MovieScheduler

 


MovieScheduler

What is MovieScheduler?
People who would like to test the beta version can currently try the software for free! See bottom of page for details.

Energy In Motion's MovieScheduler is a tool that helps people who like to see multiple movies when going to the Movie Theatre. It finds the optimum combination of movies and show times according to criteria supplied by the movie goer. Without this software, one has to look at movie schedules and figure out which movie to see when. The more movies one wants to see, the more complex this task is. A typical movie theatre with 20 screens has more than 40 000 combinations of movies and show times!

Some might think that only people who engage in "movie hopping" (paying for one movie, and then sneaking into the subsequent movies without paying) would like to use this tool. I beg to differ. I almost always see multiple movies when I go to the movie theatre, and I pay for all of them. I just find it more efficient that way!

Oh, who am I kidding. Nobody believes me anyway! The point is, whether you sneak in movies or pay for them, you'll appreciate this tool. Just do me these favors (which I think will make movie going a more enjoyable experience for everyone around you):

  • Don't go in and out of movies while they're playing. Choose what movies you see carefully. Once the movie has started, watch the whole thing. It's annoying for the people who are enjoying the movie when others keep walking around during a movie.
  • Keep your feet on the ground. It's very frustrating when you turn around only to see (and smell) a pair of feet 6 inches from your head. Just as frustrating is when your seat keeps vibrating because the person behind you is fidgetting; so, don't even touch the seats in front of you.
  • All the other obvious stuff: be quiet, don't throw food, etc.

Top Features

  • Extremely quick -- examines tens of thousands of combinations in less than 1 seconds. Yet, it looks at ALL possible combinations. It will find all the possible schedules, every time.
  • Friendly user interface. The scheduler is so friendly, it doesn't even need a help file (Ok, the real reason it doesn't have a help file is because I haven't had time yet).
  • Find optimium schedules among multiple theatres.
  • Tweak your schedule just the way you want it! You decide:
    • how many movies to see
    • the maximum wait time between movies
    • the maximum total wait time
    • the maximum overlap between movies (if you don't mind missing previews!)
    • the earliest time to start
    • the latest time to finish
    • which theatres to look at
    • which movies to look at
    • which showtimes for each movies to look at
    • which candidate movies are more important than others (for example, "I'd absolutely want to see The Matrix 2 and Phonebooth, and the 3rd movie can be Master and Commander or ...")
  • Automatically download listings from the Internet. No need to enter listings information manually!

Here are some screenshots showing the steps a user would typically go through to create a schedule.



When the MovieScheduler is started, the "Listings Provider" view is shown. In this case, there's only one provider -- MovieTickets.com. The user can select which date to build a schedule for, and which provider to get listings from.


Each Listings Provider has its own property sheet, with its own list of theatres for which to get listings. The user can add the movie theatres he goes to here; this list is saved for future sessions. After this is configured (which should happen just once, the first time the Scheduler is used on a machine), it is very quick to build a schedule.


After the listings are downloaded, they can be viewed in MovieScheduler's tree view. It shows all the theatres, movies and show times. Each of these can be enabled/disabled individually. If for some reason it was impossible to download the listings (for example, a Listings Provider's site was down), then this is where the user could enter the listings information manually. That's certainly not as convenient as downloading the listings automatically, but every attempt was made to make the process as quick and painless as possible.


If there are multiple theatres in your listings, you can disable all instances of a movie in this Movie List. (i.e., "I really don't want to see Mona List Smile -- regardless of where it's playing). You can also mark a movie as a "must see" ("The Butterfly Effect seems like a good movie, so all schedules generated MUST include at least that movie").


The options tab lets you fine-tune various schedule parameters. The idea is to limit the number of valid schedules generated to a reasonable-length list. Again, once those are set, they'll probably stay the same most of the time. These options are saved locally and restored every time the MovieScheduler is started.


Finally, the schedule builder tab shows the schedules that satisfy the specified parameters. This list can be re-ordered, printed, copied, etc. This print-out is the list that you bring with you to the movie theatre. It's very convenient to be able to have a few schedules in the list; that way, if for some reason or other you can't attend one of the movies in the schedule you were trying to follow, you can easily switch to another schedule.


If you are interested in trying out this software, please run the setup package. If you have any comments, please send us an email. You can also send us an email at that same address if you want to be be added to the MovieScheduler beta testers' mailing list (you'll only get emails when there's a new release of the MovieScheduler available, and your email address won't be distributed to anyone else).

All in the name of friendly competition, you can also take a look at Xanthian's movie scheduler.

Also, if you like going to the movies, you probably like watching movies at home, too. If you live in Canada, I highly recommend Movies For Me. They're an online movie rental service (just like Netflix in the States). You choose your movies online, and they mail them to you. You can keep the movies as long as you want. When you return a movie (in the pre-paid envelope they send you with the movies), they send you the next one on your list. They have a great movie selection, and are extremely fast. I signed up for my membership on Thursday night, and by Monday at noon I had my first shipment of 3 movies in the mail!