DVD Authoring

[wbassett]

I have several projects that I would like to do. The first one I am working on is a personalized and custom DVD set of the Rocky movies. First and foremost I want to say I own all of the original DVDs and nothing is copied nor is this intended for anyone else by myself.

Okay, disclaimer out of the way!

Anyone familiar with these movies knows that with the exception of Rocky Balboa, all the movies begin with the ending of the previous movie. Ideally if I could remove the opening credits it would make life easier, but I have managed to edit together the first two movies. I faded out the first movie right as it fades to black and the Rocky theme also fades, and then bring things back up with a soft fade as they enter the hospital at the start of the second movie. This bypassed the ambulance drive and opening credits.

What I am trying to do is take the six movies and make a three disc, three act set.(dual layer, BD and HD DVD technology is still too expensive for consumers) Along the way there are some things I would like to edit out as well.

So that's the concept and I actually pulled off the first disc, well somewhat. My problem and question is what is software can I use to do something like this, including the final burn that works for basic editing and adding fades, but doesn't cost an arm and a leg? Don't laugh, but I was actually able to do 90% of the work using Nero Vision because that's the only thing I had readily available. The software could have potential for the basics, but overall it was unusable. It crashed more than it worked, and I was never able to finalize my project and burn it to DVD.

It did show me that what I want to do can be done with very simple and basic editing if I have the right software that actually works. My question is, are there any basic programs for around the $100 mark that will do what I am describing? Nothing fancy as far as the edits, just basic fade in and out, and the ability to create a custom menu when the disc is first put in the player.

Like I said, I know this can be done but I don't want to spend a ton of money, I just need the basics.

[tweeksound]

Sounds like a cool project.

Often times, a video editor won't have authoring functions and vice versa.

I primarily use Final Cut and DVD Studio Pro but there are a few shareware options that look pretty interesting.

Here's one.
Again. I haven't tried this myself so don't take my word for it.

http://www.findapp.com/fMgmt/PDetails.aspx?PID=26172

[wbassett]

Final Cut Pro? My son used that in school and if that's it isn't that just mac based?

Yeah it is a fun project to me. When I previewed the project with Nero Vision I nailed the cuts and edits, so I was pleased that I managed that with a tool that was the equivalent of using rocks! I was even able to make a nice custom menu, but couldn't burn it! Every time it would fail, even when trying to author it to a folder on my hard drive.

The rest of the movies in the series will take more editing, so a better program would be nice. I always hated the 'kid' in the movies. He would age years between movies when the movie story time line was actually only a few months. Since Rocky IV has his son as an integral part of the story Robert has to stay in that one, but going from four or five in III, to eight or so in V, and then a teenager in IV is very disconcerting.

Also, Stallone himself has said he wasn't pleased with IV at all, and the end street fight was more of an add on, so plans would be to end IV when Gunn wins the title and neglects to acknowledge Rocky. That seems to be the low point if his life, then it fades to '15 years later'...

Back To the Future also is a movie series where each movie begins with the ending of the last movie so if I can pull this off with Rocky, Back to the Future will be next... followed of course with removing the scene in Star Wars where Greedo shots first!

Thanks for the advice and I'll check out the link.

[Rodny Alvarez]

Your choice...$50, $100, $130
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSit...io+Plus+11.htm
I have pinnacle 9 but I'm learning how to use it!!

At the Shack Store...
http://www.hometheatershack.com/elec...io+9&c=blended

[wbassett]

Thanks Rodny, actually let me know what you think of Pinnical. I've heard pros and cons about alot of the DVD authoring software that's out there so I definitely want some input from first hand experience.

Specifically let me know how it works with basic editing, menus and the final burn. Oh, and if it can do dual layer DVDs.

[Rodny Alvarez]

Hey Bill!!
I haven't had time to play with that program enough, I've been busy trying to figure out Blender(3D program)
Have you check nero 7?? Its on sale beacuse they coming out with nero 8, $39.99.
http://www.nero.com/nero7/enu/index.html

[wbassett]

Nero 7 and Nero Vision is okay for very basic things, which is exactly what I need, but I had major problems finalizing the project and burning to disc (or even just to a folder on my HD).

My son took AV in school and used Final Cut, but that's a Mac program unless they released a PC version. If you get Nero let me know if you have any better luck with it, it has potential for basic menus and things like that.

[QUOTE=Rodny Alvarez;51466]Your choice...$50, $100, $130
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSit...io+Plus+11.htm
I have pinnacle 9 but I'm learning how to use it!!
[QUOTE]

I see you haven't come back to this thread lately to post about the Pinnacle software. I just purchased Pinnacle Ultimate 11. I would be very interested in your success (hopefully ) since last September as I am just getting started with '11'.

[tonyvdb]

The best program to use is Speed Edit but sadly its not cheap. but for the money its leaps and bounds ahead of the others.

[Rodny Alvarez]

[quote=rushfan;75658][QUOTE=Rodny Alvarez;51466]Your choice...$50, $100, $130
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSit...io+Plus+11.htm
I have pinnacle 9 but I'm learning how to use it!!

I see you haven't come back to this thread lately to post about the Pinnacle software. I just purchased Pinnacle Ultimate 11. I would be very interested in your success (hopefully ) since last September as I am just getting started with '11'.

I haven't had time to play with it, to much work and other projects


sorry

[wbassett]

I haven't been back to this thread in awhile myself.

I went ahead and bought Nero9. Not solely because of NeroVision, but because it is a nice software package that also does BD burning and authoring. My comment about NeroVision crashing my system... well this version didn't!

Okay... I have my first cut done.

