How do you organize your collection?

[DanFan]

Alphabetical regardless of format.

Numbered titles first. The ones that actually have a number as the first part of the title: example 6th Day through 2010: The Year We Make Contact.

If the number is spelled out, it goes wherever it should be alphabetically. Example: This Is The End, Three Kings, The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers (Sequel to Three Musketeers), Three O’Clock High, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Throw Mama From the Train.

Then alphabetically, with sequels following the first of the series where it should be alphabetically, then picking up with the next title alphabetically after the last film in a series.

Example:

Donnie Darko, Down With Love, Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, … No Time To Die, Dr. Strangelove, Dragonslayer.

And of course you ignore A, An, and The if they are the first word in a title.

Personal exceptions:

I have all the Marvel movies in theatrically released order filed under Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, Marathon Man, Marnie, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, … Guardians of The Galaxy: Vol. 3, Mary Poppins.

I did the same with the DCEU.

And because there are so many, I’ve grouped the Universal monster movies starting with Dracula through The Creature Walks Among Us in order of theatrical release in the U’s as Universal Monsters.

Creed, Creed II, and Creed III follow Rocky Balboa, which of course is the 6th of the Rocky films.

Amazing Spider-Man is in the A’s as it is a reboot and separate from the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man which are in the S’s. Spider verse movies follow Tobey’s movies because they were released after.

Star Wars:
Original Trilogy
Prequel Trilogy
Sequel Trilogy
Rogue One
Solo

[Lozin]

I don't have my collection in alphabetical order myself but it's a mixture of genre & chronological order so I have all my horror titles together with say the Halloween films in chronological order, all my Nightmare On Elm Street films together ect and all my Marvel titles beginning with Captain America: The First Avenger and going up in chronological order and Not release order. Box sets I have on a different shelf as they take up a lot of space.

[brps3]

Alphabetical

[spiritinblack82]

While I find organizing interesting, can anyone tell me how you decide what to watch from your collection? Do you focus on the unwatched titles or have another system? I love watching through director's filmographies in order of release year or focusing on an actor but sometimes I feel stuck rewatching the same titles or nothing at all. Please direct me to another thread if one exists.

[javy]

By label/studio.

[CMG]

I •try• to organize my homevideo collection in alphabetical order by label.

For instance, I have 10 UNIVERSAL Vault Series DVDs and they are together in alpha order. Easy. Same with my KINO-LORBERs, WARNER ARCHIVE discs, everything else.

I have 95 ALLIED ARTISTS VIDEO CORPORATION VHS releases from 1978-79 (Allied went bankrupt in Sept. 1979) and the tapes are all together in alphabetical order in one very large box. I need a dolly to move that box with the ALLIEDs now. I could pick it up when I was 40 but at 50 it's gotten a bit ropey with how much I can lift because those videocassettes aren't like the 'lighterweight' tapes that began showing up in the late 1980s through the end of the VHS Era. These ALLIED tapes are Video ▬Bricks▬.

And so it goes . . .

[steel_breeze]

Originally Posted by spiritinblack82

While I find organizing interesting, can anyone tell me how you decide what to watch from your collection? Do you focus on the unwatched titles or have another system? I love watching through director's filmographies in order of release year or focusing on an actor but sometimes I feel stuck rewatching the same titles or nothing at all. Please direct me to another thread if one exists.

I literally just watch and rewatch my pride-n-joy collection in a continuous chronological loop that takes me about two-and-a-half to three years to get through. That way I always know what movie from my library I'm watching next, and I get to re-experience all the classics I've seen dozens of time as if they're brand new again, within their historical context -- from silents to studio era, from post-war to French New Wave, and from the New Hollywood through the age of blockbusters. I just finished 1987 with Empire of the Sun and Broadcast News, so I'm on to 1988 with one of the last three standard-def DVDs in my collection: The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Of course, I'm not a robot and I have free will, so if I feel like seeing The Good The Bad and The Ugly or Star Trek II again tonight, I'll just watch it. But when no other craving takes over, I always fall back on my Chronology.

[filmlover22]

A few main categories (sorted alphabetically withing category)

• Western
• Musical
• Hammer Horror
• Silent
• Foreign
• TV Series
• Director/Actor where I have >8 (Lang, Hitchcock, Bob Hope, Marilyn Monroe, Dietrich, etc)
• Everything else
• Box sets have their own shelves. Noir, Horror, Misc.

[DNSK]

I find alphabetizing the entire collection is the best way to go. It’s the easiest way to find what movie you want to watch quickly. With the exception of franchise movies which go in order under the name of the franchise. For example, Raiders of the Lost Ark goes under “I” for Indiana Jones.

[spiritinblack82]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

I literally just watch and rewatch my pride-n-joy collection in a continuous chronological loop that takes me about two-and-a-half to three years to get through. That way I always know what movie from my library I'm watching next, and I get to re-experience all the classics I've seen dozens of time as if they're brand new again, within their historical context -- from silents to studio era, from post-war to French New Wave, and from the New Hollywood through the age of blockbusters. I just finished 1987 with Empire of the Sun and Broadcast News, so I'm on to 1988 with one of the last three standard-def DVDs in my collection: The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Of course, I'm not a robot and I have free will, so if I feel like seeing The Good The Bad and The Ugly or Star Trek II again tonight, I'll just watch it. But when no other craving takes over, I always fall back on my Chronology.

