The Bare Facts

Designed in 1991

The Bare Facts Video Guide, originally envisioned by Craig Hosoda when he worked at LucasFilm, was a comprehensive resource for detailing the occurrence of on-screen nudity in films and television. Originally, Craig used an early version of Microsoft Word to format the entire guide for its first two publishings. However, he quickly realized that this manual process was not scalable as the guide expanded in size and complexity.

To address this issue, Craig contacted me to design and build a relational database application that would streamline the entire process. I engineered a solution that allowed his existing Word document data to be imported, normalized into appropriate database tables, and managed through a new user interface designed specifically for entering and modifying data efficiently.

A key feature I developed was a one-button publish function, which took the structured data from the database and formatted it into an SGML file suitable for submission to a traditional publisher. This automated approach not only saved significant time but also ensured a scalable and error-free process for producing future editions of the guide. This system allowed Craig to focus on content while streamlining the technical complexities of publication.