And the Winner is...

After a month of blog posting, voting, and distributing hundreds of surveys across a variety of mediums, a winner has finally been crowned.

Your Movie Tournament 2k11 winner is : 

Pulp Fiction

More than 100 voters selected Pulp Fiction over Airplane! by a 55-45% margin.

Thank you all for your participation over these past few weeks. 

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.

Movie Tournament 2k11: Round Three Results

Round Three of Voting is Over

After a long week of voting, our survey told us that...

Airplane! is better than Fight Club

• Results: 51-49%

Pulp Fiction is better than Monty Python and the Holy Grail

• Results: 60-40%

And the final match-up is...

• Airplane! vs. Pulp Fiction

Vote Now:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GVP2MWF

Movie Tournament 2k11: Round Two Results

Round Two of Voting is Over

After a long week of voting, our survey told us that...

Airplane! is better than Dr. Strangelove

• Results: 51-49%

Fight Club is better than Reservoir Dogs

• Results: 60-40%

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is better than Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

• Results: 51-49%

Pulp Fiction is better than Young Frankenstein

• Results: 52-48%

Round Three Match-ups are as follows:

• Airplane! vs. Fight Club
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail vs. Pulp Fiction

Vote Now:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NJXTG8J

Movie Tournament 2k11: Round One Results

Round One is Officially Over

After distributing the survey via the internet (email, facebook and other social media, forums, instant messaging, etc.) and in person (printed copies), here are the results:

Over 100 voters told us that...

Dr. Strangelove is better than Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

• Results: 51-49%

Airplane! is better than Sin City

• Results: 60-40%

Reservoir Dogs is better than Terminator 2: Judgement Day

• Results: 63-37%

Fight Club is better than A Clockwork Orange

• Results: 52-48%

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is better than Finding Nemo

• Results: 51-49%

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is better than The Shining

• Results: 54-46%

Pulp Fiction is better than Donnie Darko

• Results: 73-27%

Young Frankenstein is better than The Thing

• Results: 71-29%

Round Two match-ups are as follows:

• Dr. Strangelove vs. Airplane!
• Reservoir Dogs vs. Fight Club
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory vs. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Pulp Fiction vs. Young Frankenstein

Thank you again for all your support and time, the turnout for Round One was excellent and I expect the same, if not more, for Round Two.

Voting endings Friday, April 29 at Midnight.

Congratulations to the winners, who will now advance on to Round Two.

Vote Now for Round Two: 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NTKDMQ8

One More Day Left to Vote for Round One

Voting for Round One of Movie Tournament 2k11 will end

Friday, April 22 at Midnight

Round Two will officially begin on Saturday, April 23

With a little over 24 hours left in voting, I would like to say that the results so far have been excellent and the turnout has been greater than I expected. But, there is still time left to vote!

Of the eight match-ups: four are extremely close and could be determined by a vote or two, two others are neck-and-neck, and two are, surprisingly, turning out to be blow-outs.

I have done plenty of distribution of the survey, so please continue to spread the word of this tournament to friends and family. Thank you for all your help and for  making this possible.

Vote Now

www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZFYHYS7

Explaining Movie Tournament 2k11

What is Movie Tournament 2k11?

            In the spirit of professional and collegiate sports, I have devised a tournament-style competition, using a 16-team, single elimination bracket, to determine the best film out of a group of selected ones.

How were the movies selected?

I found it necessary to choose the movies from a wide variety of genres, as well as several movies that are adaptations of novels (A Clockwork Orange, Fight Club, The Shining, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy). Sin City is based on a graphic novel, which is essentially a comic book for adults.

Featured genres include:  Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Horror, Musical, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, War.

Furthermore, I wanted the movies selected to feature a variety of different directors and actors. Only two directors have more than one film on the list: Stanley Kubrick for Dr. Strangelove, The Shining and A Clockwork Orange, Quentin Tarantino for Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. The same was done for lead actors, with only Gene Wilder, in Willy Wonka and Young Frankenstein, and Bruce Willis, in Pulp Fiction and Sin City, appearing multiple times. Other actors appear in several other movies listed, but only in minor roles: Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs and Sin City, Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, and Tim Roth in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. Coincidentally enough, all three of these movies are directed by Tarantino (he collaborated with fellow directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller on Sin City). Once the final list of movies was compiled, I then had to determine how to fill out the bracket.

             In creating a bracket-style tournament, one of the problems I encountered was seeding. For those of you who do not know, each “team” (or movie in this case) is given a seed based on their record and performance. I did not want to seed the movies based on critic’s ratings (RottenTomatoes score or “star rating”), but rather something more appropriate and unbiased. I decided that the most logical statistic to use would be All-time, Worldwide Box-Office Gross Earnings. Numbers ranged from $1.12 billion for Lord of the Rings: Return of the King to $1.2 million for Donnie Darko.

How are winners determined?

So now I’m sure you’re wondering exactly how a winner will be determined. Each movie match-up will be featured in a posting which will critique the movies on a number of different aspects, such as: the cast (including actors, directors and writers), the storyline (plot of the movie), visuals (editing, lighting, animation, directing techniques, etc.), the ending of the movie, and what, if any, are the lasting effects of this movie (has the movie stood the test of time, does it remain popular and relevant today, etc.).

WARNING: 

Posts will contain SPOILERS. Read at your own caution.

If necessary, any posts that contain subject matter that is not suitable for children under the age of 18 will contain appropriate warnings.

Links to a survey will be displayed at the conclusion of each post, as well as in this post, so that readers can vote for their favorite movies (only one vote per person). I will also distribute the surveys via email, social media (instant messaging, Facebook, etc.) and in person (printed copies). Each round of voting will last approximately one week, after which the results will be posted and the next round will begin. The schedule is as follows:

Round 1: 16 teams – (4/13 – 4/23)

                Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZFYHYS7 (ENDED)

Round 2: 8 Teams – (4/23 – 4/30)

                Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NTKDMQ8 (ENDED)

Round 3: 4 Teams – (5/1 – 5/7)

                Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NJXTG8J (ENDED)

Round 4: 2 Teams – (5/8 – 5/14)

                Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GVP2MWF (ENDED)

Final Winner & Analysis Posted on 5/15

                Winner: http://movietourny.blogspot.com/2011/05/and-winner-is.html

As always, constructive criticism is welcome. Post in the comments section or email me any questions or suggestions for current and/or future tournaments.

Bracket provided by http://www.blankplayoffbracket.com/

Box Office Statistics provided by http://www.boxofficemojo.com

Movie Genres and Sub-Genres: http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Survey provided by http://www.surveymonkey.com/

A Little Bit About the Author

             My name is Corey Greene and I’m a 3^rd year Professional and Technical Communications major at the Rochester Institute of Technology. This blog was created for Public Relations Writing, taught by Professor Mike Johansson.  I wanted to create an interactive blog with a topic that would interest not only myself but others as well, and thus, Movie Tournament 2k11 was born.