New Technology Cleans Up Movies for Kids

S A N D Y, Utah, Aug. 12, 2002 -- A new technology is letting people screen sex, violence and cursing out of movies, making dreams come true for some parents — but it's creating a nightmare for directors.

It starts in a new suburban Salt Lake City office complex, where, huddled behind soundproof office partitions, a team of software editors carefully screens and then diligently edits the latest celluloid offerings from Hollywood.

They are making themselves, in essence, "co-directors" of some of the biggest movies currently playing. What are they taking out? "Mostly the f-word," said one of the editors. "I've deleted it as many as 200 times in a single movie."

The editors work for Trilogy Studios, a tiny startup company that designs "movie masks" which allow viewers the option to delete offensive language, violence, or adult situations from movies that are played back on home digital equipment.

But what sets Trilogy apart from other companies that offer similar services is the level of expertise they've brought to their craft. Backed by a team of software designers and engineers from the video game industry, Trilogy not only seamlessly deletes language, it can change the look of a movie.

Movie Mask works by using digital software specially designed for each film that makes changes automatically as the movie is played back. It can be customized for four different age groups.

"A consumer can actually choose to tone down the violence in a movie but leave the language intact or vice versa," said Breck Rice, one of the co-founders. In other words, parents can become movie directors.

"Remember Kate Winslett posing nude in Titanic?" Rice asked, while demonstrating what the Movie Mask software can do on a wide-screen television set. Winslett appears in a corset and it looks as real as if she was outfitted in the real thing. But here's where it gets interesting. As the camera pans down from her body, the picture she is posing for now shows her in the corset.

Rice is also proud of how seamlessly he has re-edited the opening scene in Saving Private Ryan. "There are 32 edits in that scene," he said. If you had never seen the original, you wouldn't know the difference — gone are the severed limbs and gushing blood.

"We've taken out some of the real gory scenes where people's guts were laying on the beach," explained Rice.

Changing the Meaning?

But that is clearly not what director Steven Spielberg intended. He has been quoted as saying he wanted to bring the horror of war to audiences but children should not view it.

On the other hand, Rice said he "wanted his children to watch the movie without the violence and now they can."

He doesn't believe the changes destroy the director's intent and dilute the movie's message. "Not at all," he said. "The movie remains the same. We're simply empowering parents, giving them the right to choose how they want their children to watch it."

Directors do not agree.

"It's just appalling to me as a director," said Martha Coolidge, the president of the Director's Guild of America. "Movie Mask and the changes in the movie that Movie Mask is capable of can utterly change the meaning of the movie," she said.

The DGA may take legal action.

"We are going to talk to the studios and the Motion Picture Association of America and our members and look into what we can do about this legally," said Coolidge. "Movie Mask is censorship because it is someone deciding that certain things are inappropriate and cutting them out and simply changing them."

Lawyers say the DGA may not have much of a case. The original movie is not altered, just the experience of viewing it. "We've hired some of the same lawyers that represent the studios," said Rice. "They've assured us we're on solid legal ground."

Editing original content raises other issues. In the future, expect debates among movie fans who viewed different versions of the same picture. Matrix really wasn't that violent — or was it? Jack Nicholson in a Few Good Men never utters profanity — or does he? Old Yeller didn't really die — or did he?

At last count, Trilogy had designed masks for more than 120 movie titles. And yes, the software designers have considered the possibility that movies could be altered to be even more violent and more suggestive.

Coolidge shakes her head over both possibilities. "You are changing the vision of artists. It's unconscionable," she said. "What if you could do that to a painting or a book?"