The Criterion Collection是一家私人控股的公司，出品发行“重要的经典电影和当代电影”DVD。该公司成立于1984年，现为[[Janus_Films]]和[[Voyager_Company]]的合资公司。

标准收藏(The Criterion Collection)致力于将全球重要的经典及当代电影制作成高质量的影音产品并将之发行，电影来源遍及世界各地，内容更涵盖了获奖经过及制作花絮。标准收藏的初衷是从成千上万的电影中选出珍品以便电影爱好者收藏，因此所有由本公司发行的电影都向影迷呈现其最好的质量。我公司成立的十七年来发生了许多变革，但永久不变的是我们的承诺——用世界上最好的数码版本重现电影的经典一刻。

标准收藏收集了大量大师级作品，如[[雷诺阿]](Renoir)，[[让-吕克·戈达尔]](Godard)，黑泽明(Akira Kurosawa)，[[让·考克托]](Jean Cocteau)，[[费德里克·费里尼]](Federico Fellini)，[[英格丽·褒曼]](Igrid Bergman)，[[塔可夫斯基]](Tarkovsky)，[[希区柯克]](Hitchcock)，[[塞缪尔·富勒]](Samuel Fuller)，[[大卫·里恩]](David Lean)，[[库布里克]](Kubrick)，[[弗里兹·朗]](Fritz Lang)等等。每一部电影都未经删减，并保持原始的银幕画面比例，以重现导演的意图。我们收集来自世界各地最佳的电影元素，并采用专业的装备及技术以重现电影的原貌，以达到我们的严格标准。因此我们发行的每一张光碟都能保证，在电影胶片转换到数码光碟的过程中尽可能的保存电影最清晰的画面及音效。我们尽一切可能，与电影导演及摄影师合作，以保证对影片的处理符合他们原始的意图。光碟内的制作花絮更能让观众充分领略电影制作的来龙去脉，其中包括电影制作人及学者的评论，导演删减的内容及镜头，电影文献及脚本，初期制作及电影记事板等。至今为止，我们所制作了超过35部”导演推荐的电影”，它们已成为家庭观众最重要的当代电影制作资料库。

合作历史

基于公司的先天优势，可以得到许多极少公开的商业认可的信息与授权。然而，根据媒体收集到的信息透露标准收藏和雅努斯电影有限公司（Janus films）及美国的公众贸易（Home Vision Entertainment，HVE）有紧密的商业合作。http://www.homevision.com/aboutUsInvestors.cfm

罗伯特·斯汀（Robert Stein）、艾琳·斯汀 (之后成为Robert的妻子)和罗杰·史密斯（Roger Smith）于1984年创建标准收藏。在1985年斯汀夫妇，威廉姆·贝克（William Becker）和Jonathan B. Turell（Saul J. Turell之子）成立了远航公司（The Voyage Company）。 这些远航者就是在1989年至2000年间大量发行的[[多媒体]]教育[[只读光盘]]开发者，就在那时标准收藏成为了远航公司的一支分支。 在1994年[[3]]以670万美金购买了远航公司20%的股份，而四个创始人各自保留了20%的股份。

二十世纪90年代末远航公司破产。1994年冬天艾琳·斯汀与罗伯特·斯汀离婚，尽管她保留了在远航公司的20%股份但仍然离开了正在活跃运行的公司，开始了新的只读光盘发行事业——Oragna LLC。1997年冬，[[Holtzbrinck]]出版社出售了远航公司的所有权，其中包括远航公司的商标、网站及与LLC相关的资产（罗伯特·斯汀自己在早前已从自己在远航公司拥有的股份中拿的所有权与LTI进行了交换。 在那时剩下的创始伙伴（艾琳·斯汀、威廉姆·贝克、Jonathan Turell保全了标准收藏所有权——每人三分之一的股份；Turell成为了公司的首席执行官，而贝克的儿子彼得·贝克（曾于远航公司担任总经理职务且在更早前是标准收藏分支的领导人）成为了公司的总经理。艾琳·斯汀不再涉及公司的日常运作但仍持有她三分之一的股份。http://www.organa.com/aleen.html

该公司的垒球队为与法国导演[[弗朗索瓦·特吕弗]]名字谐音取名为“真正的敌人”（the True Foes）。

Janus films

雅努斯电影有限公司（Janus films）由Bryant Haliday和小Cyrus Harvey 于1955年创立，在1966年将其卖出。在那之后，William Becker和Saul Turell获得了公司。虽然未经过证实，但极有可能Becker和Turell就是1966年的买家。

HVE

[[Charles_Benton]] founded [[Public_Media,_Inc.]] (PMI) in 1968. PMI’s home video division, HVE, was established in 1986. Charles’ daughter, [[Adrianne_B._Furniss]], became PMI’s president in 1996, and its CEO in 1999. Adrianne_B._Furniss is also the Chief Executive Officer of HVE. Charles_Benton is the Chairman of HVE.

