CLEARPLAY PRESS RELEASE (2001)

Los Angeles, California - Dec 10, 2001

Clearplay Launched Groundbreaking Movie Filtering—Brand New Technology Expands Family’s DVD Options.

The joys of home movie watching...the smell of popcorn popping...the smiles on your children's faces as they anxiously throw in the DVD your 11-year-old has been begging to rent all week. There's just one problem...you want to watch a really great story but you don't want to cringe and watch your family squirm during the sex scene or the occasional barrage of expletives. Thanks to ClearPlay, there is a solution.

ClearPlay Inc., a technology company specializing in the development of DVD filtering tools, debuted today with the launch of a revolutionary new product. ClearPlay enables the whole family to enjoy the hottest film releases together — whether they are rated PG, PG-13, or R — without having to endure these awkward moments.

With the click of a mouse, you can now download the patented ClearPlay software from the Internet to your PC or laptop and filter out objectionable content from a wide selection of popular new and classic DVD movies. For big-screen family viewing, most PC's or laptops can also be connected to the TV.

Once ClearPlay is downloaded, parents can choose whether to "ClearPlay" a movie or watch it in the original. The file instructs the DVD player when to "skip over" or "mute" portions of the film in order to filter out specific content. ClearPlay has developed patent-pending precision timers that allow for frame-accurate control of the DVD presentation without impacting any of the copy protection measures incorporated in the DVD standard.

"Watching movies together can be a terrific family experience and with ClearPlay you're a lot more comfortable about what your family is seeing," said Bill Aho, CEO of ClearPlay Inc. "In many cases, both parents and kids are seeing movies they would not have previously considered because they were worried about some of the content. Our goal is to open up more movies to families, but without some of the content that concerns so many parents."

Central to the company's philosophy is that each ClearPlayed movie maintains the continuity of its storyline and the engaging nature of the film. To accomplish this, the company employs professional film editors to develop guides while keeping an eye on the movie's artistic value.

The annual subscription price of $9.95 per month offers access to ClearPlay's entire library of guides for more than 150 hit DVD titles, with approximately 25 new titles being added each month. Log on to www.clearplay.com to take advantage of the company's no-risk trial. Experience ClearPlay's service for 21 days, if not completely satisfied, cancel for a full refund.

BYU GRADS DEVELOP DVD-EDITING SOFTWARE

BY CHARITY BRUNSON / Nov 28, 2001
Brigham Young University's Daily Universe

ClearPlay became available last week. The company, founded by brothers Matthew, Lee and Peter Jarman, worked for two years to perfect the innovative technology that makes ClearPlay possible.

Their unique software allows an editor to map out a movie, noting frame by frame each moment that needs to be skipped or muted. The resulting file tells the computer how to play back the DVD. "If you think of a DVD player like a record player it's like picking up a needle moving it and dropping it," Peter Jarman said.

What makes ClearPlay unique is that it doesn't physically alter the DVDs, which means viewers can see an edited version of a movie they rented at any video store, Peter Jarman said. It also means that ClearPlay is completely legal -- since it changes only the playback and not the DVD itself, it doesn't violate any copyright laws, he said.

ClearPlay is currently designed to run on a computer -- it requires the intelligence of a DVD-ROM and Windows 98 or 2000 to operate -- but a laptop can be connected to a regular TV with a cable.

ClearPlay also still relies on human judgment. "ClearPlay doesn't automatically know what to skip -- we have to create a navigation file for every movie," Peter Jarman said. The service can be downloaded at www.clearplay.com.

Currently, about 160 titles are available at a flat subscription rate of $70 a year. About 15 - 20 movies are added each week. The selection includes PG, PG-13 and R- rated movies, carefully chosen for their family-friendly themes. And though the editing guidelines are the same for all films -- all graphic violence, profanity and sexual content is removed -- the results aren't necessarily child appropriate.

"With some movies, the premise of the movie isn't suitable for kids; we're not taking away that premise," Peter Jarman said. The service does, however, strive to help families promote responsible media viewing.

"It's a tool to help parents and individuals who want to enjoy a lot of the mainstream entertainment out there but not suffer through anything inappropriate or offensive," he said. It is students, however, who Peter Jarman said he thinks are most likely to benefit from ClearPlay, because they have the technology to use the software.

And in Provo, there seems to be a demand for edited movies. Clean Flicks, a club for renting edited movies, said they have over 1,500 members at fees ranging from $30 a year to $25 a month.

Matthew Jarman, who was actually inspired to start ClearPlay while working for a local movie editing company, said he is pleased with his product. "I think there are a lot of developments that we will continually improve on, but it works well right now," he said.

