MoC Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on

[Michael Kerpan]

That's a shit VHS cover. This is the original poster:

The o/p French video I have was based on this poster (nothing like the cruddy cover displayed earlier in the thread).

[TheGodfather]

That Birth of a Nation cover is beautiful but the other ones? not so much... Not so inspired. Great to see Tabu being released in HD though!

[Ozu Teapot]

I don't even like the Birth of a Nation cover to be honest! I'm usually a big fan of covers that utilise original posters or promotional material but I find this a bit dull. Looking (quickly googling) at other original Birth of a Nation posters though reveals they mostly feature Klansmen so I guess that may have been a bit too abhorrent!

Of the others I guess Tabu and Naked Island are the most "stylish" (Naked Island is probably my favourite of this bunch). When I first saw them along with Kureneko they strangely reminded me of the BFI's Flipside covers - big photo of an actor and some text. Don't know the Rivette film but I don't find the cover very inspiring. None of them are great.

I have NO idea what was behind Nick W leaving MoC and I dont know if there's "bad blood" between him and the company but lately I wish they'd hire him freelance to do the covers if nothing else!

AAAAAnyway despite all this bitching I'll be buying all these releases regardless of how their packaging looks!

[Jeff]

Was the Birth of a Nation cover completed during The Wrigley Administration? It's certainly the only one that looks like it. The others absolutely reek of "Fuck it. Let's just slap some text on a still."

Nothing could stop me from getting Le Pont du Nord, but that cover is certainly trying.

[knives]

I'll buy any Rivette on Blu just to support the idea, but everything about the release stinks of a 'criterion will release it in six months so let's get it out there first' mentality.

[zedz]

I hope you haven't placed any money on your 'Criterion will release a Rivette film within six months' bet!

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I'll buy any Rivette on Blu just to support the idea, but everything about the release stinks of a 'criterion will release it in six months so let's get it out there first' mentality.

I know that in the United States, Pont du Nord was distributed by the same distributor behind the recent restoration of The Devi Probably that Olive Films released shortly after. Can we perhaps expect a release from Olive Films?

[warren oates]

I wouldn't bank on a Blu-ray if it's Olive. Just look what they did to the Bresson film. It's interlaced and doesn't even have removable subtitles. They haven't been inclined to release most of their artier French titles on anything but standard def.

[htshell]

I know that in the United States, Pont du Nord was distributed by the same distributor behind the recent restoration of The Devi Probably that Olive Films released shortly after. Can we perhaps expect a release from Olive Films?

Not necessarily, no.

[Ozu Teapot]

Was the Birth of a Nation cover completed during The Wrigley Administration?

I think Birth of a Nation was the last of the titles he was involved in licensing before his departure - whether he was involved in the packaging I don't know...

[AK]

As happy as I am to see the films on Blu-ray, the covers are quite underwhelming. The Griffith cover is beautiful, and the new Tabu cover is beautiful, too, the only problem is that the original DVD cover is so utterly drop-dead gorgeous.

Kuroneko especially, in comparison to the wonderful Criterion cover, is an underachievement, really. I had a problem with the typeface already when it was used in the Onibaba cover, and unfortunately it's the Shindô typeface of choice.

[Bürgermeister]

I love MoC but some of these new covers are awful.

If I wasn't aware of Tabu and I saw this new cover in HMV. I'd dismiss it as some pretentious Ballet crap.
Kuroneko & Naked Island are really dull covers too.

How come they're not going to use covers that were perfectly fine?

[JonasEB]

I wouldn't bank on a Blu-ray if it's Olive. Just look what they did to the Bresson film. It's interlaced and doesn't even have removable subtitles. They haven't been inclined to release most of their artier French titles on anything but standard def.

They didn't do a Blu-ray for the Bresson because there isn't an HD master for the film.

[swo17]

Looks like the ONIBABA style is here to stay:

Nick, is that Caligari artwork legit or are you making a joke? (And what does it say that I have to ask?)

[gyorgys]

Apart from Weine?

[Moe Dickstein]

The covers sure have declined since your stewardship ended Nick

[tenia]

Next time, they just need to add a couple more "aka ..." and they won't need any picture at all.

And I'm still wondering what is the point of putting French and Spanish titles.

The covers sure have declined since your stewardship ended Nick

There might still be some nice stuff, but the overall composition and style have indeed become much poorer than what it have been in the past.

[Flanell]

I'm beginning to worry about the negative trend when it comes to cover art from MoC. Nick used to make really inviting covers. The latest batch has, for the most part, left me pretty cold. The Yamanaka reboot feels cheap and the replacement of the original covers for Tabu (which i liked alot), Onibaba and Kuroneko feels pretty much pointless, if not outright bad. The Bakumatsu cover wasn't inviting at all and the one for Caligari is an atrocity (if it is indeed correct). Of all the latest covers, i only really like the one for Gate of Hell. I also prefer The Chabrol ones to their Criterion Counterparts (which weren't that good to begin with). Still love MoC, though.

[Tommaso]

"Caligari" is certainly just a joke by Nick. The restored version will only have its premiere in early 2014, so a release will probably only come in about 18 months or so.

[Flanell]

Yeah it must be. That BBFC rating is just to weird (although fitting in a way) .

[Bürgermeister]

ahaha that cover is hilarious Nick, you forgot to add the Japanese translation and character text though.

On a serious note though, I hope they can get Nick to design future covers. These new ones just look like pretentious artsy crap, I wouldn't give them a second look if I saw them in store.

Next time, they just need to add a couple more "aka ..." and they won't need any picture at all.

And I'm still wondering what is the point of putting French and Spanish titles.

No idea but it's bloody awful, that information should be in the booklet, not cluttering the cover.

[EddieLarkin]

Has responsibility for the covers fell completely to evillights now, or are people at Eureka just taking turns? I suppose it must be tough when the person whose done all the covers for the past 8 years (and who, presumably has some sort of background in art/graphic design?) has to leave, obviously quality will fall if the people replacing him don't have the same skill. They should really consider getting a pro to do them; I'm confident it would improve sales over what is being slapped on at the moment!

[Finch]

I think Craig has designed all the covers after Nick left (check the last page of your booklet for MoC credits). To be fair to Craig, some of the covers are as good as Nick's, and I certainly wasn't keen on every single cover Nick made but some decisions were just baffling: the cover for Trouble in Paradise had a great image but when some of us suggested that the giant title font be moved to the bottom and get rid of the cast names, it fell on deaf ears, and the June/July covers all represented a step down from the original releases (though I'm fond of the new Tabu cover). I agree that perhaps someone else ought to do the covers which would free Craig up to focus on other features of the new MoC releases.

[knives]

Hell even just going with likable posters which Nick did all of the time would be a great way to go about things. There's not much effort in googling "Le Pont du Nord poster" and saying this would be a nice starting point.

[Matt]

It would take enormous effort for me to say that's a nice starting point.