Choosing a CMS to replicate IMDB

Hey everyone,
I am looking for a CMS that will be able to deliver the same functionality as IMDB.com
Primarily with:

  • User membership
  • User generated content
  • Adding images (links or upload)
  • Adding videos (links or upload)
  • Including custom fields such as: Producer, Director, Actors, and allowing each of those pages to be added to as well
  • The ability to sort and search all of these custom fields

I have dipped in Drupal but didn’t find it very easy to work with. Are there other alternatives out there?
I just want to add that I am a web designer and have by no means any experience with PHP or programming, but I think that I have a pretty good idea for a website (that isn’t IMDB) and would like to get it going as a database and user driven website, with a real sense of community too.

Thanks!

I’m not normally one to plug Drupal but you will be able to achieve all those requirements using Drupal 7 alongside some standard modules like views and media field. It surely is a learning curve but once you over come that you should be able achieve everything on that list with very little programming. The learning curve is the price your going to pay for flexibility Drupal offers without any programming involved.

Getting you started movie, producer, director, actor would each be a separate node type. A movie would than be associated with director(s), actors(s) and producers(s) via a node reference field that allows multiple values.

Though I highly recommend playing around with Drupal some before even attempting do anything. Using Drupal in the most efficient manor possible requires a very detaied understanding of the business goals and how those goals need to be translated development wise using the tools Drupal and/or related modules provide.

Though one of the most significant factors here is where all this data is coming from. If it is coming from a feed or multiple feeds translating that data to Drupal nodes and terms is probably one of the most significant and time involved tasks. Probably requiring some level of programming either way.

Thanks for the reply. I have tried Drupal 7 a few times, but get lost extremely quickly with Views. You mentioned I will be able to achieve everything on my list with very little programming - but what type of programming are you referring to? PHP?

I found a WordPress template called “ReviewIt” and while it may not be perfect, but it may be able to get me started in the right direction a lot sooner rather then later. I am hoping that I will be able to export my database somehow and import it into another CMS, or a custom made CMS for my needs in the future - not sure if this is wishful thinking though, as WordPress is a blogging platform at it’s core but it’s still a database driven website.