When we watch a film we form an opinion about how it made us feel.
We come at it from a variety of ways. The technical aspect, how the film was constructed from a standpoint of craft and form. We have our own yardsticks for what we think is good and acceptable and whether or not the film fulfills those criteria is important to some. The subjective aspect, how much you were moved by the softer elements such as story or performance and how it resonates with our own lives and experiences beyond the four walls of the frame.
However, we don’t actively consider how this movie made us feel compared to other films.
How Do We Really Judge Films?
It isn’t just Film X versus Film Y. It’s Film X versus Films A-Z that have come before it in our lives.
Every film we watch, every piece of media we ingest leaves an indelible impression on us. There’s no two ways about that. The simplest expression of this can be between films you like versus films you don’t like. Films that worked for you, for whatever reason, and films that just didn’t. Internally, you’re judging every new film you watch within the mental framework you’ve developed over the course of your life. The tapestry of your taste in films.
Our world today doesn’t allow us to weave this tapestry with ease. Until now…
A Tapestry Of Your Film Taste
An island stands alone in a vast sea. An archipelago, however, stands together. One can create connections between them to facilitate transport and trade.
archipelago | noun
an extensive group of islands.
Films are islands in an archipelago. They are crisscrossed and connected by bridges, air- and sea-routes through our subjective desire. The films we like, the connections we make, tell a story. The story of us. They reveal, without being revealing, soft aspects of our lives that can be categorised as taste or influence.
How can we uncover these connections from within us and see them in front of us? I’m glad you asked…
FilmX Reveals How You Really Feel
FilmX is a platform to build, maintain and share a List of your most intensely liked films. This List is the tapestry we’re talking about.
A FilmX list gives you 100 points to spend. You have to spend some points to add a film to your List. The amount of points you spend indicates how intensely you like that particular film. The catch is that the points you spend rise quadratically, that means that if really like a film and want to rate it highly, that will leave fewer points for you to spend on other films. Through this mechanism we ensure that your bias to a particular film is always balanced out in concert with the other films you intensely like.
This mechanism underpinning FilmX does away with the broken traditional film rating system and allows you to truly see what your taste is. If you haven’t yet you should definitely check out FilmX.
To dip your toe in the water, here’s my FilmX List!