Overview

View all the actors, or other persons like directors, producers, writers, etc in your films and view photos, filmography, biography, and even film clips from IMDb, or download and save them locally in My Films.

Setup

You can setup Persons views the same as other views -  in MyFilms Setup > Views Tab, and images on the Artwork tab, or add them to the Views Menu the same as other views. 

The Setup Wizard will automatically preset an Actors view (indexed alphabetically), as well as a Producers view (not indexed) for you. My Films also automatically generates a Persons field to display all Persons (see Display Persons below)

Download persons info and images

You can download persons info and images either automatically, or manually.

Automatic Download

Persons images and info are automatically downloaded within MyFilms when you:

1. Enable Downloads (default=enabled) in Artwork Setup > Persons Views, then:
   1. Open the Details window for the selected film.
   2. Select the Info for related persons from the context menu.

Note: As of v 6.0.1, My Films will keep track of when the info was last downloaded, and only update it automatically every 30 days.

You can also automatically download all person images (not info) whenever you import new films:

1. Enable Load Person Images (default=disabled) in AMC Updater > Database Fields Tab under Fanart Handling

Manual Download

If you Disable Downloads for persons views in Artwork Setup > Persons Views , you may still download images and info for persons manually:

1. All persons for the selected film:
   • Select Update Info for all involved persons (IMDb) - from the context menu in either the Main or Details window
2. Single Person:
   • Select Update Person Info from the context menu in a Persons view
3. All Persons in a view
   • Select Update Info for all involved persons (IMDb)from the context menu in a Persons view

Note: Both automatic and manual downloads are canceled when you open a menu to select another option, change views, or databases.

Download status

MyFilms will display the current status of downloads, (depending on the skin you use), in DefaultWide at the top of the window:

• the number of persons downloads remaining
• the current person info downloading
• icons to indicate download and the type of download (i.e. persons)

In a persons view the list layout will display (updating) beside the name of the person currently being updated:

Actors Images

In the Details window > Actors view, any images you have downloaded for Actors will display (depending on the skin you choose). Roles may also display if they exist in your database (depending on the grabber script you use):

Also, whenever you select a movie from a persons view, the person image will display (according to the skin you use) as well as the movie cover:

Persons Views

There are several ways to access Persons views:

1. From the Views Menu, or the View by option on the main menu
   1. Select a preset view persons view - i.e. Actors, Producers 
   2. Select a persons field, like Directors or Writers, from the *** Show All *** option to display all fields and save the view as a custom view if you wish, which adds it to the Views menu.. 
   3. Select the Persons field - which is automatically created by MyFilms - to view all persons in your database.
2. Use the Search Menu option to search all persons by role
3. Select the Info for related person(s) option from the Main context menu to display actors and other persons in the selected film. As of v 6.1.0 you can also select this option from the Details window context menu.

Select a View like Actors

When you select a persons view from the Views Menu or View by menu option, the view will display according to the View Settings configured in Views Setup.  For example, the preset Actors view is indexed alphabetically:

As with other views, you can choose to index the view by either one or two characters, or turn off the indexed view, and even save your settings for the view using the context menu (see Views for details)

Once you select an index entry, like 'T',  you can display all actors whose names start with 'T'

If you have downloaded persons images and info, either automatically or manually (see above), the data  will display here (see screenshot below under Info for Related persons)

Search all persons by role

As of v 6.0.0, you can also display a persons view by using the Search all persons by role option on the Search Menu:

As of v 6.0.0 you can search for a person anywhere in your database and displays results by role. 

Example: You want to find all your films with Aaron Sorkin but don't remember how to spell his last name:

1. Enter the search term "Aaron" in the virtual keyboard to display:
   
2. Select the role you wish for the person you are searching for - e.g. Writer.  My Films will display the persons view:
   
3. Select the person you were looking for, in this case 'Aaron Sorkin' to view all the films in your database that he wrote.

Info for related persons

Select the 'Info for related persons' option from the Main screen context menu to display a count of the different persons in the currently selected film:

Select Persons for all persons, or select a role, such as Actors, to display the related persons view:

Reverse Person names

You may customize Person Views just like any other Views. However, you have an added option on the context menu > View options in persons views to reverse person names so you can sort by last name if you wish.

Note: You may also select Reverse Person names as a Start Setting in Views Setup, to apply to all persons views.

Context Menu Options

Like any view, person views context menu allows you to change View Options, add as a custom view, or save your custom view settings.

However, as of v 6.1.0 Persons views also provide additional options:

• Search MyFilms - search by persons name or film when disdplaying a persons filmography. if My Films cannot find a 'match' for a movie in your local movie catalog, it may be due to different language or naming of titles. Thus you may select 'Search My Films' from the context menu option to search for related content with the same terms/keywords as the movie title in the list.

Filmography (TMDb)

Prerequisites:  OnlineVideos plugin (only for trailer search and playback) 

Display filmography from TMDb for a selected person. Similar to ***Online Movie Lists"*** but instead of listing Now Playing, Upcoming Movies etc. it displays the filmography for the current person. 

1. Select "Filmography (TMDb)" from the context menu to
   • load filmography from TMDb for the selected person
   • initial facade color is "remote"  (set by the skin you are using)
   • if the movie is in your local DB - color changes to "normal" color  (set by the skin you are using)
   • if an online trailer is available - color changes to  "download" color (set by the skin you are using)
2. Select a movie from the list  ("enter/OK"):
   • if only one online trailer is available - play it 
   • if only local movie is available - jump to the filtered view with that film ("film list view)
   • if multiple online trailers OR one online trailer AND local film are available - offer menu to select the trailer to show or to jump into respective film view

Web Details

If you have installed and enabled the BrowseTheWeb/Webbrowser plugin, you may use the Web Details option on the context menu in Persons views to display photos, bio, filmography, film clips from IMDb for the selected person.

Updates

• Update person info - Update info for selected Person (from TMDd and IMDb).
• Update info for all involved persons - updates info for all persons in the current list (from TMDd and IMDb).
• Get internet info (selected person) - select a grabber to choose the site/source of info to update selected persons (only grabbers that support persons updates are supported)

Related

• Using My Films