Add deleted scenes including subtitles

[Scott Bolton]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this lark - I can spell DVD and that's about it! :o I have DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink which I use to backup my DVDs. (And of course, there's Windows Movie Maker.)

I have a Chinese film that contains deleted scenes. I'd like to add these scenes into the main film and also include the subtitles.

What is the best way to go about this? Answers in less than five words please ;)

TIA,

S

[Sharktooth]

There is no "best" (http://forum.doom9.org/forum-rules.htm)
(4 words)

[Scott Bolton]

Touché.

"Easiest" then.

S

[CWR03]

The only way is a complete re-edit of the movie. You're asking for the "best" or "easiest" method to do a very difficult task, an answer which cannot be made objectively. There are plenty of editing tools out there, with the ease-of-use being relatively similar.

[Scott Bolton]

Could you recommend a program?

[foxyshadis]

Rip & Re-encode: Vegas, Premiere Elements, VideoStudio (all commercial); kdenlive (free linux nle); custom avisynth script, or even virtualdub or avidemux. See the NLE forum.

Editing without encoding: ProjectX, Cuttermaran.

[Scott Bolton]

Thanks, Foxy. I'll give them a bash.

Watch this space.

S

[minaust]

What is the best way to go about this? Answers in less than five words please ;)


Less than five words?

:D Here are three: "Forget about it."

But since it's unlikely you'll heed my advice, here's what I've done:

I had a DVD of Terminator 2 that contained both the theatrical version and the Director's Cut. But - even the DC had the theatrical ending. The original ending was in the special features. Since T3 had just been released, I wanted to show some friends T2 as originally made, complete with the original 'Future Coda' ending (which made T3 impossible). So I ripped both the DC and the Future Coda ending (and the subs) using the standard DVD Decrypter/DGIndex/SubRip techniques described here elsewhere. The target was to be an AVI file.

I stepped through the DC ending frame-by-frame until I found the right frame for the cut. But a problem arose - the subs for the Future Coda had a starting time code of 0:00.000. No good. So I fed the DC script (original ending deleted) to VirtualDub to see how long it now was. I loaded the Future Coda subs into Substation Alpha and delayed them by that amount of time. Next, I opened the DC subs and deleted all subs AFTER that time, then added the Future Coda subs at the end.

Finally I merged the DC & Future Coda scripts and fed the resulting script to VirtualDub and encoded it, burning the AVI to DVD for my standalone. Everyone was suitably impressed, and I thought I was a genius.

My next attempt was a disaster. I'd captured a TV show & had the closed captions turned on. I edited out the commercials, but now the subs went out of sync at the first missing commercial break, getting worse at each one - three more minutes at each missing break. To make it worse, closed captions aren't timed that well in the first place.

I could've re-shot the whole blasted show in the time I spent re-timing those accursed subtitles (there might be kids reading, so ‘accursed’ is the worst I can say). Anyone who can do this without using language that would shock a drunken longshoreman, kicking holes in the wall, beating the kids, or shooting the cat, I'll nominate for sainthood. None of this is rocket science, but it does require patience, an attention span, and attention to detail.

I finally spent a weekend writing an app that would read my Avisynth script edits and edit the subs accordingly. I never used it again.

What you're doing, given your stated experience level, is roughly equivalent to someone who has never before flown deciding to fly a jet fighter. There's a learning curve.

Good luck! ;)