Who Is Screened, Really?

Screened is a web site built for film fans by film fans. The editors of Screened are lifetime film dorks, the kind of people that will be happy to engage you in excruciatingly detailed discussions about everything from the common spiritual and psychological themes found in Ingmar Bergman's filmography, to who would win in a fight: Marmaduke or Air Bud?

Screened is run by Whiskey Media. Collectively, we run Giant Bomb, Tested, Anime Vice, Comic Vine and Screened.

What's the Deal With Your Rating System

Screened reviews movies on a five-star scale that does not include half-stars (though we do include a zero-star rating). Five star ratings are pretty easy to recognize in terms of tiering, and we're not big into trying to separate out films into endless categories of quality.

In short, movies that range between three and five stars are movies you should take notice of because they might be something you'll like—movies that score between zero and two stars, not so much. If that's not enough, here are some simple illustrations we think you'll find helpful:

There is no such thing as the perfect film, but movies we rank this highly can be recommended to practically anyone that likes movies.

A great film in its own right, a four star film may just have a few noticeable flaws or simply not be quite as memorable as a five star film.

Three star movies tend to have some notable problems. By the same token, most three star movies tend to be entirely watchable, if not remarkable. Most good rentals fall here.

The rating of thorough “meh.” These are movies you could rent or Netflix and not feel like life has been robbed from you, but at the same time you won't feel terribly rewarded for your investment.

These are bad movies, the sort of movies you should actively seek to avoid. You will not enjoy yourself, and in fact you may want to hurt someone by the time the credits roll.

These movies are flat-out cancerous garbage, and if there were any justice in the world, should effectively end the careers of those involved.

How Come You Don't Review Every Single Movie That Comes Out? And Why Are Your Reviews Sometimes “Late?”

Unlike the Roger Eberts and Rex Reeds of the world, we don't always get invited to press screenings for every movie that comes around. That said, we want to make it a point to get out and see as many movies as humanly possible, even if that means going and paying for tickets like everyone else. We'll try to cover the big movies we know you care about, and we'll also try to cover as much of the smaller stuff as we can. Specifically though, we'll go out of our way to highlight stuff we're excited about and want you, the viewer, to know about.

Hey Screened, How Should I Hit You Up?

If you're a publisher or distributor and you wanna send us your work for review or preview purposes, our mailing address is:

Screened
921 Front St. Suite 100
San Francisco, CA 94111

Direct your community questions to:
screened_community@screened.com

Direct your news, reviews and feature questions to:
sc_edit@screened.com

How Can I Contribute To Screened

Like other Whiskey Media sites, Screened is a massively editable database of films, actors, actresses, directors, writers, and just about anything else from the wonderful world of film. Our slogan is that we know everything about movies, because you know everything about movies. Don't make us liars, and help us make this database the best movie database on the web!

Wiki submissions are subject to an approval system that involves heavy moderation for new or anonymous users that gradually opens up more options as the user contributes quality data to the site. It's like an RPG, except instead of grinding orcs, you're contributing to a great community of like-minded enthusiasts. How seriously awesome is that?

Until a user accumulates enough points (1000) to gain the ability to make live edits to the site, that user's submissions will go through a moderation queue that is monitored by the Screened staff, as well as a team of volunteer moderators from the community. Our aim is to have new submissions moderated within 24 hours. You will receive a private message on your Screened user profile once your submission has been approved or rejected, and a history of your submissions can be accessed at anytime from within your profile.

What are points, how do I earn them?

Points are awarded to users who submit quality content to the site. Each time any of your submissions are approved, you gain points. Accumulate enough points over time and you gain access to various abilities on the site, listed below:

under 1000 points

• All submissions are sent to moderation

1000 points

• You can make live edits to existing pages without need of moderation
• Can request for new pages to be created, but those pages must still be moderated.

5000 points

• Can create new pages without need of moderation
• Can set the default image for a page (look for the ribbon icon)
• Can remove images from an object

What are the most common reasons submissions are rejected?

