Culture: DVD
DVD: The Unauthorized Edition   (+8, -1)  [vote for, against]
Films re-edited as the director never intended

Films are essentially made (or ruined, in the case of any recent Star Wars movie) on the cutting room floor. With digital technology, up to hundreds of hours of footage exist that didn't make it into the final cut.

We have many DVDs offering the directors' full or revised versions of films that aren't even classics. So this product is the bootleg opposite: how the film should have been, not according to the director, but according to some third party with a superior vision - quite possibly a bunch of film students honing their editing skills.

Love stories turned into murder mysteries, drama turned into comedy, low farce into high drama, Clone Wars into a real movie. The only thing that matters is that the original director disowns the recut version, loudly and publicly, guaranteeing it notoriety and a buying public.
-- DrCurry, Jul 29 2003

Clean Films http://cleanfilms.com/
Movies edited to remove violence, language and sex [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

(?) Movie Mask http://www.moviemask.com/
Super smart DVD player applet for your PC that does the same as above, but also lets people add their own commentary tracks and otherwise alter films for fun. [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Directors Guild of America lawsuit http://www.dga.org/.../pr_expand.php3?281
They are suing the above organizations, and several others, for doing stuff just like this. [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Half Baked, sorta http://www.ps260.co...SHINING%20FINAL.mov
The Shining recut as a trailer for one of those feel-good movies. (Part of a school project by NYC school kids; maybe they are spending our tax dollars wisely after all.) [DrCurry, Nov 21 2005]

A movie such as Clone Wars has so much CG going on, re-edited raw footage is bound to be 50% blue screen. I'm not sure how much fully-rendered video was left on the cutting room floor.

Just try and get Lucas to release his outtakes.

Bun for the effort. Give me a G5 and Final Cut Pro, and let me at it!
-- Cedar Park, Jul 29 2003


As the movie industry is already busily suing businesses like Clean Films and Movie Mask (see links) for alleged copyright infringement since they "edit" the movies without the directors approval, I doubt this would fly for very long.
-- krelnik, Jul 30 2003


krelnik: Reusing other people's original artwork in your own artwork is a well-established fair use under the copyright laws. Since these are new works of art, it should hold up in court. Besides, I don't see you getting your hands on the original uncut footage without some degree of cooperation from the studio, even if the director doesn't like it.
Cedar Park: Star Wars I & II would both benefit greatly from much tighter editing - way too many empty reaction shots. And *everything* with Anakin in Clone Wars should be axed, to spare the audience cruel and unusual punishment.
-- DrCurry, Jul 30 2003


Given the fervour with which the MPAA is trying to stop me from even making a archival backup of my DVD's, I see the 'fair use' arguement disappearing soon.
-- Cedar Park, Jul 31 2003


I can see the complaint against CleanFlicks being valid but, against MovieMask, I cannot. A lawsuit against MovieMask is, by my reckoning, no different than a studio suing a black and white TV manufacturer for allowing their color movies to be shown without their color.

Ridiculous.
-- bristolz, Jul 31 2003


Agreed, and some films definately need help. Probably closer to all films. Ooh Movie Mask, have to check that out. +
-- sartep, Jul 31 2003


[DrC] I never said I agreed with these lawsuits, I was just pointing them out.

As for the raw footage issue, I didn't get that from the idea. You might make that clearer.
-- krelnik, Jul 31 2003


"up to hundreds of hours of footage exist that didn't make it into the final cut" - in quite what way was that not clear?
-- DrCurry, Jul 31 2003


//quite what way was that not clear//
You said the footage exists, and you later mention the director disowning the unauthorized cut. You skipped the part where the director secretly hands over the raw footage to the film students to work with, without publicly admitting that he has done so (lest his disowning be disbelieved).
-- krelnik, Jul 31 2003


Why stop with one movie? I see MVJs (movie jockeys) in our future, mixing bits from entirely different movies into a coherent whole. Much like those new commercials with long dead actors in them. Or Woody Allen's "Zelig", where he inserts himself into famous historical footage. "Forest Gump" had some similar bits, too.

I always liked those "a history of America in 60 seconds" montages. This could become "Cliff Notes" for movies: the entire Stars Wars series in 30 minutes.
-- godnine, Dec 21 2004


so the Directors' cut.
-- neilp, Dec 21 2004



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