IMDb member since October 2001 Post Edited: Tue Jul 1 2014 06:12:08
Now that the new quotes form is live, it seems like a good time to launch a project we've been thinking about for quite a while.
Regular visitors to the quotes pages will have noticed that some films have quotes marked with the tags... [first lines] or [last lines] (guess what the tags mean ) ...and because it's always such a popular trivia subject, we'd like to extend our coverage of first/last lines.
We'll be putting a list of top titles with no first/last line in the Contributors Zone soon, but in the meantime, if you're interested in helping out you can do so by keeping a special ear open for the first and/or last lines of any movies you submit quotes for.
So what's a first line, then? For the purposes of the quotes list, the first line(s) of a movie is the first speech (including opening narration) that isn't just "background noise" or other chatter.
Since we can also list title cards (select "other" from the pulldown and enter "Title Card" in the character name box), we'll accept them in addition to the first spoken lines (where they exist). Please head these [first title card].
Take The Great Escape (1963), for instance. This begins with a title card (which we can list). The first spoken word is "Auslangen", followed by other orders and general chatter in German from the camp guards (which we won't list). The first proper, scripted dialogue is about the beds in the first hut we see (these are the [first lines]).
Please put the tag on its own line. Just add an extra line to the quote when you select the number of lines, leave the characters on the first line unchecked and enter the tag in square brackets (as above). The quote can be one or more lines (bear in mind our usual preference for brevity, though). It will eventually display as:
[first lines] Captain Weasel: I knew those Martians were going to be trouble.
Last lines? A very similar definition, really: the last spoken lines of the movie that aren't just background noise or chatter. Tag them the same way. Title cards are also acceptable in addition to the last spoken lines.
Won't this generate a lot of banal old rubbish? Possibly. But it's possible to build a convincing argument that it's actually quiet interesting to discover that extraordinarily deep or thrilling movies, otherwise packed to the gunwales with profound or exciting dialogue, open with something like, "Pass the potatoes, Mother."
Let's just try it and see where it gets us.
Thanks Don't let this take over your quote spotting (we need memorable quotes more than we need first/last lines), and don't worry if you miss them or forget - it's just another fun project to add more top stuff to the site.
I've had a few "last lines" ideas planned for years, but one of my question is, what if they're used in other parts of a movie, like Corey Feldman in The 'burbs(1989), and Sandy Dennis in The Out-of-Towners(1970)? Speaking of Sandy Dennis, I'm trying to give an accurate description to set up the last line in her most famous role, and I'm not so sure how I should lead users into it.
IMDb member since October 2001 Post Edited: Mon May 10 2004 08:09:11
I think widening it to include the last lines of individual characters within a film is opening up a whole new can of kettled fish of an entirely different feather. We do already include a number of memorable exit lines, but I've only started noticing them recently and I've not settled on a standardized tag for them yet (I've been going along with whatever submitters are calling them).
So, yes, by all means do that as well, but this project is more about trying to build a decent list of first/last lines of movies - if we keep it manageable for now, we can think about specifically adding stuff like that later.
Tim
-- TGQ List Manager No, really, I work here
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You should arrive at a screen with a pulldown that asks how many lines there are in the quote. It should say "1" when you get there. Change it to 2, hit continue and you'll get a screen with two slots (the existing line will be in the top one and the bottom one will be empty). Copy and paste Charlie's line into the second box and highlight his name there. Deselect his name in the top box (click on the white space or control-click his name) and enter the tag [last lines].
I think we'll stick with [last lines] even when there's only one line, for consistency.
"You should arrive at a screen with a pulldown that asks how many lines there are in the quote. It should say "1" when you get there. Change it to 2, hit continue and you'll get a screen with two slots (the existing line will be in the top one and the bottom one will be empty). Copy and paste Charlie's line into the second box and highlight his name there. Deselect his name in the top box (click on the white space or control-click his name) and enter the tag [last lines]. "
/B WHERE???? B/
How do I arrive at a screen with a pulldown menu? I've been using IMDB for YEARS and have never found a way (ANY way) to add a memorable quote to a movie' data listing. Seriously!
Finding answers to questions is nearly impossible -- you spin us in circles with 'generic advice' that no one needs and ignore the real questions.
This reminds me so much of eBay -- which NEVER will EVER admit making an error -- always sending a user to a listing of "mistakes USERS make", never that they, """EEEBBAAYY""", ever made.
It's a bad thing, being related in anyway to ebay, believe me! THEY SUCK! -- regardless how many billions of dolars they might make each day.
Don Brennecke
There are no ordinary moments; there's never nothing going on
"You should arrive at a screen with a pulldown that asks how many lines there are in the quote. It should say "1" when you get there. Change it to 2, hit continue and you'll get a screen with two slots (the existing line will be in the top one and the bottom one will be empty). Copy and paste Charlie's line into the second box and highlight his name there. Deselect his name in the top box (click on the white space or control-click his name) and enter the tag [last lines]. "
/B WHERE???? B/
How do I arrive at a screen with a pulldown menu? I've been using IMDB for YEARS and have never found a way (ANY way) to add a memorable quote to a movie' data listing. Seriously!
TIMdb was apparently responding to a question about adding a [last lines] tag to a quote that had one line.
Quotes can only be processed by starting at the Title, not the performer's page. From the main Title page or the Quotes page, click on the yellow Update button near the bottom of the page.
Select Correct/Delete from the dropdown menu beside Quotes. (This will be the only item available if you started from the Quotes Page or will be the last item in the Plot & Quotes Section if you started from the Main page.) Click the Continue button at the bottom of the page.
Select Correct from the dropdown menu in the Action column beside the item you wish to change. Click Continue.
The resulting form will have the specified question in the top portion, following the name of the character and actor.
Note: TIMdb's advice is now somewhat obsolete. The system has changed in the last four years. While the instructions given will work, there is an easier way, particularly when adding the tag to longer quotes.
Don't make any change to the number of lines. Just key in the [last lines] tag at the beginning of the first quote line, and click Continue. The system will create a first line and move the tag to it, thus accomplishing the work of shifting all the lines down by one automatically.
This is also a quick way of adding blank lines at the beginning of a quote if, for example, you need to split the first line to add an interjected line from another character that was missed by the original submitter.
--------------
The process for adding a quote is very similar, except that you will need to select Add 1 item (or however many you wish to add) instead of Correct/Delete from the first dropdown menu.
This will bring up an empty form with Choose in the two menu boxes beside the questions "How many people are in this quote?" and "How many lines are in this quote?"
You will have to select the numbers needed and add the characters before the form will open the second part of the form to allow you to enter the data.
Note that you can always increase the numbers (of items to add, number of characters and number of lines) if you made an error at the beginning (up to the maximums permitted). You can also decrease the numbers, but note that the system will remove all items above the new number whether they have data in them or not with no warning!
Alright - I usually hadn't done anything with quotes, so I did a test run of this first lines deal: When you get the chance, could you please take a look at update 040510-164827-046001? If you could let me know if this is what you were looking for, I'd appreciate it, so I didn't run amock without getting it down right. :)
IMDb member since October 2001 Post Edited: Mon May 10 2004 10:00:03
Spiffing.
