Rules for alphabetizing your collection

All mixed! Man, your collection must look like Giant's Causeway!
Nah, it's like 90% blu anyways. The odd DVD or UHD is scattered around but they don't look out of place to me. It gives each row a bit of verticality!
 
I keep my DVDs, blus and UHDs all together. For one thing, it'd look really odd seeing a single shelf of DVDs, then however many shelves of blus, and then a tiny UHD shelf. For another thing, they're all part of the same alphabet!

There's one shelf that's only big enough for blus anyway. I do keep all my Dr Who and related stuff together though.

Bri
 
After much tribulation, and around one-thousand titles plus in my video collection, I have settled on a 3-part arrangement: Movies & Series - Exercise & Dance - Japanese Animation. Blu-ray and DVDs are intermixed in my collection as many are combo packs. I keep the VHS videos separate, converting them to DVD as they are released. Any videos that are 'burned' copies or VHS to DVD, are kept separate from the main collection in a portfolio.

I begin with Movies & Series. This section includes Live-action, CGI, Animated films; documentaries; educational films; concerts; musicals; cartoons; and television series. I at one point divided this category further by separating the movies, animation, and series, then further still by dividing by studio. This proved to be a moot point since videos are frequently re-released under new studio control as the rights change hands. Lumping the categories together proved to be a more efficient use of my shelf space. Thus it has become my largest selection.

I'd like to take a moment to recommend anyone with a large collection consider custom building their own shelves to save money. I move every 2 years so my design can be altered to work around any space and existing furniture.

My next collection is Exercise & Dance. For Exercise, I have Workouts - Chi Jon - Pilates. For Dance, I have Belly Dance - Dance Workouts - Everything else. The reason I divide them this way is because I teach Belly Dance and don't want to dig to find what I need.

Last is my Japanese Anime collection. I mix movies and series together (including live-action) because many of the series have feature films or mini-series know as OAVs. These movies are often continuations, prequels, or inserts to the series using the same characters. Another section I sometimes separate is the Yaoi, depending on shelf space and who is going to have unsupervised access to my collection. Currently, it is intermixed. I also separate the Gibi Studio (is that spelled correctly?) content. This is animation, despite Disney (who provided the dubbing) marketing it as non-anime in many of the stores. That's the basic breakdown.

Movies & Series. I used to work for Suncoast. The rule of thumb is that titles beginning with numerical numbers are first. Followed by alphabetizing which will include titles where the number is spelled instead. Optionally, some individuals may prefer to keep all number titles together, you would start with the numerical '10 Kingdoms' and follow it by the spelled 'Twelve Kingdoms'. It comes down to personal preference.

My collection begins with numerical content such as 8-mile and 12-years a Slave. Next comes the ABCs which intermix spelled titles. The first challenge is also the easiest. Disney's Aladdin. I start with Disney's animated Aladdin feature film followed by the two sequels, then the animated TV-series based on the film, and last is the Disney Live-Action reboot. Easy as pie.

Under the B's I have all of my Batman movies. I start with the 1990s films, placing them in order of release, followed up with the animated movies, and last the 2000 films in release order. The Batman/TMNT film I keep with my TMNT collection. Another example would be the Barbie videos. I start with the animated cartoon movie "Barbie and the Rockers", then the CGI movie collection. There are about 26 Barbie movies in total, released by two studios, sometimes with multiple releases a year. For this, I first divide the collection by year. Next, I place the videos in the release order.

In both these examples, I disregard the individual video titles and instead lump them as a generalized set; Batman and Barbie. The difference is Batman plays on a universe and the movies follow a timeline. Barbie videos do not have a pre-established universe or timeline so they are stand-a-lone. You could easily list them in alphabetical order based on their individual titles instead.

Moving onward, we come to Cinderella. This is a great example! I start with the Disney Animated film of Cinderella because it came first. I follow it up with the sequels 2 and 3. Next, I have two of the musicals, the Disney Live-Action. I place these in order of release date. Same goes for my Snow White collection. The exception is titles such as 'Hook' and 'Ever After'. Respectively, you could place these videos with your Peter Pan or Cinderella group. This is a good option if you have small children. I have opted for placing these titles in their alphabetical order instead of with their group because when I skim I look for a title first and constantly found myself looking in the wrong section before remembering I grouped it.

Sequels, Prequels, Spinoffs: The best example is Star Wars. Release dates are pointless with this series. Especially if you have collector sets or uncut. Start with the originals, episodes 4, 5, 6. Most of use have these videos in a box set. If you have both the originals plus the remix or collector editions, place them after the originals. Now, going in chronological order of the Star Wars universe, place Episode 1, 2, and 3 before the originals. Now take the two 2D animated movies and place them between episodes 2 and 3. These films cover the timeline for Anikan's Jedi Trials. He comes back in the 3rd movie as a Jedi Master. After episode 3 comes the first CGI movie 'Clone Wars'. Now, skip ahead of the originals and place the new Star Wars movies Episodes 7-9. Now you have the prequels and the sequels taken care of.

To finish up, look at the tv-series 'clone wars' and 'Mandalorian' and squeeze those into the proper place on the timeline. Last, you have the Spinoffs. 'Solo' could be a spinoff or a prequel depending on your POV. I personally view it as an Origin film, so I place those before the prequel. You may want to separate these videos or keep to the timeline option. However, they all should be on your shelf in one place under Star Wars. I use this same formula for X-Men, which has a lot of spinoffs and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, intermixing the many different TV series with the animated and live-action films.

