Great Classics

Great Classics is a skill that allows you to play some of the best classical movies and audio content from the public domain.

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Inspiration

For movies to be in the public domain means that no government, company, organization or individual owns them. They are considered part of the public cultural heritage and may be freely watched and used by all. The main disadvantage of that is no one cares to market or distribute them since there is no monetary return. We believe that the free flow of creative work is of vital importance to transfer knowledge, educate and culture our young one and society. That's why we built Great Classics.

What it does

Great Classics is an Alexa skill that allows you to watch some of the best classical movies in the public domain on your Video-Enabled echo device. If your Echo device doesn't support video, no worries, The skill is smart enough to play a classical radio show from the "Golden Age" of American Radio. Within great classics, there is an option for a one time purchase that grants you access to the new specials released every Friday. By making this purchase you are supporting us in providing great content to everyone and allow us to add new content on a regular basis. You don't have to make a purchase to enjoy great content, but by doing so, you are helping us keep this skill free for most people. THANK YOU

How I built it

Once a decision has been made regarding what the skill will do and what it won't do, building and testing were easier. I always start with a list of the must-have features to produce an MVP (Minimal Viable Product). The first version was called “Movie Classics”, it was built, submitted for certification and passed. What really made me very excited is the number of unique users and skill activations without advertising it anywhere. Over time, I’ve added features and content to the library.

The skill utilizes a Video Player, an Audio Player, ISP product, and APL documents. The media is hosted in S3 and served via AWS CDN.

Challenges I ran into

There are not enough examples of APL and Audio Player skills. Error messages are not descriptive enough, which made the troubleshooting harder.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Making creative work in the public domain available to a new market. Publishing the first-of-a-kind skill. Learning ISP and APL.

What I learned

There are a lot of great movies in the public domain (check out “12 Angry Men”, “Meet John Doe” and “His Girl Friday”)

What’s next for Great Classics

Tons of new public domain content including international movies and radio shows.

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