Home Theater Forum › Home Theater Forum › Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming Video and Digital Downloads › Blu-ray › HD-DVD cover art design by Universal (is crap)
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

HD-DVD cover art design by Universal (is crap)

post #1 of 34
4/11/06 at 5:03pm
Thread Starter 
So which format has the absolute worst cover art? I thought BluRay was pretty bad with it's curved banner across the bottom of most titles, but the following takes the case. Less attractive than an 8-track tape. Reminiscent of the days when people thought it would be reall cool to have the "compact disc" logo on the front cover of music. All in all, somewhere beyond ugly and into the land of "I was thinking about buying these but not if they look like that!":

Universal's HD-DVD cover design (courtesy of DVD Times)
Reply
post #2 of 34
4/11/06 at 5:47pm
I kinda like it. It's different than what we get now, and it isnt just a movie poster plastered on the cover. But I wont let my decision of the cover influence what I am really after, high definition video goodness.
Reply
post #3 of 34
4/11/06 at 5:54pm
The only thing crap about it is Doom. We're back to silliness if a cover will influence a purchase decision.

The design achieves what is necessary: a new size and color of case to distinguish itself from regular DVD.

- Steve
Reply
post #4 of 34
4/11/06 at 6:27pm
Thread Starter 
Hyperbole aside, it is typical that when a new format comes out, cover art aesthetics are sacrificed.

On CDs back in the early 80s, RCA's CD covers featured a postage stamp sized image of a CD so you'd know what was inside (!). Many other companies put the CD logo on the fronts as well. It took years for these unattractive ideas to be phased out.



But I did not expect it to happen with the new formats, because in more recent years we saw companies come up with ways to distinguish new products without ruining the art:

Many DualDisc releases (love them or hate them) featured a clear slip cover - clear save for the ink that was plastered with DualDisc logos to ensure that the customer would know what they held in their hand. The ugly slip cover came off once the product was bought, and you could once again see the cover art underneath.



HD-DVDs from Universal appear - from these renderings - to be sacrificing the art in the name of making sure the customer knows what they are buying. The sweeping silver curves of Universal's covers is heavy handed, it won't last, and it did not need to be this way.

Here is an old VHS tape with a cover template similar to Universal's proposed HD-DVD template:

Reply
post #5 of 34
4/11/06 at 6:42pm
They're not that bad.... it could be much worse and much more tacky.
Reply
post #6 of 34
4/11/06 at 6:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
The design achieves what is necessary: a new size and color of case to distinguish itself from regular DVD.
Did you look at the link? The new size and color of case aren't at issue. Universal's "Looking at the poster through the curved portal of a space capsule" template is what I am calling excessive.
Reply
post #7 of 34
4/11/06 at 7:27pm
It does not bother me, but then again I'm in it for the movie, not the packaging.

- Steve
Reply
post #8 of 34
4/11/06 at 7:37pm
No big deal IMO.
Reply
post #9 of 34
4/11/06 at 7:51pm
They do look like crap. Looks like generic beer in a white can with the word "BEER" in big black letters.
Reply
post #10 of 34
4/11/06 at 8:52pm
But it is going to taste like Sam Adams.

- Steve
Reply
post #11 of 34
4/11/06 at 8:55pm
Whaaa? Repo Man isn't an announced title on either format, as far as I know.

And nothing beats LaserDisc packaging, so who cares where on the scale of "crappy" these things fall?
Reply
post #12 of 34
4/12/06 at 2:24am
it's better than snapper
Reply
post #13 of 34
4/12/06 at 6:51am
Snappers are a type of case, not an art decision.
Reply
post #14 of 34
4/12/06 at 6:51am
I don't understand the hoopla over cover art. I only see the spines displayed on my dvd racks.
Reply
post #15 of 34
4/13/06 at 5:49am
They're not the greatest design wise, but they're not awful either. My guess is Universal will change the design after a few months, this is just to get people's attention there's a new format on the shelves next to the DVD's.

Anyway I'm not looking at the packaging for 2 hours I'm watching the film, so it's not a biggie...
Reply
post #16 of 34
4/13/06 at 8:48am
They all look fine to me.

I honestly don't see why people fuss over a picture on a box. I don't sit and stare at it, it's what's inside that counts. The picture the dvd produces is what's important.
Reply
post #17 of 34
4/13/06 at 9:44am
Quote:
I honestly don't see why people fuss over a picture on a box.
Same here. Honestly, who's going to say "I won't buy this movie because of the cover art"??
Reply
post #18 of 34
4/13/06 at 12:46pm
And apparently the format still isn't capable of providing both the theatrical and "unrated" versions of Doom on the same disc.

