Movie buffs in Portland, Oregon have a new search tool at their disposal. According to a recent LA Times blog entry, the brain behind Reel.com has launched a new movie search engine using knowledgeable video store clerks – not an algorithm – to find movies that match a user’s tastes and moods.
Stuart Skorman, the guy behind Reel.com, created ClerkDogs, utilizing 22 former video store clerks who individually rate films and develop recommendations based on a range of attributes, such as character depth, suspense, humor, complexity and genre. The video clerks meet regularly to make sure they rate consistently.
The new search engine asks people to enter the name of a movie, and then ClerkDogs will find films with the same level of similar movie attributes. The results can be tweaked by the user by using a sliding control to include more or less of an attribute.
The films in ClerkDogs’ database come complete with plot synopsis, rating, acting and directing credits, professional movie reviews and a list of awards and movie trailers. How all of this will assist movie lovers in Portland, Oregon, is still to be determined, but one thing is sure, we’ve always had more successful movie recommendations from our video clerks than we have had from using an engine (RottenTomatoes or Amazon) to filter results.