New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

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CAS junior develops mood-based movie app

Courtesy of Danny Fein

While sitting down at 3 a.m. one Saturday, CAS junior Daniel Fein went on a coding spree. Just 18 hours later, he finalized the concept for Moviora, a website that suggests movies based on a viewer’s current mood.

Fein, a computer science major, launched Moviora on March 2. The site, which was completed in just one week, had over 30,000 unique users the first weekend it launched. Creating a user-friendly space for moviegoers wasn’t the only thing on his agenda. On Friday, April 19, Fein released an app version of Moviora.

“I didn’t want [users] to use the site and forget about it later,” Fein said. “If you have this app, suddenly you’re thinking about it all the time as opposed to having just a site.”

The website, which is driven by a model based on a simple concept, asks the users yes or no questions as to whether they would prefer a drama, a romance, a comedy, etc. Once all of the questions have been answered, the site recommends one primary movie along with several alternatives.

Unlike mainstream movie sites that look at viewing history, Moviora suggests films based on the viewer’s present mood. Other features include trailers, summaries and ratings by Rotten Tomatoes and links to movies on Netflix and iTunes.

“It is like playing 20 questions with your computer, literally guessing your character,” said CAS junior Nick Williams, who uses Moviora.

Even though Fein learned the language to code while interning at MTV in the summer of 2012, Moviora is not his first coding experience. Previously, he launched website OMGwire, an online symposium that discusses ongoing news in popular culture. The website had roughly 200,000 unique visitors per month. But after eight months, he decided to end the project.

“My first project turned out well, but I cut it off too early,” Fein said. “I wanted to create something new, something that is different.”

Deena Engel, associate director of undergraduate studies for the computer science minors programs, worked on an independent study with Fein.

“It is a joy to watch our students learn and grow.” Engel said. “Daniel is enthusiastic about his work, personable and open to learning new things.”

CAS junior Colm Dillane and Fein frequently discuss new prospective ventures while simultaneously critiquing his ideas. Dillane attributes Moviora’s success to Fein’s creative and curious entrepreneurial skills.

“He’s the type of kid that you want around you. If he isn’t inspiring you through his own personal drive, he is pushing you with whatever you are working on,” Dillane said. “Last week he wanted to manage musicians, this week he wanted to make a site similar to Kickstarter, all while working on Moviora. That’s Danny.”

In a previous version of this article, WSN inaccurately reported that the site had 300,000 unique the first weekend it launched. In fact, it had 30,000. WSN regrets the error. 

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, April 22 print edition. Utpala Menon is a staff writer. Email her at [email protected].

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