BFI Player gets major makeover

A year on from the launch the British Film Institute’s video on demand service, the BFI Player has received a major make-over.

Following a consultation with 1,000 BFI Player users, the look, layout, curation of films and amount of new content has been enhanced with further improvements to be rolled out in the coming weeks.

Edward Humphrey, director of digital at the BFI said the revamped service would serve “growing audiences for British independent and specialised films” and would offer “a real diversity of choice in the on-demand market”.

A new catalogue of movies from Universal Pictures has also been added to BFI Player, from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to the Back To The Future trilogy. This ties with the BFI’s ongoing season, Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder. The collection also includes films such as Flash Gordon and The Day The Earth Caught Fire.

A number of other collections are being launched centred on film festival hits; LGBT content; cult cinema; and British cinema classics among others.

Further collections will be rolled out in the coming months. As part of a second wave of features, guest collections will be programmed by “some of the best known cinemagoers in the UK and beyond”.

Some 60% of the content will be available for free with premium content making up 40% of the catalogue.

Digital product design consultancy Ostmodern has worked closely with the BFI and Ooyala to create the new on-demand player.