While some forms of media - like
newspapers and magazines - continue to
actively resist the move towards World Wide
Web interactivity, the Film and Television
industry appears to have adopted the
Internet as a soul mate.
Over the course of the last twelve
months, production companies, network
television stations, movie reviewers, and even
program guides have begun to proliferate
across the Internet. In addition, with the
increased level of multimedia support now
being offered by programs such as Netscape,
this trend is likely to increase. Already,
many sites are providing access to movie
trailers and audio clips, and it is highly
likely that in the future you will be able to
watch your favorite movies and television
programs via the Internet.
But enough of the stargazing. For the
time being, lets examine what is available
now. To give you a fix on the coolest
entertainment sites around, this edition of
Cool Pick Hotel takes a look a some of the
best Film and Television sites currently
available.
SITE OF THE WEEK
If you want to find out anything about
the world of Television, be it the e-mail
addresses of network executives, what's
happening on Melrose, or the latest gossip on
your favorite star, then TV Net is the place
to start.
TVNet is a one stop link to every known
Television related World Wide Web site,
Newsgroup, IRC channel and FAQ. It
contains links to all of the major Network TV
sites and the thousands of WWW pages
devoted to television programs. To help you
navigate your way around these sites the
developers of TVNet have created an
interactive directory system which is
organized by program category.
This site is also well know for its
coverage of International television sites and
directories. Not content with catering to just
the US market, TVNet also contains an
extensive list of links to many international
television networks. Depending on the site,
this information may contain information
about, programs, WWW pages, contact
information and in many cases a list of E-
mail address.
Another unique feature of TV Net is the
services provided to people working in the
Television industry. These include: an
industry mailing list, equipment trading
posts and links to employment brokers and
an international directory of television
professionals.
TOP 5
One of the unique features that sets the
Internet apart from many other electronic
endeavors, is the amount of time and effort
people are willing to put into making it a
success. What is even more amazing is the
fact that for the most part, many of these
people do so freely, never expecting any form
of remuneration for their efforts. (except
maybe the praise and adulation of their
peers.)
To find an excellent example of this type
of devotion, you cannot go far past the
Internet Movie Database. Known formerly
(and incorrectly) as the Cardiff Movie
Database, the Internet Movie Database is
the most extensive repository of movie
information available on the Internet.
The World Wide Web site which hosts
this service is based around an interactive
database that contains: movie titles,
synopsis, reviews and cast/crew credit lists.
By selecting from the search options
provided you can locate detailed information
about thousands of movies, both old and
new, and examine bibliographies of Actors,
Directors, Producers, Cinematographers and
a variety of other production staff.
Some people argue that you can obtain
this sort of information from Movie books
and CD-ROMs, but in both of these cases,
unless you purchased the book or CD-ROM
yesterday, it is already out of date. The
Internet Movie Database on the other hand
is continually being updated. In addition, the
extensive cross listing of entries which link
actors to movies, producers to actors,
directors to producers . . . you get the idea,
make the World Wide Web the ideal
platform for such a service.
CineMedia is to the film world, what TV
Net is to Television. Maintained by the
Digital Media Research Unit and the School
of Film and Media at Griffith University, in
my home town of Brisbane, Australia,
CineMedia currently contains over 2,900
links to media related WWW Sites.
For film buffs there is an extensive
directory of WWW pages published both by
production companies and private
individuals, which feature a wide variety of
information about the movies and their
stars. Many of the sites listed in this
directory also contain video clips, sound bites
and still images from the movies they deal
with, and in some cases you will also find
trailers for unreleased movies.
Apart from the movie directory,
CineMedia also contains directories that deal
with subjects such as production techniques,
new media, television sites, lists of film and
televisions schools or colleges, plus a variety
of study and educational resources.
Being an International site, for users
outside of Australia there is a mirror of the
CineMedia site operated by the America
Film Institute. To visit this site instead of
the home site use:
The award for the most novel use of the
World Wide Web, this week, goes to the
MOVIE CRITIC.
