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The collection has gotten quite large and I've just built a separate media unit for storing my silent films. It's nothing fancy, just a white, Ikea-style bookshelf, using some scrap wood. The question is, how to arrange the collection; Actor, Age, Director, Genre, Title?

My previous system was fairly loose. Most of it was sorted by genre (i.e. early cinema, comedy, foreign, etc) then by actor, but if an actor was major and crossed genres, they got their own category (ie, Fairbanks, Pickford. etc.). Some of it seemed to make more sense to sort by director (i.e. DeMille, Von Stroheim, etc). Leftover, was a fair assortment of of titles from lesser actors and directors, that I just sorted by title.

So, how do you arrange your collection? I want to establish a little more order and would like to hear about what works for you. Thank-you, in advance.

This little piggy went to closet; this little piggy went to drawer; this little piggy went there, there, and there, and this little piggy went, "Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I have arranged to my collection so that first are the collections (Avant-Garde 1, D.W. Griffith, Arbuckle & Keaton…) and then movies are sorted by age. Different kind of boxes are of course in their own groups – plastic boxes, snapper boxes, cardboards etc.

R Michael Pyle wrote:This little piggy went to closet; this little piggy went to drawer; this little piggy went there, there, and there, and this little piggy went, "Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

By media type (DVD, VHS, laser) and then alphabetical order with collections ("Forbidden Hollywood," etc.) at the end.

Alphabetical by title and then the boxed sets at the end or on top of the bookcase.

My box sets are first; usually in whatever order I think looks best on the shelf given their various sizes and styles. Then I have individual titles in order of release date. I also tend to break up WB sets like the star collections for Garbo, Gable, and Bette Davis. Since each film is in its own dvd case, I put them in with the rest of the chronological dvds. I know thats a little obsessive, but thats the way I think of movies, more by timeframe than by title.

As a German I simply had to go alphabetical by title, with collections and documentaries in separate sections. I also separate silents from talkies. So far so good you'll say, but what to do with those awkward "squawkies" like THE JAZZ SINGER? Sometimes I lie awake at night worrying about it. Being German is not all the fun it's cracked up to be...

Arndt wrote:Sometimes I lie awake at night worrying about it. Being German is not all the fun it's cracked up to be...

Okay, that made me laugh long and hard.

T0m M wrote:
So, how do you arrange your collection? I want to establish a little more order and would like to hear about what works for you. Thank-you, in advance.

Ahem. Toss the cases, put the dvd in an envelope, file dvds alphabetically in drawers of my television cabinet. Run out of space in drawers. Stack Kay Fwancis films on the bookshelf, immediately forget that I've done that, have hissy fit when Kay's birthday comes around and I can't find Mandalay. Bitterly accuse now-former friends of stealing my Kay Fwancis films. Consider finding additional drawer space and new friends.

So, how do you arrange your collection? I want to establish a little more order and would like to hear about what works for you. Thank-you, in advance.

In rebellion against my library training, I arrange the collection completely at random and rely on memory to find anything. It doesn't always work.

rudyfan wrote:Alphabetical by title and then the boxed sets at the end or on top of the bookcase.

Hmm, I thought for sure that you would be reverse alphabetical order, by actor, so that Rudy occupied the top shelf.

T0m M wrote:

rudyfan wrote:Alphabetical by title and then the boxed sets at the end or on top of the bookcase.

Hmm, I thought for sure that you would be reverse alphabetical order, by actor, so that Rudy occupied the top shelf.

Nope, fraid not. The Flicker Alley Valentino Collection is on the bottom shelf under V. Believe me, I know where the DVDs are.

I use the filing technique from THE DARING YOUNG MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE.

Bob

I have over 2,400 films at this point.... I do "collections" by star or director as warranted, then the rest are just piled in bookcases as generic silents, new films, UK films, etc. I also design a cover for each DVD case.... WOOF

urbanora wrote:

So, how do you arrange your collection? I want to establish a little more order and would like to hear about what works for you. Thank-you, in advance.

In rebellion against my library training, I arrange the collection completely at random and rely on memory to find anything. It doesn't always work.

I'm really surprised......I assumed it was just me that existed in utter chaos with DVD's in random shoebox-like disc cases, books arranged not by subject or author but by "Will these two books fit the depth of the shelf without the one in front falling on the floor".
Finding out that Mr Urbanora - of all people, frankly - has similar failings has actually made my day....
But my vinyl LP's are sorted by Genre, then Artist, then release order. Not that it stops me acquiring duplicates of obscure '70's folk-rock albums by mistake....

