How To Compare Movies With Web Scraping And Get Ahead
As film fanatic my entire life, internet movie databases were my favorite sites as a child. After watching a film, I often scrolled through cast and crew information online, taking in each name like a new point on a map. My friends and I would absorb the trivia, storing it for a rainy day. I am sure other film fans can relate. Even my parents turn to internet movie data to figure out why an actor looks familiar, hoping the answer lies in their filmography.
Now, as a freelance film critic, these sites serve a new purpose. I often refer to them for internet movie data sets about release dates, casting, locations, to compare movies, etc. However, moving from page to page, it is easy to lose track of information. Thankfully, web scraping is an easy solution to the massive amounts of IMBd movie data. Whether tracking box office numbers or creating a list of your favorite directors, web scraping helps you move through the weeds of the world wide web.
If you know the basics about web scraping and online data, use the below table of contents to jump ahead and learn how you can use this data to your advantage.
Table of Contents
What Is International Movie Database And Why Is Its Information Useful?
While sites like IMDb are commonly used by casual fans to identify cast members of a film, the site has much more data and sources than meets the eye. IMDb info includes names of the cast and crew, release dates, box office data, plot summaries, actor biographies, and even reviews! All this information comes from a combination of sources including studios, filmmakers, industry sources, and of course fans that can submit data online in a similar vein as Wikipedia. With all these competing sources, the amount of IMDb info can be overwhelming, even for film buffs like me!
However, the movie data sets on sites like IMDb are crucial for fans and filmmakers alike. For industry professionals, collecting box office data helps you compare movies and monitor the success or failure of a film. For journalists, movie databases offer biographic information on cast members as well as those behind the camera. For fans, collecting trivia for your next game night or keeping track of your favorite films, actors, and directors is crucial to understanding your taste. By collecting movie data sets, you can become a smarter producer, fan, or journalist.
Web Scraping And How To Extract Data From Movie Databases
Even with piles and piles of useful internet movie data, it can be hard to navigate between movie database pages without losing track of information. This is where web scraping comes in handy! Web scraping is a quick and easy way to extract movie data, collect, and organize massive amounts of data from websites. A scraping tool scans a webpage quickly and then organizes the most useful information into a spreadsheet that is easy to download and share.
For those interested in collecting movie data sets for analysis and research, web scraping is the easiest way to do so without copious amounts of manual labor. Normally, the processes web scraping automate could take weeks, maybe months if done by hand. As I mentioned above, the information extracted by a scraper is not only organized for you, but ready to download and share easily amongst colleagues, friends, or fans.
What Purpose Does Movie Data Serve?
Once you use a scraper to collect all this movie data, it is essential to know how to use it. Depending on your role within the film world, here are some ways in which movie data is useful to collect, analyze, and compare movies!
Box Office Numbers
For producers, actors, or fans, keeping track of box office numbers is a peak into what viewers are enjoying and willing to buy tickets to. As ticket prices rise, producers and other investors should compare movies to know what kinds of films generate the most revenue in theaters. By using a scraper to collect and organize box office information on multiple films, it is easy to compare and contrast the success of a film as it relates to genre, budget, and the scope of the release. While it might be easy to assume what films will go big, the data might surprise you by revealing indie films that hit the zeitgeist, outearning studio favorites. With theaters nationwide closed due to the pandemic, indie films released on streaming are turning out to be Oscar contenders this year! Collecting this data can help you stay up to date on larger trends at play in Hollywood.
Film Journalism
As a freelance critic myself, IMDb is an easy source for basic information on different cast and crew members as well as information relating to production. As assignments add up, it can be hard to keep track of films without having to manually create spreadsheets. By using a scraper, you can extract basic information on all the films you are writing about. Doing this gives you more time to focus on the larger ideas at play instead of navigating between the dreaded open tabs again and again.
However, much more research goes into a review than a simple scanning of the facts. Critics and journalists can also use web scrapers to find old articles, reviews, and profiles to reference when writing a new piece. Extracting this information is an easy way to learn more and ensure you aren’t repeating previously published facts or stories.
Curating Your Favorites
Like any true fan, it is hard to keep track of all you’ve seen. By scraping the pages of your favorite films, you can easily keep track of your favorite actors and directors. You can also collect information such as reviews to keep track of the discourse around your favorites each year!
Awards Season
Keeping up with awards buzz can feel like a full time job! As films enter and exit the awards conversation, a web scraper can help you stay up to date when it feels like everything is being released all at once. IMDb also has data about festival prizes, giving you a glimpse into the early front runners.
Trivia Time!
For any film buff, flexing your knowledge during games of Trivial Pursuit is a must at parties. IMDb has bits of trivia on lots of films. By collecting this trivia information with a web scraper, this information will be organized for you, creating the perfect study guide for your next cocktail hour with friends!
Scraping Robot Is Your Solution For Data On Movie Ticket Sales And More!
Scraping Robot has many modules useful for those interested in film data. Whether scraping movie databases or social media feeds, Scraping Robot offersways to gather lots of data!
HTML Scraper
Scraping Robot’s HTML scraper allows you to scrape any website by inputting the URL. The scraper then provides you with the entire HTML page as output. This is useful and easy for any website, especially movie database sites with lots of crucial information on each page.
Google Scraper
By using our Google scraper, you can obtain the top 100 URL outputs for any given keyword. For example, you can input the name of an actor, director, film, or genre, and see what pages are the most popular. This information can help you identify what people are interested in and what they see when they search specific terms online.
Scraping Robot’s Google Places scraper asks you to provide a keyword and location. The output is the top 20 locations relating to the keyword. Personally, I love to visit local cinemas when I travel. Using this tool can help you find indie cinemas and other theaters near you no matter where you are. As small arts venues are struggling due to the pandemic, our scraper can help you find well reviewed spaces in need of assistance during this time.
Amazon Scraper
Amazon is one of the latest giants to start producing and streaming their own movies and miniseries. From original content to acquired festival favorites, these films have pages similar to those of Amazon products. Full of reviews, cast information, and other useful facts, scraping an Amazon page for a film can help you collect all this information in an easy, shareable document.
Social Media Scrapers
As someone who follows many of my favorite actors and directors on social media sites, I am always intrigued to discover what artists they follow for aesthetic inspiration. By using Scraping Robot’s various social media scrapers, you can gather more information on people you admire by scraping their social media accounts. You can discover who they follow, opening up your world to actors and directors you didn’t know existed.
For those in film marketing, social media scraping is a crucial way to understand viewers and what they want to see. When you compare movies, you can see what directors and actors people follow, getting a better sense of a particular actor’s star power or social media relevance. This can help you find a cast and crew that is admired and followed by many, or rising talent with a loyal fanbase.
Conclusion
In a world of streaming sites, theaters, and endless reviews, the film world holds almost too much data to handle. However, web scraping is the perfect tool to navigate immense amounts of data without feeling lost. Movie database sites like IMDb have tons of information that is easy to download and share with a scraping tool. This information can be useful for producers, actors, critics, and fans alike! By having a deeper understanding of a film’s production, history, and box office sales, film professionals can make smarter investment choices than relying on instinct alone.
The information contained within this article, including information posted by official staff, guest-submitted material, message board postings, or other third-party material is presented solely for the purposes of education and furtherance of the knowledge of the reader. All trademarks used in this publication are hereby acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.
