Two Versions Of One Film?

Jeff Cooper wrote on 6/28/2008, 11:37 PM
Hello,

I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to set up a DVD so that the viewer can select from two different versions of a film without having to have two entirely separate films on the DVD.

What I basically would like to be able to do is let the viewer select the full version of the film, or select a "less violent" version in which certain segments of the film that are extremely violent would be skipped over - i.e. not shown.

Thanks!!

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/29/2008, 5:42 AM
well, unless you want to replaces sequences, it's two separate films. alternate angles could be used if you replace the scenes.
MPM wrote on 6/29/2008, 1:07 PM
There are 4 ways to do what appears to be separate titles:
1) you can include 2 complete versions, as on 2 discs or a double-sided disc with FS & WS versions
2) you can use branching, which isn't as popular lately.
3) you can use "Stories" or "Chapter Playlists" - 2 terms for the same thing.
4) you can use angles.

Branching is something you can Google on & read about, but need higher end software to produce AFAIK - long story short, cell (chapter) x would jump to title y & back. The way it works is similar to using playlists in DVDA, only without the noticeable pause.

Stories or Chapter Playlists (DVD Studio Pro & Encore) let you assemble a list of cells (chapters) the same way you assemble lists of titles for Playlists in DVDA. It's something that DVDA should have had a few years back IMHO, & is only possible today using DVDA if you edit your DVDA rendered DVD... I went thru the procedure in a couple of related threads recently.

Angles as produced in DVDA are a special breed, where more than one version of a scene is encoded sort of in bursts - you'll have so much content from version a, then so much from version b, then version a & so on, the goal being the player's laser won't ever have to jump too far when angles are switched via the player's remote. Angles have to be encoded in DVDA because of that interleaving.

On the usual 2 version DVD, they'll typically use Stories, optionally with Angles *if* there's alternative video to a potentially objectionable scene, & *if* the audio itself is acceptable. Where you're just blocking out violent scenes, Stories would be the easiest solution by far, and you could include whatever ratings controls on the DVD, assuming the player handled it & had it switched on.
Jeff Cooper wrote on 6/30/2008, 4:26 PM
MPM...

Thanks for taking the time to share all of this knowledge! It is greatly appreciated.

Looks like there are a couple of feasable options here for what I'm trying to do...

Cheers, Jeff Cooper