VARSITY THEATER STRIKES BACK

BY KATHRYN GREEN / Oct 29, 2001
Brigham Young University's Daily Universe

The Varsity Theater will reopen--sort of. After half a semester devoid of midnight movies and the smell of popcorn in the Wilkinson Student Center, Student Leadership announced Monday it has come up with a solution to bring back movies to the 37-year-old campus icon. In an advertising campaign, the BYU Bookstore will screen one film a month on Friday and Saturday nights.

It's dubbed "Student Night at the Movies," and Student Leadership - which partnered with the Bookstore on the project - thinks it will rekindle campus life. "There's just a general feeling that something is missing at BYU without the Varsity," said Ron Jones, director of Student Leadership.

The BYU Bookstore will pay for the equipment and the Information Technology services to run the movies, Jones said. In return, the Varsity will feature Bookstore ads prior to movies and during intermission time, he said. Roger Reynolds, director of the BYU Bookstore, said the arrangement is only on a trial basis to see if it will promote the Bookstore. However, Reynolds said he personally would like to see the Varsity back in use.

"As an alumni of BYU, I grew up with the Varsity, and I'd like to see students enjoy it as much as I did," he said. The Bookstore will pay a fee for each night the movies are shown, Reynolds said.

As before, the Varsity will maintain BYU standards and promote Clean Flicks, Jones said. For example, the Varsity plans to show "Mulan" in January and "The Princess Diaries" in February, Jones said. However, movies are not going to be as abundant as they were in previous semesters, Jones said. Movies are only going to be shown on Friday and Saturday nights, and there will only be one movie each month.

The Varsity's movie format is also changing, Jones said. Instead of showing 35 mm films as in the past, Jones said VHS tapes would now be used. "It will be the same if not better quality in the show," Jones said.

The Varsity Theatre will kick off its comeback on Saturday with a free showing of "The Longest Day," a movie about D-Day. The show is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ROTC, Jones said.
Beginning Nov. 30, the theater will show "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" in step with the approaching holiday season. Movies will cost $1 and popcorn and drinks will cost 50 cents, Jones said.

A REEL ENDING: CURTAIN CLOSES ON VARSITY

BY SETH LEWIS (Editor In Cheif) / Sept, 4 2001
Brigham Young University's Daily Universe

In the end, students voted on the Varsity Theatre's fate with their wallets, and the 37-year-old campus cornerstone lost. For all its nostalgia, mystique and long lines snaking through the Wilkinson Student Center, the theater will stop showing movies - yes, even the G-rated ones - beginning this semester.

When the theater quit screening edited films in 1998 because of potential legal trouble with production companies, ticket sales plunged, prompting school officials to rethink the theater's existence. "We wanted to let students tell us through the tickets, 'Do you still want this?'" said Carri Jenkins, Assistant to the President over University Communications.

Indeed, sagging interest in such films as "A Little Princess" and "Cinderella" doomed the Varsity, but Jenkins insists the school's decision was not solely dollar-dictated. Instead, she said, with the university increasingly squeezed for space, school officials thought the theater would be better suited for lectures, ward talent shows and comedy nights.

"Money is not the driving force here," Jenkins said. "It really is: How can we use this space best for our students?" Even more, the Varsity Theatre has outgrown its purpose as easy-access entertainment for students.

"At the time the Varsity Theatre was created, there were only a few movie houses in town," Jenkins said. "There were no movie rentals. It's a completely different world now than it was in 1964."

And with the proliferation of "dollar theaters" - such as Movies 8 in Provo - the Varsity lost its appeal as a cheap date. "There are so many choices in the valley for students and others to choose from," WSC director Jerry Bishop said.

Still, the Varsity remained wildly successful well into the 1990s filling one movie niche that never vanished: students' interest in edited R-rated films. In 1997, for instance, "Jerry Maguire" played to sold-out audiences for two weeks. Later that year, when the movie returned to the theater for the third time, students still waited in line for three hours for tickets. And lines for other rated-R flicks such as "Air Force One" routinely stretched outside the WSC.

But when Sony asked the university to stop screening its edited films, BYU balked. Sensing the potential for lawsuits, the school contacted production companies seeking formal contracts for editing films, Jenkins said.

Ultimately, nothing was finalized in writing. "Based on that," Jenkins said, "we didn't feel comfortable editing their movies." That was only part of BYU's anxiety.

