I'm in search of a way to remove bad language from movies.

[GHZpc]

First off, let me say that DVD's should have that feature already (too bad they don't). It's hard to watch movies like The Matrix or The Shawshank Redemption with the rest of the family, ya know?

I'm hoping there is a "filter" of some type for Cooledit. I know it would be kind of hard, but I figured it anyone knew...it would be you guys.

Thanks for any response.

[homerpez]

Before you get the usual barrage of cruel (but good-natured) comments about this, let me tell you that your best option is to save your audio stream, and either insert 'bleeps' with Cool Edit, or better yet, force to silence (which is only slightly less annoying).

Yes, this does mean you'd have to listen to the whole thing and edit manually... it's the only way I'm aware of to do what you're saying.

[jane_caldwell]

First off, let me say that DVD's should have that feature already (too bad they don't). It's hard to watch movies like The Matrix or The Shawshank Redemption with the rest of the family, ya know?

If your major concern about watching The Shawshank Redemption with your family is the "bad language", then no wonder this world is f*cked.
Are you going to let your family watch the sex scene at the start of the movie and the violence in the prison?? *sigh*

Anyway, the easiest way to remove the offending audio is to demux the video and import the audio stream into your favourite audio editing software (ie Cool Edit, Goldwave or whatever you can get a hold of).

Then there's the laborious task of replacing every offensive word. I would avoid adding a "beep". Rather, as homerpez suggested, force silence. Ever tried to watch Jerry Springer? The number of beeps, is maddening...

After making your changes mux the audi and video back together.

J

[GHZpc]

Well, I didn't even think about the sex scene. But then again, I've seen worse sex scenes on cable.

As for violence, the only part that I wouldn't want the rest of my familiy seeing is the part where Andy Dufresne almost gets sexually abused.

[SLK001]

Well, there IS a rating system on all movies made in the last 30-35 years in the US.

They are:

XXX - Hardcore porn (the good stuff!)
XX - Run-of-the-mill porn (but can still be pretty good!)
X - "Low Quality" porn (may not be worth watching!)
R - Restricted - No one under 17 allowed without an accompanying adult.
PG-13 - Parental Guidance - should not be viewed by children under 13 without parental approval.
PG - Parental Guidance - parents should decide if their children can watch.
G - General Audiences - you know, Disney stuff.

If you don't want "bad" language, I would suggest that you stick to the "G", "PG" and maybe some "PG-13" titles.

[lattedfw]

I've seen (and read about) a device that reads the closed-captioning stream and mutes audio when objectionable words are spoken. I think it's sold at Walmart. I'm not sure how or if this will work with DVDs because the captioning is not the same as broadcast closed-captioning.

[Barnabas]

There is a product called "TV Guardian" you might want to take a look at if you want to try to filter out some language from movies. Don't know how well it works, but it makes use of closed-captioning to filter out various words.

http://www.tvguardian.com/

[GHZpc]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Ya see, I just think that there are many rated R movies that are actually good enough for the whole family to watch if there wasn't all the foul language, sex, and I suppose a little violence but violence bothers me the least.

[Greg12]

is it really worth the effort? I mean your children hear much worse in school?

Censorship is bad.

"The goverment shall make no law regulating the free exchange of ideas in press or speech."

[GHZpc]

Yeah, I agree that children hear plenty of it at school.

However, on the other hand.....

My cousins grew up with parents that drank, swore a lot, and had parents who had a satellite dish and allowed their kids to watch anything and everything they wanted.

Here's how the kids ended up:

The youngest brother is just fine.

The oldest brother is a druggy.

And their sister has been a prostitute, uses drugs, and now is a swinger. How do I know she's a swinger? Well, her younger brother walked in on her and saw her naked in bed with a man and a woman. All on top of each other.

I suppose censorship could be bad in some ways, and people do have a freedom of speech.......


But parents also have responsibilities.










Thanks again for the responses guys.

[Faceman101]

perfect solution, dont watch those movies with your kids.

[GHZpc]

Yeah, that is a good solution. But boy, they're really missing out on a good movie when it comes to Shawshank Redemption. Luckily though, it's on TNT tomorrow so Im sure it'll be edited.

