How Poster Art Becomes DVD Swill

As evidenced by my blog (and the way I decorate my bedroom), I'm a big fan of movie posters. I consider many to be art. Which is why I am so angry at the way they are transformed when a movie comes out on DVD: more than half the time the artistry of the original poster is replaced with an oversimplified concept involving the lead actors' heads being blown up real big and plastered all over the cover. Once in a while, this works (Almost Famous), but more often than not, it ruins the original concept for me. Here are some examples of wonderful posters turned into sloppy DVD covers. (Original posters are the the left, DVD covers on the right.)

• Crime #1: Disney and other children's films - This is probably the least offensive to me. They are kids movies and the changes make the covers more colorful and full of characters which does appeal to its target audience. Artistically, I prefer the earlier incarnations because they have an element of mystery and magic, whereas the cover versions are loud and lacking in nuance, but as they are intended for children, they don't bother me as much.

• Crime #2: Mucking up the tone of the poster by unartfully covering it with actor's faces. I don't have a problem with the actors being featured prominently on the cover, but there are good and bad ways to go about it. None of the DVD covers below are awful, but in the case of both Sense and Sensibility and The Departed, the original film poster managed to have the actors on display without resorting to obvious plastering. In the case of Zodiac, the movie poster casts the perfect tone for the film, while the DVD cover has the faces of the lead actors weirdly hanging in space. And the poster for Bend it Like Beckham was creative in displaying it's subject and tone, while the DVD is just a typical shot of the lead actresses. Why did these posters need to be changed? They got the job done the first time.

• Crime #3: Bastardization of old film posters for new DVD release. In some cases this action is understandable. The style of movie posters in older films is radically different from the style of poster employed today. However, there are plenty of examples of a wonderful poster from an older film being given a craptastic DVD makeover - not better or more colorful, but rather sticking the figures from the movie over a generic background. I hate that!

• Crime #4: Changing the thematic concept of the poster. The incense caused by this is of course dependent on the individual's subjective taste, but for me these examples take on original visual style or an idea exemplified in the film and through the poster art, and changes it into something less. Vertigo's poster is a great example of a simple concept visually represented in the circular pattern of the graphic poster - in comparison, the DVD cover is just so prosaic. The poster for A History of Violence shows a man confronted by a gun, an object of violence in another's hand, but the DVD poster shows him as a typical action hero, gun in his own hand. In the original, he is confronted by a choice, in the second he has taken action; the agency of who has the gun is half the point of that movie and the original poster represented that well. I also prefer the artistic, puppetmaster, b&w theme of The Godfather poster over the shot of Marlon Brando on the DVD, and prefer the stylized posters for V for Vendetta over the DVD cover: the film was based on a graphic novel about a revolutionary, and the original posters stay true to that concept. The DVD prominently features Natalie Portman looking typically beautiful; it is not the strongest choice available. Of course, my personal taste, but each of these posters is a much greater concept than the DVD cover that replaced it.

Obviously, many of these are my own personal opinions and it may not make a difference to the average movie renter. I do understand that the changes made for DVD release are generally in the interest of making the movie more appealing to renters - by placing the actors faces on the cover potential buyers/renters will already know what films their favorite stars are appearing in, and bright colors, simple concepts, tend to get their attention easier. I get it - it's a business and money must be made. But it saddens me to see all of these great artistic posters replaced by third-rate crap; I buy the movies too and I have to look at these DVD covers forever! Shouldn't I get to choose my own artwork?!?