I'd prefer [last lines] instead of [Last lines] (keeping it all lower case like keywords), and I'm experimenting with starting stage directions in lower case, too (except where they start with proper nouns, natch), but it's just what I was looking for. The lengthy setup gets around the problem of the first line actually being a bit dull on its own
Would you object to my reproducing it here so people understand what we're on about?
Any hope for allowing non-English entries for these first/last line quotes? The description of extended action scene of Tomb Raider before the first line just made me think about the beginning of Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö (1990) by Aki Kaurismäki, which has 12 minutes of silent events and then finally the first line is the Finnish language beer order "Pieni olut".
Wouldn ́t it be a good idea to try to list all quotes in order of appearance in a film? Then the quote-list would start with the first line, end with the last line and quotes that are accidently listed twice, but slightly different will be noticed more easily.
Maybe this could be done the same way as updating the character name item: With the possibility to give the quotes numbers to register the order of appearance in a film.
oOf. OK, first of all - let me say it's a fine idea -- in theory. But I can see several problems right off the bat - I feel it'd be fairly complicated to implement, and extremely prone to innacuracies - Not the least of which would be mistakes on the part of submissions. But, there would also be hazy definitions: Where would Samuel L. Jackson's definitive 'Pulp Fiction' speech go? Would it be repeated thrice? While it's possible to do it (And, hell, I'm sure someone who's actually affiliated with IMDb would give a better answer), I just think implementing something that's intuititive and easy to use along the lines of what you're talking about would take a lot of resources - resources that have yet to be used to list keywords in alphabetical order (As a slightly easier example of sorting than the one you're referring to). That's just my opinion, and I'm not saying it's a bad idea or anything, but that's just my take on the matter.
It's definitely something we're thinking about, and we've got a couple of ideas we'd like to explore (we'd like something that would work for goofs, too) but it's some way off yet.
Another problem would be getting newly submitted quotes put in the right place sequentially; not every submitter is going to be careful about that - they might not even be sure as to the right place. The whole process would involve constant revision for a number of titles.
Also, I think IMDb is cautious about the possibility of quotes getting to the point where they're practically reproducing the screenplay on the quote page. I'm sure they have some idea of what's an ideal limit for the number of quotes for a title, but I don't think anyone's ever mentioned it.
I do recall that, a few years back, we had a note that quotes for The Princess Bride would no longer be accepted, due to the general quotability of the script and the feeling that we had a sufficiently large chunk of it already. Not sure if that still applies, and I don't think the note is still there - that was 1 or 2 quotes list maintainers ago.
IMDb member since June 2001 Post Edited: Thu Nov 18 2004 20:30:06
I was thinking about adding some first/last lines, and it took me a while to find this post with the instructions that I remembered seeing. Can these instructions be added to the Quotes Guide?
Should quotes with, e.g. the [first lines] tag be listed first automatically? I noticed on The Godfather http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/quotes that it isn't listed first.
Can these instructions be added to the Quotes Guide? 1) Yes, excellent idea - I'll draft something for the help page as soon as I get a spare half hour. Thanks.
wasn't sure what the "quotes pages" ... were. 2) Sorry, just shorthand - by "quotes pages" I just mean the page on each title where the quotes are. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/quotes for example
Should quotes with the [first lines] tag be listed first? 3) In a perfect world, yes, but see the discussion above for the problems we're already having with the ordering of quotes. I can reliably get the [first lines] to the top of the list, but the way things work at this end would mean that the [last lines] would keep getting bumped up by new additions, and I'd be the first person to forget to bump them back down again. I think this is something best left until we've devised an automatic system.
Is there any movement on trying to automate the placement of "first lines" to the top of the quotes list, and "last lines" to the bottom of the quotes list? I noticed for the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for example, that they're both preceded and followed by many others.
I should mention that we are working on a page somewhere in the czone of the most popular titles with their first/last line status; we've currently got a raw data file, but still need to convert it to something more readable than
before posting it (and, more importantly, get it automatically updated in our page-serving system). For what it's worth, the excerpt above means: Matchstick Men (2003) has both first and last lines; House of Sand and Fog (2003) has a last line but no first; Y tu mamá también (2001) has neither.
Current stats: Of the top 1000 (most searched) titles, we already have 12 first lines and 71 last lines, with 3 titles having both. Because some of those titles are not yet released, we will never have all 1000 covered; I may try to get the unreleased titles removed from the list before we post it.
If non-English quotes are disallowed, how 'Y tu mamá también (2001)' is supposed to ever have any quotes as the film is in Spanish? Adding translated quotes sounds unauthetic...
Well, our standard response has been to use the "official" translation from subtitles/dubbing, but I'll let Tim decide here. If he says no, then I'll also get the list filtered for non-English titles.
TIMdb wrote above, "Take The Great Escape (1963), for instance. This begins with a title card (which we can list). The first spoken word is 'Auslangen', followed by other orders and general chatter in German from the camp guards (which we won't list)."
It's been a while since I've seen The Great Escape, so I don't recall what sort of title card it had. If I understand it correctly, something like the first lines of the text scroll at the beginning of the Star Wars movies, or the epigrams at the beginnings of Kill Bill Vol 1, and Ravenous could be added?
Also, I was wondering how many lines should be included in first or last lines. If a movie begins with a character answering a phone, for example, and says "Hello? Who's speaking? I'll be right there," should only "Hello?" be included, or one or two or more additional lines? (I had submitted "Michael. Right?" as the last lines to Soderbergh's The Underneath, and they went through. I would have submitted it as "Michael... right?" but since the subtitles had it the other way, that's what I went with.) Or if a movie ends with an exchange between two characters, for example: woman 1 "Can I borrow your car?" woman 2 "OK", then is "OK" the last line, or can the last lines be composed of multiple characters' dialogue?
Oh, and can [first lines] AND [last lines] be added to the existing memorable quote for Silent Movie (1976)?
Opening title cards and crawls are acceptable, as long as they're labelled as such.
Opening and closing dialogue is acceptable, too. Don't be too dogmatic about it being the "last line", that's why the tag is [last lines] not [last line] (it can be just the last line if that's appropriate, but the tag will always be [last lines] - ditto first lines).
Please don't rely on subtitles or screenplays - there's no guarantee that either is an accurate representation of what was actually said in the movie. In your example, I prefer your punctuation to the subtitle writer's.
Silent movie - actually, it probably should, although IIRC it already says something like [only spoken word in the movie]
"Please don't rely on subtitles or screenplays - there's no guarantee that either is an accurate representation of what was actually said in the movie. In your example, I prefer your punctuation to the subtitle writer's."
I certainly wouldn't rely on a screenplay, and wouldn't rely solely on the subtitles (I've seen them differ slightly from spoken dialogue often enough). In this case, I was just using the subtitles to help decide on punctuation. There's quite a pause between the two words, so the period rather than ellipsis they used seemed OK and I went with it.
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IMDb member since July 2000 Post Edited: Fri Jul 16 2004 11:36:14
I'm fairly sure Tim's comment was directed at English-language films in which case we should not rely strictly on punctuation or phrasing as given in screenplays or subtitles. With regard to foreign-language films it has indeed been the typical recommendation to use dubbing sound or subtitles or other 'official' translations in quotes submissions, at least if they are accurate.
