Sci-fi, horror or what? (Organization question)
 

I organize my DVD's by the following categories.

Sci-Fi
War
Western
Educational/documentaries/history
TV series
Everything else.

I'm considering a "Horror" category that are now in Sci-fi.

The problem I've run into is what is Horror and what is Sci-fi!

Also, what about movies like Spiderman, Hulk, or Ghostbusters?
Would these be Drama, Sci-Fi, or what?

Do you just go by how they are sold in stores or online? What criteria do some of you use to create categories?

Thank you for your support.

I would say figure out what your purpose is for organizing them. Is it so you can say, I'm in the mood for a Sci-Fi film, so then you go look through your Sci-Fi films? If so, then just think about what genre you think you would be in the mood for when you would find one of those movies.

I have the same problem. A friend took a look at my collection and commented on some of the inconsistencies in the organization.

For example, I've got Fantasic Four and Spiderman in "Action", and the Superman and X-Men movies in "Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy". Likewise, I've got The Italian Job in "Action", but Ocean's 11 in "Suspense".

I categorize superhoes as Adventure. Same with Bond, Indiana Jones, etc. I save Action for Chuck Norris, Segal, Lethal Weapon, etc. type stuff. Punisher is Action. Sometimes you have to determine a primary category for iffy stuff. To me Total Recall, Terminator, Predator type stuff is Action because that's the film's primary focus. I have Aliens and Alien 4 as action but Alien and Alien 3 as sci-fi. If something is a comedy, regardless of setting, I call it comedy. Horror/Sci-Fi I also determine if it's a horror movie in sci-fi setting or not. Jason X is horror. If the theme of a movie is just to rack up a body count by killing people via alien or whatever it's horror.
I sometimes have trouble determining film noir or crime. I use Thriller instead of Suspense. War is simple.

I also catelog my music collection. That can really drive you nuts. Is it Rock, Hard Rock, Blues Rock? Or maybe Pop? Or soft rock? Should I call it Country Rock, Southern Rock, Rock n Roll, Prog Rock? Heavy Metal? Hot Rod or Surf?
Nightmare.

A lot of us have the same problem. Many movies fit in one or more categories. Aliens - Sci-Fi or Horror?

The best way to do it is first list your categories that you want to have. Action/Adventure, Comedy/Musical, Documentary, Crime/Drama, Horror, Mystery/Suspence, and Sci-Fi/Fantasy is what I have. Then I thought about how I, personally define each category.

For example, Action/Adventure to me is "real life". So Spiderman, Hulk, that sort of thing doesn't fit. They go in Sci-fi/Fantasy.

It's not easy as there will be some that you will never be quite sure where to put them.

If you want to see confusing check out this sites reviews section and search by category. They have some stuff in the strangest place. I got the impression that they weren't sure where to put them so they listed them in several categories. This is not a critisism, as they have the same problem of determing where they go in many instances. Only problem with it is that searching by category can be very frustrating with all the extra junk mixed in.

Anyway, good luck.

James

Why limit yourself to 1 category per film?

For filing in a book case. shelf, wherever.

James

It was questions like this that made me abandon the genre organization I used to use. There are simply too many that toe the line between two or more genres. Drama and comedy are sometimes hard, crime or thriller or horror or drama. Just way too difficult to easily define. Maybe if I only had a couple hundred DVDs I'd be able to remember where everything is, but I reached the point where I pretty much had to go alphabetical.

Now almost everything is strictly alphabetical.

I keep TV shows on one set of bookcases, all alphabetical.

Movies in a separate wall of shelving, all alphabetical except minor things like sequels being together even if the technical titles are different letters.

Just buy multiple copies of the movies so they can fit in as many genres as as needed. ;)

For myself, I separate into the following categories:
Comic Book
Sci-Fi
Fantasy
Action
Suspense/Thriller
Horror
Comedy
Made-for-TV movies
Gangster
Television Shows
Sports
Westerns
Music Related titles

I have my own hierarchy, I suppose... I've never really thought about it, but here goes.
Comic book would trump any other genre if it has a comic book character in it
Next would be Sci-Fi
On the same level as Sci-Fi would be Gangster/Sports/Westerns -> These are really pararallel because there aren't many Sci-Fi/Gangster/Sports/Western crossovers out there.
Next would be Fantasy
Next would be Suspense/Thriller
Next would be Horror
Next would be Comedy
Next would be Action

Obviously, I just kind of do it in my head for each title, it's not like I actually think about it in the terms I listed, but what I have listed above probably would be valid for 98% of my titles.

