2010 Challenge - Month 8 Stats

(just about keeping up)

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.

August is a typically busy month for me. The Fringe pretty much controls my life for the bulk of the month and, unlike EIFF, this isn’t time spent watching films. I saw a total of 28 shows throughout August and typically most of these excursions would involve a lengthy trip to make the most of the Festival licensing changes on either side of it.

That said, I’m pretty happy, albeit shocked, that I managed to keep the film viewing pretty high with an average of fractionally more than one film per day. It’s certainly higher than the viewing for the same period last year and just about getting me where I need to be.

So, here's where I stand at month 8's end:

August:

Total films watched: 32
First-time viewings: 23
Percentage of first-time viewings: 71.9%
Cumulative monthly total: 297
Cumulative monthly first-time viewings: 257
Cumulative monthly percentage of first-time viewings: 86.5%

Best Films: The Girl Who Played With Fire, Separado!, The Last Exorcism, This Is England, Ratatouille, The Lost Boys
Worst Films: Bigga Than Ben: A Russians' Guide To Ripping Off London, The Other Side Of The Bed, The Expendables, Lost Boys: The Tribe, Hideous Kinky

August 2009 Comparison:

Total films watched: 23
First-time viewings: 21
Percentage of first-time viewings: 91.3%
Cumulative monthly total: 254
Cumulative monthly first-time viewings: 211
Cumulative monthly percentage of first-time viewings: 83.1%

In terms of the grand scheme of things my overall total fell 3 short of the target of 300 for the first 2/3 of the year. It still means an achievable 39 or so films a month for the remainder of the year should do it.

These last two months I’ve fallen back on watching old stuff and the new viewing percentage is taking a tumble month upon month. I thought the relatively high percentage of the first half of the year would sustain but I really need to be more careful.

I’ll have to have a series look through the ‘unwatched’ pile of the DVD collection in coming months, rather than fall back on the safe, easy choices.

Still, hopes are high for keeping on track - especially now the fertile film watching ambience of the autumn/winter months is nigh.