Criticism had swirled for years about the moral juxtaposition of a school owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints showing films that often flouted church standards. "That was certainly something that had come up," Jenkins said. School officials then put the Varsity Theatre on a "trial period," Jenkins said, that would gauge student interest in clean classics and G-, PG- and PG-13-rated films.

The theater - which the university expects to pay for itself - failed to turn a profit, even after WSC administrators used focus groups and brought back popular films such as "The Princess Bride." "There is no question that the interest and attendance declined when the university made the decision to no longer show edited movies," Bishop said.

But the Varsity's viability is far from over. The theater will be booked days, nights and weekends, hosting all types of activities - and maybe even a class or two, Jenkins said. "It's not that it's going to be boarded up and shut down by any means," she said.

UTAH STORES ARE CLEANING UP BY EDITING SMUT FOR FILMS

BY BRADY SNYDER / Aug 2, 2001
The Deseret Morning News

Stop with the Utah County jokes already.

It seems the taste for sanitized versions of Hollywood films extends well beyond Happy Valley. Stores that rent edited PG-13- and R-rated videos are blooming in Davis County, St. George, Idaho, Arizona and -- perhaps the unlikeliest of places -- Las Vegas.

Editing scenes that include sex, violence and profanity from popular films has become such a promising venture that competition is cropping up. That doesn't surprise Ray Lines, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who began CleanFlicks Video Co-Op Club late last year.

"There's 120,000 Mormons that live in that community," Lines said of the Las Vegas success. "Not to mention the Christian community. This is not just a Mormon issue."

Since opening in Pleasant Grove, Lines has expanded to Orem and Provo. He also edits videos for franchise-type stores in Tooele, St. George, West Valley City, Las Vegas, Mesa, Ariz.; and Rexburg, Idaho.

And now a competitor has entered the field.

Earlier this month, Braxton Schenk, also a Mormon, opened Layton's Clean Cut Videos, which similarly rents edited videos to its members.

Like Lines, Schenk expects to expand mightily; he's looking into opening stores in Brigham City, North Ogden, Roy, Kaysville, Farmington and Bountiful.

"The neat thing about it is that we've rented to several families that aren't LDS at all. They have very similar beliefs in the way they don't want to watch some of that garbage that's out there," said Schenk, a Washington native. "I've been really impressed by the moral values of this area. Especially from the teenagers. We've had teenagers come in and talk their parents into buying a membership."

Amidst all the success, a backlash, or copyright lawsuit, from Hollywood studios has been absent.

Lines has been featured in a New York Times article and has appeared on NBC's Today Show. Still, despite the widespread publicity, no one has asked him to stop.

University of Utah film historian William Siska says that just because the editing is legal doesn't mean it's ethical.

"If the video stores were really guardians of morality, they would really toe the line as far as what fair business practices are," Siska said.

The stores are profiting off someone else's work, and, if not illegal, it's wrong, Siska said.

Lines and Schenk maintain they are legit since they pay retail price for every video, which, after editing, will be devoid of graphic violence, sex and profanity -- including taking the Lord's name in vain.

The pair maintain Hollywood studios benefit from their businesses since they sell R- and PG-13-rated videos that wouldn't otherwise be purchased.

Still, editing raises concerns about maintaining a filmmaker's artistic vision.

"I guess it depends on what film you're talking about," said Sharon Swenson, who teaches film history and theory at Brigham Young University.

Some films exist only to make money or entertain. Such pictures, Swenson says, would suffer little from editing.

"Now if it's art, then that's another story," she said.

But for now, without lawsuit or much complaint, the clean video stores flourish.

Schenk expects to have edited DVDs in two months, and Lines plans for 10 more Utah stores by the end of next year.

RAY LINES ON THE DAILY SHOW

THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART / February 27, 2001
Comedy Central

Clean Flicks founder Ray Lines appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart where he was interviewed by Vance DeGeneres, brother of comedian Ellen DeGeneres.

UTAH SHOP OFFERS POPULAR VIDEOS WITH SEX AND VIOLENCE EXCISED

BY MICHAEL JANOFSKY / Jan 31, 2001
The New York Times

The shelves appear much like those in any other small video rental shop. There are plenty of hits to choose from like ''Titanic,'' ''Schindler's List'' and ''Saving Private Ryan,'' and a nice mix of comedies and dramas.

But movie buffs would quickly discover that the CleanFlicks outlets that recently opened here and in

Pleasant Grove, a nearby town, are nothing like other stores that offer the same titles for rent.

