2010 Challenge - Month 7 Stats

(momentum maintained)

To recap, I’m aiming to watch 450 films by the end of the year but a minimum of 80% of that total has to be stuff which I have never seen before.

After the abnormally engorged viewing of June and the buoyed notion that the target might be achievable, I entered July with similarly lofty hopes. I think I worked it out that I needed an average of 37.5 films a month for the remaining six months of the year in order to smash the 450 target.

Mindful of the fact that August, and therefore a packed Fringe schedule, was impending I tried to get as far beyond 37.5 as I could to cut myself some slack for the coming month. In the end 40 isn’t that much more but any slack I can cut myself for the one month of the year where other activities take precedence is a boon. I took a few days off from viewing at the start of July to recover from EIFF, so 40 is in effect the total for about 28 days, which ain’t bad.

So, here's where I stand at month 7's end:

July:

Total films watched: 40
First-time viewings: 29
Percentage of first-time viewings: 72.5%
Cumulative monthly total: 265
Cumulative monthly first-time viewings: 234
Cumulative monthly percentage of first-time viewings: 88.3%

Best Films: Red Road, Inception, Somers Town, GoodFellas, The Entity, Bring It On, Ravenous, To Kill A Mockingbird, Sweet Sixteen, The Karate Kid, The A-Team, Cloverfield, London To Brighton
Worst Films: Survival Of The Dead, Predator 2, The Collector, Wild Target

July 2009 Comparison:

Total films watched: 27
First-time viewings: 18
Percentage of first-time viewings: 66.6%
Cumulative monthly total: 231
Cumulative monthly first-time viewings: 190
Cumulative monthly percentage of first-time viewings: 82.3%

I fully expect August to be fairly lean in terms of what films I watch, so if I hit 37.5 (or even 35, taking into account the slack I bought myself from July) I’ll be happy and still on target. It doesn’t seem likely though.

Still, with autumn and winter approaching steadily I can ramp this up again.

The 80% target of first-time viewings took a bit of a dent in July with a lot of ‘comfort viewing’ of old familiars but it’s still safely over the threshold. In all honestly, I thought the overall percentage could cope with a bit more in terms of rewatches than it has (dropping as it did 3% or so for the sake of 11 films) but at least I know for coming months.

I can still do this but it’s going to require a plan of action for the remaining five months, as well as the hope that August doesn’t see too much of a drop.