001 Film Analysis: Q1 - Q3 2023





At the start of 2023, I decided there were parts of my life that I wanted to better prioritize, and that included carving out more me time. My me time includes many things, but the one I truly like to talk about is film. I’ve been a Letterboxd member since 2022 and noticed that the unpaid members (like myself) receive weekly updates (on Tuesdays to be exact) about the number of films and hours watched YTD; paid members receive more detailed summaries and statistics. Being that I have a background in mathematics and data analysis, I decided I’d take my data into my own hands and analyze what matters most to me about my film-watching habits. Using the “export your data” option in Letterboxd, doing a little research (because the data doesn’t provide everything I needed), and analyzing in Excel, here’s what I’ve learned about my habits this year:





Q1 



Top 10 Films (in no particular order):

  1. Waves (2019)
  2. When I Get Home (2019)
  3. Perfect Blue (1997)
  4. The Master (2012)
  5. My Cousin Vinny (1992)
  6. Four Women (1975)
  7. Batman (1989)
  8. Black Devil Doll from Hell (1984)
  9. Heavy Traffic (1973)
  10. Call Me Tonight (1986)

Analysis (brief due to not logging my films well yet):
  • I reviewed 37% of the 41 films I watched in Q1 2023
  • 27% of the films I watched were of the Drama genre in Q1 2023, with Action close behind at 24%
  • I gave Documentaries the highest average rating of 5.0, with Mystery following at 4.5
  • 95% of the films I watched were in English. I prefer to have nothing to do when I watch films in other languages, but I was feelign a bit reserved at the time
  • 41% of films watched were viewed in January; 17% viewed in February (a bit of a blur honestly), 41% viewed in March
  • 22% of films watched this quarter were viewed on Sundays, followed by Mondays and Tuesdays at 15% ︎



Waves When I Get Home The Master Four Women Call Me Tonight



Q2 



Top 10 Films (in no particular order):

  1. The House that Jack Built (2018)
  2. Daisies (1966)
  3. Persona (1966)
  4. Paprika (2006)
  5. Ichi the Killer (2001)
  6. Videodrome (1983)
  7. Beau is Afraid (2023)
  8. Tales from the Hood (1995)
  9. Eraserhead (1977)
  10. Suspiria (1977)
Analysis:

  1. I reviewed 51% of the 65 films I watched in Q2 2023
  2. 34% of the films I watched were of the Horror genre in Q2 2023, with Drama close behind at 23%. 
  3. I gave Documentaries the highest average rating of 5.0, with Animation following at 4.6
  4. 88% of the films I watched were in English, following with 5% in English/Italian 
  5. 38% of films watched were viewed in May; April and June tied at 31%
  6. 23% of films watched this quarter were viewed on Wednesdays




The House that Jack Built Daisies Persona Paprika Eraserhead




Q3 



Top 10 Films (in no particular order):

  1. Star Wars: Episode IV (1977)
  2. The Holy Mountain (1973)
  3. Queen of Earth (2015)
  4. Singin in the Rain (1952)
  5. Santa Sangre (1989)
  6. Magic (1978)
  7. Akira (1988)
  8. The Favourite (2018)
  9. Talk to Me (2023)
  10. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
Analysis:

  1. I reviewed 47% of the 62 films I watched in Q3 2023
  2. I am a serial rewatcher, but 90% of the films I watched were first time views. Meaning, I went out of my comfort zone!
  3. 24% of the films I watched were of the Thriller genre, with Horror close behind at 18%. Despite the high percentages in views,  films of the Mystery genre scored the highest of my average ratings at a 4.5 and the highest average length of 2.3 hours.
  4. 95% of the films I watched were in English (I did have a busy Q3)
  5. 40% of films watched this quarter were viewed in July, a 13% decrease from July to September
  6. 21% of films watched this quarter were on Tuesdays
  7. As of September 2023, there's been an 18% increase in films I've added to my watchlist since June. 12% of films in my 2023 watchlist were added in August vs. 11% in July and 6% in September





Star Wars: Episode IV The Holy Mountain Queen of Earth The Favourite





Q1 - Q3 Summarized


You may ask, “Ayana, why don’t you just pay for the membership?” The honest answer is that yes, at some point I will for the perks but I like to do the analysis myself :)




In total, I watched 177 films Q1-Q3 2023. To make it a little easier on myself, I chose my favorites from the Top 10 lists I put together this year. Each of the following films (in a very particular order) either made me cry, sat with me for a while, made me laugh, or all of the above:

  1. Waves (2019)
  2. When I Get Home (2019)
  3. The Holy Mountain (1973)
  4. Beau is Afraid (2023)
  5. Four Women (1975)
  6. Persona (1966)
  7. Eraserhead (1977)
  8. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
  9. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
  10. The House that Jack Built (2018)

Of the Top 10, my average rating was 4.7 and none of the films were rewatches (yay!); 30% of the Top 10 were watched on Sunday and Tuesday; 20% of films were watched in January, April, and July respectively.
Analysis:

  • I reviewed 40% of the 177 films I watched Q1-Q3 2023
  • Excluding the films I did not flag yes or no for rewatches, 50% of films viewed were not rewatches!!!
  • 21% of the films I watched were dramas, with Horror close behind at 19%
  • I watched 5% less films in Q3 than I did in Q2, meaning I spent less time to myself and need to improve (compared to the 30% increase observed between Q1 and Q2)
  • Between Q1 and Q3 2023, 14% of films were viewed in January, May, and July 
  • 19% of films watched Q1-Q3 were on Tuesdays, followed by Saturdays at 18%!
  • 19% of films watched Q1-Q3 were from the 2010s and 2020s. I'm a bit shocked because I feel that I've favored 1970s-1980s films, but I have gone to the movies often this year and have started to catch up on films I wanted to watch growing up
email: ayanadames@gmail.com