Sunset Blvd.

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Sunset Blvd.

Deluxe 2-CD soundtrack set

Counterpoint, 2010

Producers Lukas Kendall and Craig Spaulding formed Counterpoint Records in 2010. Having initially designed the Counterpoint logo...

...I was then asked to design their first offering, Franz Waxman's 1950 landmark score to director Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd.

Despite taking home an Academy Award that year for Best Score, Waxman's original music had surprisingly never been released in any format, meaning this inaugral release for the label would also be of historical importance. Paying tribute to the signicance of the release, the album's 2-disc treatment was a lavish and extensive exploration of both film and score, showcasing a pair of miniature coffee table-like booklets—one that focused entirely on the film and its music, and the other a more biographical look at composer Franz Waxman's long and productive Hollywood career.

Throughout the process, I had the pleasure of working directly with the composer's son, John Waxman, who graciously opened up a treasured family scrapbook to share candid photos and memories of his father, giving soundtrack fans a rare look at the personal life of a composer who helped define an approach to film music that endures today.

Like most projects of this sort, I began with the cover. In general, an album cover's importance cannot be overstated—particularly in the case of soundtrack CDs, the majority of which are sold exclusively online, where the cover is essentially the only part of the package seen by consumers before purchasing.

My research began with the original theatrical marketing (posters, lobby cards and such) and from there to keyart created for home video or subsequent theatrical releases. However, the original marketing had long since become iconic (above middle). That detached visage of the mad Norma Desmond...her massive face looming above and dwarfing the man ensnared by her wealth and fame in the twisted knot of Hollywood film industry...you can't top that. Even so, the poster itself wouldn't configure well to the more square format of a CD cover. Plus, I had to congnizant that the cover needed to be aimed at a more modern audience. But I had a comporomise of sorts in mind.

Like many films of the time, no color photos of the stars existed, but there was no shortage of wonderfully crisp B&W shots—perfect for digitally colorizing. The above shot of William Holden was scanned from a 60-year old black and white 8x10 print dating from the film's original marketing and publicity push. Shown at right is the final colorized shot, meant to look as close to lifelike as possible (note a very slight five o'clock shadow and subtle variations in skin tone).

For the photo of Gloria Swanson shown below, I chose a more impressionistic tone that conveys a more of the mad energy from the original poster art. It doesn't look photoreal like the Holden pic, but this was deliberate. If you look closely at the final cover art, you can see that more details were painted by hand over the photo in her eyes and lips to push the surrealness of the image even further.

Matching covers for the two enclosed booklets, both featuring photos digitally colorized.

In this section, focusing on track-by-track musical analysis of Waxman's score, each page features a collage created from frames of the DVD, selected and arranged for a seamless look.