Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 6

[Jeff]

All of the covers so far are wonderful. That Rosselini/Bergman cover is very nice, and I, for one, like the yellow typeface. Will look wonderful if used in the spine.

[willoneill]

That's not real, is it? It's upside down.

[cdnchris]

It's from the sell sheet but I think it was rushed. There were a couple of errors on it.

[FakeBonanza]

I recall that the sell sheet image for Safety Last! featured a monochrome grey spine (without even any distinguished rectangles for the Criterion logo), so that image is not necessarily indicative of the final spine art.

I have to say that I'm in love with the Rossellini-Bergman art. I think it has made the set a blind buy for me.

[duck duck]

No book with Shoah?

Glad to see My Dad is 100 Years Old, I've been hoping for that for awhile. Now we need the Eclipse Histories 2.

[Matt]

You don't see the booklet in Chris' packaging pictures, but you can see it (and it's quite substantial) in Sam Smith's Vine of the packaging.

From the specs: "A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kent Jones and writings by Lanzmann"

[cdnchris]

Like Matt said there's a booklet. It's actually shown in the 5th photo but not obvious. I forgot to take an individual one. But it is a thick booklet, at about 60 pages.

[RyanGallagher]

No book with Shoah?

Glad to see My Dad is 100 Years Old, I've been hoping for that for awhile. Now we need the Eclipse Histories 2.

I posted some shots of the booklet here

[Jeff]

Tomorrow, Mondo Tees is selling a limited edition poster of the Things to Come art.

[Austinfilm]

Forgive me is this is the wrong thread for this question, but does anyone know where CC gets these gorgeous slipcased editions like Shoah and Repo Man and the Rossellini/Bergman set manufactured?

[kekid]

I would like to get the views of forum members on lack of standardization of DVD and Blu Ray packaging.
Criterion Blu Ray boxes accommodate book inserts that are longer than those included with MoC and the bfi. The reason seems to be that the plastic cases of MoC and the bfi have a cross-bar about 1/2" from the top, the Criterion boxes do not.
I recently bought some plastic cases that can accommodate multiple Blu Ray's. This is when I ran into trouble. I cannot place a Criterion disc (or discs) into these cases because (1) their book insert will not fit into them; and (2) the cover that slides inside the outside plastic is longer than the plastic, hence the cover extends beyond what is protected by the plastic, resulting in potential damage to the paper cover over time.
This problem arises because the bfi, MoC and replacement cases all seem to follow a specific design, while Criterion does not.
I believe deviating from standardization is bad, unless there is a compelling reason for it. I see no obvious reason why Criterion have chosen to be different. This practice makes it impossible to combine a Criterion disc with other disc (e.g. Criterion Red Desert with the bfi Red Desert: since they use different color schemes, I decided to keep them both, but wanted to save shelf space by putting them in a single case).
I know we cannot do anything about this, but I would like to be educated from other members as to why we got into this position in the first place.

[Moe Dickstein]

...to allow for longer booklets...

[domino harvey]

It's called product differentiation

[swo17]

I believe someone at MoC mentioned here once that they would have liked to use Criterion's Blu-ray cases for their own releases but it would have been way too expensive.

[Emak-Bakia]

I prefer Criterion's blu ray cases over standard ones with the header at the top. I find the ½” at the top of cases used by MoC, BFI and nearly every other company releasing blus to be pointless and somewhat distracting from the overall design of the cover. I like that there is more room for artwork on Criterion’s cases, which is the same reason that I like digipaks and steelbooks. My suggestion to you would be to purchase extra Criterion cases here.

[rrot]

I suffer from an undiagnosed (feel free to step in, armchair shrinks!) disorder which causes me to lose no sleep at all when DVD and Blu-Ray cases have varying heights and thicknesses. The inability to stuff more than one release into a single package also leaves me strangely unperturbed.

In short, from where I sit it's not a problem to be explained or solved. I'm one of those poor crazies for whom "deviating from standardization" is double-plus good.

YMMV, but I don't even really believe that standardization would solve anything anyway -- a "standard" case will hold a "standard" number of discs, a "standard" booklet and a "standard" cover insert. How in the world could I expect such a "standard" case to address all the "non standard" desires I harbor?

[tenia]

I believe someone at MoC mentioned here once that they would have liked to use Criterion's Blu-ray cases for their own releases but it would have been way too expensive.

Wasn't there some exclusivity stuff between Scanavo and Criterion ?

[Matt]

I believe the cases were designed to Criterion's specifications, but I don't think Scanavo is prohibited from selling them to anyone else. They do not sell retail, though. You'd likely have to place an order for thousands at a time.

[RyanGallagher]

Flicker Alley uses the Scanavo cases for some of their Blu-ray releases as well.

[knives]

In fact I think they discovered the two disc set up that Criterion now uses.

[cdnchris]

I believe the cases were designed to Criterion's specifications, but I don't think Scanavo is prohibited from selling them to anyone else. They do not sell retail, though. You'd likely have to place an order for thousands at a time.

You can actually get the (single disc) cases at the Criterion store, at the very bottom of this page, but in a pack of 5 only: http://www.criterion.com/shop/other" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dwk]

You can get both the single and double disc cases at Casetopia

[zedz]

I believe the cases were designed to Criterion's specifications

As I recall, at the time the only available option for BluRay cases were the standard blue-tinted ones, which would have been pretty oppressive for a line already as branding-conscious as Criterion. They didn't have any choice but to design their own packaging (which was initially problematic) and then to commission bespoke (clear) BluRay cases.

The BFI had a similar quandary in avoiding industry-standard blue tinting and also had to get new cases designed as well, which I think are the same ones MoC started using.

[cdnchris]

The Life of Oharu

[rrenault]

Whenever Criterion changes their cover for a blu-ray upgrade it's always a step down from the original. The original covers for Rashomon, Solaris, and Diabolique were all better. Okay, maybe not always. The updated covers for The 39 Steps, Beauty and the Beast, and Autumn Sonata are fine, but still...