HVE, which was also a privately held company, acted as distributor for Criterion’s DVD releases as well as providing sales, advertising and marketing services. HVE released its own line of DVDs on its own HVE line, including [[Merchant Ivory Productions|The Merchant Ivory Collection]]produced in association with the Criterion Collection and was dedicated to releasing DVDs of films of [[Ismail_Merchant]] and James Ivory, and the Classic Collection, “a joint venture between Home Vision Entertainment and Janus_Films.” The latter appears to be dedicated to releasing DVDs under the HVE imprint of films for which Janus_Films holds DVD rights and are not currently available from the Criterion Collection. Films under the Classic Collection imprint, however, have also been released by the Criterion Collection. In 2005, HVE was acquired by [[Image Entertainment]. As a result of this transaction, Image Entertainment became the exclusive distributor of the Criterion Collection. DVDs continue to be released under the HVE imprint, but it is unclear how long the practice will continue.

贡献与影响

标准收藏首创的诸多革新如今在影碟发行业已成为一种标准。诸如letterboxing，多碟套装版本，特别版本和最终版本等。

Letterboxing

所谓Letterboxing，即在电视上播放宽银幕电影时保持其原始比例，是标准收藏当时所做的一项尝试。甫一推出时观众都接受不了，因为这样会在电视屏幕上出现黑框（上下或是左右），但这种将每格画面完整呈现在电视上的做法之后就得到了电影爱好者们的支持；而当时最常见的做法是裁掉每格画面的25%–50%来匹配4：3的电视屏幕。1987年发行的由[[Ridley_Scott]]执导的《[[银翼杀手]]》光碟具有重大意义，也确立了Letterboxing这一做法的地位。[http://www3.baylor.edu/~Michael_Korpi/classes/1303intro/PlayingField.htm

特别版本

1984年发行的特别版《公民凯恩》和《金刚》是标准收藏的处子秀。二部片中都附带了大量花絮，包括预告片，导演评论音轨，幕后纪录片，第二结局等。Peter Becker曾称赞这种方式是“盒子里的电影学校”http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1956135。此后，无论是主流还是小碟商纷纷仿效这种方式。时至今日，将关于影片的琐事收录进特别版DVD中已是一种标准式做法。

标准收藏有时会推出一种银色标签的特别版DVD，尽管这种包装与普通包装DVD在内容上完全一样。

2006年9月，标准收藏重新发行了《[[当年事]]》、《[[妙想天开]]》、《七武士》，在画质和内容上都有所提升，心配合公司的新设计。

最终版本

在版权所有者许可下，标准公司发行最终版和独家版DVD，诸如：《公民凯恩》，《[[一夜狂欢]]》，《[[生活多美好]]》，《[[鲁宾逊太空历险]]》，《[[2001漫游太空]]》，《[[希腊战神]]》等，以及下文提到的影片大多已经绝版，盖因影片版权易手或版权所有者打算自己来发行，这使得部分标准版影片成了收藏品。

• 标准版《[[摇滚万万岁]]》DVD中有一段16mm摄影机测试片断，这在米高梅版DVD中是没有的；
• 标准版《[[银翼杀手]]》是未经删减的国际版，此后其他碟商发行的版本囿于法律争议均有所删减；
• 标准版《[[午夜牛郎]]》有别于之后发行版本的1.85:1的画面比例而导致的片名被裁，特别设置为1.66:1，色彩也较为鲜艳，并含有一条评论音轨；
• 标准版三部早期007系列电影（《[[铁金刚勇破神秘岛]]》，《[[铁金刚勇破间谍网]]》和《[[金手指]]》）画面比例也是1.66:1，并有一条评论音轨，有别于其他版本的DVD；
• 标准版《[[奇爱博士]]》DVD中有一份剧本原稿及一本介绍冷战背景资料的小册子和全本的Duck and Cover；
• 标准版《[[浪潮王子]]》内含一条[[芭芭拉·史翠姗]]评论音轨及其他相关内容，都是哥伦比亚/三星版DVD中所不具备的；
• 标准版《[[渔王]]》内含[[特里·吉列姆]]的评论音轨和大量被删场景并有评论、预告片、故事板片段和试装照等花绪内容，而日后SONY公司发行的DVD中则只有预告片这一条花绪；
• [[Close_Encounters_of_the_Third_Kind]] contains scenes from the original version (in film context) which are not represented on the later “collector’s edition” video releases (they are available separately on Sony’s recent DVD).

以上这些版本偶见于一些拍卖网站。

版权

Some of Criterion’s titles (e.g., [[Salò]]) are now “out-of-print” and unavailable, and sell at high prices on auction sites. Usually, titles go out of print only when Criterion’s license for them expires and is not renewed; this typically happens when the original licensor wishes to release its own version of the title, as happened with [[The Silence of the Lambs (film)|The Silence of the Lambs]], [[RoboCop]], and [[Hard-Boiled]].

