Top10Films.co.uk turns one
I started Top 10 Films one year ago. My initial idea for the site was to produce top 10 lists as a resource for film fans to find movies they might not have seen before. If you could find a top 10 list on a particular actor or director or theme and within that find films you’d seen and liked as well as films you hadn’t, it meant it became a useful recommendation tool over bog-standard film reviews. Through the Films section I could also create a database of films worth seeing. In this alphabetised list you can see all the films featured in our top 10s (or the top 10 of a larger list), as well as all the lists each film appears on making it easier to locate films worthy of seeing.
The site also allowed me to make use of my love of cinema, that started as far back as I can remember, and create a place on the internet that could document my own feelings towards cinema. The site would also make all that film-watching worthwhile.
One year on, I’m looking back at the best bits from the last 12 months including some excellent contributions from talented writers and the growth of the site as a film community as well as resource.
First post:
Scientist’s View – Academic’s give their opinion on the best science-fiction films
First original article:
Top 10 Steve Martin Films. Published 18th November 2009, the date has since become the site’s official launch date.
First comment:
The first comment after my official launch was by Ross McG, who has been an ever-present commentator since. On our very first original top 10 list other commentators also included Heather from the Movie Mobsters and Rodney from Fernby Films (who is not only our top commentator but is also our most frequent contributor).
Most hits:
The site’s most viewed Top 10 list was written by my close friend and Anime expert David Lloyd-Smart. The list in question is his Top 10 Anime Films.
The second most hit top 10 list is my Modern Vampires list which is probably popular due to the success of Twilight.
Most popular:
The most commented list is another contribution, this time from Rodney, who wrote what turned out to be the controversial Top 10 Sequels of All Time.
My personal favourite:
My personal favourite of my own lists is the Top 10 Dustin Hoffman Films. It was pure joy to put that list together, to watch some of his films again and even see some new ones like Lenny. Hoffman is a genius, a great actor with a body of work second to no one.
My favourites from guest writers include Cal’s Zombie Apocalypse list, Mike Sutton’s top Clint Eastwood films, and Rodney’s Australian comedy top 10.
Other highlights:
In celebration of 35 years of Jaws, I (with the help of Rodney) spent a whole eight days focusing on the work of Steven Spielberg. It was great to learn a few things about the director such as his love of Lawrence of Arabia and his troubled relationship with David Lean, as well as his involvement in the making of Poltergeist.
I even had the chance to pitch my idea for Jaws 5 thanks to the guys over at Anomalous Material.
Within the week me and Rodney both chipped in with our Top 10 Steven Spielberg film lists (Dan’s / Rodney’s), while we also had Top 10 Spielberg Scenes, and Top 10 Spielberg Characters.
Some more highlights would include my exhaustive look back over the last ten years of cinema to not only produce ten Top 10 lists for every year between 2000 and 2009, but also a Top 50 of the 2000s. It was fun watching all those great movies but hard work putting them in order and writing something about each one. But I do hope you found the lists interesting. They did inspire some good old debate which is what I like to see!
I also enjoyed putting together the Top10Films Awards for the last decade, and writing about one of my favourite filmmakers – John Landis (Top 10 list here / career retrospective article here)
Top Contributor:
Rodney Twelftree has been a friend of the site since we began. He was one of Top 10 Films’ very first commentators and has been a regular contributor ever since. He is currently the proud owner of the site’s most talked about Top 10 list, as well as many others that have proven very popular. If you haven’t already, please check out Rodney’s own site Fernby Films where you’ll discover film reviews, articles, news and retrospectives, as well as discussion of Rodney’s own filmmaking projects.
Most Comments:
Because backlinks are so important to getting visitors to your site, and to rank more highly in internet search engines, I implemented The Film Buffs table in the right hand sidebar. Here is the site’s most frequent commentators with a link to each of their sites. It’s a thank you as much as anything to them for visiting and commentating on our posts. Without you guys it wouldn’t be worth all the hard work.
So after one year of being on the internet Top 10 Films’ Top 10 Commentators are:
1. Rodney – Fernby Films
2. Fitz – Nevermind Pop Film
3. Castor – Anomalous Material
4. Heather – Movie Mobsters
5. Ruth – Flixchatter
6. Aiden – Cut The Crap Movie Reviews
7. Ross McG – RossvRoss
8. Roisin – Sundryandco
9. Will – Silver Emulsion
10. James – Cinema Sights
A special thank you has to go to Castor of Anomalous Material. His site (along with co-editor Red) is one of the liveliest film communities on the internet and his work and encouragement to fellow bloggers and online film writers has been a constant driving force behind the success of Top10Films.co.uk. One of the highlights of my year was AM’s brilliant comedy film tournament.
