DVD Library

[bcsparker]

I've given up on organizing mostly. Some directors are together on one shelf, others are scattered. Arranging them alphabetically just seems insane to me. I gave up on that years ago with my CDs. The only things I have organized together now are animation, Criterions, Bond films, and a Martial Arts rack. Everything else is just whatever And, might I add, the old Universal Collector's Editions look quite handsome together on a shelf.

Quick, somebody get this monkey off of my back....

[bunuelian]

Since I had to move across the country into a shoebox, I put most of my collection into a single Case Logic binder. It's a stressful experience taking DVDs in and out of that thing - I loathe it.

I organize by director for those directors who I like enough or recognize enough to not be confused. I put the rest together separately. Works out ok. I know I should care more about who directed Tron, but it's good enough that I know Tron is next to Conan: The Barbarian in the back of my binder.

[bcsparker]

I put most of my collection into a single Case Logic binder. It's a stressful experience taking DVDs in and out of that thing - I loathe it.

I know what you mean. When I was deployed post 9/11, I put my collection (which was around 300 at the time) into 3 different Case Logic binders. Consequently, all of my double-sided discs now have a Two Face thing going. And god forbid you have a disc with the special features on the flip side!
My advice, if you're going to keep discs in a binder, once you put them in, never shuffle them around! I was keeping them alphabatized, so then every time I bought a new one, I would put it in the proper place. Because of that all the plastic got worn and the discs built up many small incidental scratches.
Those binders that can include the sleeves look good, but they usually only hold 20 or so discs. For many of us, we'd need 20 or more binders!

[Tommy Sleeb]

I can't believe I missed this thread. So, even though everyone else already over it, I feel compelled to toss in my 2 cents. I keep TV and Music in their own sections (alphabetized by title). Regular movies are also alphabetized by title, unless I have more than 1 dvd by a given director. If that is the case all of that directors films go into a separate section, organized alphabetically by director name (and within each group for a given director the discs are arranged in chronological order). My "solo" Criterion discs are also kept separately, arranged by spine number. I'm extremely laid back about most of my life, but extremely anal about my dvds. just one more to love about them I guess.

[exte]

I'll show you anal. A friend of the family wanted to borrow Passion of the Christ from us for Easter. I reluctantly agreed, but like an idiot I never opened the package, which I should've done just to give her the disc only as my friend does whenever I borrow from him. Anyway, what does she do? I still can't believe this, but she removes the plastic wrap, and then takes the Best Buy price sticker from the wrap, and slaps it back onto the case itself. I get it back and I'm totally shocked. What the fuck possessed her to do that? So I try to peel that shit off, and of course all that goo shit is still on there. I'm so furious I want to tell her to keep it, just so I can go buy a new copy that's fresh. My mother thought I was ridiculous, but you just don't go fucking with a man's DVDs!!

[ben d banana]

I'll show you anal.

No link?

[Andre Jurieu]

I'll show you anal.

No link?

=D>
I have to admit I get really frustrated by stickers on DVD packaging that don't come off easily and leave behind "goo". What exactly are the makers thinking by putting on a sticker that's difficult to remove? Obviously a few consumers are going to attempt to remove the sticker rather than keep something that says "Buy 7! Get 1 Free!".

[Gary Tooze]

I'm curious how everyone organizes their dvds.

HERE are 3 of the methods I use. I have 3200 DVDs.

Best,
Gary

[godardslave]

I have 3200 DVDs.

sweet Jesus.

[bcsparker]

3200? Wow Gary, the monkey on my back is only 1/5 the size of yours. I feel better about myself now.

Ease back on the throttle, dude.

[denti alligator]

So this thread is three years old, but I'd like to resurrect it.

I'm moving and have been contemplating how to organize my DVDs. Alphabetical by title would be nice, but what do you do with the Warner noir double-features or Midnight Movie double features? Alphabetical by director is fine, but with lots of films I don't know the director, so that's not practical.