I like this idea and have thought about trying it. What would get confusing to me is when it comes to box sets, multi packs or series remembering to watch those titles in order they were released. Then to decide if I want to watch the first film in a series and come back to the next in the corresponding years later. I think it's a great way to experience your collection and revisiting film history in the process. I try not to overthink it and just watch what I'm in the mood for but sometimes it's nice to have a project or intentions with your collection.

*I wanted to add what happens when you get new titles in your collection? Do you watch immediately or wait until you reach that year on your chronological loop?

[steel_breeze]

Originally Posted by spiritinblack82

I like this idea and have thought about trying it. What would get confusing to me is when it comes to box sets, multi packs or series remembering to watch those titles in order they were released. Then to decide if I want to watch the first film in a series and come back to the next in the corresponding years later. I think it's a great way to experience your collection and revisiting film history in the process. I try not to overthink it and just watch what I'm in the mood for but sometimes it's nice to have a project or intentions with your collection.

*I wanted to add what happens when you get new titles in your collection? Do you watch immediately or wait until you reach that year on your chronological loop?

Per the first bolded passage quoted above: I quite like waiting between different films in a single series. For example, to re-experience Star Wars in the context of 1977 (after films like Taxi Driver, Network, Annie Hall, etc) is fantastic... and then to wait for Empire Strikes Back in 1980 TOTALLY builds anticipation that approximates what that excitement felt like back in the day. Plus, you get the "films inspired by Star Wars" like The Black Hole and Alien before you get "the real thing" again. It's pretty cool. But then when my Chronology is nowhere near 1977-1983, I'll go ahead and watch the Star Wars feature films whenever the heck I want.

Per the second bolded bit: I'm not at all rigid when it comes to new acquisitions; like I said in my original post, I'm not a robot -- if I feel like seeing a movie "out of order", I'll see it. I did wait recently for my Chronology to catch up to 1987 for the new Criterion 4K of Wings of Desire (after purchasing it "Day One" back in May), but I do not wait in every case.

My further eccentricities come into play at this point, 'cuz I'm just not collecting much anymore. I'm kinda "done": pretty friggin' happy with the whole arc of my collection, and only occasionally upgrading. The just-announced Days of Heaven will be only the second shiny disc I will have bought this year!

[gardengirl1331]

Originally Posted by spiritinblack82

While I find organizing interesting, can anyone tell me how you decide what to watch from your collection? Do you focus on the unwatched titles or have another system? I love watching through director's filmographies in order of release year or focusing on an actor but sometimes I feel stuck rewatching the same titles or nothing at all. Please direct me to another thread if one exists.

When I buy 4ks I watch them ASAP to make sure there are no issues with the disks. For new blurays it depends on a few things whether or not I watch them right away. When I buy used disks I try to watch them ASAP, again to make sure there are no issues with them.

As for the rest of the movies we just pick what we're in the mood for. Certain times of the year dictate what we watch. We do a 92 days of horror (since we have some many horror-type movies and TV shows we have to start on Aug 1st to get through even part of the pile) around holidays we watch what's appropriate like on July 4th we watch Summer of Sam, I Know What You Did Last Summer etc, for thanksgiving we watch Home For the Holidays, Tower Heist, Planes, Trains and Dutch among others like Miracle on 34th St etc. During snow storms we'll watch something like 30 Days of Night or Murder on the Orient Express, or Misery or the Shining. Etc. It just depends on our mood. But we will do lots of fests, which like my other post explained is why we organize by genre since we tend to do more theme based fests.

[HD Goofnut]

I honestly don't have time to watch all of my titles as soon as I get them. Thankfully, I can back them up while I am doing other things and once they are backed up successfully I know that they are no issues with the disc.

[calmblueocean81]

I still go with the old reliable of alphabetic (movies and tv mixed together).

I like my shelves to look tidy, so any oversized boxsets (height or thickness) go on a separate shelf and they too are alphabetized (Hitchcock boxset before Tarantino boxset, etc).

As for DVDs, they are also sorted alphabetically and stored in paper sleeves in a fancy box. I could never keep them alongside my blus because of the height difference, it would set my OCD off.
My DVDs are currently a mix of ones I'll never upgrade to blu (more discerning now with my collection) or titles that still aren't available yet on blu (and looking less likely by the year!).

I keep everything sorted via a spreadsheet, with format (dvd, blu, digital) indicated next to each title.

[Sleazeaddict]

Originally Posted by javy

By label/studio.

same here, always been

[mpengle]

Originally Posted by Deromax

I built two slide-out shelves in a small closet. Pic is from 2016, the storage is now packed full, both sides, and holds 1670-something titles. I'm gonna move the documentaries, live shows and TV series elsewhere, but the time will come when it's really full! First world problems I guess!

My discs are labeled, numbered and put at the end of the queue, as they are bought. I will displace some when sequels are added as I like to keep franchises toghether.

Quite the late reply, but this is brilliant and looks really nice!

[Video Ghoul]

Alphabetically, without splitting a series. I have been thinking of going nuts and completely reorganizing, though.

[EvilNed]

100% aesthetics, which usually means: By label, and then color. But I'll break up a label if it means it'll look better.

[rexcrk]

Originally Posted by Video Ghoul

Alphabetically, without splitting a series. I have been thinking of going nuts and completely reorganizing, though.

I’ve been kicking around the idea of changing things up a bit too. Maybe organizing by genre.

[Better in Blu]

Alphabetically. The issue I have; as others do, is with series that have been bought either as typical blue-ray jacket or a steel book. Otherwise, I keep my Arrow titles and Criterion separate.