And also I must thank the guys at The Lamb for allowing Top 10 Films to join this group of film bloggers. The site became Lamb No. 441.
Looking forward to Year 2:
Over 1000 comments, 200 posts, and 1475 tags later, we arrive at birthday No. 1. The site also has cause for more celebration after a record month in October for hits. Our total page views has doubled in the last three months and I hope that continues as I look to publish more interesting content and contributions in the coming months.
Hopefully the site’s second year can be even better than our first. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the site’s contributors, particularly Rodney Twelftree, David Lloyd-Smart, Mike O’Callaghan, Mike Sutton, and George Litman.
Again I’d like to thank all our regular readers and commentators – I’ve mentioned many already but also thanks to Olive (Movie News First), Peter (Magic Lantern), Amy (Yam Mag), Richard (Blah Movies), and Andrew (Encore Entertainment) for their regular insight and encouragement. A hearty thanks to everyone else who has commented too! Your thoughts and opinions are what make the site worthwhile.
Are you on Twitter? Please follow us: http://twitter.com/Top10Films where we post our latest news and articles, as well as stuff from bloggers and movie sites around the world.
as Johnny Logan once sang, Whats Another Year?
great job Dan, man a year goes quick. i too think your Hoffman piece is great.
great to be in seventh on your commenters list.. i should comment more!
keep up the good work
Congrats on the one year anniversary! I cannot wait to see what year two offers. Keep up the excellent work.
Congrats on the one year anniversary, how fitting that it comes nearly at the same time as AM’s! We wish you all the best in your second year and beyond and look forward to find even more goodness around here every day
Congrats on your 1st anniversary
Your blog looks interesting, I’ll be sure to check it more often
@Ross: You’re right about a year flying by. Too quick. I’ll be in my 30s in no time at this rate! Argh!
@CS, Castor, Novroz: Thank you!
Congrats to a great first year and I have obviously not payed enough attention in here I can see when reading this great recap post.
Happy Birthday, Dan! Keep up the great work! And now to check out that Top 10 Anime list again…
Congrats on the first glorious year, Dan. It’s been a pleasure to be part of it all – both as a contributor and commenter!!
And don’t worry about being in your 30′s. I’m already there and it’s not too bad….
Happy first year, Dan and Top10Films!
I’ll work hard to make the Top10 for Year 2 – Hmm… Year 2, reminds me~~~ Happy Harry Potter viewing + and your sister was getting married, right? Congrats to her ;P
Congrats, Dan! You’ve built up a great site and community. Looking forward to year two and many more enjoyable top ten lists.
Congrats Dan for this for completing a great 1st year, and I’m sure you’re celebrating this in grand style. Its been a pleasure visiting your fine blog and going through your lists. Keep up the great work. Here’s to an even better 2nd year… cheers!!!
@Joel: Thank you Joel, I hope you find some of the older articles interesting.
@Aiden: After all these happy birthday messages I think I’ll prepare a post for my actual birthday next year!
@Rodney: Haha! No, I’m not mocking but my twenties seem to be flying by! But thank you once again for your brilliant contributions both in top ten lists and comments.
@Amy: Yes, my sister gets married this Friday! I’ll be following her down the aisle Spring next year! Thanks for stopping by on a regular basis Amy, I’ve come to really enjoy visiting your website over the last few months (even though I don’t always comment as much as I’d like, but I visit every week)
@Will: Thanks Will – you’re the sort of guy I’d tap up for a few top ten lists actually. Perhaps some from the niche horror genres and particular periods. Drop me an email if you have any ideas/or fancy contributing something.
@Shubhajit: Thank you, and thanks for stopping by on a regular basis! The site is celebrating in grand style – or will be – if my request to move it to a faster server goes through!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Dan! So sorry I miss this but still want to wish you all the best on your blogging endeavor! Glad I make it to your top 5 commenter… looking forward to staying there and hopefully move up
I love your blog, there are always interesting topics and lists… so yeah, you definitely live up to your own name! Your blog is definitely in my Top Ten.
Congrats on a great first year, Dan! I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what the next year brings.
Hey Dan, thanks for the offer! I’ll keep it in mind.
@rtm: Thanks Ruth, you’re too kind!
@Corey: There’s definitely some interesting top tens up our sleeves…
Happy Belated Birthday!
Congratulations – Keep up the great work!
Dan, Great job with the site. i stumbled upon this via twitter and I have been hooked ever since. It’s great to be in the company of a fellow JAWS nut. We share a passion for that film and it seems to make my top ten list for some of the articles I’ve written for you. Thanks for publishing them and I look forward to submitting many more.
Great first year, the second will be even better.
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