If a movie begins with a titlecard that has an epigram, and the epigram is credited to someone who has an entry on the IMDb, can 'firstname lastname' (qv) be put in the quote, and result in a link?
I just started to submit a [first title card] for Occhio nel labirinto, L' (1972).
It appears onscreen like this:
<<... a labyrinth is built to bewilder the mind of man. Its architecture, however rich in symmetries it may be, is subordinate to this end>> J.L. Borges
I started to submit it as two lines:
How many people are there in this quote? 1 1. Other Name: Unknown Character: Title Card
How many lines are in this quote? 2
1. [first title card]
2. Title Card (unknown) <<... a labyrinth is built to bewilder the mind of man. Its architecture, however rich in symmetries it might be, is subordinate to this end>> 'Jorge Luis Borges' (qv) (as J.L. Borges)
However, I got these warnings: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This item has been rejected. You need to correct this item before it will be accepted.
Please do not use (brackets) in your quotes. The quote on line 2 contains ( ) characters.
HTML/IMDb mark-up is not supported in the quotes section. The quote on line 2 contains mark-up <<... a labyrinth is built to bewilder the mind of man. Its architecture, however rich in symmetries it might be, is subordinate to this end> which is not supported at this time. Please remove the mark-up.
This item also has warnings, you must acknowledge each one before this item will be accepted.
The character name for speaker #1 does not match the cast list. The character name Title Card does not match this person's character name in our cast list. If you are certain this is okay, please ignore this warning. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I tried altering the <<quote>> (the way it appears in the movie) to "quote," but I got the warning "Please do not use "quotation marks" in your quotes." Should that really apply to title cards?
I think perhaps things should be changed so that markup can be allowed in quotes when they are title cards.
Anyway, I'm going to hold off on making this submission until I get some more info here on how to proceed. Should it be like this?:
How many people are there in this quote? 1 1. Other Name: Unknown Character: Title Card
How many lines are in this quote? 2
1. [first title card]
2. Title Card (unknown) ... a labyrinth is built to bewilder the mind of man. Its architecture, however rich in symmetries it might be, is subordinate to this end J.L. Borges
Or should I put "J.L. Borges" on a third line? Or should each line on the title card be a line?
I understand them perftectly, thanks - excellent questions, all of them.
1) No thanks - we want the last lines of the actual movie, please. Trailers and other add-ons don't count, but we might take lines from after the credits if they're still actually part of the movie (though I'd prefer them to be marked as [post credits] or something similar to distinguish them from the actual last lines).
2) No thanks - bloopers, gag reels and other shenanigans designed to keep you in the cinema for an extra few minutes so that you can feel uncomfortable because you know you're holding up the staff who are waiting patiently to clear up after all the mindless oafs who left their popcorn cartons and half-empty buckets of Coke behind them, don't count. We want the last lines of the movie, please.
3) Yes, if the characters are singing the song, we'd like the last lines of the song, but we'd also like the last lines of actual spoken dialogue, please (use your skill and judgement to devise a method of marking them).
Tim
-- TGQ List Manager No, really, I work here
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IMDb member since July 2003 Post Edited: Fri Feb 10 2006 18:15:38
Sorry to reopen this pretty old thread, but I have a question about this subject. Is IMDb interested in first lines /last lines for all regular movies in the database, even if those lines are rather uninteresting and the movie hasn't received any votes?
I couldn't find a direct answer in the quotes guide, nor in this thread. Except for this quote,
if you're interested in helping out you can do so by keeping a special ear open for the first and/or last lines of any movies you submit quotes for.
which seems to imply to me you can only add first lines / last lines if you are submitting other quotes for the film (or if they are already present).
Possibly. But it's possible to build a convincing argument that it's actually quiet interesting to discover that extraordinarily deep or thrilling movies, otherwise packed to the gunwales with profound or exciting dialogue, open with something like, "Pass the potatoes, Mother."
I've added first and last lines without adding any others (and amended existing quotes to include [first lines] or [last lines]) and they were accepted.
Note that early in this thread Tim wrote, "Don't let this take over your quote spotting (we need memorable quotes more than we need first/last lines), and don't worry if you miss them or forget - it's just another fun project to add more top stuff to the site."
Shouldn't this whole discussion be summarized and included in http://imdb.com/Guides/quotes ? Or at least a link should appear there to the discussion. On the quotes guide there is no indication of any particular interest in first and last lines.
I've added a paragraph to the end of the guide. I should note here that the top 1000 list has been stuck at around 25% complete for months now (because generally about 20% of the movies on that list have not yet been released, that's usually around 200 titles).
You can describe actions, or other stage directions, in square brackets. As it says at http://www.imdb.com/updates/guide/quotes, you can do them either as part of a quote or as on a line of their own.
I was reading over the "Braveheart" quotes, and I thought they were well-chosen. I wish they were in order as to how they appeared in the movie, however.
I also wish there were no overlap. There is at least one I spotted in quotes attributed to Stephen of Ireland.
Do we have any Braveheart fans bravehearted enough to tackle this project? I'm afraid I'm due at work in a few hours and do not have the time!
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IMDb member since April 2001 Post Edited: Thu Jun 22 2006 02:10:41
Sorry to ressurrect this old gem.
I was submitting the last scene/last lines for Mildred Pierce (19450 but realised it does give the game away somewhat in regards to the plot. Should I not bother with this or is there a rule about including [SPOILER] somewhere in the quote?
Oh, and can someone positively identify the detective in the last scene for me, please?
IMDb member since June 2001 Post Edited: Thu Jul 20 2006 11:24:04
The general policy is that people concerned with spoilers shouldn't be reading quotes.
True enough, though if someone happens to submit a quote with a spoiler and that is the only quote for that title, it will appear on the main page for that film.
"Life is a hideous thingummy"
"Life is no way to treat an animal, not even a mouse"
I had no idea this thread was so old! Nevertheless, the post I'm replying to has a very valid point. Can we assume that if the last line of the film is the only quote available, that it won't appear on the film's main page (in case it's a spoiler)? This should be relatively easy to program. Naturally, nobody would ever take the first line of a film to be a spoiler. (I watched the film TIMESCAPE(1992) = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104362/ yesterday, and the last line, although only one word, is a big spoiler.)
"I am Mr. Snrub ... yes, that will do ..." Honga-Hula!
IMDb member since October 2000 Post Edited: Thu Feb 8 2007 15:05:45
True enough - in fact, sometimes (as with a locked-room mystery I watched this weekend), even the speaker(s) of the last lines can be a spoiler, revealing who survives.
That's a display issue, outside my department, but I'll point it out to the relevant people and make sure it's being handled properly.
Update: There's no official time to do this, but the relevant person will try to sneak it in under another project.
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if a quote is submitted already....in one case the whole first conversation between two people in a movie...which starts with the first lines..is there already but it isn't labelled with [first lines]...i was gonna submit the first line of the movie then saw that was there...now should i:
A: just submit the first line/conversation with the first line labelled as [first line]
B: click on correct for the one already there and just put {first line} so that it's pointed out
Another question:
is there a way of finding out if first line and/or last line has already been submitted and is already there?
other than i guess clicking on find in top window and typing in first line and seeing if it comes up as labelled
one final question:
when someone submits a first line nowadays...does it go to the top of the quotes after it's accepted? cos whoever is checking it and accepting it is obviously seeing that it's the first line...so why can't they put it up at the very top....then people just havet o check at the top of the quotes to see if someone has already done a first line
i think that if somenoe does a first line AND last line of a movie together that both should go at the top.....and even if someone only does a last line...it should go at the top too
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Seems like it might be a good idea to add the hitlist link to the Quotes Guide page, alongside the link to this discussion.
