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Introducing: Subgenre & Plot Timeframe Keywords
We’d like to announce an update to our Keywords help article, which now defines specific formats for Subgenres and Plot Timeframes. This is part of an effort to make our keywords more standardized and structured, in order to aid title discovery.
In short, Subgenre keywords specify which subgenres apply to the title, and are suffixed with the corresponding genre (e.g. “jungle-adventure”). For example, most of the plot in The Jungle Book (1967) involves an adventure in the jungle, so this title should have the subgenre "jungle-adventure".
Plot Timeframe keywords specify what timeframe the title’s plot is set in and are prefixed with “timeframe-”. For example, Fences (2016) is set in the 1950s, so this title should have the keyword “timeframe-1950s” but can also have the keyword “timeframe-20th-century”.
Thanks as always for all your feedback – please feel free to post your questions and comments to this thread.
keyword_expert
2.7K Messages
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47K Points
4 years ago
I recommend adding the word "sample" to the help article language regarding subgenres, as shown in bold below:
Otherwise, there is an implication that the listed values are the only values that will be accepted. That would be wrong, because there are easily dozens, if not hundreds, of acceptable subgenres that are not included on the list.
Just taking horror subgenres, for example, the list does not currently include acceptable subgenre keywords like gothic-horror, body-horror, eco-horror, war-horror, retro-horror, erotic-horror, redneck-horror, giallo, video-nasty, etc.
Then there are numerous subgenres that can cross genres, for example creature-feature, teensploitation, nunsploitation, bikersploitation, social-guidance, drug-scare, etc.
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bradley_kent
1.7K Messages
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28.9K Points
4 years ago
"war-horror" is a bad subgenre since it combines two genres that could be more effectively listed unter genres. Keywords that just combine genres were supposedly outlawed, weren't they?
P.S. Still waiting for "war-romance" to be deleted.
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bradley_kent
1.7K Messages
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28.9K Points
4 years ago
The list of subgenres continues to astound me.
First, the subgenres that combine two genres should be removed. IMDb's own guidelines prohibits them:
"Repeating genres - For example, we have the genres Romance and Drama so you can submit these as genres to the title rather than submitting the keyword romantic-drama. For an exceptional genre on an episode that does not relate to the overall series, please see the -episode special keywords below."
This outlaws: biographical-documentary, crime-documentary, history-documentary, music-documentary, sports-documentary, tragedy-drama, sports-talk-show, crime-reality-show, comedy-talk-show and any other "bad" keyword that might combine genres. All should be deleted from this list.,
Second, some are just superfluous and redundant: sitcom-comedy (which should probably be situation-comedy), docudrama-drama, costume-drama-history (duh?), etc.
Third, many are just plain silly: psychological-drama, psychological-horror, psychological-thriller (Are none of the other genres "psychological"?). suspense-mystery (Isn't every mystery suspenseful?).
I could go on and on, but... whoever created this list needs to go to college and take a course in dramatic theory so they understand the difference between "genres"and "subgenres." As an ex-college professor, I taught such a class, and a student who came up with such an extenuated and repetitive list would surely fail.
Why, this list does not even include valid subgenres like farce, high-comedy, low-comedy, screwball-comedy, neo-screwball-comedy, melodrama, slapstick-comedy, neo-noir (for God's sake!).
I see most of these fanciful and indulgent subgenre keywords just "cluttering up" the keyword lists, with rampant inconsistencies and subjective judgements (whims?) that just invalidate any usefulness as a research tool. Most could easily be searched by entering the keyword, and then the genre. You are making research more difficult.
And, for any of these to be valid, you will need to define everyone and then go through the millions of title on IMDb to see where they might be applicable. Good luck!
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hurdy_gurdy_man
60 Messages
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1.4K Points
4 years ago
May I ask: Why?
Why turn perfectly satisfactory existing keywords redundant while forcing such unwieldy looking and sounding keywords down our throats? A simple keyword like "1980s" is enough to denote that the film is set in, and is in some way representative of, that decade. We don't need an additional word like "timeframe" to know that it denotes a time frame - it is self-explanatory in itself!
Worse thing is, I cannot even delete or correct these timeframe keywords. They are like those sticky posts on a forum.
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Peter_pbn
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16.2K Messages
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349.1K Points
4 years ago
The list of subgenres in the guide has apparently been changed recently. Comparison with a version from last week:
Removed:
river-adventure
forest-adventure
superhero-adventure
observational-comedy
sitcom-comedy
sketch-comedy
stand-up-comedy
art-and-entertainment-documentary
dramedy-drama
historical-drama
soap-opera-drama
alternate-history
operetta-musical
cozy-mystery
locked-room-mystery
cricket-sport
e-sport
golf-sport
gymnastics-sport
hockey-sport
horse-sport
hunting-and-fishing-sport
rugby-sport
swimming-sport
tennis-sport
volleyball-sport
all entries with -music
all entries with -news
all entries with -reality-tv
all entries with -talk-show
Edited:
caper-crime (from caper-mystery)
winter-sport (from winter-sports-sport)
Added:
team-action
car-action
island-adventure
live-action-animation
body-swap-comedy
raunchy-comedy
showbiz-comedy
slapstick-comedy
drug-crime
buddy-cop-crime
art-documentary
entertainment-documentary
environmental-documentary
academia-drama
costume-drama
showbiz-drama
animals-family
kids-family
body-horror
interdimensional-sci-fi
other-sport
racket-sport
Examples and descriptions have also been added.
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bradley_kent
1.7K Messages
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28.9K Points
4 years ago
I am trying to Iive with the new subgenres, although most still seem very subjective and superfluous. The "understanding" of their definitions and distinctions do not seem universal, but only specific and exacting to one or a few particular contributors.
They open up the floodgates to a deluge of additional keywords, particularly to older titles that often seem to be neglected in keyword discussions.
I still adamately believe that:
One, subgenres should not just combine two or more genres;
and,
Two, regarding tv series, subgenres should be listed ONLY at the series level, unless, of course, if it is an anthology series, when the keyword should be subgenre-episode.
Besides these two points, I, personally, plan to avoid auditing/editing these subjective subgenre keywords for most (any? all?) titles. I'll leave that to others.
Similarly, I have not added, corrected nor deleted any "timeframe" keywords because I have found so many mistakes, particularly those that confuse the "setting" content of a title with its release date year. I'll leave those to the rest of you, too.
The "horde" of subjective subgenre-keywords wait on the mountaintop, ready to invade and inundate the keyword database. There are millions and millions that need to be added. Go for it!
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