How do you organize your Movie rack? (1 Viewer)

[John Alderson]

Alphabetical with numbers first (only have 2001 and 2010 for numbers anyway), but with the following exceptions:
Hitchcock gets his own shelf, sorted by release date (I have 37 of his movies, plus two volumes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents).
Star Wars also gets its own section of a shelf, with Episodes I and II on DVD being propped up by the Vader box from the SE VHS box set (they're the only pre-recorded VHS tapes I own). Action figures (from 1977-2002) huddle about.
Non theatrical music titles are on my CD rack (i.e. Led Zeppelin's Song Remains the Same is with the main movie section, but Metallica's S&M is on the CD rack).
Finally, my Star Trek TV episode DVDs are hidden away in drawers of my entertainment center--there's just too many of them to be on display. (The Trek movies are with the main movie section.)
I've considered sorting by genre, but too many tough decisions to make that way

 

[Sam_K]

By genre, then alphabetical within each genre.

I only have few genres to simplify classification: "Science-Fiction-Fantasy", "Action-Thrillers", "Drama-Comedy", "Musical", "Classic" and finally "New Purchases - not yet viewed".

 

[Ted Todorov]

and finally "New Purchases - not yet viewed".

You know, separating viewed and not viewed is a great idea... I may have to try that...

Ted

 

[Alex Spindler]

Alphabetical by genre, then alphabetical within the genre, sequels collocated and numbers first.

I got pretty loose with my genres and currently have:Action, Adventure (Could be Fantasy now that I think about it. Should probably move them), Anime, Crime, Cult, Drama, Family, Hitchcock, Horror, Sci-Fi.

Might revisit this and simplify the categories.

 

[Zane Charron]

I thought about this thread yesterday when I was reorganizing my DVD collection. It took all afternoon with over 800 DVDs. I ended up seperating them into genre, for the most part. It's never perfect, with some films overlapping into various genres and such.

But the REAL question is where do you put films that have foreign titles? I have a lot of German versions of films in R2. So do I put Back to the Future under 'B', even though it's title 'Zurück in die Zukünft'? Tricky.

 

[Chris Will]

Mine are divided into tow sections: disc with DTS and disc without. Alphabetical order, numbers first, within the 2 sections. I have one execption. All of my LOTR DVDs (theatrical and EE) are on top of the shelf in between the bookends from last years EE box set.

 

[CraigF]

Gave up on alphabetically...you know, sometimes I'm in the mood for a certain style and that's what I want to look through, so now they're generally organized by genre. Comedy, drama, war, sci fi, fantasy, animated/anime, thriller, action, music, horror, TV shows. Then I have the cross-genre categories, for no particular reason, may change it: Criterions, classics, Superbits. Then Disney tins, space/aviation, mixed box sets. Covers everything I have so far. I just file odd cases (wood Wicker Man, big tins, rubber Evil Dead, etc.) in their genres, they physically fit in the racks.

I must say, how you arrange your discs GREATLY affects what will get watched when. When I had my discs arranged alphabetically I noticed I seemed to watch The Abyss, Alien, Aliens etc. a lot...not to say I'm sometimes lazy or anything. Rearranging DVD's from alphabetically to by genre is a LOT of work, took me a long time, and rather messy, with lots of piles on the floor and continual shuffling of stuff on the shelves. Arranging by genre works better if you have lots of shelf space, hard to explain why, but do it and see. You don't need to separate things much if they're filed alphabetically. If you *separate* by genre, then you sort of have to physically separate a bit too. Anyway, I found separating by genre was a worthwhile pain for me.

As far as dividers go, I have not found any yet. I have tried to get some from a video store, no luck. FWIW, you know that plastic stuff used for engraved nameplates, usually black or white with lettering in opposite color? That's what I'll probably get when I get around to it, not too expensive. Or just get the same place to cut me some pieces of opaque plexiglass and I'll label them myself. What I use now is "expensive" colored file folders, thick cardboard folded in half lengthwise, labelled with a Brother label-maker. Looks very OK, but not optimum for an expensive "collection", not that durable either.

 

[george kaplan]

This isn't necessarily true, although I'm sure it is for you. For myself, it's completely irrelevant. My dvds are sorted alphabetically, but they get watched in order from an excel sheet that I keep. Oversimplifying, I watch the film at the top of the list, then move it to the bottom of the list. The only real exception are the once-a-year movies.

 

[CraigF]

My Excel spreadsheet is arranged strictly alphabetically. The discs are arranged by genre. It could be the other way of course, and then you sort of have both. I admit I gave up trying to rearrange the spreadsheet by genre...after I accidentally cut and disposed (instead of pasted) a few too many times...no big deal and undoable, but there's something (for me) about looking at the actual DVD cases when I'm looking for something I'm in the mood for, rather than just looking at the spreadsheet (which is primarily for insurance reasons).

I should say I file *everything* by "genre" (subject), it is the only way I can find stuff, the way my mind works...not for everybody. As you can guess, I'm not great with names...

 

[Sergio Martorel]

When my collection was still new and small, I used to organize it by the colour of the spines, according to the colorbar.

I organize em by Genre. But it depends.

I have a shelf for classics. First, the directors (Hitckcock, Kubrick, Billy Wilder), his movies organized by release date. Then, stars (Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Bette Davis), also organized by release date. In this particular case, Billy Wilder movies with Marilyn are in the "Marilyn" file, not Wilder´s. And then, assorted classics.