Also, at present the links from the first lines/last lines hitlist page lead to the movies' main pages. It would be handier to have them lead to the quotes pages for those movies. Handier still would be if they led to an Update Quotes page with the first lines and last lines fields filled in with those tags already, but that might be tricky to do.
IMDb member since October 2000 Post Edited: Fri Nov 30 2007 01:39:40
I think linking to this thread is more than enough clutter for the guide -- since this thread includes a link to the hitlist page, anyone sufficiently interested should find it.
It should, in theory, be practical to link to the quotes pages -- I've got to pester some people soon anyhow to get some changes made in related areas, so maybe I'll pester on this subject while I'm at it. The rest, alas, isn't as practical. Note that the quotes page might be empty -- but that's no longer the problem it was when the czone page launched.
While I'm here, I'll note that coverage has lately been hovering around the 30% level for eligible titles -- at the moment, that's 279 out of 841 titles, or 33%.
IMDb member since January 2004 Post Edited: Tue Jan 29 2008 12:39:59
:) Hello me, again. Well, I read through the thread, but I still have a couple of questions. The first one is with the songs. How should it be handled for the following:
- Song is written for the film / plot-related and performed by one of the characters - Song is written for the film / plot-related and not performed by a character - Song is not written for the film / plot-related, but is sung by a character - Song is not written for the film / plot-related and not sung by a character
My instincts say yes on the first two, no on the latter.
Also, what if you're submitting to a TV episode that's a two or more part split, i.e. an animation episode with two stories? Would it be okay to to do:
[first lines -- "Name of First Story"]
and later [first lines -- "Name of Second Story"]
Or instead -- [first lines] ["Name of First Story"]
Edit -- also, what if the last lines are in an end-tag during the closing credits?
I'll start at the end: I believe Tim said originally that "last lines" that are in an unrelated end credits tag (e.g., outtakes) don't count.
In order to get it marked properly, I think you need to separate the "first lines" from the stories -- like your second example.
Going back now to the start of your post: Only songs performed onscreen count, and only those related to the plot. Thus, the closing sing-a-longs that have become so popular these days (several Farrelly Brothers films, Shrek films, Mr. Bean's Holiday, etc.) do not count, even though they are sung onscreen.
I'll start at the end: I believe Tim said originally that "last lines" that are in an unrelated end credits tag (e.g., outtakes) don't count. Good to know. Thanks!
In order to get it marked properly, I think you need to separate the "first lines" from the stories -- like your second example. Perfect. That's the way I'll do it then.
Going back now to the start of your post: Only songs performed onscreen count, and only those related to the plot. Thus, the closing sing-a-longs that have become so popular these days (several Farrelly Brothers films, Shrek films, Mr. Bean's Holiday, etc.) do not count, even though they are sung onscreen. Makes sense. I'll keep that in mind too.
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Just because it's the first line in a film does not automatically make it memorable. Just because it's the last line in a film does not automatically make it memorable, either.
Your concerns are addressed in the OP/Announcement post from Tim at the top of this thread
Won't this generate a lot of banal old rubbish? Possibly. But it's possible to build a convincing argument that it's actually quiet[sic] interesting to discover that extraordinarily deep or thrilling movies, otherwise packed to the gunwales with profound or exciting dialogue, open with something like, "Pass the potatoes, Mother."
You always have the option of voting any quote as Not interesting. At least for now1, it could result in the quote being moved toward the end of the list.
1I continue to hang on to the minuscule possibility that at some point quotes will be listed in order of their appearance in the film.
gromit82
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» Mon May 10 2004 07:04:28Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2001
Post Edited: Tue Jul 1 2014 06:12:08
Now that the new quotes form is live, it seems like a good time to launch a project we've been thinking about for quite a while.
Regular visitors to the quotes pages will have noticed that some films have quotes marked with the tags...
[first lines]
or
[last lines]
(guess what the tags mean
...and because it's always such a popular trivia subject, we'd like to extend our coverage of first/last lines.
We'll be putting a list of top titles with no first/last line in the Contributors Zone soon, but in the meantime, if you're interested in helping out you can do so by keeping a special ear open for the first and/or last lines of any movies you submit quotes for.
So what's a first line, then?
For the purposes of the quotes list, the first line(s) of a movie is the first speech (including opening narration) that isn't just "background noise" or other chatter.
Since we can also list title cards (select "other" from the pulldown and enter "Title Card" in the character name box), we'll accept them in addition to the first spoken lines (where they exist). Please head these [first title card].
Take The Great Escape (1963), for instance. This begins with a title card (which we can list). The first spoken word is "Auslangen", followed by other orders and general chatter in German from the camp guards (which we won't list). The first proper, scripted dialogue is about the beds in the first hut we see (these are the [first lines]).
Please put the tag on its own line. Just add an extra line to the quote when you select the number of lines, leave the characters on the first line unchecked and enter the tag in square brackets (as above). The quote can be one or more lines (bear in mind our usual preference for brevity, though). It will eventually display as:
[first lines]
Captain Weasel: I knew those Martians were going to be trouble.
Last lines?
A very similar definition, really: the last spoken lines of the movie that aren't just background noise or chatter. Tag them the same way. Title cards are also acceptable in addition to the last spoken lines.
Won't this generate a lot of banal old rubbish?
Possibly. But it's possible to build a convincing argument that it's actually quiet interesting to discover that extraordinarily deep or thrilling movies, otherwise packed to the gunwales with profound or exciting dialogue, open with something like, "Pass the potatoes, Mother."
Let's just try it and see where it gets us.
Thanks
Don't let this take over your quote spotting (we need memorable quotes more than we need first/last lines), and don't worry if you miss them or forget - it's just another fun project to add more top stuff to the site.
Tim
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Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Mon May 10 2004 07:27:50Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since February 2000
Ooh, tempting!
I've had a few "last lines" ideas planned for years, but one of my question is, what if they're used in other parts of a movie, like Corey Feldman in The 'burbs(1989), and Sandy Dennis in The Out-of-Towners(1970)? Speaking of Sandy Dennis, I'm trying to give an accurate description to set up the last line in her most famous role, and I'm not so sure how I should lead users into it.
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Mon May 10 2004 07:59:47Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2001
Post Edited: Mon May 10 2004 08:09:11
I think widening it to include the last lines of individual characters within a film is opening up a whole new can of kettled fish of an entirely different feather. We do already include a number of memorable exit lines, but I've only started noticing them recently and I've not settled on a standardized tag for them yet (I've been going along with whatever submitters are calling them).
So, yes, by all means do that as well, but this project is more about trying to build a decent list of first/last lines of movies - if we keep it manageable for now, we can think about specifically adding stuff like that later.
Tim
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Re: first lines/last lines quote tag correction?
