The recent Image Ent. release of Phantom of the Opera had an uninspired cover, to say the least. The UK Park Circus cover was better, but that too showed the Phantom unmasked. Here's my spoiler-free alternative:
Anyway, my main objective was to make a cover that doesn't have the big reveal make-up plastered all over it. My non-commercial cover may not lure todays kids in off the streets, but as a pure design exercise it's very fulfilling.
Avoiding spoilers on this wasn't easy. Almost all the stills from the movie featured the Phantom unmasked, so I was left with a promotional image from a glass slide for the back. It was riddled with scratches and dust, so I spent quite a bit of time cleaning up that image. The background was transparent, leaving the shadows to interact with the actual background colour of my cover. It worked out fine, as I like deep-etched images like that. It avoids the blocky feeling of square pictures.
The front poster was an original 1925 version. No image of the Phantom on this either. I only changed the lettering of the actual title to match the one on the back and spine. Otherwise the poster is untouched. The Blu-Ray logo fits in nicely, methinks.
The two-toned nature of the front poster dictated the look of the entire cover. I always start with the front poster and let that guide the design. You'll note that all the elements on the back are organized in a sort of egglike shape, mirroring the shape and size of the poster on the front.
I just noticed there's no mention of the director's name anywhere. I'll have to remedy that, including his credit on the front somewhere. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
There's too much text on the back, but this disc had such a plethora (who can say that word with a straight face anymore?) of versions and soundtracks so there was so much info to get across. I also wanted to emulate the marketing materials of the time: "Photographed in Color". You don't see that on too many posters nowadays.
The synopsis is taken from the original 1925 theater programme. It was also wordy, but the grandiose prose just rolls off the tongue. Wonderful!
Finally, I kept the studio logos and stuff off this time, because I want this cover to work for both the US and the UK releases, which are identical in content, I believe.
There you have it. If anyone wants this all you have to do is PM me.
Now that I've made a cover for this, I should get around to actually seeing it.