[Thom001]

Whats wrong with this picture......"Lets watch people killin people...but making Love is a no-no"??

[Frankanger]

Okay - this is definitely the easiest way:

Step 1: Build time Machine, go back to the dim distant past and reinvent the whole English Language, ommitting profanity, or 'curse' words. Better yet make everyone share twin beds, have sex with the lights off and only copulate to procreate..

Step 2: Return to the future where such 'terrrible filth?' as the Matrix was made.

Step 3: Sit back and enjoy your movie in the vain hope that somehow you can blinker yourself, your children and the whole of your family from any essence of the real world.

Why you're at it, why not take a handful of books and tippex out anything that does not agree with your views on the world.

*NB - This method is not compatible with TMPGenc, CCE, or Ligos.. haven't tried it with Procoder though, or Panasonic - do they have built in 'reality filters'? I'm not sure.

[gminnick]

Wow. It is amazing how offended people get when all you want to do is edit some words out of a movie for your own use. Then make it sound like you want to impose some censorship on them. That is the BIGGEST problem in this world. Censorship and free speech are more important than raising kids with values. And people still have no clue why kids behaviours are getting worse. Guess it is more important to leave the words in the movie than to prevent kids from carrying guns to school. I know that is an extreme statement, but you get the point.

On to the topic, what has been stated is the only way I know of. Split the audio and video, edit with Goldwave and splice them back together. I agree that DVDs should have this feature. And I don't consider this censorship. I call it giving a parent the ability to screen out stuff they don't want their kids to hear and give them a little help in instilling moral values. It is getting more impossible for a parents to raise kids. It is also called freedom of choice. It's not against the law to choose what your kids hear is it?

Sorry, I know some of this was off topic, but it had to be said.

[thxkid]

Well, I agree there are some R rated movies that are great, example True Lies, so I bought 2 DVD Home Recorders and I use the Ram feature in both to edit out the scenes and words(scene Also) what I had was a PG True lies when finished ( about 30 edits) recorded back from the edit Ram Discs to one DVD-R, looks great, clean edits and the family can sit down and watch it. Hey broadcast TV does this, so why can't I and I am not pushing this on anyone else, this is for my own private viewing no one else's so no one needs to complain cause anyone else can just watch it like it was. Heck the airlines does it also.

[presto]

I'd like to chime in with one more comment supporting people who want to edit out offensive material so they can enjoy movies. These days studios actually add foul language and other content to avoid a G rating. I for one CAN listen to the F word used over and over again as every part of speach but I'd rather not. Shawshank Redemption was a poor example but there ARE many movies where the swearing is superflous.

On a similar note, has anyone noticed that nearly every comedy made in recent years contains fart jokes? Often at least one extended scene that seems to go on forever? (Nutty Professor, Scooby Doo, Lion King for instance). Again I can sit quietly while other people enjoy their fart scenes but does it have to be in nearly every comedy?

By the way, I may not appreciate fart jokes but I'll defend to the death any man's right to put them in a movie (or book).

[Frankanger]

Me again

I tell you what, here's a good idea, very simple one too.... you don't like how something is, then leave it the f**k alone. It's not yours to be f**king around with, it's the artist's who put their creative ability into the project. Don't like the foul language, don't watch it. Go rent a Disney movie so you can watch some nice santized version of how Pochantos really did 'fall in love' with a white man, and wasn't raped, or sold down the river. Better yet, go read some revisionist history about how the Shoah never took place. After all, it's all 'too horrible'.

Makes me so mad, this whole self-censorship is ridiculous. And it has no equation with the rise in teenage crime etc. Put that down to poverty, and lack of education, and all the money going on stupid American wars that do nothing but kill more children, and get President Bush a favourable electoral push.

Mad as all f**king hell and proud of it.


-----------------------

Swearing isn't clever, but it sure does cut down on the bulls**t

[Mirror_Image]

Me again

I tell you what, here's a good idea, very simple one too.... you don't like how something is, then leave it the f**k alone. It's not yours to be f**king around with, it's the artist's who put their creative ability into the project. Don't like the foul language, don't watch it. Go rent a Disney movie so you can watch some nice santized version of how Pochantos really did 'fall in love' with a white man, and wasn't raped, or sold down the river. Better yet, go read some revisionist history about how the Shoah never took place. After all, it's all 'too horrible'.

