HOW TO SEARCH FOR A MOVIE WITHOUT KNOWING THE NAME: 10 TIPS - ART - 2024

Searching for a movie without knowing the name is something possible today. With little and very vague information, you can find that feature film that interests you thanks to the development of systems with sophisticated algorithms that manage to decipher details more quickly and efficiently than the most popular search engines on the web.

Vague questions like what was that movie that old male action movie stars got together in? Or what was that movie in which a girl had a terminal illness and married the popular boy at her school? They can lead you to find her.

In the following lines, find some ideas on how to find them, what keywords to use and where to look for them, so that your research does not take hours or lead to frustration.

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How to search for movies without knowing their name?

- Use Google

Let's say you want to search for "The Last Samurai," but you can't remember the name.

In this case you only remember that it belongs to a samurai and that it goes to Japan. Put on google "samurai movie in japan" and you can find it easily:

Let's say you want to find the movie "Origin" whose protagonist is Leonardo DiCaprio. You can put in google: «dream movie» and you will find it:

It's about you Google "movie" followed by some information that describes the main theme of the movie.

- Use specialized search engines

In the network there are already several options of sites that have the technology for this. Here is a brief description of the most popular ones:

• whatismymovie.com: site developed by the Valossa technology team, at the University of Oulu in Finland, using Deep Content technology, which "understands" the digital multimedia content of video files, from text to pattern recognition and with which the site has analyzed more than 130 thousand films.

Given its roots in computer science and engineering research, the focus of this site is rather scientific for research and proof-of-concept purposes for industry.

The results of the use of Deep Content in this field have led to tests being carried out with broadcasters for television content as well.

• InternetMovieDatabase.com - (abbreviated IMDb) is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, and video games, including cast, production crew, fictional characters, biographies, plot summaries, trivia, and reviews that together they make it easy to find titles.

This site works as a kind of Wikipedia, allowing registered users to submit new materials and edits to existing entries, although all data is checked before going live. In this way, registered users have a "space" on the site that records their contributions, ratings, etc., as a way to rank users as well.

IMDb has approximately 4.2 million titles, 7.8 million personalities in its database, and 75 million registered users. It has been a subsidiary of Amazon since 1998, but was released in 1990. It was created by computer programmer Col Needham.

- Appeal to all the data you can

The more data and details you remember and type in the search engine, the more chances you have that the movie you are looking for will appear: words, phrases, dialogues, music, songs, actors, characters, film genre, etc.

- Reduce the date range of your search as much as possible

If you remember the date you saw them, or the Oscars (or other film festival) in which it was presented, you will reduce the search range and the time of your investigation.

- Investigate the biography of the actors

Knowing the biography of one of the actors that you remember seeing in the film can lead you to the name of the one you are looking for.

- Check the director's filmography

If it turns out that what you remember about that feature film is the name of its director, then check his filmography.

- Draw inspiration from the movie

Many films are inspired or based on literature or events that happened in real life, if that is the case, your search should begin by reviewing what was written or done from that event or that text.

Normally, when it comes to a fact or a book that has been made to the cinema, it is reflected in its descriptions.

- Use sentences about the plot or plot

If you have no memory of who acted in the film, or who the director is, another way to find it may be by placing key words or phrases about the plot of the film.

Although there are several versions of it, or even several with a similar name, the list that is displayed may include the one you are trying to locate.

- Lean on the film's soundtrack

Many feature films have a soundtrack created specifically for them or scenes whose background music becomes a classic of the cinema, even if it was not specially composed for the film.

Examples of this might be the contest dance scene on Dirty Dance, or Rocky's training scenes or John Travolta's dance at a disco on Saturday night fever.

These are musical themes that are necessarily related to that movie so they can help you in your search.

- Use synonyms

Another path you can take to get to the information about your movie is to use synonyms to identify the images you remember.

For example, if you remember that a recurring image was a "house", you can try "cabin", "home", etc… If you remember a robot, try "technology", "artificial intelligence", "robotics", etc.

If it is a foreign film, that search should consider words in the original language of the film.

- Enter online forums about cinema

Another resource that you have in cases where you do not remember the name of the film is the forums about cinema.

There you can check between the previous discussions and check if someone has already consulted about what you are looking for. If there is no success, you can also start the discussion by leaving your question for a friendly movie buff to answer.

Cool apps

On the other hand, there are some sites or applications that were created specifically to help those who find it difficult to find their movie on a site as famous as Netflix, whose search engine has sometimes been criticized by some of its users. These applications include:

1. Flixed - A website that integrates IMDb ratings and Metacritic ratings.
2. Flixlist: which allows you to search the Netflix catalog by title, director, or cast member.
3. Flixsearch - Search for movies and TV shows by title or by the people involved.
4. FlickSurfer: allows you to search by title, director or cast member, among all Netflix content for the United States and 20 other countries in the world.
5. Instantwatcher integrates ratings from MPAA, Rotten Tomatoes, or NYT Review, and displays award-winning or nominated titles and which have been nominated for awards in its results.
6. JustWatch: in which you find content on Netflix (and more than a dozen other platforms) from a browser or from applications for iOS and Android.

References

1. Bolluyt Jess (2016). 11 Better Ways to Find Movies on Netflix. Recovered from: cheatsheet.com.
2. Epstein Zach (2016). Recovered from: bgr.com
3. Lynn Lauren (Translated by Elizabeth Garay Ruiz). How to find a movie without knowing its name. Recovered by: ehowenespanol.com.
4. whatismymovie.com.
5. Xialexi (2014). How to find a movie title? Recovered from: reuniendoletras.blogspot.com.