The best cover designs were the first MCA DiscoVision laserdiscs- the entire cover was silver with the only actual coverart in the middle of the big "V".
Reply
post #19 of 34
4/13/06 at 12:56pm
I think it looks crappy, but how else do you distinguish a HD from a regular ol' dvd??
Reply
post #20 of 34
4/13/06 at 1:17pm
The design has to shout out at you in an extreme way.
It's a new format & can not afford to get lost in the shuffle. It's look was made to get a reaction from you. Wither that reaction is all good or all bad for any one person, is far beyond the capabilities of current design teams. Just know that it does it's job & it is what it is.
See if Blu-ray does any better, at pleasing everyone!
Reply
post #21 of 34
4/13/06 at 1:21pm
Quote:
...at pleasing everyone!

Impossible!
Reply
post #22 of 34
4/13/06 at 4:15pm
Thread Starter 
I just don't understand how people can appreciate the beauty of good cinematography, yet have such a blind spot when it comes to other things.

Obviously cover art *is* considered important or else books and dvds would not bother with cover art. Websites report on cover art and comments are made, regularly, and with great passion, by a great many people who are fans of the films themselves and want to see the packaging reflect positively on the film.

We'll see how long Universal's "beer can/spaceship" template lasts. My guess is it won't last much longer than the initial few titles, and those initial titles will always be the weird-looking ones on your shelf. That is all from me on this.
Reply
post #23 of 34
4/13/06 at 5:46pm
Quote:
"The best in picture, sound, and interactivity"

Chapter menus?
Reply
post #24 of 34
4/13/06 at 6:35pm
Quote:
Impossible!

My point exactly, Ron!
Reply
post #25 of 34
4/14/06 at 6:42am
You can please everyone though. If the cover just had the original poster art with no cheesy soft drink sqishes and banners than everything would be cool.
Reply
post #26 of 34
4/14/06 at 7:09am
But that wouldn't please the marketing people.
Reply
post #27 of 34
4/14/06 at 1:33pm
If the only thing that was important to consumers was picture quality, we'd all be burning rental discs rather than spending ridiculous ammounts of money each year building up a valued collection.

Obviously design is important, because as someone else said, it's a reflection of not only the film but the package which you are purchasing and quality and effort of the product being offered within.

Film is a source of entertainment. Thus, its viability exists in many forms and marketing and promotion and merchandising are and were, huge parts of cinema of the past and present.

I don't understand why such a simple concept seems so difficult for studios to understand.

Consumers, and especially collectors who tend to invest more in both interest and finance than the average buyer, appreciate artfuly rendered graphics and design. Marketing used to be an art in itself. Nobody wants gaudy looking advertisments on collectable which they spend big bucks on.

Original theatrical poster art should not be too much to ask for. Especially when it's attributed to a product being pushed to a market of film enthusiasts.

This is how the films were initially sold, and this is how they should be continued to be represented...

I completely understand how ugly packaging could turn a buyer off on a certain product. It's a poor, cheap reflection of something substantial and treasured which means so much more.

Thankfully, I'll be supporting Blu-Ray. But to be perfectly honest, based on the announced titles so far... neither format interests me at all right now.
Reply
post #28 of 34
4/14/06 at 1:40pm
Good post!
Reply
post #29 of 34
4/14/06 at 5:18pm
Excellent posts by Will_B and Brent M

I couldn't put it better myself, and I for one, love coverarts. I purchase theatrical posters, and I've sure bought many titles due to the cover and packing alone. Even the decision sometimes to catch a movie in theater or rent it, is influenced by the poster or coverart. And I'm sure most do it either, even if they don't realize it, the subconscious is very important as well. That's why advertising has gotten so big and important. Sometimes it's all about how you present something, and the actual quality many times gets swept to second

I can see some people not losing sleep over it, but to deny that the presentation of the product, including packing and all, won't have any influence just doesn't make much sense.

For most cases, the original poster art is indeed the best looking cover. Why is it so hard for studios to get this?
Reply
post #30 of 34
4/18/06 at 2:00pm
I'm just glad they're thinner than DVD's! My in-wall cabinets hold about 1500, and I eclipsed that figure years ago!
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Blu-ray
Home Theater Forum › Home Theater Forum › Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming Video and Digital Downloads › Blu-ray › HD-DVD cover art design by Universal (is crap)
<img src="/p/VX4PcAQnAz9SagAzBidRPFJnVTBWZgM8Xm9YNAA9WGYMZQBnA3gBeVMzWiUEaQEPBXJVdVI4BTdVJgcSUz4EdgRoAi9UfQspCHBScFZpCCBVYA8zBDcDAFJuADMGclEkUnpVIVZmAzdeb1gxADxYYwx0AHoDZQEGU34,.gif" />