Film Watch
Centralizing and simplifying the movie viewing experience
Too Many Options, So Little Time
In the current movie viewing landscape, we have become overwhelmed with the plethora of options available. In addition to the traditional brick and mortar model of seeing a movie in theaters (pre pandemic), the number of streaming platforms have skyrocketed, becoming a crowded marketplace for a consumer.
Meet Rick
Rick really values the experience that movies provide him - from escapism to original storytelling - he spends every free moment trying to watch new content. Unsurprisingly, in addition to being a regular moviegoer (pre pandemic), Rick has subscriptions to all the major streaming platforms - Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Apple TV+, and Disney+. However, with all of these subscriptions, it’s hard for him to keep up with what movie is available on what platform.
How Can We Enable Movie Watchers To Easily Find & Access Movies Available Across Multiple Platforms?
The Solution
Film Watch provides a central place for movie watchers to see what movies are available to stream or to watch in theaters
Select by Type
Choose movies that are available for streaming or in the theaters.
Play on a Streaming Platform
For movies available to stream, choose your preferred platform.
Watch in Theaters
For movies available in theaters, purchase a ticket. Receive an alert when the movie becomes available to stream.
Engage with the Community
Provide and ask for movie recommendations, take polls, or view curated movie lists.
The Process
Since the problem had largely been predefined as part of the project requirements, much of the work focused on breaking down the user goals and task flow, ideating, creating lo-fi wireframes, and finalizing the hi-fi solution.
User Goals and Task Flow
As a movie watcher who has to separately navigate each platform to see the latest additions or upcoming releases (pain point), Rick wants to spend less time aimlessly searching and more time watching (need). His goal is to more easily discover new movies across streaming channels and theaters.
This goal can be accomplished through the task of finding a current or upcoming movie to watch. The actions that Rick takes depend on whether he starts the selection process immediately or if he solicits support from the community.
Interactions
The task flow was translated into features that would help Rick accomplish his goals of finding a new movie to watch. The movie selection process and community engagement were broken down into interactions, and translated into sketches containing different variations.
Selection by Type
In order for the user to choose a movie across different platforms, it was important to distinguish whether streaming and theaters were mutually exclusive or if they could appear together.
In Version 1, streaming and theaters are not mutually exclusive since the homescreen is segmented by movie type, whereas in Version 2, the homescreen is segmented by platform, making streaming and theaters distinct choices. In Version 3, streaming and theaters both occur as primary destinations in the bottom tab bar with each being segmented by movie type.
Ultimately, Version 2 was chosen since it addresses the user’s task immediately by jumpstarting the experience via the homescreen. Additionally, segmenting by platform provides a clearer decision point as an action to take for the user.
Community Engagement
The community aspect of the experience was integrated if the user actively solicited help with his decision and needed information before finding a movie.
In Version 1, the user can respond to others in the community inquiring recommendations for certain movies by liking or disliking the movie being asked. He can also ask for a recommendation himself.
Version 2 displays a forum where the user can view and respond to threads from the community about various movie topics, or create his own thread.
Lastly, Version 3 contains polls about different movie topics that the user can view and take part in.
Ultimately, a combination of Version 1 and 2 were chosen to provide quick, bite sized engagement that would help the user achieve his task.
Wireframes
Home and Discover
The selection by type and community engagement sketches were translated into Home and Discover screens, respectively. Home provides the primary path for the user to accomplish his task by segmenting movie content by platform type. Discover offers an alternate way of fulfilling the task through community content that include recommendations, polls, and curated movie lists.
Lo-fi Wireflows
In addition to the Home and Discover wireframes, the remaining wireframes were mapped out and compiled to create wireflows that display all the paths the user can take to find a movie to watch.
Finalizing the Solution
The final solution showcases how our movie watcher Rick uses Film Watch to find a new movie by navigating through Home and Discover.
Retrospective
It’s not always possible to include usability testing on every project. This was the case with Film Watch due to timing. As a group project that came predefined with requirements and existing data, the project focused on translating the information into interaction design that effectively addresses the user’s problem. Nonetheless, testing the solution would have been beneficial in determining any issues that could provide further refinement.