the film vault
April, 1999.
By Molly E. Holzschlag. (Link to original article.)
Grab a flashlight and a Primatine inhaler, we're about to go spelunking!
The good news is you don't need to wear a hard hat. There are few rough edges on the sophisticated Film Vault site but plenty of welcome celluloid dust. Fresh air comes in the form of 11 online publications. The Film Vault allows you to determine the way you find reviews, including by film, genre, publication, and director. Every combination offers up a different type of results.
Figure 1. The Film Vault is a sophisticated Web site.
Along with this freedom of choice, you can choose a variety of paths--all leading to movie happiness (or madness, as the case may be). From the home page, you can decide to go simply equipped, via the humble browser entrance, or fully loaded, via the bionic version. Should you think you're an expert and go the bionic route, the Film Vault won't let you in. It has got an intelligent backend machine, so you've got to have at least a modicum of browsing experience to go a-searching with the big boys. Which, of course, is really the most interesting way.
"If you want standard navigation and easily accessible search options, you're going to have a hard time getting around."
Along with user options, you get a rich selection of recommended links. Functionality is increased by letting folks vote for their favorite flicks. Voting is rewarded in the salt mines, too. Another set of links, along with a rating of the current movie, is provided to all who participate. A five-step tutorial helps out the newcomer by providing maps to underground stars.
Figure 2. The designers were wise to ensure the actual reviews appear in black text on white instead of the reverse.
The interesting content and design make the visual experience a good one, too. The black background of the home page and navigational areas are appropriate, and the designers were wise to ensure the actual reviews appear in black text on a white background instead of the reverse. This shines a light onto the main content--a considerate gesture, indeed.
Figure 3. The Film Vault gets an A+ in functionality by letting users vote for their favorite flicks.
Of course, if you want standard navigation and easily accessible search options, you're going to have a hard time getting around. In most instances, I'd say this was a bad thing, but for the Film Vault, it's the off the beaten pathways that make the experience so unusual.
critic's rating
Usability
Navigation
Graphic design
Content
Compatibility
Load time
Functionality
Overall
designer's interview
Molly: What was your role in creating the site?
Wil Gerken: Project leader, original design/concept creator, lead programmer/developer, HTML layout/coding.
Molly: If this wasn't a solo effort, how big was the team, what was its composition, and what was the relationship of the team members like?
Wil Gerken: Wil Gerken (me): Developer/designer
Amy Burnham: Art director
Nathan Hendler: Co-developer
Doug Floyd: Administration
This group has worked together for several years, so the relationships among the team members are professional and well-managed.
Molly: How long did the redesign take from concept to going live?
Wil Gerken: The Film Vault has been about four years in the making. It started out as a single publication vault (just Tucson Weekly). We then added another publication (Weekly Alibi), and recently jumped to using materials from 11 separate publications. In essence this is version 3.0, but version 1.0 was developed when the Web was quite a different place.
Molly: How did you plan the design and functionality of the site?
Wil Gerken: We started out knowing that we wanted a specific interface that would house lists of films, controls to change the lists, a review window as the primary focus, and a sponsorship/advertising spot.
Everything about the Film Vault was based on functionality from the user's perspective. How to allow a user to browse film reviews, switch from review to review quickly, change the lists of films, and sort the lists of films. All of this focused on browsing and creating an environment. We didn't want the Film Vault to be a search engine or anything remotely like a search engine, and I think we achieved our goals.
Molly: Did you start with an idea of the existing market and demographics?
Wil Gerken: We focused on a tone, specifically the tone of the alternative press--there's no fear there of slamming a Disney film or box office smash. The reviews in the Film Vault are really unique and don't resemble common film synopses or reworded press releases. These reviews have emotion, style, and attitude. We chose a demographic of writers, not audience.
Molly: Were there any limitations imposed by a client or someone else that constrained your development of the site?
Wil Gerken: This was an in-house project, so the only limitations that constrained us were browsers, HTML, and bandwidth.
Molly: What did you have to leave out of the design that you would have liked to include?
Wil Gerken: Videos, taped interviews, more links, user reviews, and commerce.
Molly: What feature on the site are you most proud of?
Wil Gerken: The self-contained interface and concept in general. I love cinema, and if I want to read about what others think about a film, I want many opinions. I don't want to choose my film selections solely on two thumbs up. I want varying viewpoints, the dirt, the praise, and everything in-between. The Film Vault offers multiple reviews of the same films from interesting and talented writers across the United States, and I never need to leave the comfort of a common interface.
Another feature I love are the tangents! You can travel through the Film Vault by reading multiple reviews of a film, then take a tangent to other films by the same director, which may lead you to a tangent of a similar film in this genre, which then can lead you to even more reviews--deeper and deeper without ever feeling like you've gotten lost. It's a safe and comfortable labyrinth.
Molly: Is there anything you'd change on the site now that it's live?
Wil Gerken: I'd add even more tangents! Enhance the Film Vault suggestion algorithm to incorporate more variables so the suggestions are richer and categorized. Tuning to if you loved this film; if you hated this film; where the user came from; where the user goes next; and so on.
More content! Even more reviews from within the alternative press, and outside sources specializing in cult films, sci-fi, black comedy, and so on.
User reviews. Allow the users to post their own reviews and incorporate them into the overall structure.
Molly: What was the most important lesson or tip you learned while building this site that you'd pass on to other Web builders?
Wil Gerken: Understand databases. Databases are not just storage facilities. The benefit of a database (to me) is working the relationships within them, finding connections where connections normally wouldn't exist, and thinking three-dimensionally and digging in every direction.
Understand when you need to dynamically serve content and when you don't. If content changes constantly and is truly dynamic, dynamically serving makes sense. But if it is dormant until updated with new content (as in most publications), it is a huge waste of resources. Understanding this will allow you to push databases much further, such as running complex queries like in the Film Vault.
Molly: What's your favorite Web site?
Wil Gerken: Staying on-topic: The Internet Movie Database. Getting off-topic: Word and Nerve.
Molly: What site do you wish you had designed?
Wil Gerken: Yahoo.
Molly: What was your background before becoming involved with Web site design and development?
Wil Gerken: I watched a lot of TV, ran a music BBS, studied programming, and managed a record store. Maybe I should have designed Music Vault instead.
Molly: When you're not busy building sites, what do you enjoy doing?
Wil Gerken: My initial response is watching films. My more thought-out response is going bowling, playing racquetball, and shooting pool with my wife.