» Mon May 10 2004 09:12:44Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2001
You should arrive at a screen with a pulldown that asks how many lines there are in the quote. It should say "1" when you get there. Change it to 2, hit continue and you'll get a screen with two slots (the existing line will be in the top one and the bottom one will be empty). Copy and paste Charlie's line into the second box and highlight his name there. Deselect his name in the top box (click on the white space or control-click his name) and enter the tag [last lines].
I think we'll stick with [last lines] even when there's only one line, for consistency.
Tim
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Re: first lines/last lines quote tag correction?
» Tue Feb 24 2009 07:39:51Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since March 2003
"You should arrive at a screen with a pulldown that asks how many lines there are in the quote. It should say "1" when you get there. Change it to 2, hit continue and you'll get a screen with two slots (the existing line will be in the top one and the bottom one will be empty). Copy and paste Charlie's line into the second box and highlight his name there. Deselect his name in the top box (click on the white space or control-click his name) and enter the tag [last lines].
"
/B WHERE???? B/
How do I arrive at a screen with a pulldown menu? I've been using IMDB for YEARS and have never found a way (ANY way) to add a memorable quote to a movie' data listing. Seriously!
Finding answers to questions is nearly impossible -- you spin us in circles with 'generic advice' that no one needs and ignore the real questions.
This reminds me so much of eBay -- which NEVER will EVER admit making an error -- always sending a user to a listing of "mistakes USERS make", never that they, """EEEBBAAYY""", ever made.
It's a bad thing, being related in anyway to ebay, believe me! THEY SUCK! -- regardless how many billions of dolars they might make each day.
Don Brennecke
There are no ordinary moments; there's never nothing going on
Re: first lines/last lines quote tag correction?
» Tue Feb 24 2009 08:28:57Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since May 2000
TIMdb was apparently responding to a question about adding a [last lines] tag to a quote that had one line.
Quotes can only be processed by starting at the Title, not the performer's page. From the main Title page or the Quotes page, click on the yellow Update button near the bottom of the page.
Select Correct/Delete from the dropdown menu beside Quotes. (This will be the only item available if you started from the Quotes Page or will be the last item in the Plot & Quotes Section if you started from the Main page.) Click the Continue button at the bottom of the page.
Select Correct from the dropdown menu in the Action column beside the item you wish to change. Click Continue.
The resulting form will have the specified question in the top portion, following the name of the character and actor.
Note: TIMdb's advice is now somewhat obsolete. The system has changed in the last four years. While the instructions given will work, there is an easier way, particularly when adding the tag to longer quotes.
Don't make any change to the number of lines. Just key in the [last lines] tag at the beginning of the first quote line, and click Continue. The system will create a first line and move the tag to it, thus accomplishing the work of shifting all the lines down by one automatically.
This is also a quick way of adding blank lines at the beginning of a quote if, for example, you need to split the first line to add an interjected line from another character that was missed by the original submitter.
--------------
The process for adding a quote is very similar, except that you will need to select Add 1 item (or however many you wish to add) instead of Correct/Delete from the first dropdown menu.
This will bring up an empty form with Choose in the two menu boxes beside the questions "How many people are in this quote?" and "How many lines are in this quote?"
You will have to select the numbers needed and add the characters before the form will open the second part of the form to allow you to enter the data.
Note that you can always increase the numbers (of items to add, number of characters and number of lines) if you made an error at the beginning (up to the maximums permitted). You can also decrease the numbers, but note that the system will remove all items above the new number whether they have data in them or not with no warning!
Hope this helps.
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Mon May 10 2004 09:52:09Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since December 2001
Alright - I usually hadn't done anything with quotes, so I did a test run of this first lines deal: When you get the chance, could you please take a look at update 040510-164827-046001? If you could let me know if this is what you were looking for, I'd appreciate it, so I didn't run amock without getting it down right. :)
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Mon May 10 2004 09:57:58Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2001
Post Edited: Mon May 10 2004 10:00:03
Spiffing.
I'd prefer [last lines] instead of [Last lines] (keeping it all lower case like keywords), and I'm experimenting with starting stage directions in lower case, too (except where they start with proper nouns, natch), but it's just what I was looking for. The lengthy setup gets around the problem of the first line actually being a bit dull on its own
Would you object to my reproducing it here so people understand what we're on about?
Tim
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Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Tue May 11 2004 01:51:12Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since December 2001
Absolutely not - Go ahead. I only wish it had been for a slightly better movie, but c'est la vie :)
Thanks much for clearing up the questions I had - I'll get to work on these, then.
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Tue May 11 2004 02:01:43Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2001
Post Edited: Tue May 11 2004 02:02:35
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) is a classic of modern cinema, surely
It's tricky to reproduce what you'd see on the form, but this is what will be published:
[first lines]
[after an extended action sequence with a training robot which then attempts to revive itself and sneak up on her]
Lara Croft: Stop!
It illustrates perfectly my concerns about the ordinariness of some opening lines, but it serves a purpose and, in truth, I find it faintly amusing.
But the point is, now when someone says, "I wonder what the first line of Tomb Raider is," they'll know exactly where to look.
Thanks
Tim
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Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Tue May 11 2004 11:25:03Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since March 2000
Any hope for allowing non-English entries for these first/last line quotes? The description of extended action scene of Tomb Raider before the first line just made me think about the beginning of Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö (1990) by Aki Kaurismäki, which has 12 minutes of silent events and then finally the first line is the Finnish language beer order "Pieni olut".
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Tue May 11 2004 11:29:36Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2001
Sorry, but until we can employ native speakers of languages other than English to maintain the quotes list, no.
Tim
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TGQ List Manager
No, really, I work here
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Wed May 12 2004 00:38:40Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since September 2000
Wouldn ́t it be a good idea to try to list all quotes in order of appearance in a film? Then the quote-list would start with the first line, end with the last line and quotes that are accidently listed twice, but slightly different will be noticed more easily.
Maybe this could be done the same way as updating the character name item: With the possibility to give the quotes numbers to register the order of appearance in a film.
Greetz Marco.
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Wed May 12 2004 00:56:10Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since December 2001
oOf. OK, first of all - let me say it's a fine idea -- in theory. But I can see several problems right off the bat - I feel it'd be fairly complicated to implement, and extremely prone to innacuracies - Not the least of which would be mistakes on the part of submissions. But, there would also be hazy definitions: Where would Samuel L. Jackson's definitive 'Pulp Fiction' speech go? Would it be repeated thrice? While it's possible to do it (And, hell, I'm sure someone who's actually affiliated with IMDb would give a better answer), I just think implementing something that's intuititive and easy to use along the lines of what you're talking about would take a lot of resources - resources that have yet to be used to list keywords in alphabetical order (As a slightly easier example of sorting than the one you're referring to). That's just my opinion, and I'm not saying it's a bad idea or anything, but that's just my take on the matter.
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Wed May 12 2004 01:10:06Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2001
It's definitely something we're thinking about, and we've got a couple of ideas we'd like to explore (we'd like something that would work for goofs, too) but it's some way off yet.
Tim
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Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Wed May 12 2004 13:50:09Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since April 2002
Another problem would be getting newly submitted quotes put in the right place sequentially; not every submitter is going to be careful about that - they might not even be sure as to the right place. The whole process would involve constant revision for a number of titles.
