Department of Redundant DVD Package Design Department

You really know a studio's behind a film when it comes up with a powerful, original design for the DVD package of the picture...

Yeesh! And the Weinstein Company's not even recycling an in-house design—Eastern Promises is a Universal pic...

Ah, hell, what do I care as long as the Weinsteins keep putting out great DVDs of those Samuel Bronston pictures...

Comments

[bill]

That "Eastern Promises" cover already looked familiar when it came out. I'm pretty sure that design has been a basic formula for "crime dramas" for some time.

[Glenn Kenny]

I don't doubt it, Bill. Still. Shouldn't there be some tacit agreement among art directors, mandating an at least six-month moratorium between recyclings? (The "Eastern Promises" disc is from late December of last year.) If for no other reason than to curb mockery opportunities sure to be taken advantage of by wiseasses such as myself?

[bill]

I would say yes, if there were any indication that the art directors in question cared about such things. I mean, look at the DVD cover for "No Country for Old Men". That DVD was crying out for something at least a little bit imaginative, and what do we get? Three goddamn floating heads.

[bill]

I just remembered another DVD cover that had a cover in the same basic design as "Eastern Promises" and "Cassandra's Dream": "Edmond". Of all movies. Frickin' "EDMOND"!

[Benjamin]

Ah, yes, but Edmond is a retread of the design used for the DVD of Heist, which itself is a less interesting version of its own theatrical poster. I think Heist may be the most recent prime ancestor of this style of design -- and I agree with you, Bill, that it's a deliberate graphic attempt to make the cover feel "crime"y by echoing other posters -- even if that sort of Mondrian or split-screen motif has its roots elsewhere in both graphic arts and film in particular (I'm especially thinking the internal look of The Thomas Crown Affair).

[bill]

Right! "Heist"! I'd forgotten about that one. Somebody somewhere must believe this design positively screams "Mamet". And I believe that the DVD cover of "Edmond" was also similar to the original poster, the primary change being, on the DVD, the addition of a gun, which appears nowhere in the film. (For a while I've enjoyed imagining what must happen in the homes of people who rented "Edmond" because the cover implied it was one thing, only to pop it in the DVD player and find that it was, well, not that thing they thought it was going to be.)

And "The Thomas Crown Affair" is crime-y; it's "light" crime, but still fits. Maybe this design intends to evoke the sharpness and distrust associated with the genre. I don't know. I'm talking out of my ass.

[don lewis]

I wonder if this self canibalism relates to...

A. the fact that there really is no originality in Hollywood

B. General Laziness

C. The laying off of studio graphic design people due to budget cuts

D. All of the above

[crazysummerswithbrigitte]

I think this is an ancient design for thrillers and movies the art department hoped audiences would believe were thrillers, going all the way back to the 1960s. It was either that or Saul Bass. The subject of movie poster design still awaits a great exegete, not just a boomer nostalgist.

And on an unrelated subject, Monsieur K.: I'm very sorry you deleted your very moving tribute to Jimmy Guiffre from the website. If my own thoughtless comment made you worry the thread would turn into another Godard debate, I apologize.

[Glenn Kenny]

Crazy Summers—as American men like to say, it wasn't you, it was me. I thought the post, on reflection, mixed up some things and diffused what should have been its focus. A better (I hope) tribute is in the works...

[Dan]

Heh, that's pretty awesome. If you want to see the same lack of creativity in motion, watch the trailers for "White Noise" and "Shutter" back to back.

[Kent Jones]

Man, I had no idea that Jimmy Giuffre had died. And in my hometown, too. There's a beautiful performance of "The Train and the River" on YouTube.

[lazarus]

Has anyone here even SEEN Cassandra's Dream? I liked it for the most part, but no one else I know happened to see it the one week that it was in the theatres.

One thing good about the DVD cover, at least they're not trying to hide the fact that it's a Woody Allen film, which is more than I could say for the trailer.

[Dan]

lazarus, Woody has, through sheer repetition, taught a lot of us to be wary of ANY recent release with his name tagged to it. And also distrust of the more extreme of his fans (I wonder if any of the people insisting "Melinda & Melinda" or "Hollywood Ending" are anything other than excruciating have actually seen "Stardust Memories").

[Kurt]

This isn't even the first time that Miramax ripped off this design. They also did it with the poster for THE LOOKOUT last year.

[Reno Dakota]

The DVD art for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is pretty similar as well.

The amazing part is that these are all (relatively) high-profile films.

[Vimax]

Ahhh... you made me laugh out loud, Glenn. I frequently encounter the moment as I'm watching something in my office for review when I realize (A) what I'm watching is absolutely filthy/disgusting/outrageous and (B) my office is bordered by three larger glass doors that allow anyone in my house to see in clearly from any angle and (C) I have a two-year-old son who is most likely about to be enlightened to a degree I'm not comfortable with. CRUISING was a recent one of those for me. http://www.vimax-pills.org

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