The System

Like any good organized body, you need a system set up to keep things in order.  Marc’s Movies is no different.  It follows a set of rules to keep things nice and neat, which are detailed below:

Note that these rules are pretty long and probably won’t apply to you unless you want to help add movies to the collection.  Otherwise, you can see these rules as an example of the care we put into keeping this collection up and what you can expect if you can get a copy of it.

1. All movie files will be in a folder

This is the first and most basic rule.  The last thing we want is a bunch of rogue files littering up the screen and since we will have multiple files associated with each movie, this is a must.

2. With certain exceptions, all folders and files will have the format of “MovieName – YearReleased”

To see why we do this, look at a typical folder full of movies ripped from discs or the internet:

Bad File Structure

You have a mish-mash of files and folders, you have really, REALLY long folder names that highlight the video format, uploader, and other things which is great for ease of transmission across the internet, but doesn’t seem so pretty sitting in your media folders at home.

Using the format “MovieName – YearReleased” we can cut out everything except for the basic info needed for navigation. The year allows users to see the difference between originals and remakes of movies with the same title.  Also, to keep alphabetical order intact, it must be noted that there has to be a space both before and after the dash in all folders and files.  The folder system will then look like this:

Marc's Movies Folder Structure

I’m hoping the organized person within you can see how this system makes things easier to navigate.

Exceptions to this rule would include IMDB shortcut files (See #4 below) and multiple subtitle files (See #5 below).

3. Capitalize the titles of the movies accordingly.

Treat the titles as a title of a book and capitalize accordingly.  The first word and any other word other than a simple word (like “the”, “a”, “with”, etc) should be capitalized.  Also, since most file structures will not allow special characters such as “:” or ” ?”, they must be either omitted or substituted with another ” – “.  For example, a title that is originally spelled like this, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze” must be converted to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II – The Secret of the Ooze” to comply with the rules of most file structures.  Movies such as “What About Bob?” and “Who’s Harry Crumb?” must lose their question marks to comply.

4.  There will be at a minimum, 3 files in each folder: 1 movie file, 1 cover art picture, & 1 IMDB internet shortcut file.

Here is an example of the inside of a movie folder:

Inside a typical Marc's Movies folder

Here you see the three basic files, the movie file (which has the VLC media player orange cone icon), the DVD cover file with the picture icon, and the IMDB internet shortcut with the Google Chrome icon.  Some have asked why there is an IMDB shortcut.  The answer is that IMDB has an expansive collection of movie records and if someone wanted more information on a certain movie, or if they wanted to get an outside rating of the movie, or even watch a trailer, they can do it at that site.  Also, IMDB is currently the authority in regards to release dates.  If a file has a differing release date for a movie compared to the file, the IMDB release date trumps any other date given.  Other than the files listed, the only other files that will be found in a folder will be the subtitles files (See #5 below).

5. Subtitle files may be added to the folder with the same “MovieName – YearReleased” format and will be either a single English subtitle file or a single .rar file containing multiple subtitle files if there is more than one.

Since only about 10% of Marc’s Movies come with subtitles, these are not required, but can be added if available.  Subtitle files are read by the player and manually added over the video which is a process that makes them “soft-coded”.  (This is in contrast to “hard-coded” subtitles which are actually on the video file itself and cannot be turned off like soft-coded ones can.)  To read the file, you must have the file in question have the exact name as the movie file, so it too must also have the “MovieName – YearReleased” format as seen below:

Sample Marc's Movie Folder with Subtitle File

Since this began as a locally disseminated project, I have to admit an ethnocentric approach and assume that all files are English subtitles.  For foreign movies or movies where there are multiple languages spoken, multiple subtitles can be put into a single .rar file with the same name as the movie file.  Players such as VLC can open .rar files up and retrieve the needed subtitle files without a need to decompress them by the user.  Inside the .rar files, the naming scheme must remain the same except with the addition of an extra dot notation to separate the files.   For example, if you have one English subtitle file and one Japanese subtitle file in the same .rar archive.  You would name them:

MovieName – YearReleased.en.srt

MovieName – YearReleased.jp.srt

This will be enough for the player to differentiate the two files.

6. If an option exists, soft-coded subtitles are preferred to hard-coded subtitles

As described in rule #5, hard-coded subtitles cannot be turned off and offer fewer options for the movie watcher.  Obviously there may not be a choice in the matter, but when ripping or searching for movies, it should be something to be aware of and to look out for.

