Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

[Boosmahn]

Judging from the lack of replies, this must be one of the most "meh" months for covers in recent memory...

[dekadetia]

I'll give it a shot. La Bamba is a really nice cover, one that doesn't reinvent the wheel but executes a tried and true idea very well. It's very much in the same style as The Girl Can't Help It, but I think the execution and attention to detail on this one are even stronger (love the little registration errors throughout and the effect they have on the wacky C, for example). The hand-made type on the actor names has a lot of personality, and it's great to see the supporting cast given all this attention (it really is an ensemble pic). It calls to mind both concert posters and comics illustration in a nice nod to both the brothers' interests.

[therewillbeblus]

I like The Trial - I appreciate that they attempted something to evoke a bent logic of schematic disorientation

[Matt]

La Bamba is one of my favorite covers in recent memory, for the same reasons as dekadetia stated above. Eric Skillman always delivers. The original poster art really didn’t capture the energy of Ritchie Valens’ music or Lou Diamond Phillips’ performance, so I’m glad Criterion went in a vintage concert poster direction (and a little bit reminiscent of Frank Kozik’s throwback style as well).

[colinr0380]

I like The Trial - I appreciate that they attempted something to evoke a bent logic of schematic disorientation

You mean did the cover in the style of noir-meets-M.C. Escher?

[dda1996a]

Judging from the lack of replies, this must be one of the most "meh" months for covers in recent memory...

Not only, I think the announcements themselves are a big MEH.
I hated Moonage Daydream, and while I love the rest, non are ones that excite me to have rereleased - haven't seen La Bamba.

[Feego]

I have to say I'm not a fan of the Trial cover. I like the idea, but I think it would work better in the form of a drawing or a painting. This just looks extremely Photoshop-y.

[cdnchris]

Time Bandits [4K]
The Rules of the Game [4K] (Booklet)
The Servant
Medicine for Melancholoy
Pasolini 101 (Book)

Rules of the Game uses paper closer in texture to a card stock for the artwork. Mine ended up ripped along the back.

The Pasolini set is the same height as a standard DVD case.

Also added restoration/master details to the bottom of the site pages:

The Rules of the Game
Time Bandits
The Servant
Medicine for Melancholy
Pasolini 101

[tenia]

Also added restoration/master details to the bottom of the site pages:

The Rules of the Game
Time Bandits
The Servant
Medicine for Melancholy
Pasolini 101

That's pretty neat, Chris.

[andyli]

If only all other labels share restoration info that can be organized into such neat categories...

Restoration by: The Criterion Collection / L Immagine Ritrovata / Cineteca di Bologna
Year: 2022
Scanned at: 4K Digital
Restored at: 4K Digital
Sources: 35mm Original camera negative

Arrow et al. be like: this HD master is supplied by xxx company and it looks really good!

[tenia]

To be fair, that's mostly (only ?) the case when they're using preexisting HD masters. It's detailed à la Criterion otherwise.
For instance, on their Last Starfighter UHD :

Spoiler

"The Last Starfighter has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 with 2.0 stereo, 5.1 audio and a 4.1 mix created for the film's 70mm release.
The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at Company 3, Burbank. The film was graded in HDR10 and restored in 4K at R3Store Studios, London. The Dolby Vision grading was completed by Fidelity in Motion, New York.
Audio remastering on all audio mixes was completed at Deluxe Audio, Los Angeles.
All materials for this restoration were made available by NBC Universal."

Lover's Lane :

Spoiler

"Lovers Lane has been restored in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, in keeping with its straight to video release origins. The film is also presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Both versions are presented with stereo sound.
The original 35mm camera negative as scanned in 4K resolution at Company 3, Los Angeles. The film was graded and restored in 2K resolution at R3Store Studios, London. The original audio mix was remastered by MGM.
All materials for these new restorations were made available by MGM.
The main title has been graded to be presented in its original pink, as per the original materials."

Naked Lunch UHD :

Spoiler

"Naked Lunch has been exclusively restored by Turbine in partnership with Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with a restored mix of the original stereo audio, as well as a legacy 5.1 mix.
The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K at Difuze, Toronto, Canada. The film was conformed, graded and restored in 4K in standard dynamic range, HDR10 and Dolby Vision at LSP Medien, Uelzen, Germany.
The original stereo soundtrack was remastered from the magnetic printmasters.
The 5.1 mix was provided by StudioCanal.
The transfer was supervised by Director of Photography Peter Suschitzky at Silver Salt Restoration, London, UK, and the restoration was approved by Director David Cronenberg."

[cdnchris]

I need to fix spacing and formatting, but I'm glad to see people will find it useful.

[zedz]

If only all other labels share restoration info that can be organized into such neat categories...

Restoration by: The Criterion Collection / L Immagine Ritrovata / Cineteca di Bologna
Year: 2022
Scanned at: 4K Digital
Restored at: 4K Digital
Sources: 35mm Original camera negative

Arrow et al. be like: this HD master is supplied by xxx company and it looks really good!

My pet peeve with Arrow is their bizarre reluctance to include the original year of release on the packaging. Occasionally it's noted inside the booklet (if you get a booklet), but not on the cover. The best info you've got is the tiny copyright notice, but if the film was recopyrighted at a later date, that will be way out.

