Clip Search: How to Find the Right Clip Fast

Playphrase.me editorial

Search & Learn is built for learners: it plays phrases one at a time so each example can be studied in context. Clip Search is a separate, clip-first surface. It lays out many results in a grid, which is useful when the goal is to find a particular scene.

Type part of the line, scan the cards, and narrow the results with filters when needed.

Start with the words you know

The Search clips... field sits at the bottom of the page. Type see you soon; the search updates as the input changes. Nearby suggestions offer possible continuations or alternatives when the initial words are too broad.

Each card shows the line, its source, and the clip duration. You can shortlist several results without opening every one. The words may match while the scene does not, so watch the clip before choosing it.

Preview first, then open the clip

On desktop, hover over a card. A short preview starts inside it and stops when the pointer moves away. Use the preview to rule out an obviously wrong scene without leaving the grid.

Click a card to open the clip in the fullscreen viewer. Close the viewer to return to the same query with the selected filters still applied.

Narrow a long result list

Under Source, choose where to search. All includes every source type, Movies keeps films, and Episodes keeps TV episodes. With Movies, use Movie IMDb to limit the results to one film by its IMDb code. With Episodes, use Series IMDb to limit them to one series.

Clip Search Source filter with Episodes selected and the Series IMDb field shown — The source filters cover all sources, movies, or episodes. `Episodes` is selected here.

The other filters answer a few specific questions:

Years — set an inclusive release range with From and To.
Genre — keep sources in the selected genre.
Director — start typing a director's name and choose it from the suggestions.
Cast — keep movies and episodes whose credited cast metadata includes a person. A cast credit does not show who speaks the line.
Actor Voice — narrow the results by probable speaker. This English-only beta uses probabilistic voice detection, has incomplete coverage, and can be wrong.

The Years, Genre, Director, Cast, and Actor Voice filters in Clip Search — Filters for release period, genre, director, credited cast, and probabilistic voice attribution.

Start with the filter tied to what you know. If the period matters, use Years; if the director matters, use Director.

Clip Search only searches clips in the Playphrase.me corpus, so the scene you need may not be available.