The problem I struggle with the most is the 'T' section. Many videos have titles beginning with 'The' but sometimes, this word is disregarded when alphabetizing. An example would be 'the little mermaid' vs 'little mermaid'. Which letter do you alphabetize it under when both would be correct? I'm currently struggling with 'The Neverending Story'. I have the three movies which include 'the' in the title. But this is disregarded when you look at the TV series box set which is placed under 'N' at the store. Currently, I have mine in the 'N' section but it jumps every now and then. Any suggestions regarding this title or this rule? I'd love to hear it!

All that is left is the Anime. I start simple and take all the Gibi Studio content - this would be Princess Mononoke - the Girl Who Lept Through Time - Spirited Away - and place them together in order of release date. Specifically: If it is a Miuzake (? sp) original, I use the Japanese release date. For anything from the Studio that is not Miuzake, I use the American release date. If that fails, I simply place them in the order in which I purchased them. LOL. Next are titles containing numbers followed by letters.

I place series in order of the season. Followed up by specials releases, OVAs, then live-action adaptations. In the case of Card Captor Sakura, I have the original series season one and two. Than the OVAs, followed by the new continuation series they did in 2019, season 1 part 1 and part 2. Still waiting on Season 2's release. For American cartoons, a good example is the many Sonic the Hedgehog series or Gargoyles series 1 season 1 & 2 followed by series 2 season 1.

I hope this helps to clarify filing options. Personal preference should always be what you aim for. Also, in a store - don't expect sequels that do not bear the original title to be kept together unless in a packaged deal. An example would be 'Peter Pan' and 'Return to Neverland' They are filed under 'P' and 'R'. That's all for now. Sorry it turned out so long.

Ja'ne!
 
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"The" and "A" are ignored. I'm torn on whether ignoring "A" is a good idea or not, because "A" can sometimes feel like an important word in the title, but it's a rule I'm living with.
You would not recommend ignoring 'A' if it appears in the title. However, there are exceptions to the rule now and again. The only example that comes to mind at the moment would be "Little Princess" I personally have two copies of this story. "The Little Princess" starring Sherly Temple and "A Little Princess" starring Liesel Matthews. Same story but different tellings. Some people may want to keep them clumped together in the same way you would the different versions of Cinderella. I keep them both separate. Because the first work "A" and "The" is the separation in this title, I file under the 'A's' and 'T's. If I only had The Little Princess I may file under the L's instead.

Its sort of like keeping all your Cinderella's together, but separating out the 'Ever After' and 'Ella Inchanted' movies. Same classic story but does not bear the original name in the title. Others may keep them all together. Personal preference.
 
I generally do alphabetically except for the following :

Film series - I put (eg) the Creed movies beside the rocky movies and the Hobbit movies beside LOTR’s
Foreign films separate
I have music and (eg) Marvel films together
I have all 4K separate (which messes up the whole damn thing ) 🤣🤣
 
I'm struggling with DVDs vs. BRs/UHD. I'm in the process of putting up new shelving. And probably will go down the route of splitting by genre. Although I would like to keep special labels together (e.g. Arrow video and indicator). But I still have DVDs which I'm not keen on keeping interspersed with BR and UHD but may need to keep on a separate shelve e.g. like across the top shelves of the room.
 
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Interesting to see some organise by year and director, would be too much hassle for me that as I don't always know who directed what let alone year! Seems too much faffing about when looking for something. I do similar to the OP.

I have them in alphabetical order by movie title, movies beginning with "The" go under "T", I know many would put for example "The Goonies" under "G", but I find it easier to find these movies if listed under "T".

Numbered movies like 2012 for example go first, from lowest number to highest, If a movie has a sequel with a totally different title, I still keep them together, same with movies from the same series, so I have the Annabelle movies in with The Conjuring.

Prequels I have them together as above, but in "watch" order. It's not a problem I encounter too often as when a movie series gets a 3rd sequel I usually sell my stand alones and change to the boxset, this is an OCD thing which has become really annoying, as I've upgraded boxsets like Fast & Furious and James Bond several times! due to new releases. I hate having a boxset, and then another random movie next to it from the same series, there's a couple of series that have really irked me that have done this:

Underworld, no UK boxset has them all in, same with Star Wars, just got the Skywalker Saga and have had to dump Solo and Rogue One next to it loose.

I have a shelf area just for boxsets, remakes/reboots do NOT go with the originals, they go on my other shelf of singular rays, unless they remake/reboot more than 2 from a series, then I update to the boxset, then it can join it's older friends on the Boxset Shelf, luckily this rarely happens.
 
I just stick them in a free slot/on a free shelf.

I once considered sorting them out, but I was bored by the time I reached B. Admittedly I only have a few hundred, so it doesn't really take long to find anything.

OCD turn away :D
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It's a mad house, A MAD HOUSE!!!
 
Ok so where do I put this in my collection :rotfl:

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That my friend should just go right in the B1N and then tell yourself off. :facepalm:

Only really wanted 4 of the films but boxset was cheaper than just buying those titles individually.

Smart move would be to just bin the box as that makes things easier lol
 

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