New Film Ratings—Now With More Woodgrain
Behold, the majesty of fake wood on the web. After much contemplation, trepidation, consternation, and many other -nations, I’ve just finished up the last touches of a new film ratings standard for the site. (Check out an example right over there → )
The old scale, of SKIP IT, RENT IT, MATINEE, FULL PRICE fame, was actually very fun in retrospect. Over its lifetime I received quite a few compliments on its practical nature, utility, and straight-up novelty, however in the end it caused me strife in three not-so-shocking ways:
- Not enough variety
- Doesn’t apply to old / rented movies
(Ah I heard that from everyone. Extrapolate people…you must learn to extrapolate.) - Movie prices go up, and I foolishly included monetary figures on the graphics
(Updating-graphics-time interferes with my quality movie-rating-time.)
An old Full Price Banner, in all its glory
Badges, We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges
In the end what I’ve got is a more “standard” 10.0 scale if you could call it that, disappointing in some (creative) respects but beautifully comprehensive in others. For instance now I’ve got a full 100 potential ratings to choose from, yet I’ve completely avoided a system based on thumbs, stars, or fiendish popcorn bag icons. A success already.
Backwards Compatible Hypertext
Amidst these 100 points of freedom I’ve interspersed 4 different colored rating icons—so for fans of the old system each color can represent one of the old ratings.
- The venerable SKIP IT has now turned black (oh how evil) and catches any film rated as suck-tastic as 2.9 and below
- RENT is a blue multi-pronged star of mediocrity and covers 3.0 to 5.9
- MATINEE quality flicks go green between 6.0 and 7.9
- FULL PRICE gains the lofty orange badging when 8.0 and above
The old reviews will remain rated as is so only the newbies will get the crazy woodgrain treatment. Ye old banner system had some three years of quality life so I’m not too bereaved at this time of its passing, but I’m also not assuming that this scale will last as long without some tweaks—but only time shall tell.