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You can see a few more designs he did for Notorious in his shop http://www.gregthings.com/criterion-collection-sale

I'm looking at all of these drawings and the problem is that while the artist is clearly talented, not one of these really conveys the film or anything in it in a meaningful, novel, or interesting way

dustybooks wrote: Wed Oct 17, 2018 1:53 pm I like the glass of milk illustration too, though I'd imagine they didn't go with it primarily because of potential confusion with the much more iconic glass of milk in Suspicion!

You're right, I think I got my famous Grant/Hitchcock glasses of milk mixed up (or is it just a glass of bromo-seltzer in Notorious?)

Matt wrote: Wed Oct 17, 2018 4:22 pmYou're right, I think I got my famous Grant/Hitchcock glasses of milk mixed up (or is it just a glass of bromo-seltzer in Notorious?)

I honestly can't even remember and I just rewatched this a few weeks ago. It's a tall grass of something that he insists will make her feel better when she wakes up with a hangover. People just impose liquids on Ingrid Bergman right and left in this movie.

domino harvey wrote: Wed Oct 17, 2018 2:58 pm I'm looking at all of these drawings and the problem is that while the artist is clearly talented, not one of these really conveys the film or anything in it in a meaningful, novel, or interesting way

For me, most of these don't represent the movie well at all. The one of Ingrid with the fan is gorgeous, but looks like it belongs to a period drama. I'd grudgingly admit that the one they chose (darker, more paranoid and tense) is the best fit for the film, though I think it might be the least well-executed.

Criterion has released a video on artist Ping Zhu and her work on Tampopo (slightly NSFW because of a clip from the film!)

No blue sticker. I'm sure that will upset someone.

Sisters
The Princess Bride

This was a pretty cool idea, modeling the look of the cover of a magazine that's been left in a steamy bathroom

The Sex, Lies and Videotape packaging is awful. Trying to put the case back in the slipcover is a chore. The corners and edges are already showing a little wear and tear after just a few times of taking out and putting in. Was it really necessary to not have a standard CC case.

FrauBlucher wrote: Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:56 pm The Sex, Lies and Videotape packaging is awful. Trying to put the case back in the slipcover is a chore. The corners and edges are already showing a little wear and tear after just a few times of taking out and putting in. Was it really necessary to not have a standard CC case.

No

Someone at the Blu-ray forum emailed Criterion and asked about the size of the Bergman box and this was the response from Criterion:

8 3/4" (22,2 cm) x 2 1/2" (6,4 cm) x 11 11/32" (28,8 cm); 7.35 lbs(3,3 kg)

FrauBlucher wrote: Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:56 pm The Sex, Lies and Videotape packaging is awful. Trying to put the case back in the slipcover is a chore. The corners and edges are already showing a little wear and tear after just a few times of taking out and putting in. Was it really necessary to not have a standard CC case.

I've found that it's not too difficult to put the case back in the slipcover if you first take the booklet out. Start putting the case in the sleeve, then feed the booklet in.

geoffcowgill wrote: Sun Nov 04, 2018 6:52 pm I've found that it's not too difficult to put the case back in the slipcover if you first take the booklet out. Start putting the case in the sleeve, then feed the booklet in.

LOL. Great design, guys. 10/10.

Can they seriously just stop the gimmicks with their blu-ray editions? Rublev, Night of the Living Dead, Lambs, Tree of Life, Princess Bride, etc. I never thought I'd be envious of the DVD crowd when buying Criterions. I get that sometimes more elaborate packaging is necessary if the discs are many or the booklets hefty, but a release doesn't need a digi when all it has is a standard booklet like Sex, Lies, a thick one like Tree of Life (just as thick as Rashomon's), or just a poster (NotLD/Rublev).

But whatever. I know I'm probably in a minority on the whole "Digis only when necessary" viewpoint. It's just that the aesthetics don't really justify the fragility.

They're no gimmicks. Except for over-represented people on dedicated boards, most consumers see unique packagings instead of standard cases as something more premium, and are very happy getting that.

Prove that. I would assume that most consumers don't care.

I can prove that I don't care about seeing this same Digipaks vs Regular Cases discussion for literally the thousandth time on this forum

Now ain't that the truth.

Seems like it's not a matter of digipaks vs. plastic cases but a matter of an slightly incorrectly sized digipak if others are having similar issues. A problem with a digipak being answered with "Can they seriously just stop the gimmicks with their blu-ray editions?" is a non sequitur. Plastic cases supposedly never have problems? See swo17's post above.

knives wrote:Prove that. I would assume that most consumers don't care.

I obviously have no figures (though I can think of 1 or 2 labels who did some steelbooks recently and can ask if they really saw a push in sales thanks to that), but the industry keeps on designing special packaging that costs them more to design and to produce, and if it wasn't profitable, I'd suppose they would have learnt their lesson by now and would have reverted to standard packagings all across the board.
And while I dont know many people praising Scanavo and Amaray cases, I've seen tons of people on Amazon or dedicated (but non hardcore) boards (or even just physical shops) praising some digipacks or digibooks or steelbooks releases. I suppose it also explains why we currently are seeing so many different packaging formats, especially within a market that is pushing Limited Editions.

But I'd, of course, would love to have some figures to understand if that truly is the case and if so, how much extra sales is roughly generated this way.

I didn't mean to kickstart this topic. I was talking specifically about the Sex, Lies, and Videotape bluray package. I still think it is not a great design in terms of functionality. The only reason I mentioned the plastic case in my original post is because CC put the DVD in a plastic case. So for me, it has nothing to do with aesthetics. I have a slight preference of plastic over cardboard. But, two of my favorites are Amarcord and On the Waterfront packages. I am currently replacing the big bulky dual format digipak releases that I have for space purposes. Otherwise, for the most part it's not that big a deal to me.

I find it hard to believe that folks decide whether to buy a release based on packaging. I have to think it's more of an OCD thing for the consumer. I do think the steelbooks are different. They are more like collectors items and therefore have some value if and when people decide to sell them off.

I'm not saying they decide what to buy based on that, but I wouldn't be surprised if they feel special packagings releases have better value for money, which might be an incentive to buy at a slightly higher price this or that instead of waiting for a sale. It might also be an incentive to buy a movie you might already know or could see elsewhere (on TV, on Netflix, whatever) and think "wow, that's actually quite a nice-looking release !" At some point, visuals and packagings can offer an external appeal, otherwise, labels and studios wouldn't use them so much sometimes.

I've also seen collectors or digibooks, digibooks and, of course, slipcovers, while I also have seen a handful of forumers refusing to buy anything that isn't in a standard Amaray, including stuff they really seem to want to buy. People are weird and irrational like this, sometimes !

Janus Films' Detour poster

It’ll make a lovely Bluray cover.

Here is the press book