Slashdot reports the appearance of DVD Tracks — a website inspired by Roger Ebert's February 2002 Yahoo! Internet Life column (You, Too, Can Be a DVD Movie Critic) - see, also (Commentary Central). In the column, Ebert proposes the concept of "do-it-yourself movie commentary tracks." The basic idea is that amateur movie critics (or subject matter experts or your aunt Zelda) could provide alternative commentary tracks for DVD movies similar to the commentary tracks already on DVDs (narrated by directors, actors and what not). This is commonly called the "MST3K Syndrome." At this time there is only one alternative commentary; it is for the movie Groundhog Day.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K for short) was (alas, it is now only in reruns) a wonderfully creative television show (there was also a movie, MST3K - The Movie) with a relatively simple conceit — three characters (a human and two intelligent robots) are tortured (for reasons beyond the bounds of this post) by being forced to watch bad B-grade science fiction movies from the 50s and 60s (MST3K FAQ - The Basics). However, rather than meekly submitting to the torture of terrible acting, atrocious plot lines and cheesy special effects, the three characters provide a running comedic commentary to the movie, while their silhouettes (we see them as seated in a theater) are superimposed on the bottom of the movie image. In general, the commentary is witty, funny and much more entertaining than the original movie production.
Such alternative commentaries, as Ebert's column makes clear, can be very valuable. Commentaries from those involved in the production, but not invited to participate in the official DVD tracks, could provide valuable inside information about a movie. Movie professors could reach outside the classroom. Critics like Ebert or Harry Knowles, hopefully, would make their insights available to the greater public. Perhaps an improv troupe could create the soundtrack for a remake(?) of What's Up Tiger Lily? (in which Woody Allen took a Japanese spy movie and replaced the original soundtrack and dialogue with his own comedic version).
The mechanism that Ebert suggests is to record MP3 files that synch with the movie, preferably with different MP3 files for each chapter on the DVD. While this is one possible solution, it is clunky at best. A better solution, as I proposed (Feb 2001) on the DVD-Discuss mailing list, would be to completely open the DVD spec so that one could edit the DVD viewing tree. People would be able to create their own commentary, and play it back as if it was part of the DVD. If the DVD spec was open, there are even more possibilites. In addition to alternate soundtracks, ambitious editors could attempt to re-edit the movie (although they would only have access to whatever scenes the DVD contained). This is not as far fetched as it sounds. One Star Wars fan took out his frustrations with George Lucas by re-editing Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. This re-edited version, using only the footage available in the original, was praised by many as superior to Lucas' version. Salon covered the story of Star Wars Episode 1.1: The Phantom Edit (The Phantom Edit). It would even be possible to superimpose new special effects on scenes. Imagination would be one of the few limits on the ability of consumers to annotate their favorite movies.
Indeed, one company has nearly completed a software product that will do exactly what I have just described. Trilogy Studios claims that it will begin shipping sometime this year a product called Movie Mask Player. Movie Mask Player not only plays DVDs, but allows users to download "Movie Mask Files" that determine how the movie will be played back. For example, one can rent or buy an R-rated DVD, and download a "Movie Mask" that will effectively transform the playback of the movie to produce a PG-13 rated version, similar to an edited for television version. Not only will the Movie Mask contain different edits, but it can also add additional Internet-type content to the mask as well. For example, you can stop the DVD of Saving Private Ryan during the beach landing sequence and click to pull up a map of Normandy.
More interesting than the Movie Mask Player however, is the companion software, Movie Mask Home Director. Using Movie Mask Home Director consumers will be able to create their own edits of a movie along with providing additional material. No doubt, it will not be long before some enthusiast creates a "Phantom Edit" of the Star Wars Episode I DVD. In addition, Trilogy Studios will allow users to upload their home-created Movie Masks to a centralized database so that others can download the creations. Conservative religious organizations could upload numerous reduced ratings edits - others with edits and commentary that skip directly to the naughty bits.
Ebert claims that his idea of about alternate soundtracks does not violate any copyright law. I would tend to agree with him. However, this question of annotations has not been extensively tested in the courts. I would not be surprised to find a judge, influenced by natural (or moral) rights theories of copyright, deciding against a derogatory commentary track. Still, Ebert is most likely right.
However, if Ebert's argument on behalf of audio commentaries is right, then it should be equally right for people to use a product like Movie Mask Home Director. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The reasons is that DVDs are protected by CSS, the Content Scrambling System used to encrypt the movie files on a DVD. In order to use a product like Movie Mask, you have to be able to get around CSS. Unfortunately, the Second Circuit has ruled (Opinion) that doing so (using something like DeCSS) is illegal under section 1201 of the DMCA. After all, if one could edit the DVD viewing tree, consumers would be able to skip the coming attractions trailers, or find alternative commentaries to easy to use.
I conclude this post by simply noting that the proposed Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act is a thousand times worse than the DMCA. If it passes, even a commentary system as clunky as Ebert's MP3 system would probably be illegal with regard to new technologies.