Movies

An edited movie or edited film is a film that has been edited from the original theatrical release.

Contents 1 Types of editing 2 History 3 Editing techniques 4 History of Mechanical Editing 5 History of Digital Editing 6 Future of the Industry 7 See also

Types of editing

Films edited for format, length, and content.

• Format: movie theaters typically show movies in either a 1.85:1 aspect ratio or 2.40 aspect ratio. Television currently has two screen formats. There is the more standard 1.33:1 (or 4:3) aspect ratio, and the growing standard of 1.78:1 (or 16:9) aspect ratio.
• Length: Movies may be shortened for television broadcasting or for use on airlines. DVD releases of movies may also contain longer cuts of movies. In a growing trend, more and more films are being released in an Unrated cut of the film.
• Content: Some movies have content objectionable to "family audiences": sexual content, obscene language, and graphic violence. To make these movies suitable for younger or more conservative audiences, alternative versions of movies are created with such content removed.

History

The first theatrical film to be edited for television was the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch.

Edited movies have existed for several decades for television broadcasting and airlines. Since the advent of VHS movies being readily available in the mass consumer market, consumers have wanted movie studios to release the airline version of movies; however, they have not done so.

Editing techniques

There are two main types of edited movie technology:

1. Mechanical Editing

Purchased movie content is downloaded onto an editing work station hard drive and editors manually edit the video and audio tracks, removing objectionable content. The edited version is then written onto media (VHS or DVD) and made available for rental or purchase provided an original version has been purcahsed in correlationwith the edited version copy.

2. Digital Editing

Digital editing consists of having a DVD player skip portions of the video and/or audio content on-the-fly according to predetermined instructions. ClearPlay, Inc. was the first to begin to market such technology. Others have sprung up, including one who claimed patent infringement against ClearPlay.

History of Mechanical Editing

In response to consumer demand, families began to edit purchased VHS tapes literally by making cuts and splices to the tape. A hotbed for this activity has been Utah with its conservative yet entrepreneurial population. When "Titanic" was released on VHS, a video store owner in Utah began offering to edit purchased copies of the movie for a $5 service fee. The service became very popular. Before long, several video rental businesses purchased VHS tapes and had them edited for their rental club/co-op members to watch.

When DVD technology emerged, the edited movie industry began offering for sale or rental a disabled DVD accompanied by an edited version of the movie on a coupled DVD-R. Several companies attempted this business. First, some tried to do it via physical brick and mortar stores, the most successful being the deal model and properietary stores owned by CleanFlicks, Inc. of Utah. CleanFilms, Inc. later became the largest and most successful company in the business by employing an online rental model (similar to Netflix) and avoiding any physical stores.

Also as soon as the DVD aspect to the edited movie industry started, the Directors Guild of America and the Motion Picture Association of America sued most of the industry players for copyright infringement and also claims regarding derivative works. This case was begun in Colorado and it still exists in the Federal courts in Colorado.

History of Digital Editing

ClearPlay, Inc. launched early software versions of its player that would skip video and audio content on DVDs playing on PCs. Eventually, this tecnhology was embedded into a DVD player. CustomPlay (Nissim Corp) claimed patent infringement, but that case has recently settled and ClearPlay continues to market a digital editing player.

ClearPlay was also sued by the directors and major Motion Picture Studios, but that case was rendered moot by the 2005 Family Movie Act, making digital editing legal and an exception to copyright law.

Future of the Industry

It is unclear where the industry is headed. There is large demand (some studies show more than half of American families want edited movies). Digital editors like ClearPlay have been saddled with challenges stemming from legal issues, but now they seem to have clear path if enough capital can be raised. Mechanical editors await a decision by Judge Matsch of the Colorado Federal Court. It is due imminently.

See also

• Film editing, the techniques used