For making a menu, NeroVision is very nice and extremely easy to use. It allows you to import any image as the menu background, including a video clip. You can also import any sound file you have for background music.

The software will either do its own chapter breaks, or let you use the existing ones.

Each chapter page also has it's own background image as well as a different song from the sound track. Also each chapter button isn't just a picture of that scene, it actually plays a small video portion of the chapter scene. Again, very easy and I think it did a nice job.

On to the edit.
Both movies are just shy of 2 hours each. I did not touch the first movie at all except for the very end. It is after all an Academy Award winning movie. I cut when it faded to black and right before the credits rolled. The second movie starts out with the last two rounds of the fight at the end of the first movie. It then segways to the ambulance ride to the hospital.

This is where the credits roll and is a pretty long sequence. I had no way of removing the opening credits, and besides it really was way too long for anyone to sit through watching the ambulance. So what I did was I edited out the fight (because I am using the fight from the first movie in it's entirety) and the drive to the hospital and did a fade in just as Rocky is being wheeled into the hospital.

The next edit came after Rocky proposes to Adrian. The original movie shows Rocky buying a Trans Am even though he really can't drive... and then a spending spree where he buys Adrian a fur coat, jewelry, watches and other things Adrian really doesn't want. It does show how much he really does love and adore her, but it also tends to make him look like a buffoon. Rock is a little simple minded, but he is no buffoon. I really felt this took away from the character's charm and inherently good nature.

What I did was I removed the spending spree and just left in the scene where they buy their first house. (That's actually pretty interesting in itself... Adrian comments that they can get a mortgage for $16,000 at 9% Sure the interest rate is high, but look at the price of the house! Cars cost more than that now! ) There is also a fluff scene I cut where Rocky is playing stickball with some local neighborhood kids. It shows his humanity, but really was just fluff and puff. Anyway, the next big cut was the commercials.

I toyed with removing all of the commercial scenes but decided it was important to establish that Rocky could barely read, and the one scene demonstrated that well.. which does explain something later on in the movie. The first commercial he tries to do is where they dress him up like a caveman. He looks absolutely ridiculous, but then again he's supposed to, that was the point. Again however, it was more fluff and to add time than to really move the story along. It's the next scene that I felt was more relevant, and what I kept in. They switch sets after they realize the caveman scene isn't working and in this one they have Rocky in a boxing ring wearing his trunks from the now famous fight between him and Apollo. This is when the director gets angry and tells Rocky he wasted the director's time and money all because he couldn't read. The scene ends on a somber note because Rocky really knows the director is right.

That's the last edit. From there on out the rest of the movie is pretty solid and the scenes are important to the character development... well maybe not the chicken chasing scene, but I left that in anyway!

All in all I trimmed 15-20 minutes. It still is a long movie though, but no longer than the shortest LOTR flick!

The next cuts will be to combine Rocky III and IV together, and then Rocky V and Rocky Balboa. Once I'm done there will be three 'movies', the first will be Rocky's road to becoming the champ... the second will be his years defending the title... and the last movie will be his fall from the top.

Rocky III and IV are only 90 minutes each, so I could actually leave everything intact and just edit the end of III to the beginning of IV since each movie starts with the end of the previous one anyway. However these movies pose the biggest 'issues' in my opinion. First is his son. By Rocky III his son should only be around three years old max, but he's more like six. And in the very next movie, which only takes place around a year later at most- his son is now 10 or 11! By the time Rocky IV rolls around, which movie time-line wise literally takes place immediately after Rocky IV... his son is now 13-15 years old! I always hated this inconsistency so my plans are to completely edit out all references to his son. Rocky V is going to be a very difficult one to do that with though so he may end up staying in as part of the story line... after all, his son was a big part of the story in that one.

The big edits I plan though are:

• Thunder Lips is gone! I thought that charity fight with Thunder Lips was way over the top in Rocky III. We get two boxing fights anyway... nobody is going to miss the wrestling match!
• The Street fight at the end of Rocky V- GONE. Again it was way over the top and in there purely for an adrenaline filled climax. I'd rather fade out when Tommy Gunn wins the title and Rocky thinks he's about to thank him for getting him there, but instead thanks Duke. You can see the energy and life drain right out of Rocky's face in that shot... he is hurt and it shows. Then a fade in/out saying "20 Years Later..." and we're at Rocky Balboa.

My apologies about the length... I guess I am just pretty excited about this project, especially seeing how well the first two movies cut together came out.

The problem though:
NeroVision is a basic tool at best. It's barely adequate to trim the beginning or end of a movie... trying to make more difficult edits within the movie itself is a nightmare! It does however allow me to edit a raw.vob file without converting it, and that is highly desirable to me.

Does anyone know of any other inexpensive, but good video editing tools that will handle VOB files? Please let me know if you do because I have some pretty tricky edits/cuts coming up.

[Harpmaker]

The best MPEG/VOB editor I have ever used is called Video Redo. I don't know if it supports BD, but it will do DL standard DVD's.

The program is a bit unintuitive, but powerful programs usually are. A little playing around and reading the help files will get you up to speed. It is also quite customizable as to editing style.

I haven't used this program in a while. I used it to edit out commercials from stuff I recorded on my set-top DVD recorder (Lite-On HD5045). I modified that recorder so the hard drive it recorded to was in an external drive cage setting on top of the recorder; all I had to do was pull out the drive after recording, plug it into another drive cage I have connected to my PC with a USB-IDE converter and I could edit the 1GB VOB files into a single file to play on the PC or re-author.

There is a free trial version.

I only have the "Plus" edition ($50) and not the "Suite" ($75).

http://www.videoredo.com/en/index.htm