuss the latest film releases and rate
them for US audiences. The ratings, along with a brief reason for
the rating are packaged and sent to us for processing.
We currently carry information on all movies released in the US
from the start of 1995 and are hoping to expand our coverage
farther back at a later date.
Check out the MPAA's own web site.
by Col Needham
Rob has been busy with a complete rewrite of the web interface recently
so the only major enhancement to report in this issue is the addition
of a new/upcoming releases page. The page is automatically generated
from the release dates section of the database is broken out on a
country by country basis, providing a convenient place to locate
information on the latest movies in your local theatres. It's available
as an option on the main search, or directly.
The web interface will be relaunched with many improvements and new
features in the near future.
by Murray Chapman
Suggested by Mark Brader, the Goofs list will now support an additional
category for explaining scenes which are generally (and incorrectly)
assumed to contain goofs.
Some of the fiercest debate over movie goofs centres on these kinds of
situations: the "ghost" in 3 Men and a Baby (1987), the color of
Thornhill's suit in North by Northwest (1959), and the authority of
Charles De Gaulle in Casablanca (1942) are all generally considered
to be goofs, but careful consideration and/or investigation proves
otherwise!
In an attempt to dispell these misconceptions, the goofs list will now
support a category specifically for these situations. Labeled with the
tag "FAIR", explanations will be offered as to why the filmmaker's use
of these facts/situation is allowable and not to be considered an
error.
Contributions guides are available by
mailing a subject HELP ADD FULL to the mailserver.
by Bernd Backhaus
The Internet Movie Database files are now available for request or
download in the following mailboxes in Germany. We're trying to keep
them in sync but remember that both Fido and Mausnet are hobby networks
which are not designed to transport huge amounts of data on a regular
basis. Therefore, the main list files will only be updated every couple
of weeks, while the diffs will be uploaded as soon as I get them, which
usually means a delay of 1-2 days from the Friday FTP release. Also to
conform to the naming conventions of the FAT file system, I had to
rename the files. Please retrieve the file list of the respective
mailbox for further information. As a general rule for the diffs, a
diff file like diffs-yymmdd.tar.gz transforms to dyymmdd.tgz where the
first d represents diffs followed by the date.
One problem currently unsolved is a way to patch the diffs into the
lists under MS-DOS. Every port of patch I tried failes on some of the
lists, so if anybody knows of a working port that doesn't choke, please
email me.
The files are open to download for everyone, but please respect the
time limitations as mentioned below.
Kittis Box, located in Bochum (this is a Fido style mailbox so you need
either a terminal to connect or a Fido mailer to request):
RequestTime : 8.30-0.55Uhr
Limits : max. 60 minutes / 2400bps or above
Line I : Telelink IMS08 V32Terbo ( up to 19200bps )
2:2448/53 0234/682887
Line II (MO): ZyXEL E+ ZYX 19.2k ( up to 19200bps )
2:2448/5000 0234/64963 13:490/2
Magics : FILES - file list
Line 1 is currently tested with a V34 modem which will replace the
Telelink soon.
Maus Osnabrueck (Germany), member of MausNet:
Number: 0541/597571, Modem: 1200 - 19200 Baud (V.32bis, V.42bis, TurboPEP)
Number: 0541/959941, Modem: ISDN (X.75)
available to all levels starting with guest, except 19:00 to 22:00 local time
Gruppenprogrammteil: MovieDataBase
by Colin Tinto
As ever, the summary list continues to grow, cruising past the 8000
mark, not even stopping for coffee and donuts.
But we still need your help... So, my choice of the plotless movies
this time are:
Babylon 5 (1993) (TV)
Belle Epoque (1992)
Better Tomorrow, A (1986)
Boys on the Side (1995)
Cape Fear (1962)
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
Death of a Salesman (1985) (TV)
Declin de l'Empire Americain, Le (1986)
Hunchback of Notre Dame, The (1939)
Joy Luck Club, The (1993)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Mortal Kombat (1995)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Orlando (1993)
Retour de Martin Guerre, Le (1982)
Running on Empty (1988)
Shirley Valentine (1989)
Thin Blue Line, The (1988)
Toto le Heros (1991)
Truly Madly Deeply (1991)
by Murray Chapman
The IMDB WWW interface has long supported links to other WWW sites that
contain information about specific movies or movie-industry people. A
recent search of the WWW has uncovered a large number of sites which
the IMDB does not provide links to. There are 131 new "person" links,
and 404 new "title" links that will be appearing soon on the IMDB WWW
interfaces.
This is a regular section listing some of the enhancements we're
currently looking at. Please bear in mind that some of these may take
quite a while to come to fruition or even fail to materialise because
the original volunteer decides not to proceed.
- a new business information section for the database to store
distributors and rights holders contact details, box office
grosses and other information concerned with the business side
of the industry.
- a locally installable MS-Windows interface to the database is
under final testing for those of you who want to reduce your
phonebills!
- new "professional" looking icons under construction for the WWW
interface.
- enhanced awards section for the database covering more
international festivals, national film institutes etc.
- general support for alternative titles in languages other than
English and the language of the original country.
- a movie recommendation service which will use your vote records to
suggest other movies you might enjoy. Intially available via an
e-mail interface. Time to check you're up-to-date with your voting!
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