File them in the fashion that makes the most sense to you. You're the one who has to find them.

I keep all the 400-foot reels and 800-foot reels together, grouped by comedian and/or genre.

I keep DVDs of silent comedians together on one shelf, since they are likely to consist of shorts and features and could bridge the silent and sound eras. Sound features and silent features I have on separate shelves alphabetically by title.

I keep my DVDs in numeric order based on when I acquired them. I then catalog them using a software database (EMDB) made specifically for cataloging DVDs:
http://www.emdb.tk/

I can then find a DVD number by title, actor, year, run time, and probably other things and with the number find the actual DVD. This is especially handy for things like compilations of shorts, double features, and features with extras that confound any shelving scheme. I enter every title that is on the DVD and EMDB pulls the details from IMDB for my catalog.

I'm only half German, so this is enough for me.

Jim Henry wrote:I keep my DVDs in numeric order based on when I acquired them. I then catalog them using a software database (EMDB) made specifically for cataloging DVDs:
http://www.emdb.tk/

I can then find a DVD number by title, actor, year, run time, and probably other things and with the number find the actual DVD. This is especially handy for things like compilations of shorts, double features, and features with extras that confound any shelving scheme. I enter every title that is on the DVD and EMDB pulls the details from IMDB for my catalog.

I'm only half German, so this is enough for me.

(Boggle)

I like the answer John Cusack (as Rob Gordon) gives in "High Fidelity" when he is asked how he is filing his records.

"Autobiographically", he says, "I have to remember that this record goes in the October 1983 pile, because I bought it to give to an ex-girlfriend, but never gave it to her, because that's when we broke up."

I keep purchased DVDs in one area. Silents first, then the talkies. Each section is basically alphabetical, with some exceptions for collections.

Recorded DVD-Rs are in other areas. There are American films, British films, other foreign films, and other recordings, such as documentaries or shorts shown on TCM. Each of these groups is also alphabetical.

I also have a small pile of "things to watch soon."

Some day I will update my master index so I can find things more better.


Rick

While most of my DVD-Rs off of TCM are more or less randomly arranged in stacks of mainly silent and mainly sound titles, I do have some order for all my commercially-purchased discs (about a hundred laserdiscs, about a thousand DVDs, and about 300 BluRays). My 16mm and 35mm film prints used to be shelved alphabetically, but after the disastrous 1997 flood, the survivng prints are now just stacked randomly on shelves, one room with films that stayed dry and another room with films that sustained some water damage but still survived. I rarely watch any of my 16mm more than once or twice a year, if that, these days, and can no longer run 35mm at home since the flood. Most of my VHS and Beta tapes were also destroyed in the flood, so survivors are kept in groups of silent and sound, usually alphabetical, but no longer all together (since I rarely watch tapes these days unless I don't have it on DVD, BluRay, or film, like some of the late-lamented AMC preservation festival titles).

Laserdiscs are divided into three "browsable" boxes, one silent, one pre-1960 sound and one post-1960 sound.

One DVD shelf unit is all silent titles, arranged alphabetically by title. Multi-disc sets featuring a star (Houdini, Fairbanks) are thrown in alphabetically by the featured star.

I've got two sets of shelves to hold my DVDs of English-language talkie features, again alphabetically by title. Another shelf unit has a couple shelves for foreign-language features, a shelf of live-action shorts, a shelf of cartoon collections, and a shelf of TV shows.

Most of the larger box sets of genres and stars are arranged on other levels. With special editions like GONE WITH THE WIND, CASABLANCA, etc., I take the DVD/BluRay out of the big box to go on the shelf and keep the display boxes separate (as a display).

Another shelf unit is BluRay only, and all alphabetical by title (since at this point I have only a couple of silent films on BluRay and only a few TV series.

So the short answer is: separate shelf units for silent and sound, mainly shelved alphabetically by title, with certain exceptions. I've never quite gotten ambitious enough to catalogue everything, though that could certainly be convenient.