Also, I think IMDb is cautious about the possibility of quotes getting to the point where they're practically reproducing the screenplay on the quote page. I'm sure they have some idea of what's an ideal limit for the number of quotes for a title, but I don't think anyone's ever mentioned it.
Gary Krause
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Tue May 18 2004 05:13:40Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2000
I do recall that, a few years back, we had a note that quotes for The Princess Bride would no longer be accepted, due to the general quotability of the script and the feeling that we had a sufficiently large chunk of it already. Not sure if that still applies, and I don't think the note is still there - that was 1 or 2 quotes list maintainers ago.
Add first lines/last lines instructions to Quotes Guide?
» Mon Jul 5 2004 22:15:48Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since June 2001
Post Edited: Thu Nov 18 2004 20:30:06
I was thinking about adding some first/last lines, and it took me a while to find this post with the instructions that I remembered seeing. Can these instructions be added to the Quotes Guide?
Should quotes with, e.g. the [first lines] tag be listed first automatically? I noticed on The Godfather http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/quotes that it isn't listed first.
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Tue Jul 6 2004 00:03:56Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2001
Can these instructions be added to the Quotes Guide?
1) Yes, excellent idea - I'll draft something for the help page as soon as I get a spare half hour. Thanks.
wasn't sure what the "quotes pages" ... were.
2) Sorry, just shorthand - by "quotes pages" I just mean the page on each title where the quotes are.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/quotes
for example
Should quotes with the [first lines] tag be listed first?
3) In a perfect world, yes, but see the discussion above for the problems we're already having with the ordering of quotes. I can reliably get the [first lines] to the top of the list, but the way things work at this end would mean that the [last lines] would keep getting bumped up by new additions, and I'd be the first person to forget to bump them back down again. I think this is something best left until we've devised an automatic system.
Tim
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No, really, I work here
listing first lines first, last lines last
» Sun Nov 25 2007 12:36:15Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since June 2001
Is there any movement on trying to automate the placement of "first lines" to the top of the quotes list, and "last lines" to the bottom of the quotes list? I noticed for the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for example, that they're both preceded and followed by many others.
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Fri Jul 9 2004 09:08:56Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2000
I should mention that we are working on a page somewhere in the czone of the most popular titles with their first/last line status; we've currently got a raw data file, but still need to convert it to something more readable thanbefore posting it (and, more importantly, get it automatically updated in our page-serving system). For what it's worth, the excerpt above means: Matchstick Men (2003) has both first and last lines; House of Sand and Fog (2003) has a last line but no first; Y tu mamá también (2001) has neither.
Current stats: Of the top 1000 (most searched) titles, we already have 12 first lines and 71 last lines, with 3 titles having both. Because some of those titles are not yet released, we will never have all 1000 covered; I may try to get the unreleased titles removed from the list before we post it.
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Fri Jul 9 2004 11:52:35Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since March 2000
If non-English quotes are disallowed, how 'Y tu mamá también (2001)' is supposed to ever have any quotes as the film is in Spanish? Adding translated quotes sounds unauthetic...
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Fri Jul 9 2004 18:02:54Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2000
Well, our standard response has been to use the "official" translation from subtitles/dubbing, but I'll let Tim decide here. If he says no, then I'll also get the list filtered for non-English titles.
'first title card' question and other lines questions
» Sun Jul 11 2004 02:45:05Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since June 2001
TIMdb wrote above, "Take The Great Escape (1963), for instance. This begins with a title card (which we can list). The first spoken word is 'Auslangen', followed by other orders and general chatter in German from the camp guards (which we won't list)."
It's been a while since I've seen The Great Escape, so I don't recall what sort of title card it had. If I understand it correctly, something like the first lines of the text scroll at the beginning of the Star Wars movies, or the epigrams at the beginnings of Kill Bill Vol 1, and Ravenous could be added?
Also, I was wondering how many lines should be included in first or last lines. If a movie begins with a character answering a phone, for example, and says "Hello? Who's speaking? I'll be right there," should only "Hello?" be included, or one or two or more additional lines? (I had submitted "Michael. Right?" as the last lines to Soderbergh's The Underneath, and they went through. I would have submitted it as "Michael... right?" but since the subtitles had it the other way, that's what I went with.) Or if a movie ends with an exchange between two characters, for example: woman 1 "Can I borrow your car?" woman 2 "OK", then is "OK" the last line, or can the last lines be composed of multiple characters' dialogue?
Oh, and can [first lines] AND [last lines] be added to the existing memorable quote for Silent Movie (1976)?
Re: 'first title card' question and other lines questions
» Sun Jul 11 2004 04:11:51Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2001
Opening title cards and crawls are acceptable, as long as they're labelled as such.
Opening and closing dialogue is acceptable, too. Don't be too dogmatic about it being the "last line", that's why the tag is [last lines] not [last line] (it can be just the last line if that's appropriate, but the tag will always be [last lines] - ditto first lines).
Please don't rely on subtitles or screenplays - there's no guarantee that either is an accurate representation of what was actually said in the movie. In your example, I prefer your punctuation to the subtitle writer's.
Silent movie - actually, it probably should, although IIRC it already says something like [only spoken word in the movie]
Tim
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Re: 'first title card' question and other lines questions
» Sun Jul 11 2004 04:55:16Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since June 2001
"Please don't rely on subtitles or screenplays - there's no guarantee that either is an accurate representation of what was actually said in the movie. In your example, I prefer your punctuation to the subtitle writer's."
I certainly wouldn't rely on a screenplay, and wouldn't rely solely on the subtitles (I've seen them differ slightly from spoken dialogue often enough). In this case, I was just using the subtitles to help decide on punctuation. There's quite a pause between the two words, so the period rather than ellipsis they used seemed OK and I went with it.
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Re: Furrin' Films
» Fri Jul 16 2004 11:32:31Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since July 2000
Post Edited: Fri Jul 16 2004 11:36:14
I'm fairly sure Tim's comment was directed at English-language films in which case we should not rely strictly on punctuation or phrasing as given in screenplays or subtitles. With regard to foreign-language films it has indeed been the typical recommendation to use dubbing sound or subtitles or other 'official' translations in quotes submissions, at least if they are accurate.
Peter Brandt Nielsen : : IMDb-dk: http://www.topica.com/lists/imdb-dk/
first title card: credited epigrams + 'firstname lastname' (qv)?
» Sun Jul 11 2004 23:57:56Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since June 2001
If a movie begins with a titlecard that has an epigram, and the epigram is credited to someone who has an entry on the IMDb, can 'firstname lastname' (qv) be put in the quote, and result in a link?
Re: first title card: credited epigrams + 'firstname lastname' (qv)?
» Mon Jul 12 2004 00:10:30Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2001
I believe it can.
Tim
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Re: first title card: credited epigrams + 'firstname lastname' (qv)?
» Wed Jul 14 2004 19:58:24Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since June 2001
I just started to submit a [first title card] for Occhio nel labirinto, L' (1972).
It appears onscreen like this:
<<... a labyrinth is built to bewilder
the mind of man. Its architecture,
however rich in symmetries it may be,
is subordinate to this end>>
J.L. Borges
I started to submit it as two lines:
How many people are there in this quote? 1
1. Other Name: Unknown Character: Title Card
How many lines are in this quote? 2
1. [first title card]
2. Title Card (unknown) <<... a labyrinth is built to bewilder the mind of man. Its architecture, however rich in symmetries it might be, is subordinate to this end>> 'Jorge Luis Borges' (qv) (as J.L. Borges)
However, I got these warnings:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This item has been rejected. You need to correct this item before it will be accepted.
