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

[Douglas Bailey]

I split by format (DVD, Blu-ray/4K) purely because my Blu-ray shelves have tighter spacing for the shorter cases. Within each format, I shelve purely alphabetically, with only a few very local overrides for series order (e.g., Alien, Aliens, Alien³, Alien Resurrection). Numbers get shelved in spelled-out form, so 2001: A Space Odyssey files under "T", and I ignore articles and non-fictional possessives, so Das Boot files under "B" and National Lampoon's Vacation files under "V" (but Monty Python's Flying Circus files under "M").

 

[filmnoirguy]

I have 4 DVD "bookcases." One for Dramas, one for Comedies, one for Musicals and one for Blu-rays. Then, each "bookcase" is arranged alphabetically. I'm a big fan of the Golden Age, so many of my movies are from that era. I also have a couple of shelves in my Comedy case devoted to TV programs.

 

[little wing]

I only have a little over 1500 discs (but growing) and use alphabetical order for the most part. I have box sets on their own shelves, steel books separately shelved for protection purposes and Criterion on their own shelves. I may integrate the Criterion discs into the rest of the collection though. I’m not one to buy every Criterion title just to own it and as my collection has grown I’ve found I’m ordering just as many titles from other boutique labels. It seems counterproductive to have shelves for each label. The only other section I have is for Asian titles. I have about 150 Asian titles and growing, mostly Hong Kong and Japanese films. It’s just easier to go to those shelves and browse if I’m on the mood for those genres rather than search My Movies app.
I also currently have DVDs separate from Blu-rays because of size. Numerical titles are by number before all the alphabetical titles. I don’t include articles at the beginning of a title regardless of language.

 

[Douglas R]

I previously said I file chronologically but as regards the number of discs, I have about 2000 (box sets count as 1) but I am stuck at 2000 because I've run out of shelf space. So if I buy a new disc I have to select one I already have and dispose of it. The policy being one in, one out. But it makes for difficult decisions!

 

[quantnoir]

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!

I arrange my 7800 movies mostly by director, but that's still a work in progress. I also have categories, genres, and a lot of my less well sorted collection doesn't have shelf space but rather sits in milk crates. It's a mixed solution based on the space available. As long as I can find stuff I'm good. But I do prefer by director so that's the direction I'm going.

 

[Thomas T]

I arrange my 7800 movies mostly by director, but that's still a work in progress. I also have categories, genres, and a lot of my less well sorted collection doesn't have shelf space but rather sits in milk crates. It's a mixed solution based on the space available. As long as I can find stuff I'm good. But I do prefer by director so that's the direction I'm going.

I suppose that's fine when you're dealing with Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Quentin Tarantino, Michael Curtiz and Steven Spielberg. But when your collection has directors like John S. Robertson, Sergio Pastore, Alan Rafkin, John Baxter and Anthony Bushell, what's the point? If I'm looking for The Ghost And Mr. Chicken, am I really supposed to remember that it was directed by Alan Rafkin? Much easier to go to the G section and look under Ghost.

 

[BobO'Link]

For all you folks who do indexing by any method other than assigning a movie/set a number and putting that in a database...

How do you handle multi-movie sets when titles included don't align with alphabetical, have different directors, multiple "big name" stars, etc.?

 

[Jeff Fearnside]

For all you folks who do indexing by any method other than assigning a movie/set a number and putting that in a database...

How do you handle multi-movie sets when titles included don't align with alphabetical, have different directors, multiple "big name" stars, etc.?

I put such collections at the end.

 

[Douglas Bailey]

For all you folks who do indexing by any method other than assigning a movie/set a number and putting that in a database...

How do you handle multi-movie sets when titles included don't align with alphabetical, have different directors, multiple "big name" stars, etc.?

If the set includes separate cases for its titles, I shelve those individually according to my usual rules. If not, I shelve the set under its collection title — so Criterion's Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits set alphabetises under "Bruce", rather than under the title of any of the films it includes. Not ideal.