7. Currently, IMDB is the naming authority for movie files.

This rule is currently under review and may change at some point in the future.  If there is a discrepancy between a file name and IMDB, go with the IMDB naming.  This comes up a lot in sequels.  For example, does a movie title go by Part 2 or Part II?  Some files show the Roman numeral while others show the Arabic numeral.  For an example of how this can be at issue, you can look up movies such as Fright Night Part 2 or Jeepers Creepers II.  In each case, the movie poster shows a different type of numeral compared to the IMDB listing.  It can also come up when trying to find out whether to use an “and” or a “&”.  Currently, if there is any doubt, go with the IMDB listing.  The collection is still not in 100% compliance with this and it may be changed to reflect the marketing name.  Exceptions to this rule currently involve foreign films where there is a different name for the American market but is not the main name listed on the IMDB page.  (For example, Pan’s Labyrinth or some of the Tomie series.)

8. DVD Cover files should have both the front and back cover.  No posters should be used.

The reasoning behind this is two-fold.  First, full DVD covers are easier to find on the internet.  Secondly, having the back cover available allows someone to read a brief description of the movie which would help them pick out what to watch.  If there are enough requests, I can attempt to create an Apple Automater script to cut the pictures in half and turn the covers into posters, but that is currently not in the works.

9. DVD Cover files should be sufficiently large, be without scanning artifacts, and not be dull.

To be more precise, a DVD cover file should not have any dimension that is less than 1000 pixels in size.  To be more HDTV friendly, they are preferred to be larger than 1920 x 1080 pixels in size. The following example shows how a DVD cover have both scanning artifacts and be dull:

Freddy Vs. Jason DVD Cover (Dull & w/ Artifacts)

You can see that it looks like someone just plopped the cover onto the scanner, hit the scan button and called it a day.  Considering that it is not hard to find other, better examples of most DVD covers online, this just won’t do for the collection.  Look at another version of the cover below to see an acceptable DVD cover.

Freddy vs. Jason DVD Cover (Acceptable)

Note that this looks more like a digital file than a scan of a DVD cover.  Although this is not a perfect example either, it is fine for the collection.

10. DVD Covers should be American (Region 1) if possible and should reflect the contents of the movie file.

When searching for an acceptable DVD cover, care should be taken to find a region 1 cover which is usually denoted as R1.  If you are not aware of what DVD region codes are, you can find an explanation here.  You can usually spot the region 1 covers when doing a search at most sites.  See below:

In this list, you want to pick out this one first to look at.

Care should be taken when dealing with either CUSTOM or R0 covers.  Custom covers are unoffical covers made by other people and not the movie companies.  With rare exception, they are usually amateurish and not as good as the actual cover.  There is no technical coding for R0 discs so they are also usually custom covers made by people who have stripped the coding restrictions from the movies.

Finally, the covers should reflect the contents of the movie file they reside in.  For example, if you are finding a cover for a single Star Trek movie, you do not want to put in a cover from a collection set that shows more than one movie.

11. Stand-up comedy movies, documentaries, and TV show movies that were not theatrically run are not included in the collection.

Stand-up performances, even those that were theatrically released (such as Eddie Murphy – Raw, or The Blue Collar Comedy Tour) are not included in this collection because they will be included in a separate stand-up collection.  Documentaries are not included for the same reason.  TV show movies are only included if they were originally shown in theaters.  For example, movies like South Park – Bigger, Longer & Uncut and The Simpsons Movie would be included but Family Guy – Stewie Griffin – The Untold Story would not be as that was a straight-to-DVD title.

12. Director’s Cuts are only mentioned on movies with substantial changes to story arcs or plots.

This is also a flexible rule and up for change in the future.  Many movies are re-released on DVD with unrated or a director’s cut version that only add minimally to the story or show things that deserved to be on the cutting room floor (or just to have an excuse to re-release a movie and earn a few more bucks).  To avoid having the collection littered with “unrated” or “director’s cut” add-ons in the titles, this designation is limited to only a handful of movies where the new cut of the film drastically changes the viewing experience.  Currently, it is limited to these films:

Brazil, Blade Runner, Donnie Darko, The Professional, & Legend.

These movies and their designations are up for debate and change in later versions of the collection.  When searching for new movies, if an option is present, an uncut or directors cut version is always preferred and otherwise assumed.

13. All movie files will be actual commercial DVD rips. No cams, screeners, or R5s are allowed.

In an attempt to keep the quality of the movies consistent, nothing other than commercially ripped movie files should be added to the collection.  Seeing the hottest and latest movies is not the goal of Marc’s Movies.  Marc’s Movies is geared to be a collection of older classics and newer films that you have enjoyed and likely owned at some point in the past.  As such, the collection will not have movies usually added until at least 4-6 months after theatrical release.  If you are not aware of what the terms “R5”, “cams”, or “screeners” are you can read a very good article here to find out.