Makes me so mad, this whole self-censorship is ridiculous. And it has no equation with the rise in teenage crime etc. Put that down to poverty, and lack of education, and all the money going on stupid American wars that do nothing but kill more children, and get President Bush a favourable electoral push.

Mad as all f**king hell and proud of it.


-----------------------

Swearing isn't clever, but it sure does cut down on the bulls**t

That's OK, you'll move out of your parent's basement someday! I use the singular possessive, since the identity of your father is surely a mystery.

[Martyn1980]

No wonder todays society is messed up, i dont know if theres anyone in the post from UK, or have been watching any UK news about the two little girls who got murdered and its sickening, and although i dont blame movies as theres always been killing, but some parents opinion of what is suitable is shocking in my opinion.

GHZpc i totally disagree on your whats suitable for kids opinion , you want the swearing out maybe the sex, but not bothered about violence, thats crazy, my gf is the kinda the same, lets her 6 year old watch films with Violence and swearing, but if theres a sex scene,even a tame one, she changes channels.

Why do people so this, cause they dont want their kids copying, and running around saying Motherfu**** all the time, makes sense, Yes, but dont they care if their kids copy the violence or the sex, just as long as they speak nicely as they shoot someone cause it looked cool on TV.

kinda off topic, and not exactly the place to saying this, but with whats happened here, and people opinion on whats suitable it kinda got me annoyed, im not saying life imitates art, but the ratings are there for a reason, and saying Bad language is the worst thing a child can see or hear is ludicrous, its only words, means nothing to someone who doesnt speak the language, Violence is universal, and im not saying make everything a PG, definetely not, but saying its ok for kids to see is crazy.

[Martyn1980]

Frankanger, i agree with what some of what your saying about censorship and they make Disney films for a reason, for the kids, but i dont like your childish way of answering and i dont agree that movies dont cause violence, if youve got kids, boys mostly then you would realise.

Put on a film like a Jackie Chan film, mostly harmless, to a bunce of boys aged 6-13 and watch them beat all beat each other up afterwards, nothing too serious, but its a small indication to what it can do.

My gf has a 13year old son, who is obsessed with army stuff, like most teenage boys, he wants to join the army, thinks guns and shooting people is cool and loves war films, wanting to kill for your country is one thing, but wanting to join the army to shoot guns and kill people is messed up, luckily me and my gf dont let him get up to much and theres not much guns were we are, but if he could get one, he would shoot it, and hes small for his age and gets picked on, so i know if he got beat up he would shoot somone out of anger.

Im not saying i want censorship, definetly not, but while your growing up your easily led and not totally aware of right and wrong and the consequences of something that seems like fun at the moment.

Its up to the parents to watch for these things and stop them.

Ive ranted enough buh bye

[weeyoo]

what do you people care what he does, this is a forum for technical issues, such as editing. give him his advice and move on. if there is anything to be said about morality, there are probably more significant forums for this than vcdhelp.com of all places.

[Martyn1980]

I know that and i did say its not really the place to be saying this, and as for advice, its pointless, editing it yourself, its a lot of hassle and you'll be sick of the film by the time your done.

[Frankanger]

Replying to above posts:

So, I'm childish, but yet you accuse me of being a bastard, without a father? Mmmmm.. (ponders that for a moment)... you, sir, are an idiot.

And I do live in the UK, and placing violent behaviour as an end result of Movie violence is ludicrous. What, do you think children in the 1900's, without television, computer games, violent movies, they weren't violent? Violence is, and will be part of the human animal we are -- don't take my word for it, look in the bible, the countless wars we fought before the invention of television and movies. Ask a sociologist some time about conditioning, nature versus nurture. Violence in movies is an out, in any fiction, it's a nice cosy way to detract from the real issue of poverty and lack of stability within society. Oh and if you want some more violence, go back, say to Aristotle, Plato, any of the early myths, which are chock full of violence. We may as well ban them too. I know, I'll go and get the Mark Twain novels and take white-out all the racial epiphets in there, seeing as I'm anti-racist and I don't agree with the language.

My point is this, you can put on the blinkers, but you'll never stop yourself from seeing.


