paulgrigby's profile

1 Message

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70 Points

Thursday, November 10th, 2016 1:07 AM

2

Photosensitive Epilepsy and Movies/TV

For years I have been looking for a resource to know what movies/ tv episodes I should avoid because they contain flashing images. There are no references online to help the epilepsy community and I was wondering about a governing body which could regulate this and warn those with epilepsy which movies/tv shows to avoid. 
My idea is a traffic light rating system - Green (Safe) Amber (Safe but with one or two instances to be wary of) and Red (Not advised for those with Epilepsy) with timecodes for any parts with flashing images for those who still want to watch and avoid the unviewable segments.
1 in 26 people will experience epilepsy in their lives, and as an epileptic myself, I feel this is something that IMDb could implement, but by myself with limited resources, I couldn't realistically make happen. Many films have triggered a seizure with no prior warnings, and as a movie lover, it would be amazing to have a referral guide to keep me and others safe to enjoy content.
I am part of a large reddit community, and we all agree this is something that is needed. Please help us make this happen!

Champion

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7.4K Messages

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275K Points

8 years ago

Paul: This idea has been suggested before. See https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/photosensitivity-warnings.

My advice would be to encourage people to put information about flashing images into the FAQ for each movie. This way, the information could start to be compiled, and if IMDb ever chooses to develop a separate section to cover photosensitivity warnings, the information will already be available for some films to get that section started.