Warner is trying to cash in on next year’s remake by having the company I slavishly work for redesign the DVD/Blu-Ray packaging for 1980’s original Friday the 13th. Of course I had a million ideas for what should be done and what the fans would like to see. I know this because I myself am a huge fan of Friday the 13th. So when I read the creative brief (description of what the client wants to see) I was shocked to see phrases such as “Redesign the Title Treatment” and “NO KNIVES!” but what sent me over was “Include the Mask”….wha, huh? We’re talking about the first one, right? So being the designated fan in the office I was asked to burn a copy of the movie for everyone else to watch… because nobody else in my office had even seen it! I’m kind of not surprised, it’s not my favorite in the series. But I thought for sure this was a classic slasher that transcends the realm of horror fans, right? I mean, Kevin Bacon is in it! Well, not so much.

At the beginning of the week I thought, awesome, let’s make this package fucking great! But as this week wore on I saw every great idea that I’d presented stabbed in the heart and pulled into Crystal Lake to die a bloody death at the hands of my boss… who saw the movie for the first time this week on the computer in his office.

So there are a half a dozen of my ideas in the running for the repackaging of the upcoming Friday the 13th DVD, but there will always be some cluelessly out-of-touch senior art director or someone in marketing to come along and kill them.

That said I hope they don’t fuck up the relaunch of this franchise. Judging by the trailer, this looks disturbingly polished and can possibly be ruined by seeing too much of Jason. Just watching this trailer I think they are spoiling the crowd by showing too much. I would think that Jason’s rep sells itself. I think of him like Jaws or a needy girlfriend. The less you see of him, the better.

I want it noted that it took all of my fanboy rage to keep the original title treatment on the DVD repackaging. It was all I could do to keep from seeing the title in Trajan Bold like everything else.

I hope Jason murders clueless art directors and soulless marketing reps.

Tags: DVD Packaging, Friday the 13th, I hate my job, Jason Voorhees, Kevin Bacon, Key Art, Movie Poster, Warner Bros

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 2:12 am and is filed under Design, Images, Movies, Personal, Stupid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.