Peace out and other such americanisms (see, I watch movies too.. I might go out now, throw my M.A in the bin, along with my other degrees, pop down to Manchester and buy myself a Mach-10. You know, because I'm want to do that, seeing as I listen to Ice Cube and grew up on Rambo films. Then I'll go shoot up a post office and take crack -- that's in movies too.)

[dphirschler]

Buy the VCD. Malasia censors their films to remove the "bad" stuff.


Darryl

[Martyn1980]

When did i accuse you of being a Bastard without a father, i said if you were a father, as in having kids of your own, and you have the cheek to call me an idiot.

No there was no television in the 1900's and before but there was witch burning and public executions, for all the family to see, which is actually worse.

I do not believe in censorship in anyway, but i do believe in film classification to stop kids watching stuff till their old enough to fully understand it all.

Poverty does not cause crime, greed does, poverty isn't forced on us, its a choice most of the time, either by lazyness, or by bad company keeping people down, half this country is a mess, with parents getting drunk and letting their kids do as they please in their rooms having sex smoking drugs and sitting up all night watching crappy films, thinking is cool to shoot someone, then they go out high with that same way of thinking, trust me i know this, i was born and bred in the worst part of Glasgow, and i saw enough drugs and violence to last me a lifetime.

[Frankanger]

Apologies Martyn1980, but the accusation was thrown at me not by you, but by Mirror_Image --- the quote is directly below

"That's OK, you'll move out of your parent's basement someday! I use the singular possessive, since the identity of your father is surely a mystery."

But i still must take some measure of response to your comments --

"No there was no television in the 1900's and before but there was witch burning and public executions, for all the family to see, which is actually worse."


1: The last execution for witchcraft in England was in 1684. In Scotland the last witch to be burned at the stake was in 1722 (http://pnews.org/art/1art/WITCHes.shtml)

Would have been pretty hard for the children of the 1900's to see this event.

2: The last Public execution in England, was that of Michael Barret Fenian, on the 26th may 1868 for his part in the Clerkenwell explosion. (http://www.rootsweb.com/~irish/igsi_published/misc/execute.htm)

Again, a few years off with the dates there. But my point is not to pull you up on dates, but to answer what you stated in this reply post of yours.

You said:

"Poverty does not cause crime, greed does."

On this, I agree wholeheartedly. Crime does pay, and has been proven to do so for many countless years, so the greedy will always perform crimes. But what I was trying to say in earlier posts, and this reply, was Poverty is a contributing factor to violence. (I too was brought up, and still live in a rough area of the NOrth West of England). Sadly the realistic violence I see in my neighbhourhood, and in many around me have more to do with drink, lack of education, lack of self-worth, engrained and old-fashioned ideas, than the content of a video collection someone may own. Do you really think neighbhourhood's such as mine were not violent in the years without television, films, reading matter, computer games? This enviroment has two effects. One: you become used to the violence around you, or two you shy away, I as did. I was raised in a good natured household, allowed to watch whatever I liked, including 'violent' movies, but you don't see me going around being violent. IN fact, the opposite -- I am a pacifist, I have never raised my fist in anger to another human being in the whole of my life. There are many others like me, in fact the majority of people dont' want to enact violence out in the real world. This leads me to the idea that it is 'choice' rather than environment that is the true determining factor when people are violent ( we can't forget hereditary factors, genetics, and indoctrination too) But this leaves the idea that started this debate off.

The first poster wanted to 'edit out' the foul language and other parts of a film he deemed unsuitable for his children. Although I do not disagree with his right to censure material on behalf of his children, I do disagree with the idea that the censure of the material will somehow be a determing factor in his chidlren's behaviour.
I also wholeheartedly disagree with the intrustive means of this censure. If we don't like something, then we don't watch, view, listen, read. This is the way in which we voice our protest as civilised people, rather than 'bastardise' an original work.


I hope I caused you no offence, Martyn1980.

[Martyn1980]

Ok sorry but i kinda thought the accusation was in my direction.

I never said there was witchunts and executions in 1900's, i said 1900's and before, meaning before TV, not an exact date, the before means since time began till 1900's.

