*Also published on uxmag.com* We’re not seeing movie recommendations really catch on with the world. Sites like and didn’t make it. What’s the hold up? Jinni Foundd Putting aside movie recommendation ‘accuracy’, the missing key is making recommendations a great experience. A record setting company’s app on a record setting company’s watch Just about every tech company is making experience a priority and acting on it. Apple recently had . Uber is currently . And entire e out of the experience of having more convenience. But recommendations are behind. the most profitable quarter in history the most valuable venture-backed private company in the world conomies have been born “I think subconsciously people are remarkably discerning. I think that they can sense care.” — Jony Ive Here are some characteristics with movie recommendations today along with the negative feelings you have associated with them: Endlessness (& Overload) Most movie recommendation sites give you the option to rate movies on a one to five star scale. I know, I know; the promise here is that the more you rate, the better your movie picks will be. Soon after you start rating, you’ll notice that the list of movies to rate never ends. Fatigue sets in and you quickly find rating more movies to be mundane. It’s a marathon that you can’t finish. But they tell you to keep going. As Janel Torkington insightfully puts it, an endless list “robs the user of a sense of finality.” Think about the sense of accomplishment when you finish a hard task. Now think about one that you can never get done. It’s not a delightful feeling. Immaterial Content (& Tedium) Inside the list of movies that they tell you to rate, you’re being presented with a lot of that you’ve never even seen. movies Obscure or niche flicks appear at the top, making you skip them before getting to something relevant to you. I was presented with and upon logging on to Foundd for the first time. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason Hitman Heart: Wrestling with Shadows Taken a step further, when you find movies that you’ve seen before they’re often ones that you saw Unless those movies really, really connected with you, you’re going to have trouble remembering what you thought of it. Your rating becomes a guess. years ago. Obvious Incongruity (& Dissonance) Then come your recommendations. The results that you put in effort to receive. Some sites will recommend even before you say a word about your movie preferences. Almost as striking, they’ll give you a big list of recommendations after just one or two ratings. The problem here is that In this example, was the only movie I rated (I gave it a 95). not enough is known about you to give you some picks that make sense. Donnie Darko OK, is a fit here. We can see the similarities. Impressive. Mulholland Drive Next: . Well…it sort of makes sense. There are some parallels, possibly. Suspiria Finally: and How do these movies relate to ? It feels incongruent. We expect good results but we get something that looks like it was picked from a hat. It’s a contradictory and dissonant feeling. Wedding Crashers Iron Man 2. Donnie Darko Feature Creep (& Inconvenience) Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/highwaysagency/6281302040/ A solution may be to let you search by every movie trait imaginable— your own personal God Mode. That’s not the answer either because it results in inconvenience. It requires too much work from you. We can get a bag of groceries at the push of a button. are spreading like wildfire outside of their Gen Y origins. We now expect this level of convenience outside of the lexicon of ‘Apps’, including recommendations. Our technology is pushing our expectations. The ideals of The Convenience Generation An example is Jinni. Before the shutdown, there were features, filters, options, specializations, and more available for users to play with. Some examples: ‘Now on TV for me’, ‘Entertainment Personality’, ‘Preferences’, ‘Story Tuners’, ‘Why close to you’, ‘My Guide’, ‘The Watch Wall’. 67+ Getting a user inside a movie they enjoy became overshadowed by the process of finding one. “Our goal is to try to bring a calm and simplicity to what are incredibly complex problems so that you’re not aware really of the solution.” — Ive The Surface Level (& Detachment/Disappointment) Tags attribute traits to a movie. They’re extra useful because they’re standard enough for a computer to be able to understand, so a website can use algorithms that play with them. Tags have the potential to be powerful, but the problem is that they’re usually very general. ‘Sci-Fi’, ‘Action’, ‘Space’, ‘Good vs. Evil’. We as humans don’t respond to a movie just because it has any of these traits. What does that action entail? How is Good and Evil portrayed? And once you have those answers, what about when we blend these specifics together? Instead, how do individuals respond and react to those traits? In some cases though that blend doesn’t make enough of a difference. Take and . Star Wars: A New Hope Star Wars: The Phantom Menace The tag-based formula was there. It’s Sci-Fi. It has a character named Anakin Skywalker in it. On the surface level, it’s being . But people hate the movie. Star Wars Star Wars If is getting it right, it means that the characters are giving us enough to invest in them. To along with them. To care so much that we want to see the continuation of their stories after 32 years. What makes Star Wars ‘Star Wars’ is how we feel when we watch and listen its characters and their stories. Star Wars feel desperately This transcends moving pictures on the screen and 1s and 0s inside a computer. We need to begin to make the tags identify and recognize the shades of this kind of human to human connectedness. We need to improve on uncovering the true things that make people like movies. And we need to honor users’ expectations and provide a seamless, easy experience for them. I think is starting to do just that. And Chill P.S. Achievement Unlocked. You’ve completed the article! If you found value in this, I’d really appreciate it if you recommend this post (by clicking the ❤ button) so other people can see it! Learn more about And Chill or share your insight by emailing me at jake@andchill.io P.P.S. “Is there something I can use to give me an unbelievable movie recommendation experience?” Yes, there is! Message And Chill at m.me/textandchill whenever you want to watch something. We think you’ll feel the attention to detail and care that we put in our product. You might also like “What Should I Watch”: 5 Examples of the Area Where Netflix is Forgetting All about Your Experience
