Lowest Common Denominator: DVD Covers
Pandering to the average Joe "Why ain't this here movie in color" Moviewatcher is nothing new; however, the amount of crappy DVD covers luring him to make a purchase is astronomical. Movie studios spend millions and millions of dollars to make sure we know Julia Roberts is in their crappy movie, but do we need to see her horrible, toothy visage on the cover of the DVD? The answer should be a resounding NO! Especially when the teaser poster artwork is normally much better than the final product. What's a teaser poster, you ask? It's the promotional artwork you see for a movie in theaters months before its actual release. Many times "teasers" do not have pictures of the movies stars, and these posters are actually creative, use blank space effectively, and generate interest (unlike most Hollywood dreck.)The most frustrating part is that this whole thing can have a happy ending. Many DVDs on the market today come with a cardboard slip case that slides over the normal case. Many times, the slip case has the same artwork and features listing as the case itself. The simple solution is to put the "floating heads" crappy cover on the slip case, which is what the consumer will see in the stores, and put the cool artwork underneath so that people with taste can throw that piece of cardboard away. See, I'm not completely unreasonable.