Friday 14 June 2013

The 5 Things Quickflix Needs

Now you may have already read my post on Quickflix where I took it upon myself to critique a service I only used for a month, rather than judging it on a longer time span. However, from that short time, I found a few things that would be awesome to add to the Quickflix service and hopefully they'll see this and nod there heads before saying, "That's nice", pat my head and move on with their day.


1. A QuickPlay button
Sometimes I know what I want and I want it to play instantly. The addition of QuickPlay button on the Quickflix menu would really help in streamlining the whole arduous process of me watching a movie. It's a bit of a first-world problem gripe, but I can tell you that each time you click on a film on Quickflix, you're taken to a listing page, which is awesome, I'm an info whore, but sometimes I really just want to click on a film and have it play instantly. I know when I'm in those moods where I've been thinking about a film all day and I'll check if it's on Quickflix Play on my phone and I know as soon as I get home, I'm gonna make a cup of tea and watch it. But each time, I'm hoping it to play instantly when I click on the film, but I know that won't be the case.  So my tea gets colder and I grow more impatient as I read that Sandra Bullock was in this film and it was directed by Jon Turteltaub. Just give me my romantic comedy!

Damn this attention span!

2. A Documentary Section for film and television

Holy Christ do I love documentaries. Next to fictional films, real films are my favourite types of films. Documentaries are just another node in my search for different types of stories and sometimes I find it more awesome to fall in love with real people than a relationship I know will become distended and awful after the credits roll. Quickflix needs a doco section and with a good relationship with the guys from Madman I know there is a large selection of awesome films that could be hosted on Quickflix and it'd be great for them to get out there for people to watch.

My God...so many docos

3. Personalised Playlists + QuickQueue

A QuickQueue would also be nice addition to the Play feature of Quickflix. This could be easily setup like the Post section with users creating lists of films they'd want to watch as they're browsing. Maybe they're about to watch Sense and Sensibility but want to watch Mansfield Park afterwards, pop it in your QuickQueue. Also one thing I see a lot of jokes about from across the pond are things drunkenly popping up in a Netflix Queue. I think it'd be awesome for Quickflix to expand their social side and give their users the ability to create their own film playlists they could share with others. Whether it's a good rainy day selection, messed up, gory flicks or even just every single Steven Seagal film.

Dear God, why are there so many of them?
4. Browse per decade/year

I think for some film buffs, the 70s were a golden era of cinema that begs to be repeating. Whether it was the collapse of the classic Hollywood system or just new technology and stories to tell, the 70's continues to lord itself over the history of cinema like a bad parent at a soccer game. This is why it'd be awesome to have a decade-search system for those out there who want to see the history of cinema broken up in different years. For my mum, she could browse the best of the 80s as handpicked by Quickflix film aficionados or ordered by the star rating from Quickflix users. I know certain decades like the 20s and 30s might have a small selection, but it'd be great to see users engaging with that far back into film history.

No, we get it mum, you like Dirty Dancing.

5. QuickPreview + Low Quality streaming

With most ISP's initiating throttling services after certain bandwidth use, it'd be great to have the option of Low Quality streaming. Sometimes it's difficult to justify the 500MB on a small internet plan, like 10 or 15GB, especially in a house of five. I speak from experience of even having a home of six, including homestays who come and go and don't exactly grasp the idea of "internet usage." Also the implementation of a preview system would be pretty good for those who want to go further than judging a film by it's DVD cover. Sometimes I'm just curious of a film and maybe can't be bothered to YouTube the trailer, but I'm already on Quickflix and want to see what the first few minutes of a film are like. If I like it but don't have the time, I can always add it to my QuickQueue. Ah, see what I'm doing there.


Sadly, I tried to get into contact with the guys from Quickflix about this and a few other concerns, such as Arrested Development Season 4, but never received a response. If they do read this, I would love to thank them for the service and for simply reading this. I would also like to suggest the possibility of original programming because god knows this country needs fresher TV. I mean, SBS2 and ABC2 are doing a good job, but that's two out of a good two dozen channels. Please know I love you guys and really wish you the best for the future.

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