What I've been doing, and might continue to do, is to sort by "type," which can be loosely interpreted depending on the DVD. Universal Monster boxes = a type. HD DVDs = a type. Warner box sets = a type. Artificial Eye DVDs = a type. David Lynch DVDs = a type.

That's arbitrary, but it keeps films in some kind of order.

[HerrSchreck]

I usedta do that but no longer. I just go straight chronological... a history of the best of cinema unfolding physically before my eyes, and connections manifest via the physical nature.

And genres like noir, precodes etc tend to lump up in the same spot anyhoo. You get few guys like Lang or Wilder stretching from the silents to the 60's & 70's, anyhow.

Most non-cc boxes (or non-director boxes) I throw up on top or a shelf devoted to boxes. In the case of eisie or cocteau cc's, I just sort them by the earliest film in the set, and keep the box in tact, and in the chrono stuff.

[domino harvey]

I alphabetize by title. If it's a boxed set I use the title of the box. I alphabetize using all articles except "the"-- the Razor's Edge is under R but A History of Violence is under A-- this is because of how I remember the title. Any foreign titles get alphabetized by their article, again as it's how I remember the title-- I'm gonna go looking for L'Avventura in L not A. Also titles are based on the title of the DVD, not necessarily the film, so to use another Antonioni example, Madman's Red Desert is placed in R not I.

[Gary Tooze]

My collection is a woe betide mess.
6600+ DVDs scattered in an ad-hoc fashion of such categories as 'Kids (my kids)', 'Silent', 'Sc-fi (a healthy dose of cheesy 50's stuff)', 'undeterminable non-english packaging' (with some Russian, Thai and other Asian DVDs), 'Boxsets', 'TV', 'Criterion' with Eclipse underneath, then directors - Powell and Pressburger, Tarkovsky, Bergman, Bresson, Antonioni, Zhang Yimou, Tran, Dardenne Bros, De Sica, Fellini, Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Dreyer, Shyamalan and Anderson etc. etc.
Then Westerns, Eureka-MoC, Blu-rays, HD-DVDs, Noir, a slim case in the bookshelf with some DVDs I tend to rewatch frequently (ex.The Fountainhead). Then a counter with 'uncategorized' as of yet and then the rest straight chronological around the corner.
It's funny - only I can find the DVDs I want - and in a fairly quick fashion but it is such a poor system... but one day - one day.
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/shelves/weba/shelves.html
Best of luck,
Gary

[s.j. bagley]

right now, it's all on shelves attached the wall.
criterion, second run, and masters of cinema releases by spine
eclipse by series
general in alphabetical order by title
music in alphabetical order by artist
boxed sets haphazardly
with the tv series in a small bookcase.when i move in august, i'm going to be buying some dressers from ikea, attaching wooden dividers to the inside of each drawer and storing them all that way to free up some space.

[Sanjuro]

About 250 films including box sets I guess.

Since box sets don't fit on some of the lower shelves of my bookcase they all go together, grouped by country (Japan / Other) and then director. Except the stupidly huge boxes (Wife's Amelie Treasure Box etc) which go together on a wide shelf in descending order of size).

For regular DVDs each country (kind of) gets it's own shelf which is sorted by director in chronological order.

I re-arrange it all when I'm feeling bored but right now it's at:

Japan (2 shelves)
Europe (Western/Eastern), Iran and Russia (2 shelves, but Godard takes up most of one)
UK
China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea
US
Music
Stuff I should really get rid of
Then Lynch and Gilliam get half the music shelf for some reason.

Oh, and Mexico seems to be in Europe nowadays which is handy for my Bunuel DVDs.

There's a system in their someplace...

[Cash Flagg]

My collection is alphabetized by title, with separate sections for Criterion, MoC, snappers (ugh) and box sets.
There's such a wonderful cross section of cinephiles here that I'd really be interested in seeing people's collections, if only for future purchasing ideas. Especially with the upcoming 20% off sale. Perhaps folks with cataloged collections via DVDSpot or DVDAf could post links?

