How do you organize your collection?

[jeddy3]

Some combination of genre, director, actor..my own personal "dewey decimal system" which resides in my head and I know quickly where everything is but hopeless for anyone else to find what they might be looking for.

[Leslie Dame]

I'm currently in the process of organizing my blus, and I think what works best is in chronological order. This makes more sense to me since there's lots of nostalgia in my collection involved. I did the A-Z thing, but got frustrated seeing the original Carrie next to the remake. I rather see what came before and after Carrie in the same year (1976).

This way newest movies go to the very end of my collection, makes it easier to pick a new one as well.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by crikan

I put pure comedies in the comedy section and combined sci-fi and action. I think that fixes the genre problem. I'd put the Ocean's films in Action or Crime just to keep it simple.

Does saying that the Oceans films could be in Action OR Crime without saying definitively really keep it simple though?

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Leslie Dame

I'm currently in the process of organizing my blus, and I think what works best is in chronological order. This makes more sense to me since there's lots of nostalgia in my collection involved. I did the A-Z thing, but got frustrated seeing the original Carrie next to the remake. I rather see what came before and after Carrie in the same year (1976).

This way newest movies go to the very end of my collection, makes it easier to pick a new one as well.

I would do this if I lived alone along with favorite directors chronologically, but I don't. With a wife and kids you can throw chronological right out the window.

[traths]

Alphabetical order

[Scahom1]

My collection is pretty small compared to most here, so it's alphabetical, with maybe a few sequels under different names put with the rest of the franchise (for example, Saw I-VII, then Jigsaw). On the same wall I have smaller sections for documentary, TV shows, and misc, and a whole other bookcase dedicated to my very large wrestling collection.

[blugremlin]

I see some really good ideas and input from forum members, but I'm probably not as knowledgeable regarding year released, director and so forth....I just stick with what I learned in school many years ago--alphabetical order, regardless of genre, or anything else..lol…

[ObiTrentKenobi]

Categories, then by favorites or chronological:

for example;
Pixar section; chronological by release date
Star Wars section; in-universe chronology (1,2,clone wars,3,rebels,solo,rogue one, 4,5,6,ewok adventures,7,8)
Disney live-action; by favorites
Disney animation; by favorites
Musicals (non-disney); by favorites
TV; by favorites
Documentary; nature together, history together, war together, etc
Children's animated; by favorites
Children's live-action; by favorites
Action; by favorites
Drama; by favorites
Comedy; by favorites
Marvel studios; in-universe chronology

I could never do alphabetical because I have young 3 kids...

[RICKBONDOO7]

I organize my Bluray and 4K collection by year. Western section 1939 to 1969, Bond 007 section 1962 to 2020, Hammer Films section 1955 to 1973, Hitchcock section 1940 to 1972, Movies from 1931 to 1999. Classic TV section 1955 to 1970, Disney Classic Animation 1936 to 1967, And Universal Monsters Sets 1931 to 1956

[Boccaccio]

I organize them alphabetically. Digibooks and special packagings are separate from the regular cases. TV and mini series are also separate.

[Leslie Dame]

Originally Posted by blugremlin

regardless of genre

I did the organized by genre once and it was in my opinion the worst way to organize my collection. I have movies that defy genres, and there are a few psychological horror or thriller movies that drove me nuts. I ended up doing Psychological Horror, Psychological Thriller and then Psychological Horror Thriller. Then I did Psychological Horror / Thriller, but wasn't happy about it. It was like splitting hairs, very frustrating.
I never felt comfortable putting Jaws to Horror and it never felt right putting it to Thriller either.

[Mister_Kidd]

I used to organize my DVDs by director, then my wife called me a huge nerd so I went back to alphabetical. I don't really have enough BD's to do anything other than alphabetical.

[kurtis21]

I organize in alphebitecal order. BUT....I have now seperated them in two different area's. One for blu-rays...and one for 4K UHD's!

[postmodel]

I currently have 3 bookshelves, with the first dedicated to my favorite directors, and the other 2 just being the rest in alphabetical order. It's been awhile though since I've added my recent purchases so I have some homework for one of these days. May need a fourth one soon...

I also keep bigger sets on top of the shelves, so I have no issue displaying the likes of Bergman and Godzilla.

And one thing I do, if a director I like made the first in a franchise, I include all the sequels with it, i.e., I have Return of Swamp Thing lumped in next to Craven's Swamp Thing, and Exorcist 2 and 3 are with Friedkin's Filmography between Exorcist and Sorcerer.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

I have 2 nice sized book shelves. One has strictly horror titles alphabetically and the other has all my other titles alphabetically. The amount of horror films I own is nearly half of my entire collection.

[jazzontherocks]

I usually arrange mine based on formats. Films and TV shows would be in separate sections. Within each section, the DVDs would be in one place and the blu-rays in another. On the front would be my top favorites.

[koover]

After reading some of this thread, I'm kinda blown away how some of you organize your collection. I'm well aware it's all a matter of preference but if you have a large collection, how can anyone organize entirely by director, year, genre, etc.? I'd NEVER be able to find a film I'd like to watch let alone my family. I can see it if you have a collection of say 200 or less where you can easily get specific, but once you own a grand and above, that's a whole heckava lot of work.

I'm almost all alphabetical with some exceptions due to shelf space/height and convenience. For example, Digibooks are organized separately (height) along with all my animation and 3D's so the kids and wife (me too) can find what they're/we're looking for in an instance, TV shows, box sets, 4K's and Criterions. That's probably 30% of my collection.

It's extremely simple to search for a film that starts with a T or B. Man, organizing by director (which I can't come close to remembering all of them, plus some only have a few films) production year (yikes), genres (they cross over too often) etc.

I know, call me weird but I'd rather spend my time watching what I own instead of organizing and hunting to find a title where there' no way I know the director/production year of 3000 of my films. To me, it's all about convenience and ease.

Have fun gentleman and ladies.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by koover

After reading some of this thread, I'm kinda blown away how some of you organize your collection. I'm well aware it's all a matter of preference but if you have a large collection, how can anyone entirely organize by director, year, genre, etc.? I'd NEVER be able to find a film I'd like to watch let a lone my family. I can see it if you have a collection of say 200 or less where you can easily get specific, but once you own a grand and above, that's a whole heckava lot of work.

I'm almost all alphabetical with some exceptions due to shelf space/height and convenience. For example, Digibooks are organized separately (height) along with all my animation and 3D's so the kids and wife (me too) can find what they're/we're looking for in an instance, TV shows, box sets, 4K's and Criterions. That's probably 30% of my collection.

It's extremely simple to search for a film that starts with a T or B. Man, organizing by director (which I can't come close to remembering all of them, plus some only have a few films) production year (yikes), genres (they cross over too often) etc.

I know, call me weird but I'd rather spend my time watching what I own instead of organizing and hunting to find a title where there' no way I know the director/production year of 3000 of my films. To me, it's all about convenience and ease.

Have fun gentleman and ladies.

I absolutely agree with you. With that said I keep Spielberg's films separated.

[koover]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

I absolutely agree with you. With that said I keep Spielberg's films separated.

I definitely can see that. In my most humble "opinion" Spielberg is the ultimate filmmaker, a true master craftsman and he has a lot of films. He "deserves' his own section in my book. I'd say the same when it comes to Eastwood for his acting, production and direction. I may just do that now.

[CBHampson]

So oddly that only I know where most shit is.

By genre, for some, like noir, horror, musical, war, animated, superhero, holiday....but also have a section separate for the "big" directors...and one for Criterions... and a bunch of random shit on another shelf lol

It makes sense to me and probably only me.