Please do not use (brackets) in your quotes.
The quote on line 2 contains ( ) characters.
HTML/IMDb mark-up is not supported in the quotes section.
The quote on line 2 contains mark-up <<... a labyrinth is built to bewilder the mind of man. Its architecture, however rich in symmetries it might be, is subordinate to this end> which is not supported at this time. Please remove the mark-up.
This item also has warnings, you must acknowledge each one before this item will be accepted.
The character name for speaker #1 does not match the cast list.
The character name Title Card does not match this person's character name in our cast list. If you are certain this is okay, please ignore this warning.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I tried altering the <<quote>> (the way it appears in the movie) to "quote," but I got the warning "Please do not use "quotation marks" in your quotes." Should that really apply to title cards?
I think perhaps things should be changed so that markup can be allowed in quotes when they are title cards.
Anyway, I'm going to hold off on making this submission until I get some more info here on how to proceed. Should it be like this?:
How many people are there in this quote? 1
1. Other Name: Unknown Character: Title Card
How many lines are in this quote? 2
1. [first title card]
2. Title Card (unknown) ... a labyrinth is built to bewilder the mind of man. Its architecture, however rich in symmetries it might be, is subordinate to this end J.L. Borges
Or should I put "J.L. Borges" on a third line? Or should each line on the title card be a line?
Thanks.
Re: first title card: credited epigrams + 'firstname lastname' (qv)?
» Wed Jul 14 2004 20:37:57
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Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Sun Oct 9 2005 01:17:13Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2001
I understand them perftectly, thanks - excellent questions, all of them.
1) No thanks - we want the last lines of the actual movie, please. Trailers and other add-ons don't count, but we might take lines from after the credits if they're still actually part of the movie (though I'd prefer them to be marked as [post credits] or something similar to distinguish them from the actual last lines).
2) No thanks - bloopers, gag reels and other shenanigans designed to keep you in the cinema for an extra few minutes so that you can feel uncomfortable because you know you're holding up the staff who are waiting patiently to clear up after all the mindless oafs who left their popcorn cartons and half-empty buckets of Coke behind them, don't count. We want the last lines of the movie, please.
3) Yes, if the characters are singing the song, we'd like the last lines of the song, but we'd also like the last lines of actual spoken dialogue, please (use your skill and judgement to devise a method of marking them).
Tim
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Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Fri Feb 10 2006 18:14:59Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since July 2003
Post Edited: Fri Feb 10 2006 18:15:38
Sorry to reopen this pretty old thread, but I have a question about this subject.
Is IMDb interested in first lines /last lines for all regular movies in the database, even if those lines are rather uninteresting and the movie hasn't received any votes?
I couldn't find a direct answer in the quotes guide, nor in this thread. Except for this quote,
which seems to imply to me you can only add first lines / last lines if you are submitting other quotes for the film (or if they are already present).
_______________
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Fri Feb 10 2006 18:25:09Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2003
i would say yes. being eligible for entry already says its worthy enough for updating and stuff.
--
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http://www.squackle.com
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Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Fri Feb 10 2006 21:07:52Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since May 2001
As Tim wrote early in this thread:
===============================================================================
Won't this generate a lot of banal old rubbish?
Possibly. But it's possible to build a convincing argument that it's actually quiet interesting to discover that extraordinarily deep or thrilling movies, otherwise packed to the gunwales with profound or exciting dialogue, open with something like, "Pass the potatoes, Mother."
Let's just try it and see where it gets us.
===============================================================================
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Fri Feb 10 2006 21:05:16Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since May 2001
I've added first and last lines without adding any others (and amended existing quotes to include [first lines] or [last lines]) and they were accepted.
Note that early in this thread Tim wrote, "Don't let this take over your quote spotting (we need memorable quotes more than we need first/last lines), and don't worry if you miss them or forget - it's just another fun project to add more top stuff to the site."
So don't sweat it.
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Sat Feb 11 2006 17:57:33Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since July 2003
Okay, unless Tim says otherwise, I will assume I can add any first line/last line.
_______________
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Sat Feb 11 2006 22:17:06Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since June 1999
Shouldn't this whole discussion be summarized and included in http://imdb.com/Guides/quotes ? Or at least a link should appear there to the discussion. On the quotes guide there is no indication of any particular interest in first and last lines.
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Mon Feb 13 2006 15:22:26Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2000
Good point.
I've added a paragraph to the end of the guide. I should note here that the top 1000 list has been stuck at around 25% complete for months now (because generally about 20% of the movies on that list have not yet been released, that's usually around 200 titles).
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Mon Feb 13 2006 18:39:27Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since June 2001
I found the paragraph you added at http://imdb.com/updates/guide/quotes but not at http://imdb.com/Guides/quotes. Is there a reason for the two different sets of guides, or should these be intergrated onto a single page?
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Tue Feb 14 2006 22:13:50Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2000
Post Edited: Sat Feb 18 2006 02:00:03
/Guides/ is obsolete. You shouldn't be looking there. It may go away soon to avoid confusion.
Edited to add: Is there a pointer to /Guides/ somewhere that you followed, or was this just from an old bookmark you had?
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Sat Apr 29 2006 15:25:57Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since June 2001
Don't remember. http://imdb.com/updates/guide/ links there and http://www.imdb.com/czone/research links to that.
"Life is a hideous thingummy"
"Life is no way to treat an animal, not even a mouse"
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Wed May 3 2006 00:55:35Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2000
No, it doesn't (the first, not the second - yes, /research links to /guide, but /guide does not link to /Guides).
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Sat Apr 29 2006 11:51:54Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since March 2006
what about describing a action
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Sat Apr 29 2006 19:36:34Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since January 2000
You can describe actions, or other stage directions, in square brackets. As it says at http://www.imdb.com/updates/guide/quotes, you can do them either as part of a quote or as on a line of their own.
Steve
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Mon Feb 13 2006 11:11:37Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since January 2001
Tim,
I submitted both the first and last lines for King Kong (1976), but only the first lines were accepted (051214-092104-105004). Can I ask why?
Also, now that full episode support is here, would you have any objection to having first/last lines for individual episodes?
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Fri May 5 2006 21:25:56Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since April 2001
I was reading over the "Braveheart" quotes, and I thought they were well-chosen. I wish they were in order as to how they appeared in the movie, however.
I also wish there were no overlap. There is at least one I spotted in quotes attributed to Stephen of Ireland.
Do we have any Braveheart fans bravehearted enough to tackle this project? I'm afraid I'm due at work in a few hours and do not have the time!
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Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Thu Jun 22 2006 02:08:15Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since April 2001
Post Edited: Thu Jun 22 2006 02:10:41
Sorry to ressurrect this old gem.
I was submitting the last scene/last lines for Mildred Pierce (19450 but realised it does give the game away somewhat in regards to the plot. Should I not bother with this or is there a rule about including [SPOILER] somewhere in the quote?
Oh, and can someone positively identify the detective in the last scene for me, please?