Other shelf is for horror movies. It´s sorted by american horror, european horror and indie horror, and subdivided in Hammer, Universal, zombies and vampires. It has separate sectors for Dario Argento, Sam Raimi, Wes Craven, George Romero, Lucio Fulci and John Carpenter. Midnite Movies and Mondo Macabro have sections of their own.

Then comes sci-fi. SW, ST and AX have their corner. It´s also divided by classics and contemporary stuff.

Other section goes to action. All Bond filmes have a corner, along with other Bond-inspired films (Spy Kids, True Lies, etc).

Comedy section has a section for John Hughes/college comedies.

I have a huge part on asian movies. All films of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Gamera, Jet Li, Godzilla, and Sammo Hung are organized by release date.

I also have a shelf dedicated to comic-book adaptations. Besides the obvious superheros (Batman, Superman, X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil-Man etc), Mystery Men, Men In Black, Flash Gordon-Man are there as well. Hero-related titles, like Cornman, Unbreakable and The Special are also there.

Then there are small sections for softcore porn (Tinto Brass mainly), cult classics (El Topo, Viva La Muerte, Pink Flamingos, etc), western, war, a few musicals.

Then there´s kid´s stuff: Disney has a shelf of their own that includes Tron, Black Hole and similar titles. There´s a section for Don Bluth, other for Dreamworks, other for anime and so on.

It´s followed by classics from my childhood (Mad Monster Party, Goonies, Willy Wonka, etc) and a fantasy-only section (Harryhausen, The Legend, Willow) that includes anything with dragons (even Reign of Fire and Dungeons and Dragons).

 

[RISUG]

I have them organized by movie studio, and within movie studio by release date (theatrical release). I make exceptions to the studio release date when it comes to trilogies or greater.

 

[Sergio Martorel]

Reese: the studio that produced the movie, or the one that´s releasing the DVD?

 

[Raphael]

Alphabetical by font type, followed by point size.

Okay, just kidding. Alphabetical by title. How else would I be able to find what I was looking for?

Amazingly enough, most of my friends while perusing my collection don't even realize it's alphabetical, even when they're searching for a specific title.

 

[Rob Lutter]

I have Television and Movies by alphabetical order on one rack and a separate rack for anime, which is separated by boxes, movies, and series.

 

[RISUG]

Sergio Martorel:

The movie studio releasing the dvd.

 

[Damian Howard]

I sort by Studio.. like Fox together, WB etc etc.. Looks good on the shelf..

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

I tried sorting by studio, but found that no studio is keeping any sort of consitency with its packaging these days. Universal being the worse culprit. Also, because my room is so small, most of my DVDs are in banker boxes. So the only 90 are in DVD racks (alphabetically, however, the Warner and old New Line snappers comes first). Then I have my TV Shows on another shelf, and below that my Criterion and choice movie box sets.

The rest in boxes. I'm gonna need a bigger room.

 

[Tony Kwong]

I catagorize by media type, general catagory, then alphabetical except for number collections like criterion and fox studio classics.

---HD---
D-VHS
-HDNET
-D-Theater
-BS Japan
-OTA/169time/Dish5k
Hi-Vision LaserDisc
-Movies
-Scenery
To watch
W-VHS
-Scenery
-BS Japan

---DVD---
-Hollywood
--Box/multidisc sets larger than a reg case)
-Superbit
--import
-Criterion
--(sorted by criterion #)
-Fox Studio Classics
----(sorted by FSC #)
-Television
--Box
-Japanese Anime
--US release
---Box
--Japan release
---Box
-Silent
-Japanese Drama
--Box
-Hong Kong Cinema
--Box
-Korean Cinema
--Box
-World Cinema
--divided by country
-Music Video
-Misc Box
-To watch

---LaserDisc---
-DiscoVision
-LaserVision (no Digital track)
-CDV
-Hollywood
--Box
-Criterion Collection
--(sorted by criterion #)
-DTS
-Pioneer Special Editions
-Squeeze LD (16x9)
-Universal Signature Collection
-Television
--Box
-Japanese Anime
--US release
---Box
--Japan release
---Box
-Game
--Arcade
--LaserActive
---NEC
---SEGA
--Tutorial
-Silent
-Japanese Drama
-Hong Kong Cinema
--Rental (mostly Gold disc)
--Retail
-World Cinema
--(divided by country)
-Music Video
--(divided by country)
-Misc Box
-To watch

---CED---

---VHD---
-3D

---VHS---
-Letterboxed
-SVHS

--Beta---
-(divided by all the different formats)

---8mm---
-Hi8

---Film---
-8mm
-16mm
-35mm
-70mm
-to watch

 

[Bill>Moore]

Alphabetical order with numbers up front. I have TV box sets on another bookshelf (again in alpha order), along with music videos (concert/video). The only exception to the movies+ shelf is I do have the Vacation films together, the Nightmare On Elm St. movies together, the Evil Dead trilogy together, etc.

 

[Jeff Swearingen]

I've pulled the individual titles out of box sets (ex. Bond, Kubrick, Billy Wilder, Criterion Hitchcock) and filed them alphabetically. If the movie is a remake I will put the older title inline first. If the DVD is a new SE and I am going to keep both I file the first version inline before the later reissues. Box sets containers and the WD Treasures tins are kept separate for display.

Any good ideas for storage? I've tried four types now and none of them do what I want them to in terms of stability and ability to hold up the weight per shelf, and I can't install permanent shelving in an apartment. Unfortunately it usually means some stacks of DVDs are lying on tables, shelves or the floor, especially every time I do a physical count or reorganize.