Yes, obviously a case of crossed wires between the parties involved and possibly a bit unfair to blame any one of them:-
What are the undisputed facts so far?
a) The studio commissioned the artwork for all 4 from Oink Creative with the pick of the bunch artwork-wise (IMO) being BRONSON created by Tom Fournier.
b) The studio confirmed here on HDN on the 10th February that all 4 will be matte with no mention at all of any gloss treatment in the message.
c) The studio confirmed gloss treatment on the 19th May to a member here.
d) Listing at Zavvi of "a mix of both matte and gloss" has been up on Zavvi's site for at least a month. This description is for Amelie only but I'm taking it to cover Bronson and Spirit of Vengeance too.
e) 3 of the 4 in this "set" are being sent out now with the copies received already revealing scant evidence of gloss treatment on any of the specified specific parts - blood trickles, puddles etc. noted in the listings.
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No gloss treatment, maybe, but, as mentioned by others, evidence of a metallic sheen effect on certain parts which is possibly only visible when the steelbook is tilted as in those four silhouette figures in the background on the recent Hateful 8 steelbook. Easily confirmed or denied by those in receipt of these steels.
Metallic effect = Effective in its limited way - the selective removal of the white base layer to get the desired metallic shine effect - but, IMO, no substitute for the real thing - spot gloss - but it's possibly a cheaper way of gaining shine than spot gloss but certainly not as effective (IMO).
Based solely on the images posted I'd give AMELIE and BRONSON A+ for the artwork and C - for the finish and THE MIST A+ for the artwork and A - for the finish.
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Final word regarding the crossed wires: The mix up regarding the finish could have been caused by a number of things including:
- Recommendations from the manufacturer Scanavo - a company with masses of packaging experience and an in-house design team with the experience to advise studios on colour choices, matte/zero/gloss etc. finishes, embossing/de-bossing ideas and use of the white base layer.
- Change of mind by the studio based on recommendations from Scanavo . . . or issues of (added) costs . . .Whatever it was, the final say is with the studio which commissioned Scanavo to make the steel in the first place and the final product will only get to market once the studio is satisfied with the product - in other words, happy with the choice of colours and the finish - and after Scanavo has sent them the final proof on a flat piece of steel revealing the final effect of colours, white layers and varnish for signing off . . . then and only then can the go-ahead for the production run can be green-lighted.
left to right - Zavvi, the studio, Scanavo
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P.S. Anyone after a nice bit of spot gloss can have that on the forthcoming THE REVENANT HMV Exclusive steelbook.