• Content is copied from another site (Wikipedia..etc)
• The images you upload contain watermarks from another site
• Poor grammar or spelling
• You tried to add a page we already had, and didn't bother to browse for the page if it didn't show up in search.
• You included custom formatting into a page that causes the layout to break

Hey, I Noticed You're Missing [insert page], What's Up With That?

Just like the universe, Screened's database is always expanding, and while we are perpetually on the verge of cataloging man's infinite knowledge, there are always going to be some holes. Screened divides its data into a few different categories, which you should keep in mind when making your submissions.

Add New Movie

Movie pages host all the core information you'd want for a specific film. Cast and crew info, general wiki information, poster art, promotional shots, trailers, soundtrack info, quotes, DVD and Blu-Ray releases, staff and user reviews, and much, much more.

Add a Person

People pages encompass all key information for a significant person in the industry. Here you can find and edit detailed biographical information, credits, images, trivia, and more.

Add a Character

Character pages represent a specific character that appears in a movie, or movies. You can find and edit character bios, images, and associate them with any movies they appear in.

Add a Location

Location pages represent a specific place in which a film takes place. You can find and edit general wiki information about these locations, images, and associate them with any movies they appear in.

Add an Object

Objects are the things that appear in movies that are not actors or locations. Objects can be literally any item/object that appears in a movie, though you'll likely find the most detailed information to be on unique objects for specific films, like, say, the Batmobile, or Castor Troy's face.

Add a Story Arc

Story Arc pages represent a storyline that encompasses multiple films. General wiki information, images, and associated films can be found here.

Add a Concept

Concepts are somewhat difficult to define, but in all instances, they are things that exist in the realm of film over and over again. It can be everything from a type of shot frequently used in a film, to a method of plot exposition.

Add a Cliché

Clichés aren't dissimilar to concepts, though these are a little more gimmicky. Clichés are tricks, shots, plot devices, and everything else filmmakers overuse to the hilt when making their movies. Everything from sexually active teenagers dying in horror movies to cops three days from retirement can be found here.

How to combine, delete or re-name pages.

Often you'll find pages that need to be combined, deleted or renamed on the site. Combinations and deletes are possible but can only be handled by someone with staff or moderator privileges. You can either contact us directly or leave a note on the Delete/Combine boards that describes the problem and we'll try to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Image Upload Best Practices

Do not submit images with watermarks! Submit high rez images under 1 meg in size whenever possible.

• Images can include poster art, DVD box art, publicity stills, screen captures, concept art, fan art, and more. When uploading images, we strongly encourage users to either associate their images with an appropriate gallery, or create a new gallery when necessary.
• Avoid adding images tagged or watermarked with other sites' URLs.

Article writing tips

Do not plagiarize content from other sites like Wikipedia. Screened is a unique resource.

Overview - Main Article

• The "deck" should contain 1-3 sentences that start with "Pagename is...". It should be historical and not topical.
• The original creator(s) should be mentioned early in the article.
• The main article should be written chronologically, with newer events at the bottom of the document. Imagine you're telling a story with a beginning, middle and end.

Page to page relationships (friends, enemies, teams)

• All relationships cross reference. Adding Kaneda to Akira adds Akira to Kaneda as well.
• Write the description about the relationship, not the individual!
• Do not copy text from overviews. Write original content about the relationship.
• Only add significant relationships. If there is no story to tell, there is no need for the relationship to be listed.

What powers Screened?

Screened is powered by an in-house, structured wiki platform designed specifically for and by Whiskey Media.

The "Whiskey Powered" platform benefits from the following open source technologies:

• Django - A python based web framework.
• Postgres - Database.
• Solr - A java powered search engine based off Lucene.
• MooTools - A JavaScript framework.
• Sass - Sass makes CSS fun again.

Is there a Screened API available?

It's in the works. We plan to provide free access to a large portion of our database for non-commercial projects.