--Christopher Jacobs
http://hpr1.com/film
http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs

Christopher Jacobs wrote:While most of my DVD-Rs off of TCM are more or less randomly arranged in stacks of mainly silent and mainly sound titles, I do have some order for all my commercially-purchased discs (about a hundred laserdiscs, about a thousand DVDs, and about 300 BluRays). My 16mm and 35mm film prints used to be shelved alphabetically, but after the disastrous 1997 flood, the survivng prints are now just stacked randomly on shelves, one room with films that stayed dry and another room with films that sustained some water damage but still survived. I rarely watch any of my 16mm more than once or twice a year, if that, these days, and can no longer run 35mm at home since the flood. Most of my VHS and Beta tapes were also destroyed in the flood, so survivors are kept in groups of silent and sound, usually alphabetical, but no longer all together (since I rarely watch tapes these days unless I don't have it on DVD, BluRay, or film, like some of the late-lamented AMC preservation festival titles).

Laserdiscs are divided into three "browsable" boxes, one silent, one pre-1960 sound and one post-1960 sound.

One DVD shelf unit is all silent titles, arranged alphabetically by title. Multi-disc sets featuring a star (Houdini, Fairbanks) are thrown in alphabetically by the featured star.

I've got two sets of shelves to hold my DVDs of English-language talkie features, again alphabetically by title. Another shelf unit has a couple shelves for foreign-language features, a shelf of live-action shorts, a shelf of cartoon collections, and a shelf of TV shows.

Most of the larger box sets of genres and stars are arranged on other levels. With special editions like GONE WITH THE WIND, CASABLANCA, etc., I take the DVD/BluRay out of the big box to go on the shelf and keep the display boxes separate (as a display).

Another shelf unit is BluRay only, and all alphabetical by title (since at this point I have only a couple of silent films on BluRay and only a few TV series.

So the short answer is: separate shelf units for silent and sound, mainly shelved alphabetically by title, with certain exceptions. I've never quite gotten ambitious enough to catalogue everything, though that could certainly be convenient.

--Christopher Jacobs
http://hpr1.com/film
http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs

Wow, you have 300 Blu-Rays already?? Must be a lot of contemporary films in there. We may have to rescind your Nitrateville membership card (if there was such a thing).

While most of my DVD-Rs off of TCM are more or less randomly arranged in stacks of mainly silent and mainly sound titles

I bought a couple of big black binders made for CDs, and life improved measurably.

Then my DVD recorder broke for the second time, but still, what I have is organized well!

Wow, you have 300 Blu-Rays already?? Must be a lot of contemporary films in there. We may have to rescind your Nitrateville membership card (if there was such a thing).

Well, there are a fair amount of films from the past decade (including a number of off-beat titles that never seem to show up at our local theatres or video stores), but I'd say about half of the titles are from before 1990 (can't believe that's already over 20 years ago!) and about a quarter of them from before 1970, most of those either Warner or Criterion releases (just had some people over last night for a double bill of PIERROT LE FOU and 8 1/2, both of which looked like brand-new 35mm prints on the big screen). And since I've discovered how easy it is to order from amazon.co.uk I've been adding lots of region-free BluRays from the 1940s, 50s, 60s, and 70s that may not see US release for another several years if at all. (I'll be watching my new copies of GREAT EXPECTATIONS, BLACK NARCISSUS and LE FEMME MARIEE within the next few weeks).

--Christopher Jacobs
http://hpr1.com/film
http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs

Christopher Jacobs wrote:

Wow, you have 300 Blu-Rays already?? Must be a lot of contemporary films in there. We may have to rescind your Nitrateville membership card (if there was such a thing).

Well, there are a fair amount of films from the past decade (including a number of off-beat titles that never seem to show up at our local theatres or video stores), but I'd say about half of the titles are from before 1990 (can't believe that's already over 20 years ago!) and about a quarter of them from before 1970, most of those either Warner or Criterion releases (just had some people over last night for a double bill of PIERROT LE FOU and 8 1/2, both of which looked like brand-new 35mm prints on the big screen). And since I've discovered how easy it is to order from amazon.co.uk I've been adding lots of region-free BluRays from the 1940s, 50s, 60s, and 70s that may not see US release for another several years if at all. (I'll be watching my new copies of GREAT EXPECTATIONS, BLACK NARCISSUS and LE FEMME MARIEE within the next few weeks).

--Christopher Jacobs
http://hpr1.com/film
http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs

Would love to hear (read) your impressions of some of the UK Classic Blu-Rays if you are so moved and have the time. Your post re the SUNRISE Blu Ray moved me to purchase it.

The only of my collections, and the largest, that is organized is 16mm cartoons...divided by studio (not by character either because there can be overlapping), and then stored from earliest release date to latest. Silent separate from sound as well; Aesop's Fables are NOT with TerryToons nor are Out of the Inkwell with Betty Boop. That would be sacrilege!