| Optimist With Doubts wrote: |
| That's 108 movies. What would be the best way to bracket this out mathy folks? |
108 is a fairly easy number to work with, actually. It all depends on how many movies you're pitting against each other in each round. Based on how the previous ones went down, here's one way you could do it:
You eliminate a third of the films each round this way, down to the Final.
The first round pits 12 movies against each other. There would be 9 first round matches. Top 4 vote-getters could advance to the second round, leaving 36 films.
The second round pits 9 movies against each other. There would be 4 second round matches. Top 3 vote-getters could advance to the semi-final (third) round, leaving 12 films.
The semi-final (third) round pits 6 movies against each other. There would be 2 third round matches. Top 2 vote-getters could advance to the Final, leaving 4 films.
The Final pits the remaining 4 films against each other, most votes wins.
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Another method that would be interesting (because it's more of a winner-take-all approach) is pitting four films against each other in the first round, with only one advancing. That would leave you with 27 after the first round.
The second round pits 3 films against each other per match, with the top advancing. This leaves you with 9 films.
Third round round is 3 matches with 3 films in each match. This would advance 3 films to the Final.
Final Round is final three films.
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I would suggest having several matches going on at once, with polls open for at least 48 hours. Otherwise this thing would take far too long. You'd also have to randomize the groupings; there's no perfectly fair way to set the bracket, so randomizing is the best way.
We also have to consider the amount of clutter this will make in the Movies forum. I prefer my second suggestion overall because it is more likely to boil it down to the absolute best films in the later rounds, but it would mean more polls/matches. My first suggestion gets the contest over with sooner, but since you're including so many films in each group you're less likely to get the best films at the end.
EDIT: You can easily modify the basic outlines I've given. For example, if you want the Final to be 1 v 1, you only need to make minor tweaks, like adding one more match.
