User:Erikster/Film article expansion guide
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Contents |
[edit] Introduction
This guide is meant to help expand the content of film articles. Though the guide is generally oriented toward comic book film adaptations, video game film adaptations, and science fiction films, the information enclosed can be applied to most other film articles, or even articles on other subjects, for expansion. In tandem, the comic book film template by ThuranX is recommended for usage to structure the information accordingly in the intended expansion. The guide will review my personal methodology for improving film articles.
[edit] Article review
To begin improvement of the film article, it is best to review the current content. Information lacking citation may or may not be true, so the first step is to keep the content in mind. If you come across a citation that matches the information in the article, then the simple step of adding the reference can be taken in the article.
[edit] News archives
To prepare a section such as "Project history" for a film that may have had extensive media coverage since, the best idea is to access the news archives of movie news aggregator sites. The headlines can often be found in chronological order, and information can be collected from the earliest headline to the most recent headline to trace out the path of a film's development. Below are several movie news aggregator sites that have news archives which I have used in the past:
*Personal favorite news archives for valid information.
[edit] Source review
The most important step in including new information in a film article is citing sources. Not only should sources be cited, they should be reliable sources. If a news article about a film refers to a secondary source, then the secondary source should be explored if possible. Sometimes news articles provide a direct link to the secondary source's news article, and sometimes news articles just state the publisher of the secondary source. While the latter style is more difficult to follow up, other steps can be taken to uncover the original article. Other news archives can be explored at the approximate date to find similar coverage with access to the original article. Another step to take is to use Google to uncover the original article. For example, if SuperHeroHype.com and FilmForce IGN both reference Variety as a source but do not provide a link to the original article, then the original article can be searched for using Google.
To best use Google to find these original articles, advanced search operators are recommended to be used to narrow the search. For example, Variety's articles can be found on their domain, variety.com. By searching for site:variety.com as one of the keywords, Google will return search results only from that domain. The search can be further narrowed by adding keywords that would be specific to that article. For example, directors are often "attached" to new film projects at the beginning, so by Googling site:variety.com "John Doe" attach, the original article about the director being attached to the film project may come up. Searching for the original articles is often a dynamic process. However, the most reliable sources are authoritative sources, and the original article is often informative and compelling enough to qualify as such.
[edit] News updates
There are various methods to continually improve the article as films go through production and post-production. RSS feeds and news aggregators can be used to keep up to date. I use Google Alerts that e-mail a new headline to my Gmail account when the headline is indexed in Google News. Google Alerts can be set for specific keywords to highlight the appropriate headlines that potentially have contributive information to Wikipedia's film articles. Listed below are some examples of keywords that I have set up with Google Alerts. Furthermore, I have labeled these incoming headlines in Gmail with "Movie News" so the films are archived for future reference. Also, be aware that not all headlines will specifically be about the film; oftentimes there are "dud" articles which mention your target film in a throw-away closure.
- "christopher nolan" "the dark knight"
- "i am legend" "francis lawrence"
- "zack snyder" watchmen
- "iron man" "jon favreau"
[edit] Conclusion
This guide only covers one of the many aspects of improving and maintaining a film article. There are many different ways to draw information together on a film article. A template can be applied to the article, and the structure can be further fine-tuned by having dialogue with other editors on the article's respective talk page. The most important part of editing is to adhere to Wikipedia's important policies. Many film articles, new and old and upcoming, could always use substantial improvement in terms of content and/or structure. Be bold in accomplishing both.