I know TV doesn't make good people bad, but in certain people it sets them off, if it wasn't TV it would be music, video games, books, what my point was is parents responsibility to stop kids seeing, reading certain things, until they think they can make a distinction between fiction and reality.

I never said i approved in censorship, i hate censorship, i would just like parents to act a bit more responsible, and my original point was, why the guy who started this post thought, bad language was worse for his kids to hear than violence in a film.



P.S. I dont get offended, thick skinned these days

[SittingDuck]

K, if you don't think you should censor what you're children are watching, don't continue reading.

Please don't post a reply telling me I should not censor what my children watch. You're not going to change my constitutional enabled opinion, so don't try. It's my right and my responsibility to raise them the way I think is best. If that means making sure they don't hear bad language when they watch movies, that's my choice. The "Shawshank" or "Matrix" aside there are even movies like the "Iron Giant" that have swears in them. This isn't just for my children, either, my wife and I don't like to listen to the swearing either.

This post is for people who want to control what their children watch and want a solution to the problem of good movies with swears.

I've been trying to find the "holy-grail" of DVD editing for the last few months. I've so far tried Clean Films (formerly Clean Flicks.) Please don't get into the legality of editing DVDs, the courts are currently deciding that right now.

You can go to www.cleanfilms.com and for $24.95 you can have up to 2 edited movies out at once. It's the same price and concept of Netflix. I've used it for a few months and like it. However, the edited DVDs lose all the extra features, even subtitles. Plus what to do about my current DVD library. However, I would recommend it. You can also buy edited DVDs (you get two copies, the original, and the edited\copied disc.) It's pretty expensive though. $30-35 a DVD.

Now to edit my existing library. I found a site that offers scripts for your computer that edits the movie for you not just swears but scenes too. The downside is you have to watch through your computer (although they do have a player that is basically a PC that you can buy.) Also you have to have a DirectShow compliant DVD decoder, because it uses Microsoft's DVD API to do the editing. Really cool, but the downside is of course, the computer issue. Their player isn't very feature rich, but I wrote their Customer Service and inquired about it and they told me they were working on improving it. You also have to pay a monthly fee which basically pays for new scripts when movies come out. Worth looking into. http://www.clearplay.com/

I tried a Fischer DVD player with TV Guardian built in. I don't know the model number, but here's a URL to see it. www.tvguardian.com. The interface was crappy and the manual was translated from Chinese or something. But I did get it work and my wife and watched "MIB II." Only a couple swears made it through. My only gripes are the player doesn't have a lot of the features that most DVD players do now a days, and it's not very user friendly. I took it back.

Sanyo has a DVD player (DWM-380 ) and a DVD\VCR combo (DVW-5000) both with TV Guardian. Both can be picked up at WalMart. I just picked me up the DVD\VCR tonight and only after buying noticed that it (the TV Guardian) only works with the DVD (STUPID!!!) Why make it a combo if only one of the medias will work? I thought I'd found the ultimate solution, I was even hoping my satellite would work through it cause it works off of CC.

I then checked out the DWM-380. And I was pretty sure it was the same DVD as the Fischer Down to the switch to go from S-Video to Component. Who ever heard of such a thing? When I got home my suspicions were confirmed when I found Sanyo and Fischer are the same company. So I decided to look into the DVD\VCR combo on the internet before opening it. I think I'm going to return it after reading a review about it on this site.

Anyway, long story short. As you can see there are some solutions, they aren't perfect, but they're a start. I think I'm going to buy the TV Guardian box and just deal with the fact that everything is going to have to go through my VCR. For those of you looking for a solution for their children, like me, hang in there. The more consumers start to invest in these products, the more Hollywood is going to take notice. Hopefully some day all DVDs will have rating options built into their menus. Hollywood edits for Airplanes and the Networks, why not for private home use?

And don't give me that tired arguments about first amendment rights and that it's "art." First, you do have the right to swear, but I also have the right not to have to listen to it, and secondly, it's entertainment nothing more, deal with it.

[PumpkinKing]

Forget profanity, has anyone come up with a device that can remove Andie MacDowell from films and replace her with an actress of my choice??

She's been in some ok flicks, but they'd be so much better if I could replace her with Cameron Diaz or Denise Richards!!