Welcome to Movie Ranker!

For iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch

© 2010 by Jim Holloway

What is it? What does it do?

  • Helps you create lists of movies you've seen ranked by various combinations of qualities
  • Allows you to customize your lists of movies, quality scales, and rankings
  • Uses weighted combinations of an arbitrary number of quality scales in each ranking, including inverted scales
  • Presents a simple method for you to compare your movies based on each quality
  • Generates emails of your movie ranking lists for sharing with your friends

User Guide

The Movies tab

In the Movies tab, you can mark movies you have seen, add movies to the list, and delete them.

To mark a movie as "watched", tap it. As you begin, it is probably best to only mark a few dozen movies at most in order to keep the number of comparisons you will have to make on the next tab to a minimum. You can always come back and mark more movies later, after you have built a few ranking lists.

To un-mark a movie you marked by accident, just tap it again.

To edit or delete a movie, tap the "Edit" button. This will put the list into Edit mode. The Edit button will now say "Done".

Red circle icons will appear to the left of each movie. Tap a red circle, then the "Delete" button to confirm you want to delete a movie. To edit a movie, tap the movie while you are in Edit mode.

To leave edit mode so you can continue marking movies you seen, tap the "Done" button.

To add or edit a movie, tap the "Edit" or "+" button. This will bring up the editor page.

When adding or editing a movie, be sure to think about where you will want the movie to appear in the sorted movies list. For example, if a movie title begins with "A", "An", or "The", you will probably want to enter the movie title without these words in the Sort Title field.

The Compare tab

In the Compare tab, you can compare movies you've marked as "watched" (in the Movies tab) against each other across a wide range of qualities. You can also add, edit, and delete qualities.

Each quality in the Qualities list shows the progress you've made toward comparing each movie with all the others in that quality scale. For a ranking to be accurate as possible, each quality used in that ranking (there might be more than one) should be completely finished (100%).

Tap a quality to begin comparing movies using that quality scale.

Here's where the fun (if you can call it that) happens. This is where you get to think about every possible combination of movies you've watched given a narrow and well-defined comparison description.

Movie Ranker will now randomly pick two movies that have not yet been compared for this quality scale and ask you to choose the movie that has more of that quality. If it's not immediately obvious that one movie has more of the quality than the other, just tap the "They're About the Same" button. (You'll probably use that button a lot.)

If you accidentally tap the wrong button, you can scroll back to previous comparisons and correct them.

To skip a comparison and come back to it later, tap the "Skip" button.

Adding, editing and deleting a quality scale work the same as in the Movies tab.

Again, be aware that you can edit a quality by tapping it while you are in Edit mode.

When adding a new quality scale, think very carefully about what aspect or property of a movie you want to compare. It should be something as specific as possible, but not so specific that it would only apply to a small number of movies. It should also be something that does not tend to change over time. Finally, it should be something that can be placed along a continuum, or sliding scale (as opposed to a binary yes/no quality).

For example, "Politically Correct" would probably not be a good quality because it would be ambiguous - how would you compare a movie made in the 1930's with one made today? Which set of social standards should apply: today's, or the ones in effect when the movie was made? Not to mention the fact that the definition of "politically correct" continues to change, sometimes rapidly.

"Great" would also not make a good quality because it is too vague.

On the other hand, "Has More Walruses" is not good because this would apply to very few movies.

And "Starring Cary Grant" would not be good since it is not a sliding scale, and would not produce a very useful basis for comparisons.

The Rankings tab

In the Rankings tab, you can see the results of all your hard work. Here you can view ranking lists that are calculated from the comparisons you made in the Compare tab. The qualities and weights for each are shown below each ranking name.

You can also add, edit and delete rankings, as in the Movies and Compare tabs.

Tap a ranking to see the movie listing for that ranking. The weighted quality scales are normalized so that the highest score for any ranking is always 100%. Both the ranking (1, 2, 3, etc.) and the final score (%) are shown so you can see the relative distances between movies.

Again, to edit a ranking, tap it while in Edit mode.

To create a new ranking, choose the quality scales that you would like to combine, and assign relative weights to them. Quality scales can be inverted using the "Less" selection, in which case, the weights become negative.

A ranking must have at least one quality.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Why do I have to make so many comparisons?
    The short answer is: "for accuracy". The longer answer is: "I don't really know a better way to accomplish what I'm trying to find out. There probably is one, but I haven't figured it out yet."
  • Is there a way to speed up the comparison process?
    Unfortunately, no. Hence my billing of this app as the "most tedious in the app store". Not exactly a strong selling point, I grant you, but at least it's unique.
  • Does it ask for the same two movies to be compared multiple times?
    I don't think so. That is, I've noticed that it seems to do that sometimes, but when I keep careful track of what's going on, I think this is just an illusion of some sort that our brains play on us. It certainly isn't designed to do that. It's supposed to only show comparisons that haven't yet been made, but it's possible there's a bug lurking here. I'm looking into it.
  • Why are the movies out of order when being compared?
    Simple. To avoid the monotony of constantly being asked about the same movie over and over. Randomizing the comparisons keeps you on your toes and forces you to think about each pair a little more carefully. At least that was the idea.
  • I get a note saying there are "unfinished comparisons" in a ranking. What does this mean?
    It means that that ranking uses a quality scale for which you have not completed all possible comparisons. Thus, the calculation for the ranking will be skewed toward those movies that HAVE been compared. It's telling you that the ranking will probably be misleading.
  • Is it possible to edit a ranking or quality like I can the movies?
    Yes. Just tap the Edit button, then tap the ranking or quality. Tap "Done" to exit edit mode.
  • Can I re-do all the comparisons for a particular movie?
    Yes, you can. In the Movies tab, find the movie in question and un-mark it as watched. This will clear out all comparisons made with this movie. Then re-mark it as watched. Now you can go back to the Compare tab to re-compare that movie with all the others.
  • How do I clear everything and start over?
    Well, there's no quick and easy way to do that, but you can go through the Movies list and un-mark each watched movie (see the previous question).
  • Is there a way to see all the comparisons I've made for a certain movie?
    Unfortunately, no. That would be a nice feature, and I hope to add that ability in a future update.

Known Bugs in version 1.0

  • Deleting the only Quality used by a ranking can cause a crash when going to the ranking tab.
  • Deleteing Rankings is currently not working.

Fixes for these problems are coming very soon.

Support

Other apps by Jim Holloway

© 2010 Jim Holloway