Putting together Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations

I am going to talk about some of the crazy selection process that goes on when I put one of these things together each week.

Every couple weeks, I have 4 buckets I draw from to decide selections. I usually feature all four on the same blog depending on the circumstances and these are first priority on the weeks I use the the buckets

-AFI bucket: This is a drawing that have movies from the annual top 100 lists and their annual top 10 list of the movies of that year.

-1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die bucket: These are movies featured in the book my dad got me for Christmas one year which has provided me some interesting selections.

-501 directors bucket: This is from another book my dad got me which features 501 directors from old to new and I try to find something unknown but usually settle for what is in Netflix.

-Facebook bucket: This is a list of my Facebook friends who have movies featured in the movie section of their profile and I tag that person.

Random Myspace Profile Selection: This is where I put my friends on random and the top friend that comes up each time will be the profile I select to see if there is a movie for me to feature. I do this until I have nine people and they must be available eitehr through Netflix or my local library. These are used periodically, I don't believe I have used any more than four of these in one edition

Deaths: An unfortunate thing but when I hear of some death of a celebrity, I try to find something to feature but it does not always happen.

Award winner section: I have many award winning films and past work from the individual winners which I took from the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and the Academy Awards and I have this as a list on Netflix that I will use periodically

DVR: I try to include at least one that I find on television, especially one from the 80s and above. I really like IFC, Ovation, and many others. This is the most random and unplanned one.

On-Demand: My dad has Comcast On-Demand so I use that when I go to his house when i can.

Wal-Mart gift cards: At my job the last couple months I have earned $25 Wal-Mart cards where I purchase good movies at a reasonable price so those are in the on-deck circle.

Looking at year of film which is another thing important in my selection process
-one from 2007 and later, come next year that will be 2008 and later
-I try to have one from 2007 and later, 2000-2006, the 90s, and the 80s. The fifth can be any from those eras giving me 5 from 1980 and up. I almost always have five from the 80s-up but not always the way I state.
-The next five are the older ones where I like to have one from the 30s and below, two from the 40s and 50s, two from the 60s and 70s. I usually don't like using two from the 70s but again all this is subject to change but I always have something from the 30s
-the main thing is to have one from the 30s and below and 2007 and up

There are never really any themes except diversity.
-The biggest priority is to use different actors and actresses.
-When watching a movie I have a notepad taking down references to mostly people where no other movies cannot feature that person or event, nor can that person be mentioned in any other featured film. This can be the name or event spoken or seen in a picture. This week has been a bit rough with an Elvis references in one of my movies and I have ran into that a lot this week. I have come to regard Jesus Christ as a common image and person so I don't really take that into account much. I have also regarded George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as a common image but if I see the image and hear the name in another movie then it is not featured. I then make a judgement call on if I put it to the next week's blog.

Things are always subject to change, where it is the references or a bad DVD. Plot is something I alsways take into account. The Thin Red Line and Saving Private Ryan will never be in the same blog edition. Superman and Spider-Man will not be in the same edition.

I have my movies together and try to find difference in year, actor, director, etc. but take the Fun Little Trivia section into account if I find something. I have many movies which I have through Netflix, the library and my purchases, then I try to leave room for the DVR or On-Demand.

That is the the mind-boggling process I go through each week and usually get started a couple days before the week starts. If you have made it this far in the blog, thank you for reading and for your support. Stay tuned saturday for Jack Lemmon, Spencer Tracy, Evan Rachel Wood, Asia Argento, Gregory Peck, Judy Garland, and Humphrey Bogart.