The Movie Database Support

1.Within the past month, I have noticed two instances where someone (two different people) has re-uploaded an image that I put up after resizing it to be smaller and I'm wondering why? I can tell they are mine because of the unique editing that I did. In both instances, I uploaded a 4K poster (1440x2160) and someone took them and resized them to 1000x1500. I'm just curious why? Should I just stick to 1000x1500 from now on? I know the maximum is 2000x3000 but that's larger than a 4K screen could show for a 2:3 poster which is why I stick with 1440x2160 most of the time when possible. I don't usually go back and check my uploads so I'm not sure if it happens more often or not. Pretty sure one of those guys down-voted my image after re-uploading it too. haha

2.Did I read somewhere here on the forum that if we find a movie that has a poster with all the names, quotes, logos, etc and there is an alternative poster that has been uploaded with none of that stuff on there (clean), then we should report it so that the clean version can be set as primary? Did I read that somewhere or am I imagining that? :D If so, I will start to do that because I have run into that on a few occasions and was never sure if I should report it or let it go. I prefer the clean versions and that's all that I ever upload when I do.

3.About voting etiquette. So this has been my philosophy for voting: 99% of the time, I only upload posters that I think are legitimately better than whatever current posters are uploaded. If there is already something great uploaded, then I won't waste my time seeking out a poster and cleaning it up. That results in me usually down-voting all existing images. I usually use 0.5 and 10 scores when voting and will sometimes use other scores if I can move some of the clean versions above the others. Is this acceptable? Or perhaps I should not vote for images except for my own whenever I upload? I don't want to be an ***. Like I said, I won't usually upload an image if I think there is already a better one on here. I guess it could look like I am just trying to get my images to the top for selfish reasons when in fact I legitimately believe that the image should be on top.

4.What are your thoughts on how far an image should be edited? Is it ok to take it further than just photoshoping out logos, names, etc? The main things that I do to posters beyond cleaning it is darken blacks, brighten whites, more vibrant colors, no orange skin, sharpen. Only when applicable, of course. An example: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11465-great-balls-of-fire/posters Compare the top two images. I toned the color for skin and hair and removed color from everything except for the suit and logo.

Also, what about in situations where in order to clean it, you have to remove the title and replace it with whatever font you can find. Is that ok? Some times a low quality image can be saved with sharpening and grain but the title will still look bad so it's best to remove it, save the image, and creating a new title. I've run into that situation a few times. An example: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/46338-the-leading-man/posters It's not perfect and you can certainly see the differences but I think it looks better than the alternative, no?

Also, what about creating movie posters from scratch? I've done this a few times as well. Usually because there is nothing available or whatever is available is really bad quality. I will usually take a still from the movie if I can find one and then add the title and try to make it look somewhat like a movie poster. An example: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/239567-compagna-di-viaggio/posters The other poster available is really bad quality and there isn't much point of trying to clean it so I just made up a new one. This happens rarely but it does happen.

3 replies (on page 1 of 1)

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Hi, thanks for asking and thanks for contributing! I'll try my best to respond. If another moderator types faster you may get slightly different replies, but here are my answers:

  1. Give some examples and I'll take a look. That is not OK if you ask me. The only case where that would work is if someone adds a poster that is not quite up to top quality for its size. Then making it smaller can make it just perfect. However, that is not that common.

  2. If the voting process doesn't get the clean poster to the top then yes, please do. We have been instructed to go for the "clean" look.

  3. If a poster is really good I don't think giving it a low score is fine as that wouldn't reflect your opinion of the poster. However, at times you get into situations with a slightly inferior poster as the number one and a low vote will get the upgrade to the top. In those cases, sure. From experience I have not really thought it necessary to vote down all posters or backdrops. And sometimes you just have to eat it. For example when I have added a great profile image (in my opinion) for an actress and some weeks later it's voted as one of the worst. Contributing images can be a cruel business at times. :)

  4. I say that is fine. It creates a new look for the poster (compared to the other one) meaning no duplicate in my book.

It's not perfect and you can certainly see the differences but I think it looks better than the alternative, no

Sure, that is fine. And whenever you come across a movie with width 666, you should know that it often comes from a time when that was our minimum size, meaning that quite a few posters were scaled up. When it was changed to 500 x 750 things improved.

Also, what about creating movie posters from scratch? I've done this a few times as well. Usually because there is nothing available or whatever is available is really bad quality. I will usually take a still from the movie if I can find one and then add the title and try to make it look somewhat like a movie poster

That happens quite often actually. The key is that last part: giving the image a poster feel is really important. Just be aware that there are some users that hate those full custom posters, but to me it is a good thing if executed with style.

The other poster available is really bad quality and there isn't much point of trying to clean it so I just made up a new one.

Yes, another 666 poster. I deleted it. When adding an upgrade to a really bad poster like this, feel free to report it and a moderator will delete it.

Thanks for the reply. As for the two examples in number one. Here they are.

https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/360389-nina/posters I can tell the poster that DaMan uploaded is mine because of the darkening done at the bottom (nose), the slightly more vibrant colors and the same exact crop that I did. I worked off of Salvador Dolly's upload.

https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/384737-precious-cargo/posters This one is apparent. I darkened in all the diamond lines because getting rid of the text and have it look decent was beyond my photoshop skills. BigTimmy uploaded the same image just in a smaller size.

I know some programs like Emby pull posters for users so I was wondering if maybe some program that these people are using maxes out at 1000x1500 or something. That was my concern. I know there is no such restriction on Emby but I don't know what else pulls images from here. That was my thinking when I asked about it.

As for everything else, cheers. That cleared up a few questions that I have had since I started uploading a while back. Thanks again.

I deleted both duplicates in those cases. I will ask DaMan about it soon and I will investigate BigTimmy. Sometimes it's just that some users take the "preferred resolution" information as the bible when truth is we do prefer the bigger ones (as long as quality is excellent). Thanks.

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