"This looks professional"

Ok, so I made my own little three minute film for the three minute film festival. Some people may be sick of me talking about it already, understood and fair. I might be a little too proud of it or something, but that's the way it goes.

I wanted to share the thing with a few friends and family types, so I made some copies on DVD and packaged the thing up all nice like. It even says "not for sale" cause I used music in it that I don't technically own.

I justify this blatant piracy of music by 1) not making any money on the thing whatsoever, 2) only using songs that I purchased on CD, and 3) only sharing them in the context of this art project of a short film. Neither song used appears in its entirety either. (I work for record labels to it's a touchy subject.)

I bought a pack of DVD cases to put them in. Not the CD jewel cases, but DVD sized cases. It's an important distinction for me for some reason. I'll have to explore that later, when I get a shrink.
I made an insert to go into the DVD case, and hand numbered them for authenticity. I even made up a little logo using the cute face of a kitty I once had. It's a whole package thing, you know.

The hardest part, apparently, is finding print-at-home disc labels that are reliable. No, seriously. I bought the cheap-o ones at Office Depot (may have even been the Office Depot brand) and the damn things cracked and the print rubbed off even as I was trying to apply the label to the disc. It was horrible.
A friend had some Avery brand labels which held the ink much better. Lesson learned. Use the expensive labels.

So once the thing was done I showed the thing to a couple people who had expressed even vague interest in what I'd made. More than one person commented on how it "looks professional."

It's at this time I'd like to explain that I worked for a record label designing packaging and art directing for nine years. I currently manage the brand for an independent university. Dude! It's what I do for a living! How did you think it would end up looking?

I politely reminded people that it's within my professional scope to design packaging and that it's kinda what I do, but in my mind I was wondering what people that I work with thought I might come up with?

Then again, how many people come up with a complete packaging solution for their three minute, one second film?