I have made various attempts to organize catalogues of my movie collection.
My dream would be to have a binder with a separate page for each movie. Each page would have:
1. A color copy of the original theatrical poster for the movie (or, more likely, a color copy of the DVD cover art)
2. A short synopsis of the movie
3. Vital statistics (year of release, running time, MPAA rating, etc.)
The closest I ever came was creating an alphabetical listing of movies in Excel. I don't even have this anymore because I left it on my computer at my last job.
How do you catalogue your collection?
I wish. My movies aren't even on a shelf, they're just in piles on the floor and in boxes, again on the floor. I have some shelving I got from a closeout at a local video store, I just don't have a place to put it yet.
Brother R
I ran out of shelving, so now they are in 20 high stacks all over the place. All my Mst3k episodes took up most of my shelf space. I keep those in order, cause I use those a lot either for dubbing or trading. Everything else is in quite a mismatch. And I would love to have a hard copy of the list of my movies. But too much work!!
Scottie
I've had alphebetical lists of my movie collection But I always lose them or am too lazy to update them when I make a new purchase. I'm sure there are programs that let you do all this easily, I wonder if there are some that you enter the title and it is connected to the IMDB. that would be pretty cool.
I was just thiking about re doing this to my movies (vhs and dvd) this morning. Everytime I try something pops up and I have to start over. I once had a binder that just listed the tapes I had and everything on them (tapes were even numbered) but then i became lazy half way through and just forgot about it. I guess I'll have a hobby for thissummer in my spare time now
Yeah-
Go to this web site and setup your list.
It's easy, free, and cool as s**t.
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/
All I really do is divide between stuff I frequently watch and want easy access to and stuff that I will probably only dig out once in a blue moon--I keep those in a closet or something.
um dude you have way to much time on your hands why do you need to catalog your movies
I used to use dvd profiler for my dvd's but have gotten lazy since buying and selling many discs over the last couple months. It is a nice program though and suggest it to anyone looking to organize their dvds.
Actually if you go to that website I posted above, it's very easy.
Just do the search for the movie you own and then move it "Owned"
I work on a PC on day long, so for me I have all the time in the world.
this is my list:
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=scabies
Scabies wrote:
> this is my list:
>
> http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=scabies
Thanks! I started listing mine today. I just need to find the time to get them all in there now!
My film collection is pretty disorganized.
I have all of my special edition DVDs on a shelf together.
I have certain directors grouped togther as well (I.E. Romero, Raimi, etc)
I also have all of my cardboard DVD cases grouped together on the same shelf. I hate those damn cases....
I need to take a day and actually organize my collection. Maybe someday.
PHYSICALLY, my movies are very well organized. I have a series of large bookcases that I bought at Wal-Mart several years ago. My DVDs are arranged on the shelves alphabetically, by title (regardless of genre, director, etc.)
My problem is that my big screen television, surround sound system, and all my DVDs are in my "party room." I have a 24 x 20 finished room in my basement with wall-to-wall carpeting, a small bar, 2 pub tables, a love seat,, a recliner, and framed pictures of THE SOPRANOS, GOODFELLAS, THE GODFATHER, FRANK SINATRA, THE RAT PACK, etc. on the walls. The bookcases are also along one wall. My problem is that I wanted to give the room "atmosphere" like a bar, so I installed red lights in the ceiling. This makes it hard to see anything. When people want to find a movie, they really need to squint to read the titles on the spines of the DVDs.
I figured that if I had a catalogue that they could look through, it would be much easier. That's why I'd like to have a color picture of either the original theatrical poster or the DVD box cover, plus a short synopsis of each movie. It would be easier than straining their eyes to read the DVD boxes. The ones on the bottom shelves ar almost impossible to read unless you kneel down or lie on the floor. I keep a flashlight handy for such occasions . . .
This is as far as we've gotten in organization:
2 shelves: MSTs
1 shelf: "Bad" movies/animation
1 shelf: "Good" movies
1 Shelf: Music videos
And a box of "TV videos" -- Star Treks, Pythons, miscellaneous stuff taped off the TV
And we're overflowing every damn shelf. It's one of the reasons I look forward to our gradual changeover to DVD -- save some damn space!