[ianthemovie]

Thanks so much for the pics of the Pasolini box. It's great to get an idea of what this looks like even if my reaction is mostly one of disappointment (dreaded slots + ugly artwork on what I'm guessing is the inner packaging, designed to match the artwork for the standalone edition of Teorema perhaps? It reminds me of a tangrams puzzle...)

Since none of the pictures show the spine I'd also be curious to know roughly how wide this set is. I've found that the dimensions listed on sites like Amazon are frequently way off.

[cdnchris]

Breathless [4K] (Booklet)
The Watermelon Woman
After Hours [4K]
Ranown Westerns (Booklet)
One False Move [4K]

I added details about the restorations, though have yet to copy the actual notes, which I will get to tomorrow:

Breathless
The Watermelon Woman
After Hours
Ranown Westerns
One False Move

Annoyingly, Criterion has dropped the TIMELINE feature on all of July's titles (except for the Blu-ray for Breathless, which is the same disc as the previous Blu-ray editions). I use this feature frequently, so I'm disappointed and assume this is the route they will be going from here on out.

The Ranown set has the films spread out interestingly. They spread the 4K versions over 3 UHD discs. The Tall T is all by its lonesome on the first 4K disc (which appears to be a BD-50, I think anyways) while the other two discs are BD-100 discs with two films each, effectively giving each film around 50GB. For the 1080 presentations, they spread the films over two discs (three films on one, two on the other). The third standard Blu-ray holds the supplements.

[Kracker]

Awww that just sucks. Why not just get rid of the Chapters menu? I never used that when i had the Timeline instead.

[DeprongMori]

I just wrote to Mulvaney asking Criterion to reinstate the Timeline feature. This is utterly baffling. I use this feature all the time, and it can’t be for cost reasons.

I suggest that others who use it also write. At least this is something they can easily fix going forward.

[tenia]

I'm actually surprised they removed it since it means having to change something.

[Matt]

I just wrote to Mulvaney asking Criterion to reinstate the Timeline feature. This is utterly baffling. I use this feature all the time, and it can’t be for cost reasons.

I was told once that the way Criterion does (programs? animates?) their Blu-ray menus (including the timeline feature) is actually rather expensive and, even though they function the same from disc to disc, require that same expense for each one.

[tenia]

I suspect that it still requires to extract nice screenshots of the movie as small stills to illustrate the timeline, and that this is aside of having a regular chapter menu, and I've been told everything "chapter menu" related is time consuming (and thus expensive) to prepare (hence why so many discs dropped it).

[CSM126]

How on earth is a chapter menu expensive? You type a list of chapter titles and link them to time stamps. Maybe I’m missing something but criterion doesn’t even illustrate those menus, it’s just text.

[ryannichols7]

I'm actually surprised they removed it since it means having to change something.

same. they change something and it wasn't for the positive, naturally...

Thanks for writing to me! Your feedback is greatly appreciated and will be passed along to the appropriate parties.

We decided that since the feature film can be navigated via the menu chapters (and your remote), the Timeline function is no longer necessary.

Our apologies for any disappointment, but we hope you continue to enjoy our releases and their accompanying special features.

All the best,

Jon M

couldn't even sign it with a real person! this company continues to make it hard to defend them

[therewillbeblus]

I think the Mulvaney interns sign their names when responding to specific, individualized issues (disc replacement help, etc.) but when iterating the script delegated by the company for inquiries about discontinuing a feature, it makes sense to use the company moniker. There are enough people out there who don't understand how company policy works, would get really pissed at some guy named Ryan Nichols responding under Jon Mulvaney and go seeking answers from someone else, perhaps even demanding to see how Jon Mulvaney might respond like asking to speak to a manager. This way is easier for all involved, and it's clearly a rigid message coming from Criterion who expects these complaints

[Matt]

How on earth is a chapter menu expensive? You type a list of chapter titles and link them to time stamps. Maybe I’m missing something but criterion doesn’t even illustrate those menus, it’s just text.

In the overall sense probably not very expensive, but someone has to make them. And with a company that is looking for every opportunity to cut costs (fold-outs instead of booklets, fewer supplements, etc.), that has laid off just about everyone except its core staff, in an industry that almost exclusively relies on freelancers now, letting go of what they perceive to be a non-essential feature was probably an easy business decision to make.

My (out-of-date) secondhand information about the expense probably applies more to the animated, nested menus than the timeline feature. Personally I prefer the simplified menus of, say, Indicator or Second Run, which are static and just give you selections for feature, supplements, and options.

[tenia]

How on earth is a chapter menu expensive? You type a list of chapter titles and link them to time stamps. Maybe I’m missing something but criterion doesn’t even illustrate those menus, it’s just text.

Someone has indeed to make them, and the menus are a complex authoring thing, with a lot of navigating points to create and then to check at QC, plus Criterion originally needed to find names for them and then to find proper stills to illustrate it through the timeline. All these needed to be clear enough, but also to be working (ie when clicking on Chapter 12 or on the Chpater 12 in the Timeline, needed to bring you at chapter 12).

It's time saving at both the authoring level, editorial level and QC level to skip them while just keeping the chapter points on the movie. In particular, it's industry-agreed that chapter menus are used by the minority of people, so it's a lot of time that could be spent on more editorially- or encodingly-useful spots.