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Archive-name: movies/movie-database-faq
Posting-Frequency: weekly
Last-modified: 1996/03/18
Version: 1.56
Copies of this article may be obtained by anonymous ftp to rtfm.mit.edu
under /pub/usenet/news.answers/movies/movie-database-faq, or by sending e-mail
to <movie@imdb.com> with the subject "HELP FAQ"
Comments and suggestions on this FAQ are welcome and should be directed
to the database coordinator, Col Needham <cn@imdb.com>.
Changes:
- change of IMDb status (Q 1)
- e-mail addresses for team
- new WWW servers added
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
==================================================
This is a guide to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). The database is
available in several forms on the Internet and provides the most comprehensive
source of free on-line movie information, ranging from the early cinema to the
latest releases. Questions about how to access the movie database or questions
which could easily be answered using it seem to be generating a lot of traffic
these days so please keep this guide around for reference. Topics and questions
covered are:
SECTION ONE: General Information
(1) What is the movie database?
(2) Searching the database
(3) How is the database organised?
(4) The Internet Movie Database Team
(5) Where does the information come from?
(6) How can I add to the database?
(7) Expanding the type of information covered
(8) Distributing the database
(9) A brief history of the whole project
(10) Key to the titles
(11) Key to the symbols appearing in filmographies
(12) Key to movie ratings
(13) Appearances in TV-series before an actor was even born!
(14) Who are the team members?
(15) Can I get hold of the source datafiles in plain ASCII?
(16) How frequently is the database updated?
(17) How long should I expect it to take for updates to be processed?
(18) Easier ways to submit new data
(19) Taking Part in the Movie Ratings Poll
(20) How to get a review included in the WWW interface
(21) How to keep a local installation of the database up-to-date
SECTION TWO: Specific Queries
How do I find...
(22) a contact address for someone?
(23) whether a movie is available on video/laserdisc/etc?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECTION ONE
===========
1. What is the movie database?
==============================
The Internet Movie Database is an international organization whose objective
is to provide useful and up to date movie information *freely* available
on-line, across as many systems and platforms as possible. It currently covers
over 65,000 movies with over 900,000 filmography entries and is expanding
continuously.
The database includes filmographies for actors, directors, writers, composers,
cinematographers, editors, production designers, costume designers, producers
and a miscellaneous catch all section; plot summaries; character names; movie
ratings; year of release; running times; movie trivia; quotes; goofs;
soundtracks; personal trivia; alternative names; certificates; color
information; country of production; genres; production companies; sound mix;
reference literature; filming locations; sequel/remake information; release
dates; advertising tag lines; detailed technical data; alternative versions;
laserdisc availability; and Academy Award information.
The database aims to capture any and all information associated with movies
from across the world, starting with the earliest cinema, going through to the
very latest releases and even movies still in production. Many thousands of
movies are covered completely from the major actors to the minor bit players
and crew members. All the information comes from the users of the database so
please continue to support it and help it to grow. The database is updated
weekly and is available over the world wide web, an e-mail interface or for
local installation on Unix, Amiga and MS-DOS machines.
In its five year history the IMDb has grown from a small informal project to a
major Internet resource. The WWW interface to the database is one of the most
popular and well-known sites of any class on the web. It is frequently cited
as a model for how to create and organise a major web site and has received
numerious awards and honours over the years.
2. Searching the database
=========================
The database can be searched in a variety of ways either on the Internet or
by directly installing the information locally on your system.
2.1 WWW interface
-----------------
The Internet Movie Database is available over the WWW. The following sites
are owned and operated by or for the IMDb:
http://us.imdb.com/ [USA]
http://uk.imdb.com/ [UK]
News and pointers to the other IMDb sites are available at IMDb HQ:
http://www.imdb.com/
The following mirror sites are also available:
http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/Movies/welcome.html [UK]
http://rte66.com/Movies/welcome.html [USA]
http://www.msstate.edu/Movies/welcome.html [USA]
http://www.leo.org/Movies/welcome.html [Germany]
http://ballet.cit.gu.edu.au/Movies/welcome.html [Australia]
2.2 e-mail interface
--------------------
For details send a message with the subject HELP to <movie@imdb.com>
and the movie mail-server will respond with a guide.
2.3 local installation (Unix)
-----------------------------
The Unix Internet Movie Database package enables you to install the data
locally and provides a variety of search tools. It is available via
anonymous FTP:
uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu in /pub/info/imdb/tools/moviedb-3.2d.tar.gz
ftp.funet.fi in /pub/culture/tv+film/database/tools/moviedb-3.2d.tar.gz
ftp.fu-berlin.de in /pub/misc/movies/database/tools/moviedb-3.2d.tar.gz
sunsite.mff.cuni.cz in /MultiMedia/Movies/Database/tools/moviedb-3.2d.tar.gz
see the README file in the same directories for more information. You will
need between 10 and 70 Mb of local disk-space depending on how much of the data
you want to access and whether you choose to compress it or not. All the
programs automatically support compressed database files with a reasonable
performance hit.
The Unix interface is written and maintained by Col Needham <cn@imdb.com>.
An interactive front-end for the Unix interface is available from the ftp
sites in:
tools/imoviedb-2.0.tar.gz
A LaTeX pretty printer for the interface is also available in:
tools/moviedb2tex-2.0.shar.gz
The two add-on packages are written by Philippe Queinnec <queinnec@enseeiht.fr>
2.4 local installation (Amiga)
------------------------------
An interface for the Amiga is also available, complete with an easy to use
graphical front-end. The Amiga version is available on all AmiNet ftp sites
and also on the IMDB ftp sites:
uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu in /pub/info/imdb/tools/imdb3_1_Amiga.lha
ftp.funet.fi in /pub/culture/tv+film/database/tools/imdb3_1_Amiga.lha
ftp.fu-berlin.de in /pub/misc/movies/database/tools/imdb3_1_Amiga.lha
sunsite.mff.cuni.cz in /MultiMedia/Movies/Database/imdb3_1_Amiga.lha
If you have any further questions concerning the Amiga interface, please
contact its author, Andre Bernhardt <amiga@imdb.com>.
2.5 local installation (MS-DOS)
-------------------------------
The CineBASE program provides an MS-DOS interface to the database and is
also available via anonymous FTP:
uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu in /pub/info/imdb/tools/msdos/cb153.arj
ftp.funet.fi in /pub/culture/tv+film/database/tools/msdos/cb153.arj
ftp.fu-berlin.de in /pub/misc/movies/database/tools/msdos/cb153.arj
sunsite.mff.cuni.cz in /MultiMedia/Movies/Database/tools/msdos/cb153.arj
The preloaded database files have also been made available in the tools/msdos
directory at the above sites and additionally at:
gatekeeper.dec.com in /pub/misc/cinebase
blender.digital.com.au in /pub/CineBASE
gatekeeper.digital.com.au in /pub/misc/CineBASE
You can avoid the lengthy install process by downloading all the files from
the directories above and following the instructions in the program archive.
Alterna