Owing to the strong religious beliefs and editing skills of the owner, Ray Lines, all the videos available at CleanFlicks have been relieved of scenes that include sex, violence and profanity. In the CleanFlicks version of ''Titanic,'' Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett never appear without their clothes; in ''Schindler's List,'' Liam Neeson as Schindler does not have sex outside his marriage; in ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles,'' Steve Martin does not say naughty words; and in ''Saving Private Ryan,'' soldiers die but they do not bleed a lot.

And business is booming.

''I have nothing but respect for people like James Cameron and Steven Spielberg,'' Mr. Lines said, referring to the directors of ''Titanic'' (Mr. Cameron) and ''Schindler's List'' and ''Saving Private Ryan'' (Mr. Spielberg). ''I think they're the greatest, and I want my kids to see great films. But I don't think teenagers, and adults, for that matter, need to see all that sex and hear curse words and see all that blood and gore.''

Mr. Lines, a father of seven children, all girls, not only rents videos that he edits on his home-editing equipment, but also alters videos for another rental shop in the area, Sunrise Video in American Fork, and for people who send him videos they have bought.

Mr. Lines said his lawyer had assured him he was on firm legal ground, violating no laws by altering others' creations. The rationale, he said, is that films shown on television and airplanes are also edited.

But experts in intellectual property rights and film company executives say those versions are edited in collaboration with the studios that make them. Renting out altered tapes without authorization violates federal laws, said Christopher C. Murray, the chairman of the entertainment and media division of the law firm O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, whose clients include studios, actors and executives.

''It is not only a potential copyright infringement,'' Mr. Murray said, ''it is also an impingement on the rights of artists, particularly directors.''

Rob Friedman, the vice chairman of the motion picture group for Paramount Pictures, said studios probably had no recourse against the editing of privately owned videos. But by renting altered tapes, he said, Mr. Lines was engaging in copyright and trademark infringement.

''He cannot take our films, edit them and then rent them out,'' Mr. Friedman said, adding that if any of the films were made by Paramount, ''we would have a discussion with him, that's for sure.''

Phuong Yokitis, a spokeswoman for Jack Valenti, executive director of the Motion Picture Association of America, a trade organization for the film industry, said Mr. Valenti had asked his lawyers to look into Mr. Lines's activities.

''This is the first he's heard of it,'' Ms. Yokitis said.

Mr. Lines's rental business, which offers about 160 titles, reflects a combination of the editing expertise he developed years ago as a television sportscaster in South Dakota and a tenet of his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which discourages members from watching films with ratings that warn of explicit material.

Knowing of his background, Mr. Lines said, a neighbor last year asked if he would edit out scenes in ''Titanic'' that showed actors nude. It was a simple task, and in time, Mr. Lines said, he had 40 to 50 more requests, which convinced him he might perform a community service by editing copies of movies and renting them out.

So he began buying videos of prominent films from which he could remove anything he regarded as objectionable without compromising the basic story. He said he singled out scenes of gratuitous sex and violence, as well as profanity and blasphemy, and scenes in which people were naked for nonsexual reasons.

Working on ''Schindler's List,'' a haunting story of one German's effort to protect a group of Jews from execution, he said he decided to alter scenes of people in concentration camps who had been stripped of their clothes by their Nazi captors because he felt their appearance overstated their dehumanization.

''Every teenager in America should see that film,'' he said. ''But I don't think my daughters should see naked old men, running around in circles. You can watch that film and know people were humiliated, traumatized and put through hell even after we cut out what we cut out.''

Mr. Murray, the lawyer, said that kind of editing was precisely why Mr. Lines might be violating the law by changing scenes the filmmaker intended to portray as his account of a historical event.

In addition, Mr. Lines's editing work on ''Schindler's List'' spares viewers a scene in which Mr. Neeson, as Schindler, occupies a bed with a woman who is not his wife.

''I guess Steven Spielberg was trying to show that Schindler was a womanizer,'' Mr. Lines said. ''But 40 years ago, you didn't have to show Tony Curtis having sex to make the same point.''

Mr. Lines's stores are perhaps not so unusual in a state that has a pornography czar, an official appointed by the governor to help communities maintain standards that residents deem appropriate. Further, with 70 percent of Utah's population being Mormon, according to church officials, the church exerts enormous influence in every phase of life.

Mr. Lines insists he is no censor or arbiter of moral values. Rather, he said, he was a businessman satisfying a demand in a market where residents share his values. After just three months in business, he said, more than 500 people had rented his films.

''I'm not cramming anything down anyone's throat or campaigning for anything or trying to get Steven Spielberg to edit or direct in a certain way,'' he said. ''I'd never do that. I'm just providing the community an option.''