I've outgrown so much shelving, it's ridiculous. My collection was split between some wall shelvesm, an old bookshelf, top of the dresser, etc.
Buying a house last year, I finally got to do what I've wanted to do for a while. I'm a pretty fair carpenter, so I bought a bunch of pine and molding and stain, etc., and built a built-in bookcase in the rec room. It runs floor to ceiling, covering one wall. It's divided up the middle, with half the shelves spaced wider for books and half spaced just enough for video boxes. With our combined collections, Lori and I easily filled the book half (after making some tough choices), and the video half is about 80% full, with room to grow.
No catalogue, but they're all in one place, and somewhat organized by genre, star, franchise, etc.
Post Edited (06-17-03 13:09)
I live with almost 800 movies in the basement, and they are listed by action, horror, SF, comedy, drama, and other... and they are numbered...
My DVD collection is only 10 movies and I dont need to worrie about them as of yet
ANDYC wrote:
"I've outgrown so much shelving, it's ridiculous."
I feel your pain. I used to have DVDs and CDs on my bookcases. Now, the DVDs are taking over and I have been slowly removing the CDs to free up some more space!
I have 5 bookcases lined up along the wall. Each one holds approximately 300 DVDs. Right now, about 3 1/3 of them are full of DVDs and 1 2/3 are full of CDs. If I move all of the CDs out, I will be able to store about 500 more DVDs. At my current buying pace, I will need another bookcase in 2 years or less.
The problem is, where the hell do I put my CDs?
The only answer is to buy a bigger house.
Post Edited (06-17-03 13:58)
I'm really the biggest loser, i have a webpage listing all my movies with poster images and comments. But only I access it, it's sort of how i browse through and pick out what i feel liek watching vs. actually getting up and going over to the shelf.
;-)
I used to try and catalogue by genre, but that all changed when I got married and we had a child. Alphabetical is the only way to go because when we had people visit, they could never find anything. I have about 1/2 of the collection on DVD now and I am phasing out my vhs (but not the original Star Wars, that's in the collection forever).
When someone asks for Army of Darkness, I have to explain that it isn't next to Evil Dead 1 and 2 because I don't organize by genre anymore.
I also can't break up certain sets (Memento, Se7en, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter) because the box sets are really nice and it would be confusing as hell to the layperson. For instance, guests would attempt to grab disc 2 and pick up the supplementary disc instead, which makes me nuts.....
Short answer, I group alphabetically. Someday genre will come back into play, but not for a while....
Neon Noodle wrote:
"Short answer, I group alphabetically. Someday genre will come back into play, but not for a while...."
I struggle so much with this, but my collection is (and will probably always be) organized alphabetically.
Genres are sometimes hard to pin down. For instance, would KELLY'S HEROES be grouped with "war movies" or "comedies?" Would AMERICAN GRAFFITI be grouped with "dramas" or "comedies?" Would JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH be "sci-fi," "drama," or "adventure?"
If you alphabetize, there should be no question where to find the movie.
Of course, that also causes problems. I have the entire TWILIGHT ZONE collection (which is in with my "T" movies). But I also have MORE TREASURES FROM THE TWILIGHT ZONE, which should be alphabetized under "M," but logically belongs with the rest of the TWILIGHT ZONES.
I guess I'll be frustrated no matter what I do . . .
I'd just stick More Twilight next to the regular Twilight. Generally I place part IIs and such right next to the first. You're right genres are much tougher. Is Alien a sci-fi or horror (yes, it is.)
What I find frustrating is alphabetizing my records. Do The Hassles and Attila go next to Billy Joel (his earlier groups) and what about The Beatles' solo stuff?
I've got a word file with an alphabetical list of my films, then a 'to buy' list of films with prices next to them.
Since I originally posted this thread, I have entered about 99% of my DVDs into an Excel spreadsheet, which is sorted alphabetically by title. Right now, I only have the titles listed. My next step will be to add the actors, genres, MPAA ratings, running times, release years, etc.