This site claims to be able to predict
which movies you will "most likely" enjoy
watching, based on your ranking of other
movies. MOVIE CRITIC uses an artificial
intelligence system whose knowledge base
consists of ratings given by people to a
selection of different movies.
The first time you visit MOVIE CRITIC,
you will be asked to rate 10 movies on a scale
of Poor to Excellent. As you rate each movie,
your responses are compared with all of the
previous responses made by other people.
This enables the system to come up with
profile of your movie tastes, which in turn is
used to create a list of similar movies which
you might enjoy.
Like many AI-based systems, the results
are only as good as the information you
provide and the accuracy of previous entries,
however, after experimenting with the
system for a while, I found that it did
manage to select a number of movie titles
which were of interest to me.
Also, as an added bonus, when you click
on most of the movie links listed by MOVIE
CRITIC, the corresponding Internet Movie
Database entry, or failing that, a WWW page
with information about the movie is
displayed. Some entries also contain links to
QuickTime or MPEG clips of movies which
can be downloaded, however, unless you
have a fairly high speed link, the plus 6 meg
sizes of these files do tend to make
downloads prohibitive.
Want a sneak preview of all the latest
movies? If you do, then MOVIEWEB is the
site for you. While other movie sites claim
links to thousands of WWW pages or the
inside track on all of the juiciest Hollywood
gossip, MOVIEWEB has just one simple aim
in life.
Due to the unique relationship this site
has developed with the major movie
distributors, the moment a new movie is
announced, you will find a wealth of
information about it on MOVIEWEB. There
are movies from Universal, Tristar, United
Artists, New Line Cinema, Warner Brothers,
Metro Goldwyn Meyer and Disney listed on
MOVIEWEB, listed in order of their
expected release date.
Apart from a synopsis of the movie itself,
most pages include links to information
about the movie's stars and often the
Director or Producer as well. (These links are
usually found on the Internet Movie
Database discussed previously.) You can also
download QuickTime teasers or trailers for
most movies, and in some cases stills as well.
This site also contains a directory that
lists all of the movie companies that
maintain a site on the World Wide Web. And
for those of you who want to know what's
hot, the latest box office figures for all major
releases are published on MOVIEWEB at
the beginning of each week, along with a list
of the top 50 all time box office hits.
Judging by the number of X-File related
sites and the number of sites that contain
links to this X-Files page, many netsurfers
seem to have a special affinity with agent
Fox Mulder (or is it Agent Scully?)
Of all the X-File sites on the World Wide
Web, the directory operated at the Rutgers
site is the most comprehensive and according
to Lycos, which rates the site in its top 250
Web Sites List, it is also one of the most
popular. In fact the only other television
series that approaches the X-Files popularity
on the Net, is the Star Trek The Next
Generation site at:
So what sort of X-Files information is
available online? For starters, you can
download the theme music for the show
along with a wide variety of sound clips from
various episodes. A complete guide to each
episode can be found at:
The Rutgers site also lists a number of other
guides as well, which includes a Netpickers
critique of each episode.
Delphi also gets into the act by providing
an Official X-Files Site at:
This site offers an interesting insight into the
X-Files through its parent company Newscorp
who just happens to own FOX, the company that
produces the X-Files.
Finally, Cool Pick Hotel is looking for
your input. While we spend many hours each
week combing the World Wide Web looking
for cool sites, with thousands on new pages
begin added each day, there may be sites
that you may have encountered which
deserve our attention.
If you have located such a site, or maybe
have an idea for a Cool Pick Hotel feature
topic, why not drop me a line at
wtatters@world.net. To make sure
that your
message catches my attention, place the
worlds COOL PICK HOTEL in the subject.
Copyright (C) 1994 - 1997 by Virtual Press/Global Internet Solutions.
Internet Daily News and its respective columns are trademarks of Virtual Press
/Global Internet Solutions.
