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Keywords

Updated 15-August-2022



Keywords - Overview

A keyword is a word (or group of connected words) attached to a title (movie / TV series / TV episode) to describe any notable object, concept, style or action that takes place during a title. The main purpose of keywords is to allow visitors to easily search and discover titles.

  • A keyword can be a single word (waterfall) or a phrase with words separated by a dash (world-war-two; running-away-from-home)
  • Keywords should be lower-case

    • Before submitting a new keyword check to see what already exists. A list of the keywords currently being used can be displayed by clicking on the gray list icon ( ) next to the keyword field.

    Unacceptable keywords

  • Plurals - Use singular words. For example, trains should be train

  • Episode-specific keywords submitted to the TV series page - Keywords submitted to the TV series page should be relevant to and describe the entire series. Keywords that are specific to a particular episode should be added to that episode only.

  • Accented words - For example, café should be cafe

  • Foreign words - Keywords should be in the English language

  • Repeating the title - For example adding shawshank-redemption as a keyword to the title Shawshank Redemption. If the movie Shawshank Redemption is mentioned or referred to during a title, you can use the keyword reference-to-shawshank-redemption

  • Repeating genres - For example, we have the genres Romance and Drama so you can submit these as genres to the title rather than submitting the keyword romantic-drama. For an exceptional genre on an episode that does not relate to the overall series, please see the -episode special keywords below.

  • Production Company - The production company for a title will not be accepted as a keyword (e.g. amazon-studios)

  • Distribution Company - The distribution company for a title will not be accepted as a keyword (e.g. netflix)

  • Standalone names - This includes actors/actresses/crew members/real life people. For example:

    •     marilyn-monroe
        tony-blair
        john-williams
        tom-cruise
        albert-einstein


    Exception: We accept name keywords with a relevant descriptive signifier. Examples:

        reference-to
        parody
        satire
        sketch
        interview


    Examples of these in practice:

        reference-to-marilyn-monroe
        tony-blair-parody
        john-williams-satire
        tom-cruise-sketch
        albert-einstein-interview

    Special keywords

    There are some keywords that trigger specific display functions on the site:

    reenactment  Used for a Documentary so that actors portraying scripted people are not listed as 'Self' if they have a character name. 
    non-fiction Used for a non-Documentary title, like a Talk-Show, to indicate that the people are portraying themselves.
    tv-special Affects the display of a title; it will say 'TV special' instead of 'TV movie' at the top of the page. Also acts like the non-fiction keyword.
    tv-mini-series Affects the display of a title; it will say 'TV miniseries' instead of 'TV series' at the top of the page.
    hardcore | sex These two keywords, combined with the Adult genre, will restrict the display of a title to those people who have chosen to see adult titles
    -character Used to denote a character's appearance in a title. The formatting should be presented as the name of the character first, followed by "-character". So, for Star Wars, we'd list Han Solo as "Han-Solo-character". This can be used for both fictional characters, and fictional portrayals of real life people (including when someone is playing a fictionalized, scripted portrayal of themselves). Please note that if the character is recurring in a series the character keyword should only be added to the parent and not individual episodes.

    There are some keywords that have a specific meaning:

    f-rated Used for any title which is either directed by a woman and/or written by a woman.
    triple-f-rated Used for any title which is directed by a woman, written by a woman and features significant women on screen in their own right.
    -episode Used on an episode of a series to assign a genre where that particular episode is "out of the ordinary" and is unlike most others in the series i.e. "musical-episode" on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling. Especially useful for anthology series.
    plot-timeframe

    Used to specify what timeframe the title’s plot is set in.

      • The level of precision can be either period, century, or decade and all applicable precisions can be contributed to a title.

        For example, Fences (2016) is set specifically in the 1950s, so should have the keyword “timeframe-1950s” but can also have the keyword “timeframe-20th-century”.

      • If the plot moves between multiple timeframes, then the title should have a keyword for each.

        For example, Back to the Future (1985) moves between the 1950s and 1980s, so should have the keywords “timeframe-1950s”, “timeframe-1980s” and “timeframe-20th-century”.

     

    The timeframe keyword should only be applied to the plot of the title, not the decade that the title was produced and released.
    For example, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope was released in 1977, but shouldn’t have the keyword “timeframe-1970s“ applied to it, as it isn’t set in the 1970s.


    subgenre

    Used to specify which subgenres apply to the title. For a subgenre to be valid, it should play a meaningful part in the overarching plot/setting/medium of the title.

    For example:

      • An adventure film that has one scene in a jungle should not have the subgenre “jungle-adventure”.

      • A comedy that has one joke about death should not necessarily have the subgenre “dark-comedy”.

      • A CG-animated film that has one 2D-animated scene should not have the subgenre “2D-animation”.

     

    Duplicate Keywords

    To report a duplicate keyword please go to our contact form and let us know the details of the keywords you think should be combined.

    Tracking your contribution


    You can now track the status of your Certificates submission and if it has not been approved within your Contribution History, we'll tell you the reason why.

    More information on how to do this can be found on our tracking help article. 

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