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Convert Movies From R to PG13 to PG On The Fly
uchi writes "Trilogy Studios announced the launch of its "Movie Mask" web site - www.moviemask.com , which will eventually lead up to the release of its "Movie Mask DVD Player" and "Movie Mask Director" software. The Director software will allow users to selectively add/edit a video adding graphics and special effects, which is nothing special in my opinion. The Movie Mask DVD Player, on the other hand, will allow its users to download a movie config file(for lack of a better term) which will have various portions of the movies to bleep/cut out depending on the rating which the person set. It can be changed on the fly while watching the video. This seems like a good idea - it would allow many people who don't wish to be subjected to violence/nudity/language a chance to watch any movie they want without waiting months for it to be released on network television, already PG-13ized."
What we really need is a system that will automatically skip to the "good parts..."
I'm 23 and have been waiting for this feature for a long time. I prefer my movies without sex and without language. Most of my family feels the same way, and we are all adults.
Strangely, I didn't even think of kids when I read this item.
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
Well since we're talking about DVDs here, why not have it available in separate (off-disc, available on the net) config files which are made by the objecting parties? They won't be that large (unless you're supporting alternate scenes and language), you could download them in large batches and load them automatically. You'd just need a specially configured player with maybe a compact flash or small hard drive to hold them. Just distribute advance copies to certain groups so that they can make their modification files in time for the DVD release, and let the right-wingers deprive themselves of their movies instead of doing it to the rest of us.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Most DVD players have a parental control feature that can be set between 1 and 7 and then password locked.
Current discs are capable of not being played at all if the disc level is higher than the rating allowed HOWEVER using the "branching" function within the DVD spec it is IIRC possible to branch based on the parental control level.
This way the director can just put alternate chapters both on the disc and setup the branch points and there you go!
No special DVD player, no special software.
I gather however that this raises all sorts of complications with ratings classification.
[)amien
I'd love to see an "invert" button, that would show you *only* those shots that were removed. You'd get just 60 seconds of nothing but blood, gore, and nudity.
Although all DVD-authoring systems (okay, not iDVD), have the ability to read the parental guidence registry very few DVDs have ever used this feature. It seriously would take two lines of script to implement this feature. Somthing like:
Jump To SexScene if SPRM13 < X
Jump To NextScene if SPRM13 >=X
Most studios stand by their "film as an art", so it never gets done. This product is a third party coming in, whether one agrees with it or not, and adding a feature which a good portion of the consumers want.
How many want it? Enough that SPRM13 was a register set aside in the DVD spec just for parental control.
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
Source: ACLU Texas in file report.doc (Word doc)
=========
Banned and Challenged Books
In Texas Public Schools
Title: Puppies (Baby Animals)
Author: Petty, Kate
Synopsis: The book discusses how puppies are born and fed, and how they grow and communicate. Photographs are used to enhance the descriptions.
School District: Columbia-Brazoria ISD, West Columbia
Use: Library, Curriculumn, Wild Peach Elem.
Reason: Profanity/Inappropriate language
Result: Alternative book allowed
Notes: Parent said text referred to female dog as "bitch"
======
We need some kind of device to insert before the eyes of those vulnerable children, that would remove all curse words so that they are not exposed to the abomination of referring to a female dog as a "bitch".
> Don't play censorship cop, be a parent...
Unfortunately, sometimes being a parent is playing censorship cop. Giving them values is a matter of course, but that takes time, and in the interim it's sometimes necessary to censor. I take the view that it's better to preview a movie myself to decide if it's appropriate for my kids, but sometimes there's a movie of much value that has inappropriate parts, and (like the original story said) I don't necessarily want to wait for the sanitized version to appear on network TV. In this case, my goal isn't to prevent them from watching the movie, but to let them watch the movie but cut out the few parts that are not appropriate for them. The best example is "The Name of the Rose", which is a really good murder mystery, but has one rather graphic sex scene. I'd let a thirteen year-old watch the movie, as it's a good film, but that one scene throws the whole thing, and IMHO removing it is a better approach than simply forbidding the whole movie.
Virg
Parents of younger kids.
Because it might be one 10-second scene out of a 2 hour movie that I don't want my kids to see just yet. (Age 11, Movie: Blade, Scene: Opening where the guy who keeps losing his hand as getting a blow job at the rave -- everything else is cool).
Because you won't know that is in there until you see it the first time -- which means I can set a file for the DVDs I own that allows the kids to watch certain R-rated DVDs (like Highlander) but not others, like John Carpenter's Vampires, or clip parts of others.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
But nobody does it.
This was one of the big "cool features" promised way back when DVD was still being introduced. You'd be able to select different "versions" of a film, from a normal DVD player menu, and the player would pick-and-choose specific scenes automatically, and seamlessly (or just about so). The promise was to be able to have a single disc, with a single "super-duper-extra-beyond-director's-cut" version that you'd never, in practice, see. Then you select the "Theatrical Release" and see what you saw in the theater. Select the "Director's Cut" and see what the movie house didn't think would sell but all the rabid fans prefer. Select "TV" and see a cleaned-up version for TV. Select "Morman" and -- oh, nevermind.
Of course, I've never seen this happen, except on one movie (Crash), which allowed you to pick an R or NC-17 version of the same film.
I can think of MANY movies where I wish this feature was used. A good example is Blade Runner. There was the US theatrical release, there was a foreign release (with some additional, gorier footage), a later US release (basically the foreign release), a "Director's Cut" (with the unicorn in and the voice-over out), etc. Wouldn't it be great if you could get all those on a single disc? Or could mix-and-match? Gimme the director's cut, but WITH the narration. I won't even go into what you could do with Brazil (what, didn't the Criterion LD include three separate, complete, full-length cuts?)
Personally, I'd like to see this for many "normal" movies, too. For example, I'd love to recommend "Wild Things" to my mom -- it's a great mindfuck movie. But the sex scenes would probably make her want to stop watching. So she's missing out on a terrific movie.
And the worst of it is that all this capability already exists. The studios just don't want to do it.
So, something like this project seems really cool, especially for people using their own DVD player software to drive their home theater screen. Someone else talked about "Fan Edits." This might even make a good argument for an additional "Fair Use" for DeCSS technology -- providing a value-added service for DVD owners that the studios don't feel like doing.
DVD had such great promise, but very rarely do the studios actually deliver on those promises. How many movies nowadays come with alternate language tracks? With OBSCURE alternate languages? With decent subtitle selection? Now, how many come with "making of" featurettes, stupid storyboard-to-final "worksthops", or animated menus? Which delivers better value to the end user? Which is cheaper to produce?
gah. I gotta find something useful to do...
If you have been working on a project like this then you might have read the dvd faq. It mentions some similar projects that died from patent disputes.
The two most common things in the Universe are hydrogen and stupidity. -- Harlan Ellison