Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-04-20/WikiProject report

Whether you're into sofa-hugging horror, edge-of-your-seat action, side-splitting comedy or even just a good old-fashioned romantic, Wikiproject Film is the ideal WikiProject for any serious film-goer. With over two hundred active members and countless featured articles, the vast world of media covered by the group is still surprisingly easy to navigate and above all, an enjoyable experience. We asked one of the project's new co-ordinators, Collectonian, about the Project and her personal experience in the field.



I'm a fairly active editor at Wikipedia, having found it to be a great place to enjoy my love of research and my love of writing in a way that matches my interests, personality, and attention span. I am most active in three project areas: Anime and manga, Films, and Television, though I have also dipped into a few company articles, one or two biographies, and Texan organizations, cities, and historical landmarks. I am a strong believer in Wikipedia's notability guidelines and in following the policies here, and have worked hard over the last few years to learn how to work on a cooperative environment as it goes against my "real-world" nature. Though I've had my rough spots, as most active editors do at one time or another, I can honestly say I love being an editor here and I consider it one of my top "hobbies".
 * Tell us a little about your Wikipedia life.

The second article I ever edited after registering was a film article, Python. Nearly a year later, the third article I would create would be Python II (theme?). As I began working on other film articles, I noticed the Films template on their talk pages, including ones being added to the article I'd created, so I followed the link to the project. I began learning more about the project, the MoS and so on, and finally joined up in September 2007.
 * How did you discover WikiProject Films?

I'd say that my primary contributions have been in applying basic MoS fixes and clean ups to many film articles, helping to expand, clean up, and de-vandalize articles in the Disney and Sci-Fi B Movie realm, and participating in many discussions in both articles and the projects to help improve articles and guidelines. I have also created eight film articles, though the earlier ones are not the best of quality (makes note to revisit those).
 * How have you contributed to the Project as a member?

As noted in my intro to the other coordinators, beyond just generally hoping to be helpful, I'd like to help the project revive or retool some of its "dead" departments, like Films based on books, to help get editor focus up and reduce "drift away" memberships caused by inactivity in some areas. I'd also like to help get the project really working on getting more GA and FA level articles in the areas of articles that should, to me, be "easy" ones. Disney films, for example, tend to have a ton of reliable sources because Disney loves to publish books about itself. Yet the vast majority of its film articles are stubs and starts. I'd also like to see the Core film articles getting more attention and improvement, as many are sadly still just "Start" class.
 * How do you plan to contribute as a director?

One would be taking Category 6: Day of Destruction, Maneater, and Grizzly Rage to GA level. All are "B-movies", which generally have some of the worst articles in Films because, well, most people think the films suck. However, I have a love of such films, and was pleasantly surprised to find myself able to pull together the necessary reliable sources to craft quality articles for each of these films. The second would be my work on White Dog, also now a GA. This was a highly controversial film that was suppressed from theatrical and DVD release in its home country of America because of threats of boycotts. In coming across its article, I was surprised to find nothing but a little stub about what, to me, was a key film of its decade. So I began the extensive research, and subsequent writing, to give this film the article I felt it deserved, having seen it a handful of times during insomniatic nights a decade ago and never forgetting it.
 * What are your favorite achievements in the WikiProject?


 * What advice would you give to a new member of the Project?

Hmmm...first, since we usually leave a custom Film's welcome message on new members, I'd say please take some time to read that message and explore the links. It has a lot of good info in a small package. Come read the Film's talk page and fill free to start contributing when you feel comfortable. Don't be afraid to ask if you have questions or need help. In general, we don't bite so long as you don't ;-) If you want to jump in and edit your favorite film article, just make sure to read over the WikiProject Films/Style guidelines and learn how to source items. Not sure what article to start on? Why not go through our list of ones needing some love and give it a whirl! Remember, you really can't "break" anything as all edits can always be undone if you make a mistake, so don't let fear hold you back from digging in. Oh, and remember, IMDB is not a reliable source.

Wow...this is one of the hardest questions of all because I generally have a hard time doing one "favorite" anything, but it books, films, etc. Half the time it just depends on my mood, and usually I answer by saying if its in my collection, its a favorite. I guess if I were to attempt to narrow it down some, I'd have to go with the ones I've watched multiple times. The Shawshank Redemption and Cry-Baby are both films I've literally watched every single day for a week or more at one time or another. Despite its length, I've watched The 10th Kingdom more times than I can remember as well. Of the lesser known films, I'd have to say Night of the Lepus for its sheer cheesy hilarity (killer bunnies!), Eyes of an Angel for its touching story, and White Dog for its powerful message.
 * And finally, what is your favorite film of all time?