Part 12: Final Cuts

Ok. So, I made a final edit. Running time is 4hrs17min, including end credits (which are all 3 films combined). Using the Divxland Subtitler, I’ve set the timing on the new text and exported it to the proper file type. This basically meant watching the film and pressing a button and holding it for the duration of a given subtitle. I noticed a few visual problems doing this and was able to make corrections there as well.

I did output the audio in a 5.1 ac3, but did not go back & remix it to create any panning (you know, sounds swooshing from side to side…) effects. I did lay in some new music here and there to soften transitions and unify some actions.

I decided to use Sony’s DVD ARCHITECT to produce the menus. Mainly because I’d never tried it before, but also because I knew it would allow me to link the files, create custom buttons (if I wanted), and could handle the subtitle stream easily.

As it turns out, it was this last feature that was most handy. It lists each title as a separate event and allows you to change the font, style, size – etc, of each…as well as to tweak the timing. So, I was able to correct some mistakes & make last minute dialogue changes easily.

I created some menu backgrounds, then added chapter stops, named them, and created the links for the “scene selection’ menu. When the whole project was compiled (took about 47min), I had a 12gb size DVD file on my hard drive that I could test. A nice bonus to DVDA is that if you make minor changes to backgrounds, links, font, chapter stops, etc. in your project, it only recompiles the changes & not the whole thing.

All in all, I was very pleased with the outcome. However, I did notice that some of the timing on the subtitles was skewed when the project was finished. Titles would ‘stick’, as if they were repeated.

I did have to compress the DVD about 67% to fit it on a dual-layer 8.5gb DVD-R. It played in my home player, my PS2, and my PC. Quality was pretty good, & I didn’t shed any tears over the video degradation.

The subtitles did get messed up, though. Some are only on the screen for a second & others stay for minutes, bumping others out. Once I’ve got that corrected, I’m done.