Godzilla Plus One
The Tableau Community is well known for its ongoing initatives that range in periodic cycles. There are projects for Health Data, Viz for Vets, Back 2 Viz Basics, Iron Quest… there are nearly as many challenges as there are data viz practitioners around the globe. That, by itself, is part of the fun of the #datafam — someone is always coming up with something else to make the experience fun and engaging. This month’s major effort is a collab between movie review and cataloguing site IMDB and Tableau in a challenge called “Data+ Movies.”
One of my favorite movie series to watch — I can remember being much younger and watching these films in my family’s living room — are Godzilla movies. I know there are a lot of misgivings about the remakes of truly classic originals, but, clothing the old in the trappings of the new is how we ensure that ancient stories continue to be told. Not only that, for the story to even be palatable in a current format, there automatically need to be technology upgrades.
Speaking of some technology upgrades, one of the main objectives I was aiming at with this dashboard was to give it the look and feel of a current heads up display on a battleship, or even a fighter pilot’s visor inside the fifth generation fighter helmets. Mappings, status, ranging, etc. Even though the idea is to evaluate movie ratings, there is no escaping the enormity of a Titan-sized monster from the depths of the ocean in the data. You’ll notice that the bar chart in the top right isn’t necessarily organized according to data visualization standards. That’s on purpose, because, if you look at it again, you’ll notice a bit of a crest in the middle of the range, and then two bars that are larger than all the rest. This gave it a bit of a Godzilla shape and feel from my perspective.
In any case, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts, feelings, if you like kaiju movies — how did you feel about Pacific Rim, btw? — or just to chat and discuss data viz. The live dashboard is here, the Brezler, LLC LinkedIn Page, or my website.
