Criterion Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol.2

[pauling]

Tales of Hoffmann looks great! Very Fantasia-like, indeed.

[anton]

The Ran cover is absolutely fantastic. That and Le samouraï is really going to beautify my shelf.

[Matt]

You display your DVDs face out? Realistically, we should all be more obsessed with how the spines look.

[Steven H]

The RAN cover reminds me a little too much of the Spin Doctors video for Little Miss Can't Be Wrong. Also, tie dyed t-shirts. I thought primary colors were on the outs?

[backstreetsbackalright]

Realistically, we should all be more obsessed with how the spines look.

Say word!

[Alonzo the Armless]

I thought primary colors were on the outs?

Primary colors are integral to the movie's color scheme since the banners of each of the 3 sons were in a different primary color. Since I don't think there's a scene in the film where yoou can see all 3 banners, plus Criterion's designers may be tired of using a still for a cover, I thought this solution showed great imagination.

[godardslave]

The Ran cover is absolutely fantastic. That and Le samouraï is really going to beautify my shelf.

You display your DVDs face out? Realistically, we should all be more obsessed with how the spines look.

Obsessions are not realistic.

[FilmFanSea]

In defense of the Ran cover art:

I find it very inventive. Yes, it has that Jackson Pollack-cum-Rorschach vibe, but the way the red Kanji characters of the title (which means "Chaos") emerge from within the 'chaotic' splatters of paint is quite creative. The paint blobs are also suggestive of the splattering of blood through war, while using the three primary colors represents the three sons of the story.

[Andre Jurieu]

In defense of the Ran cover art:

I find it very inventive. Yes, it has that Jackson Pollack-cum-Rorschach vibe, but the way the red Kanji characters of the title (which means "Chaos") emerge from within the 'chaotic' splatters of paint is quite creative. The paint blobs are also suggestive of the splattering of blood through war, while using the three primary colors represents the three sons of the story.

Exactly!... but I actually thought ol' Steven was using that wry sense of humor that us Criterion Forum folks know, appreciate, and love. At least that's what the mention of stuff like Spin Doctors and Tie-Dye lead me to believe.

[Steven H]

What's great about the Spin Doctors video is that they're singing *and* dancing while throwing paint around. Some of it's red, blue, yellow, even purple. I think at one point, near the end (or the "climax") they even dump some on the lead singer. Isn't that the song they use the word "bitch" in? God that's good stuff.

Maybe the Criterion staff was doing a similar thing with the cover. Trying to show how fun it is to throw buckets of paint around.

[analoguezombie]

The Ugetsu cover is totally creeping me out.

I know this sounds totally fruity pants, but I always get a little excited to see the enw Criterion covers. It's as if it were an art opening or something. I really like to see how different artists interpret the films for their covers. Every other dvd production company just uses the formulaic Hollywood cover style, boring and non-inspiring. A few of the HVe Fukasaku covers were nice, but even the majority of theirs, especially this past year have been bland. Criterion have really hit on the fact that cover art CAN help sell dvds.

[keeproductions]

Fruity pants or not, I love seeing the new covers as well, and I do think that they help them stand out amongst all the blandness on the store shelf.

But then my wife, who likes to watch movies only as a diversion, has told me numerous times that she dislikes many Criterion covers as they give her no idea on what a particular movie is "about."

Oh well.

[Titus]

I really, really hope they bust out the digi-pack slip-case style packaging again for some of these releases.

[analoguezombie]

I really, really hope they bust out the digi-pack slip-case style packaging again for some of these releases.

Well, My Own Private Idaho and Short Cuts came accompanied with a extra thick booklet and a small book, respectively. And Battle of Algiers was a 3-discer. Still, they could employ the sort of creativety they put into Videodrome and Fear and Loathing in las Vegas. The last crop of 2-discers have just been the double keepcases, except for Life Aquatic with tis slipcase (boring). I rather enjoy the more creative packaging, but I am sure the costs limit it to releases that are expected to sell well, or whose extras nearly mandate it. I'd be willing to bet though,t hat everything on their Coming Soon page will just regular cases.

But then my wife, who likes to watch movies only as a diversion, has told me numerous times that she dislikes many Criterion covers as they give her no idea on what a particular movie is "about."

I can understand her point, but they do give a wonderful sense of the feeling, or mood of the films.

[jcelwin]

I love the RAN cover, very fitting. The Hoffmann cover isn't too bad either.

However the Ugetsu cover seems lazy. It isn't too horrible, but not great either. I would have liked to see some 'really good' artwork, and packaging for this release, especially as they have included (what looks like) some great extras.

[Narshty]

I really, really hope they bust out the digi-pack slip-case style packaging again for some of these releases.

I'd be very surprised if The Man Who Fell to Earth wasn't in one.

[analoguezombie]

especially since it includes a copy of the book

[exte]

RAN cover art looks just about perfect, except for the 'a film by' line. It just seems to stick out too much. Either integrate more into the picture, or shrink it down some, or push it to one side... That's just my opinion, though.

[Lino]

I expect the MWFTE set to emulate the Short Cuts one. It only seems logical as they both are 2xDVD sets and include books.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

What's great about the Spin Doctors video is that they're singing *and* dancing while throwing paint around. Some of it's red, blue, yellow, even purple. I think at one point, near the end (or the "climax") they even dump some on the lead singer. Isn't that the song they use the word "bitch" in? God that's good stuff.

Maybe the Criterion staff was doing a similar thing with the cover. Trying to show how fun it is to throw buckets of paint around.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the old "Wet Paint" video from Sesame Street. That thing creeped me out as a kid for some reason.

[Andre Jurieu]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the old "Wet Paint" video from Sesame Street. That thing creeped me out as a kid for some reason.

I loved that video when I was a kid, mostly for the song itself which I'd sing incessantly. Of course, now that I think back about it, the video was pretty weird.

[Matt]

If the cover art for Pickpocket does not use this image:



then Criterion have gone truly crazy.

[Cinephrenic]

This is better.

[solaris72]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the old "Wet Paint" video from Sesame Street. That thing creeped me out as a kid for some reason.

Gaaah! Creepiest (at that age) thing I ever saw on Sesame Street.

[justeleblanc]

not to start a tangent, but sesame street's beetles singing letter b always scared the crap out of me too.

as for pickpocket, maybe criterion will finally have their first hologram cover, with the hand moving in and out of the jacket.