[domino harvey]

What I'd like to see is pictures of people's filled bookcases/shelvings... I'm sure it's just the voyeur in me but there's something oddly fascinating about actually seeing how other people display collections.
I'm sure this is an early warning sign in the DVD Obsession pamphlet, Kevyipity And You.

[Jeff]

What I'd like to see is pictures of people's filled bookcases/shelvings.

We have a brand new section of the forum for that very thing!

[domino harvey]

[zedz]

I'm part Bagley and part Hare. Criterion, Second Run and MoC by spine, everything else by director (and chronologically within that), which really follows on from how I order my music (which is a whole other room). Recently I broke that "everything else" up into English language and non-, simply because they fitted better on the two available bookshelves that way (and, for the obsessive among you, I tend to keep the directors intact, so The Passenger goes into 'foreign' with other Antonionis - though I probably don't do this with Lang, so sue me!)

I've got a further shelf for TV (by title, not an auteurist there) and 'various' - mixed director box sets, compilations (e.g. Kino Avant Garde sets), portmanteau films. And the music DVDs are somewhere else again. At various times I've also kept my silent films and documentaries separate.

I thought this was very systematic until I wrote it out. . .

[der_Artur]

I usedta do that but no longer. I just go straight chronological... a history of the best of cinema unfolding physically before my eyes, and connections manifest via the physical nature.

And genres like noir, precodes etc tend to lump up in the same spot anyhoo. You get few guys like Lang or Wilder stretching from the silents to the 60's & 70's, anyhow.

Most non-cc boxes (or non-director boxes) I throw up on top or a shelf devoted to boxes. In the case of eisie or cocteau cc's, I just sort them by the earliest film in the set, and keep the box in tact, and in the chrono stuff.

Glad I'm not the only one. Additionally I separate roughly by continents: The Americas, Europe, Asia. One year is then ordered alphabetically. Collections of shorts are separated from the feature Films.

[CSM126]

I once got the urge to lump all my Criterion's together, but gave up on it pretty quickly because, well it was silly to care so much. Now I just throw the discs on the shelf all willy-nilly and say to myself "Well, if I want to watch a movie I guess I'll devote the five seconds needed to find it." Granted, I only have about 170 titles (compared to the absurd number some folks around here assuredly have) but still...




OK, OK... so I keep The Wizard facing cover-out so I can find it even quicker... Side-note: Domino's happy now. And no, I didn't set that up as a joke that's how I actually keep my shelf.

[Antoine Doinel]

I alphabetize by title. If it's a boxed set I use the title of the box. I alphabetize using all articles except "the"-- the Razor's Edge is under R but A History of Violence is under A-- this is because of how I remember the title. Any foreign titles get alphabetized by their article, again as it's how I remember the title-- I'm gonna go looking for L'Avventura in L not A. Also titles are based on the title of the DVD, not necessarily the film, so to use another Antonioni example, Madman's Red Desert is placed in R not I.

I use exactly the same system.

[skuhn8]

I have a hybrid system of sorts.
I own several steal 'cases' that contain 100 double-sided sleeves each. Just under 500 dvds from releases that contain neither significant booklet or artwork are stored here and then I have a print out of those titles according to category: film noir, action (smallest section--has the Bonds), comedies, etc. and then organised with a letter designating which case and a number for sleeve position: C17 is the 17th title in the third case. This was done as I move a lot and really don't have the space. And now that I live in Hungary, the land of shit cover art, no book, and goofy looking title translations I don't see the point in display.

Then I have 200+ dvds on the shelves that I like to be able to admire in all their glory. All the Criterions are in numerical order even though I stopped trying to be a completist within a few months of starting to be a completist. Likewise MOCs. My very small collection of Second Runs and beloved BFI's are also lined up like friendly soldiers. I even have some of those nice Warners 2-discers (Sierra madre, Amadeus et al) clumped together because they seem to flock together.

It's kind of anal. Comes from my bookshelves. I had an ex-girlfriend that couldn't get over the way I manage to clump my novels and philosophy books together not only by author and category, but by height.