In a few cases, early releases (such as the laserdisc edition of [[Citizen_Kane]], or the DVD editions of [[Beauty and the Beast (1946 film)|Beauty and the Beast]], [[M]], Seven_Samurai, and [[The Wages of Fear]]) are taken out of print temporarily to make way for Criterion’s own re-releases, which typically feature improved transfers and more comprehensive supplements.

The comedy [[Charade]] featuring [[Audrey_Hepburn]] and [[Cary_Grant]] became [[public_domain]] on its release due to the absence of a copyright notice which was at that time required. This means that any home video distributor is able to release the film without the payment of royalties. While some budget labels have released lower quality versions, the Criterion Collection produced a digitally-cleaned DVD edition of the film using good quality source materials, and included extras. They repeated this process for their later [[Anamorphic]] re-release.

影片修复

Criterion usually selects [[foreign films]], established classics and obscure (albeit critically admired) movies over mainstream Hollywood fare, although it has released the occasional mainstream blockbuster such as [[Armageddon]] and The Rock. Criterion is noted for spending a great deal of effort and money tracing the best source materials for classic films, and engaging in thorough video clean-ups — a practice that has influenced other companies, most notably Warner Home Video.

Some Criterion DVDs, such as [[The_Passion_of_Joan_of_Arc]],[[M]] and [[Children_of_Paradise]], contain short restoration demonstrations, which compare unrestored prints with the painstakingly restored new master.

镭射产品与DVD

Criterion was a laserdisc pioneer, but was a late entrant into the DVD market, not releasing its first titles on the new format until DVD had been on the market for approximately a year. Indeed, Criterion’s early DVD releases of widescreen films were presented in letterbox format as was the case with widescreen laserdisc films, rather than being [[anamorphic]]ally enhanced: Criterion’s first anamorphic release was #47, Insomnia, although there would not be another release of an anamorphically enhanced film in a widescreen ratio until #55: [[The Unbearable Lightness of Being]).

Nonetheless, in 1998, the company discontinued its line of [[laserdisc]] releases While these [[laserdisc]]s are no longer available, bonus materials from them, such as commentary tracks, have appeared on DVD releases issued by other companies. For example, [[Martin_Scorsese]]’s commentary track for [[Raging Bull] appears on the newly released MGM DVD. It is suspected that these commentary releases are the result of business transactions between Criterion and other studios that could potentially allow Criterion to release films on DVD to which it otherwise would not have access.

While the Criterion Company pioneered the production of quality home video releases, in recent years, they have received more competition. Distributors such as [[Warner Home Video]] and [[Fox]] have received considerable acclaim for their recent releases. However, in terms of academic approach, attention to detail and artistic cover art, the Criterion Collection remains unsurpassed.

价位

The price range as of 2006 is about US$30 for a one-disc set and US$40 for a two-disc set. The rare discs to break the pricing structure are generally films produced and/or distributed by [[Disney]]’s [[Buena_Vista_Motion_Picture_Group]], including [[The_Royal_Tenenbaums]], [[The_Life_Aquatic_with_Steve_Zissou]], and [[Chasing_Amy]]. Criterion released the short film [[Night and Fog]] at US$14.95 because of its brevity and important treatment of [[The_Holocaust]]{{Fact|date=February 2007}}.

In 2004, Criterion released a DVD holiday gift set exclusively on [[Amazon.com]], with 282 discs at a cost of about US$5,000.00. It was not a complete set of the Criterion releases at that point, since Criterion no longer had the rights to certain films. It was however, one of the biggest and most expensive DVD products available to consumers. As of January 2007, Criterion had issued over 380 DVD releases.

Since there is significant demand for out-of-print Criterion releases, they are often bootlegged and these bootleg editions are sometimes advertised as “Asian editions”.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} The Criterion company has urged buyers to “proceed with caution when shopping for out-of-print DVDs,” and on its website offers advice on how to spot bootlegs. The company also point out that it has never issued Asian editions. Bootlegs of many out-of-print Criterion editions, particularly the above-mentioned [[Salò,]] are often seen on Internet auction sites, while legitimate discs can command prices in the hundreds of dollars.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

资料来源

• Robert Stein by John Brockman
• “The Teachings of Bob Stein”, Wired Magazine, July 1996
• DVD Audio commentary Research Paper
• Peter Becker interview on [[NPR]] (2004).

参考

• [[Janus_Films]]
• [[CC电影大师系列]]
• [[CC蚀系列]]
• [[CC DVD名录]]
• [[CC镭射影片名录]]

外部连接

• The Criterion Collection official Web site
• The Criterion Collection Resource Site
• Criterion DVD Collection