These issues are the chief reason why I decided to go for a simple alphabetical organization rather than separating into genre.

Here's another one that always troubles me: Brazil. To me, I find it to be a comedy, although a dark one, but I can also clearly see how some might list it as a sci-fi, fantasy or drama.

And then don't forget titles like Showgirls and Battlefield Earth. The actual movie might be considered a drama or sci-fi, but how do you account for the unintentional hilarity that each one brings to the table?

Questions like these are why I just have my collection in strictly alphabetical order.

Same here. I tried organizing by Genre at one point and relaized it's too hard to separate many titles (For instance what Genre would Jaws fit under? Adventure?, horror?, classics?)


I tried other methods as well, organize by studio? May look neat on the shelf but doesn't help me find the movie I want any faster.

Actor/Actress/Director? Again, too many DVDs that could be placed in multiple catagories (does Saving Private Ryan fit under "Tom Hanks" or "Steven Spielberg?)


Naw, too much hassle. It's Strictly alphabetical now.

Alphabetical for me, with Fox Noir, Criterion and MoC getting their own special lil' sections.

Top shelf: non-horror, then tv series, then anime
next 2 shelfs: horror
bottom shelfs: asian movies (mostly horror)
then blu-ray along with ps3 games at very bottom shelf.

Mostly alphabetical, with subsections for anime, animation, Shakespeare and music. The really odd one there is music, which has things like the Beastie Boys Criterion set, The Wizard of Oz, Rocky Horror Picture Show and Dancer in the Dark all together. I don't split out TV shows because that would put the South Park and The Simpson's movies separate from their TV show sets which didn't sit well with me.

I organize alphabetically, within two sections; Anime and Everything Else. I keep a database in Excel with title and genre as the two columns. Then I can sort for genre if I desire. Doesn't solve the problem of where to put a lot of titles. Is it a romance or a musical, is it Sci-Fi or horror. Multiple genre entries would solve this, so Alien could sort out as Sci-Fi or Horror. That could get complicated fast, though, so I haven't bothered. My total collection is under 2000 entries, so it's not too hard to keep track of.

If it's sci-fi and horror, such as Alien, I'd put it in sci-fi and let horror be strickly horror. As for super hero movies, i'd put them in the category that would help you find them, whether it's fantasy or action/adventure. I actually have a superhero category since I have enough of those titles to support such a division. Remember, it's your collection so you make the rules on how to sort it. Don't worry if it doesn't conform to the ways others do their collections, just as long as it works for you.

I believe my organization problem is related to my biological science background/training. :hscratch:

It really "bugs" me when things don't fit into a logical taxonomic scheme.

That's strange on many levels. Strange that people still store their discs on shelves and bookcases. I guess most people prefer the Netflix warehouse look of their living room, den, etc.

Strange that discs would physically be sorted by genre/category. It is more difficult to find a particular title that way.

But that sounds like a good reason why it must be one category... and probably a good reason why one shouldn't organize their collection that way.

^^^ Why do you find it strange that people still store discs on shelves and bookcases? Seems pretty logical to me. :hscratch:

And while I have never attempted to organize my collection by category, pretty much all of my friends have suggested that as a better method of organization than alphabetical.

alphabetically for me. movies are separate from TV shows.

Ghostbusters goes in the comedy catagory

I am still debating if the Blade movies should go in horror (I put them in Action)

I don't know about the OP, but I organize by genre because when I go to pick out a movie, I'm usually looking for a type of movie, not a specific title.

Its just that some movies are difficult to pick a single category that best applies.

Questions like these are why I just have my collection in strictly random order.

For what it's worth, I would leave the Blade movies where they are. A story with vampires doesn't make it a horror movie.