Thanks.
http://www.iknit.org.uk/knitariver.html
http://www.wateraid.org/knitariver
Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Thu Jun 22 2006 14:18:20Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since November 2003
Jreeves recently (http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000042/nest/44357680) had this to say on spoilers in quotes:
So I guess you can just submit them and not include any tag.
quote spoilers
» Thu Jul 20 2006 11:23:44Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since June 2001
Post Edited: Thu Jul 20 2006 11:24:04
True enough, though if someone happens to submit a quote with a spoiler and that is the only quote for that title, it will appear on the main page for that film.
"Life is a hideous thingummy"
"Life is no way to treat an animal, not even a mouse"
Quotes as spoilers
» Sat Jan 27 2007 11:33:49Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 1999
I had no idea this thread was so old! Nevertheless, the post I'm replying to has a very valid point.
Can we assume that if the last line of the film is the only quote available, that it won't appear on the film's main page (in case it's a spoiler)? This should be relatively easy to program. Naturally, nobody would ever take the first line of a film to be a spoiler.
(I watched the film TIMESCAPE(1992) = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104362/ yesterday, and the last line, although only one word, is a big spoiler.)
"I am Mr. Snrub ... yes, that will do ..." Honga-Hula!
Re: Quotes as spoilers
» Tue Feb 6 2007 00:24:36Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2000
Post Edited: Thu Feb 8 2007 15:05:45
True enough - in fact, sometimes (as with a locked-room mystery I watched this weekend), even the speaker(s) of the last lines can be a spoiler, revealing who survives.
That's a display issue, outside my department, but I'll point it out to the relevant people and make sure it's being handled properly.
Update: There's no official time to do this, but the relevant person will try to sneak it in under another project.
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Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Sat Jan 27 2007 05:02:54Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since January 2004
if a quote is submitted already....in one case the whole first conversation between two people in a movie...which starts with the first lines..is there already but it isn't labelled with [first lines]...i was gonna submit the first line of the movie then saw that was there...now should i:
A: just submit the first line/conversation with the first line labelled as [first line]
B: click on correct for the one already there and just put {first line} so that it's pointed out
Another question:
is there a way of finding out if first line and/or last line has already been submitted and is already there?
other than i guess clicking on find in top window and typing in first line and seeing if it comes up as labelled
one final question:
when someone submits a first line nowadays...does it go to the top of the quotes after it's accepted? cos whoever is checking it and accepting it is obviously seeing that it's the first line...so why can't they put it up at the very top....then people just havet o check at the top of the quotes to see if someone has already done a first line
i think that if somenoe does a first line AND last line of a movie together that both should go at the top.....and even if someone only does a last line...it should go at the top too
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Re: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Sat Jan 27 2007 06:14:55Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since January 2004
ok thanks Chicago..got it..i'll do it the B way
add hitlist to guide page, change hitlist links to quotes pages?
» Sun Nov 25 2007 12:55:16Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since June 2001
Seems like it might be a good idea to add the hitlist link to the Quotes Guide page, alongside the link to this discussion.
Also, at present the links from the first lines/last lines hitlist page lead to the movies' main pages. It would be handier to have them lead to the quotes pages for those movies. Handier still would be if they led to an Update Quotes page with the first lines and last lines fields filled in with those tags already, but that might be tricky to do.
Re: add hitlist to guide page, change hitlist links to quotes pages?
» Fri Nov 30 2007 01:38:00Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2000
Post Edited: Fri Nov 30 2007 01:39:40
I think linking to this thread is more than enough clutter for the guide -- since this thread includes a link to the hitlist page, anyone sufficiently interested should find it.
It should, in theory, be practical to link to the quotes pages -- I've got to pester some people soon anyhow to get some changes made in related areas, so maybe I'll pester on this subject while I'm at it. The rest, alas, isn't as practical. Note that the quotes page might be empty -- but that's no longer the problem it was when the czone page launched.
While I'm here, I'll note that coverage has lately been hovering around the 30% level for eligible titles -- at the moment, that's 279 out of 841 titles, or 33%.
Re: add hitlist to guide page, change hitlist links to quotes pages?
» Tue Jan 29 2008 05:09:42Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since January 2004
Post Edited: Tue Jan 29 2008 12:39:59
:) Hello me, again. Well, I read through the thread, but I still have a couple of questions. The first one is with the songs. How should it be handled for the following:
- Song is written for the film / plot-related and performed by one of the characters
- Song is written for the film / plot-related and not performed by a character
- Song is not written for the film / plot-related, but is sung by a character
- Song is not written for the film / plot-related and not sung by a character
My instincts say yes on the first two, no on the latter.
Also, what if you're submitting to a TV episode that's a two or more part split, i.e. an animation episode with two stories? Would it be okay to to do:
[first lines -- "Name of First Story"]
and later [first lines -- "Name of Second Story"]
Or instead -- [first lines] ["Name of First Story"]
Edit -- also, what if the last lines are in an end-tag during the closing credits?
Re: add hitlist to guide page, change hitlist links to quotes pages?
» Thu Jan 31 2008 18:17:38Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since October 2000
I'll start at the end: I believe Tim said originally that "last lines" that are in an unrelated end credits tag (e.g., outtakes) don't count.
In order to get it marked properly, I think you need to separate the "first lines" from the stories -- like your second example.
Going back now to the start of your post: Only songs performed onscreen count, and only those related to the plot. Thus, the closing sing-a-longs that have become so popular these days (several Farrelly Brothers films, Shrek films, Mr. Bean's Holiday, etc.) do not count, even though they are sung onscreen.
Re: add hitlist to guide page, change hitlist links to quotes pages?
» Fri Feb 1 2008 04:34:29Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since January 2004
I'll start at the end: I believe Tim said originally that "last lines" that are in an unrelated end credits tag (e.g., outtakes) don't count.
Good to know. Thanks!
In order to get it marked properly, I think you need to separate the "first lines" from the stories -- like your second example.
Perfect. That's the way I'll do it then.
Going back now to the start of your post: Only songs performed onscreen count, and only those related to the plot. Thus, the closing sing-a-longs that have become so popular these days (several Farrelly Brothers films, Shrek films, Mr. Bean's Holiday, etc.) do not count, even though they are sung onscreen.
Makes sense. I'll keep that in mind too.
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gromit82
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8 years ago
» Wed Nov 25 2015 10:32:38Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since September 2000
Bumped because of its historical value.
Marco.
Re: ANSWERED: first lines/last lines - new quotes project
» Wed Apr 20 2016 02:20:30Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since September 2000
Bumped for same reason.
Marco.
Post deletedThis message has been deleted by the poster
I detest the juvenile "first lines/last lines" quotes game.
» Wed Apr 20 2016 10:28:34Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since March 2003
Just because it's the first line in a film does not automatically make it memorable.
Just because it's the last line in a film does not automatically make it memorable, either.
Re: I detest the juvenile "first lines/last lines" quotes game.
» Wed Apr 20 2016 11:19:37Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since September 2004
Hey ZK,
Your concerns are addressed in the OP/Announcement post from Tim at the top of this threadYou always have the option of voting any quote as Not interesting. At least for now1, it could result in the quote being moved toward the end of the list.
1I continue to hang on to the minuscule possibility that at some point quotes will be listed in order of their appearance in the film.
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