What is the best way to arrange a movie collection on the shelf? (1 Viewer)

[TheMovieDude]

1. Alphabetical by title
2. By Director
3. By Genre
4. Chronologically
5. By Spine Color
6. By Format (DVD, BR, 4k)
7. By the Label (Criterion, Kino etc...)
8. By the Studio
9. Your Personal Ranking
10. By most recently watched
11. Completely Random

 

[TravisR]

For me, it's alphabetical. An exception to that is when a series changes names. For example, my copies of Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday and Jason X follow Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan since they're parts 9 and 10 in the series.

 

[Konstantinos]

I have arranged them by studio and label (steelbooks and TV are separate categories), and then in each of those categories, alphabetically.

 

[Thomas T]

There is no best way! It's how YOU prefer it. What makes sense to you, what's easiest for you. With a collection consisting of over 9,200 blu rays and DVDs, I'd go nuts arranging them by genre, labels or directors. Alphabetical works for me!

 

[Jack P]

I always arrange chronologically by year of release because to me it's like seeing the history of cinema unfold before my eyes. This can be tricky when you have more than one film on a disc or if there's a box set. When that happens I have to give primary importance to one film on the set and usually that means the first film in a series (like for the Pink Panther or Planet Of The Apes or Universal monster sets).

 

[Indy Guy]

Alphabetical for me too. Some exceptions for subjects like Christmas, where I add the word Christmas to the title so that "My Movies" app has all 45 of my Christmas films grouped in the portion of  "Ch" begining with "Christmas, Arthur" and ending with "Christmas, White".
I have done this for other specific categories like Gozilla where the first is "Godzilla 1954 (King of the Monsters)" and "Godzilla 2024 (-1)" is last.
I separate my television A to Z collection from the films, but do the same, excepting some TV gems that strike me as more movie like than TV. Television productions of "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" and Anne of Green Gables" come to mind. I view them more as film experiences than TV.

 

[Flashgear]

I always arrange chronologically by year of release because to me it's like seeing the history of cinema unfold before my eyes. This can be tricky when you have more than one film on a disc or if there's a box set. When that happens I have to give primary importance to one film on the set and usually that means the first film in a series (like for the Pink Panther or Planet Of The Apes or Universal monster sets).

Wow, Jack P, I never thought I'd see another collector array their theatrical and TV movies in a chronological year of release method! I've been doing this for many years for the same reasons you mention, and since my disc collection first assumed sizable proportions (10,000 approx. discs all-in). DVDs and Blus in separate shelving for aesthetics alone. The same fashion as yours except I have my boxsets segregated in their own shelving.

Chronological by release year only works if you have a steel-trap memory for such trivia with faultless recall, otherwise it would be a struggle to find a title at random. Year of release is paramount to me, all studios, genres and stars mixed throughout. I'm blessed (cursed?) with a steel-trap memory for numbers generally, and have a deep interest in historical context. Cinema, television or in the classical sweep of world history.

TV collections, most in long-running individual season sets, I separate by B+W from Color eras, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s etc....and here I further separate by genres...Sit-Coms, Westerns, Urban Contemporary Drama, SF/Fantasy/Horror, Variety shows, Documentaries etc. are separate categories on my shelves.

But as Thomas T said, the only best method is the one that works for you alone.

 

[Jack P]

Glad to know I'm not alone! Since I am a history teacher and historian by background I have always had a sense for film history chronology. It's the only way I know how to organize them. I used to do the same for TV on DVD sets by arranging according to the season of debut (so in other words all shows debuting in the 65-66 season would be grouped together) and I still do that to a degree but because I'm in smaller confines now I don't have as much shelf space for TV on DVD any longer and many have to be double shelved one behind the other now (though I keep a sequence where I can for what's visible up front). I'm lucky I still have enough room for the movies to do it that way though yes, bigger boxed sets have to be kept separate since they won't fit into one of those rotating carousels I have to use. That also includes the larger Imprint/Via Vision boxed items.

 

[Alan Tully]

I'm afraid I'm not that well organised (not organised at all), my collection just goes on various shelves around the house in no order at all (but then I'm sure I only have a fraction of the discs that some members here have). That does mean that sometimes I can't find the film I'm looking for, & when I'm searching for a certain film, I'll come across another & decide to watch that one instead.

 

[Douglas R]

I'm another one who arranges them chronologically because I too like to see the history of films stretched out on the shelves. I have a good memory for dates especially for the 1930s to end of 1960s which form the bulk of my collection. Within each separate year I arrange them alphabetically. My memory isn't so good for the exact date of post 1970 films but they form the minority. Box sets are separate and arranged alphabetically as is all TV material.

 

[BobO'Link]

Once I outgrew 2 large shelving units I stopped attempting alphabetical and just named each shelf/location with a description and numbered each "cubicle" (starting at the top going left to right and moving down to the next row, etc.). I put that location into a field in the database for a title. So D1-12 would be "Den #1 cubicle #12" and that's close enough as only ~15 titles fit in each "cubicle." Overflow titles (i.e. no shelf space for them) go into totes in a room dedicated for "media" storage. Those totes are numbered and each holds a single layer of titles - about 100 for BR and 80 for DVD. I do the same thing with my 600+ title board game collection and 1400+ CD collection. Any other method just doesn't work or requires significant amounts of moving things around when a new title is added. I *will* occasionally move titles around to get a series of related films in the same tote.

