Film boffins can now connect with other movie lovers through a new mobile app.
Filmaster is a free mobile movie check-in and recommendation app that connects film buffs both locally and around the globe.
Makers of the app by the same name say: “Think Foursquare for film.”
Based in Poland, Filmaster is aimed at quickly providing users with top movie suggestions for cinemas, TV and rental that fit their personal taste.
Borys Musielak, owner and tech leader of Filmaster says: “Thanks to the powerful social recommendation engine...[you can] check-in to screenings and shows, interact with friends and film lovers like yourself in your area and collect badges to win prizes.”
Aiming high
He explains that it's aimed at the consumer who wants to avoid bad movies. “Ideally, [he/she] would like to have a personal guide that tells [him/her] what's worth watching in [their] area or on TV that perfectly matches [their] own taste.”
Currently getting recommendations from colleagues, reading film synopses in newspapers or going to sites like IMDB which have an average ranking for most movies, then checking the show times, combining that information and deciding what's worth watching is a lot of effort, Musielak says.
Actually, he says, viewers would skip all that and end up watching Avatar only because they saw ads for it everywhere.
“Filmaster gives [the user] only a few best choices: go watch Inception in Odeon Leicester Square at 19 or Pretty Woman on Channel4 at 20 or Fantastic Mr Fox in Ritzy,” Musielak says, adding that it would work even if the user moves to a different location.
The early adopter could be a film buff, he notes. Hypothesising about the early adopter, Musielak says: “He's been constantly looking for a powerful film app for his mobile phone. He's an IMDB mobile user which he finds useful for getting factual info about movies and he's been experimenting with movies and a few other apps mainly to get local show times.”
The user, he explains, rates a lot of films, and is eager to discover new movies worth watching, both among old flicks and new blockbusters. He also leads a very active social life; has many friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter and he wants to bring them all to Filmaster to have one place for their film discussions.
Though there may be many like him, Musielak states, there are probably not enough to monetise an app made strictly for them. “Thus, we need to also target the 100 to 200 million smartphone users in big cities and towns of US and Europe.
“They are more likely to be using only these three features of Filmaster: checking the local show times, checking into screenings to tell friends what they are planning to watch and finding out who else is planning to go.”
Social integration
Although it is Poland-based, users can access it globally, “but TV listings will be available for US, UK and Poland only for now” Musielak says.
There is also integration with social media, aside from the personalised streams and comments on listings. “Twitter & Facebook integration will work from day one,” Musielak says. “Foursquare integration is planned for the second release.”
In the area of mobile check-in and recommendation services, Filmaster is competing with GetGlue (a general culture/leisure app), Miso and BeeTV (TV recommendations) or even general geo-location apps like Foursquare and Gowalla, to name a few but Musielak is upbeat about the app taking off.
“We're assuming that the currently non-mobile apps (Jinni, Criticker and others) will eventually go mobile becoming our major competitors. We want to be big in the mobile at that time, though.
We're positioning ourselves between Flixter and GetGlue. We want Filmaster to be the default movie app that mobile users launch to get show times, read about the film, check in and socialise.”
Filmaster may only be available up north for now, Commonwealth countries, including SA, will be next on the list.
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