Film Crave
FilmCrave is a social/movie website that can best be described as a combination of facebook.com/Myspace.com, rottentomatoes.com, imdb.com, and the old ymdb.com. Anyone is eligible to join with a valid email address. Members can consist of all age groups and genders sharing a common enjoyment for both entertaining and artistic forms of film. It is also known as filmcrave.com, Film Crave,and Filmcrave.
History
Originally planned by two of the creators as a personal movie review site, it quickly expanded into the idea of a full use social networking utility revolving around writing movie reviews, members’ favorite movie lists, and the ability to make and interact with friends.
In 2005 the original concept was to be called take2review in which both Alex and Josh (co-creators) were trying to publish movie reviews based on their taste of film. The initial goal was to publish enough movie reviews from themselves that they would eventually be posted on rottentomatoes.com. Alex and Josh graduated college in separate years delaying talks and the final details of the website.
In may of 2006 with both parties having graduated and moved to the Kansas City Metro Area, they began discussions of another kind of movie website, one in which members could join, write reviews, and create movie lists. As plans progressed and became more complicated, a web developer would be needed as both Alex and Josh specialized in design and marketing.
After 4 months of planning, the new website idea became known as filmcrave.com. With most initial plans complete, they joined partnership with Nick, a web developer who had business experience. As of June 2007, Filmcrave.com is in the testing stage and is rumored to be released to the public in July of 2007.
Filmcrave.com is currently accepting advertising opportunities and site wide sponsorships. Membership is expected to increase exponentially with in 5 months of its initial release.
Update August 15th, 2007. FilmCrave.com opens website up to public beta. Members are granted full features.
Update December, 4th, 2007. New Movie Trailers have been added to the filmcrave feature set. Movie trailers are available for old and new movie releases. They currently offer over 10,000 movie trailers.
Operation
Film Crave is owned and operated by ImaJAN Media, LLC (MO). The owners of ImaJAN Media, LLC are Alex, Josh, and Nick, which formed in March of 2007. ImaJAN Media specializes in the creation of design, web development, technology, and innovative solutions.
While only 3 people operate the business activities of the site there are several programming and writing contributors. Kipp is a software engineer who has frequently contributed to the sites code as well as its internal movie database. Chris has been instrumental in writing movie reviews and editing content for the site. Numerous other friends and family have contributed to the site in design, content, and opinion stances.
Technology Used
Instant search was added to the site in the initial set up of the project. With members and non members being allowed to simply type a movie name (or friend name) into the search box, results would instantly display below allowing a user to tab to a given result or select it with a mouse pointer.
In addition to the instant search, an important member feature is the ability to create their own top movie list. The drag and drop technology allows a member to add a movie title to their list (via instant search) and then arrange their list by dragging then dropping the title into a desired position.
Just Recently added is the ability for members to delete comments on the fly with out the page refreshing. Other technology related functions are in the works.
Update Movie trailers have been added. No downloading of software, no pop-ups, or any other delays occur for movie trailer display. In addition, light boxes are used to display trailers on coming soon pages for multiple movie trailer viewings.
Functions and Site Abilities
Non members are allowed to browse the sites contents such as “top movie lists,” “recent member reviews,” “movies coming soon,” “in theater,” and a special "Film Spotlight" article which features a weekly column talking about special people in film, or special films. They are also allowed to watch new movie trailers.
Members are allowed to have full access to all the sites properties and content – with no fee. One can create a top 50 movie list, create and talk to friends by commenting on their profile, lists, reviews and other areas of the site. Members can write full or capsule (small reviews of less than 250 characters) and rate any given movie in the filmcrave database.
Many top movie lists are compiled based on all the member's lists and previous rating of each movies. The main list being the "Top Movies of all time" which is a list of 100 great movies. The other lists include "Top Action Films", "Worst Horror Films", "Movies I own" and many others.