Currently, select movies and TV titles go on display in a pair of shelving units in my den/game room with everything else in totes. The ones on the shelves are typically titles I rewatch regularly, new titles waiting to be watched, and series in progress of being watched. As they are watched they go into a small shelving unit while awaiting cataloging and then are off to storage totes. CDs are immediately ripped to FLAC and then go into storage (I play the FLACS at home and in the car). Board Games can cycle in/out of the main shelves depending on how much they are being played.

 

[cinefan]

I also arrange my television collections on shelves chronologically by year of debut; so in the case of series I use the year of the first season.

For movies it's significantly harder to describe. Probably 80% are arranged alphabetically by title, but in binders not on shelves because I long ago ran out of enough shelf space to contain everything.

But there are many exceptions that I still shelve with what shelf space I have. Directors for whom I've accumulated a large number of titles (e.g. Hitchcock, Ford, Peckinpah, Capra, Tati, Sturges, Michael Powell, the Coen brothers, etc.) have a section of shelf space allocated and arranged alphabetically by director. The same with certain performers (e.g. Cary Grant, Bob Hope, Carole Lombard, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Steve Martin, The Marx Brothers, etc.).

"But what about Ford films with John Wayne or Capra films with Jimmy Stewart?" you ask. Well, really, only I know -- generally the director takes precedence but for reasons I can't fully explain I know without looking that I have my Ford/Wayne movies under Wayne. Frequently it's dictated by box sets that are arranged by director or actor, like the recent massive Capra set.

Some other groupings I keep separately:

• silents (although some like Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd, Langdon, Chase, Capra, Garbo are on the actor/director shelves).
• Disney
• Criterion (unless it fits one of my actor/director shelves)
• anything that Ray Harryhausen worked on (not a director but some kind of auteur)
• film series or films with one or more sequels (James Bond, the Rocky films, the Die Hards, the Topper movies, etc. But the Godfather films, for example, are shelved with the other Coppola films)
• concert films/music documentaries
• Christmas movies/TV
• discs housed in special packaging I couldn't bear to part with to put them in binders.

I'm afraid there are a few other eccentric groupings. This "system", such as it is, is completely hopeless for anybody else, but somehow with thousands of titles I still never have a bit of trouble locating anything.

 

[Will Krupp]

I always arrange chronologically by year of release because to me it's like seeing the history of cinema unfold before my eyes.

Wow, Jack P, I never thought I'd see another collector array their theatrical and TV movies in a chronological year of release method!

Glad to know I'm not alone! Since I am a history teacher and historian by background I have always had a sense for film history chronology. It's the only way I know how to organize them.

I'm another one who arranges them chronologically because I too like to see the history of films stretched out on the shelves.

Thank you, gentlemen! I feel seen!

I'm also a history and pop culture fanatic so that's the only way it makes sense to me too.

But I echo Thomas' post. The best way is the way that's most comfortable for you!

 

[darkrock17]

I do it numerical first as in the film's name beings with an actual number such as 10 Things I Hate About You. After that then everything else is alphabetical.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

What is the best way to arrange a movie collection on the shelf?​

By height.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

What is the best way to arrange a movie collection on the shelf?​

By height.

 

[JoshZ]

There will never be one perfect method for everyone. I wrote the following article about how I arrange my movie collection back in 2019. I've changed a few things since then, but the essentials of it remain true.

The 1-2-3s of Organizing a Movie Collection

Like many home theater fans who have amassed sizable movie collections over the years, I often struggle to keep my Blu-ray and DVD discs organized in ...

www.highdefdigest.com

Essentially, I have a number of broad categories that I sort discs into, such as: movie franchise, box sets, Criterion Collection, other boutique labels, TV shows, etc. I also have shelves dedicated just to SteelBooks and to box sets.

Within any of those categories, I try to arrange alphabetically. Except movie franchises, which are chronological. (It makes no rational sense to put Star Wars: Attack of the Clones before Star Wars: The Phantom Menace just because they alphabetize that way.)

 

[Keith Cobby]

I broadly separate 4k, blu ray, and DVD. I have many more blu rays than the others and these I order by distributor. Within these it's random. I like being surrounded by piles of discs (same with CD's). I can count the number of digital films I own on one hand.

 

[Jeffrey D]

I have a bunch of categories- DVD, BluRay,
UHD, Criterion and TV series. I keep these separate on different shelving, and my films and Criterions are in alphabetical order.

 

[RickardL]

Alphabetical but some are grouped by category/director/actor such as the Alien-movies, Bond, Carpenter, Disney, Eastwood, Film Noir, Hitchcock, Star Trek, Star Wars, Superheroes, Westerns.
Also, if there are two or more movies I feel belongs together such as Kiss the Girls and Along came a Spider, I sort them both after the first one.