Changing the Rating System - State of the Theater
Ahh, hello world! Boy, it feels good to not be locked into discussing one topic at a time for once. So, I recognize that it has been quite a long time since I posted one of these updates. And for good reason I suppose! I haven't really had anything to truly update you, my readers, on. But now, I've come to realize that there are some changes that need to be made, and some things that I have been slacking on that need to be updated. So, here we are my friends, let's get right down to business in this edition of State of the Theater.
Changes to the Rating System
As some of you have noticed over the past few months, I've been fairly lenient with my scores for films. I attribute this to three main things that I plan to change. First of which is that when I write, I tend to focus on the positive aspects of things that I have seen, and while I don't necessarily mention them as much, I try my best to factor the negatives into my scores. Many times, this doesn't necessarily happen though, and I end up giving up a score that sometimes feels a bit high when I look back on it. Second of which being that I gave myself a bit of leniency when I started to use scores with .25 increments. Looking back on this, I feel like this was a means of a cop out to give better scores to films. Finally, and perhaps the biggest factor of any, I believe that my opinions of a movie tend to be better when I've seen the film recently. As a result, I could give a movie I've just seen an 8 when I really feel it should be a 7 a few months later.
So, how do I plan to fix these issues with my rating system you may ask? Well, below I've placed a few points on ways I am going to update my scores and reviews:
- Removal of .25 increments for scores. Honestly, this always felt like an easy way out, and I think it's time I revert back to simply following the system of even numbers or .5 ratings. So, starting next week, you'll be seeing films coming out with only scores of either a whole number or 0.5. Some examples being 8 or 8.5, never 8.25 or 8.75.
- Introduce more negatives into my reviews. This is something that's going to take a lot more time, as I've grown accustomed to the way I write my content. In the future, and most likely not for a month as I already have the entirety of April prepared, I will be adding more of my negative thoughts into my reviews.
- Reconsideration period of 1 month. Every month, during the last week of the month, I plan to have an article released on one of my double upload days that tackles any films that I plan to change the score on. This way, people don't have to go look through every article from the last month to see updated scores (if there is one), and they can see if a piece they enjoyed ended up getting a different score.
With these three major changes, I intend to make my scores a bit more legitimate and less lenient. I've always tried to be stern with my reviews, but I have felt I've been a bit easy on some content. Moving forward hopefully you won't see this as much!
Positives & Negatives
I haven't quite figured out a name for this section as of yet, but currently, I believe it will go by Positives & Negatives. Recently, I spoke with one of my close friends on some changes that I should make with my pieces. He suggested adding a section at the end of my pieces that give the positives and negatives of films. I thought this was a great idea, but I'm not exactly sure how I plan to implement in a means that is pleasing to the eye. I can't give anything set in stone, but I believe it will follow a format as shown below.
Positives
Point 1
Point 2
Negatives
Point 1
Point 2
By May, you will also see this feature added to the majority of my content, so keep your eyes out for that!
Updates!
I'll keep this short and sweet: I have been absolutely slacking on updating my What I'm Watching and What to Watch pages, so I will make a promise moving forward that these pages will be updated every two weeks: At the end of the first week of the month, and the third week.
Additionally, I believe I will be making some changes to "This Week's Feature." As I am forgetful and often leave one feature for multiple weeks, I believe that I will instead shift this is to a two article format, and recreate this section as "Last Month's Best." If you can guess, this will now be a section showcasing some of my favorite pieces from the last month. This will change at the beginning of every new month, so keep an eye out for that! In fact, it may already be out by the time this releases!
Upcoming Release Schedule
So, that's pretty much it for any updates I currently have for The Open Theater. Thank you all for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed this newest State of the Theater! I'm going to leave you with a bit of a tease for next week's pieces, and I hope you all have a great weekend!
Monday: The Leftovers - Season 3 Review
Tuesday: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Review & The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Review
Wednesday: Better Call Saul - Season 2 Review
Thursday: The Hitman's Bodyguard - Review & Secret Opinion Piece
Friday: American Gods - Season 1 Review
