Have you ever had someone ask you if a movie you had watched was good, and then follow up with the question "Was it clean?" Have you ever answered, "Oh yeah! Well...except for this one part..." or "Sure! But there was a bit of swearing now that I think about it." Don't you hate how a good movie can be ruined because of that one part (or those few little parts)?
When I was presented with the opportunity to try enJoy Movies Your Way, I thought it was a great concept and was excited to give it a shot!
Disclaimer: I used this product during a free trial period, but was compensated for my time in writing this review. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are my own!
What is enJoy Movies Your Way?
Now, my husband and I are not frequent movie watchers, but our children really enjoy watching movies and we let them watch limited amounts. It seems like even in children's movies, there are parts that I don't care for my kids to see. I thought it would be neat to see how enJoy Movies Your Way could help! So, I checked out their website and this is what I learned:
- enJoy Movies Your Way is movie filtering software that allows YOU to decide what parts you want to see (or not see) in a movie
- you can either create your own custom filters or use ready made filters (the list of available options is growing all the time)
- you set a profile for each person in your family, so what gets filtered out is different depending on who is watching
- scenes can either be muted our skipped completely
- the software only works on your computer, so you connect your computer/laptop to your TV if you want to watch a movie there
Creating Filters
I decided that I would try to make a filter for one of my kid's favorite movies, Snoopy Come Home. Generally, this is a really cute movie, but like just about everything, there are a few things that we do not like in it. The biggest thing in the Charlie Brown shows is that they use the words 'stupid' and 'dumb' a lot. It's not the worst thing in the world, but I don't like when my preschool aged children start saying those words after watching these shows. Why not just eliminate them from the movie?
I could have just tried to see what the software was like by making just this one filter mark, but I decided to go all out and make a filter for the entire movie. The website provides a very detailed Scene Intensity Rating Scale that makes it easy to know what to filter and how to classify it. I suggest that you check it out for yourself, but to give you an idea, here is a summary of the non-graphic violence section:
- Non-Graphic Violence
- 1 (low) - friendly punches, accidental mild violence
- 2 (mild) - comical action scenes, unrealistic cartoon violence, etc.
- 3 (moderate) - car chases, vandalism, emotionally charged fights, etc.
- 4 (strong) - aggressive conflict, physical abuse, life-threatening medical situation, etc.
- 5 (extreme) - killing at a distance, battle scenes with low blood, etc.
That is just to give you an idea. Each time you create a filter mark, you tell it what type of scene it is, and then which rating it is (low, strong, etc.). So, in Snoopy Come Home for example, there is a silly fist fight between Snoopy and one of the other characters. I set a filter mark at the beginning and ending times of the fight and then marked it "Non-graphic Violence, 2(mild)" because cartoon violence is listed there on the rating scale.
Setting Up Profiles
Now, maybe I think it's ok for my children to see this fight scene, or maybe I don't think it's ok now, but when they are a year or two older I think it will be fine. That is where the profiles come in. When you set a profile for each member of you family, you are telling the program what ratings for each type of scene is ok for that person. I may say that my 4 year old is allowed to see only 1(low) scenes under non-graphic violence, so when he watches a movie, I would click on his profile and every scene with a rating higher than 1 (low) for non-graphic violence would be edited out.
I want to take a minute to say that this might sound confusing, and it took a little while for me to figure out, but once you work through the program one time it really becomes quite easy. You just have to take a few minutes to get it all straight in your head! Thankfully, enJoy Movies Your Way offers lots of help. They offer video and written tutorials to walk you though every step of the process, from downloading the program to creating your filters. They even have a youtube channel where you can conveniently search through all their video tutorials.
Example of a Filter
Here is a video of what it looks and sounds like when something is filtered out of a movie. In this scene, I chose to mute the word 'stupid.' You can choose to just must the word, or mute a certain amount of time before and/or after the part you do not want. I probably could have been a little more precise, but hey, it was my first time making a filter! Let me know what you think!
I am looking at this program from the eyes of a mother who has young children, but I can only imagine how great it could be for when my children are older! Just think about how many movies you could allow back into your home if you had the confidence that those scenes would not be played in front of your children's eyes?
Cost of enJoy Movies Your Way
If you are wondering how much it costs to be able to use this software, the great news is that it is priced extremely well! There are two levels of membership (check out their Subscription Plans for the details). You can either subscribe on a month-by-month basis for just $2-3 per month, or save a considerable amount by signing up for an entire year ($17-22 per year). If you are a movie-watching family, this is a very reasonable cost. Remember, if the filter creating process sounds like too much for you, you can use their ready-made filters which makes it so simple!
Please note that you must have a computer with a DVD drive to use this software and it only works on Windows Vista and Windows 7! It does not work on Mac or Windows 8, although a Windows 8 version will be coming out in the future.
What enJoy Movies Your Way comes down to is truly being able to control what you want your children (and yourself!) to see and hear. I love that. You can make the program as simple or complex as you choose, and at such a minimal cost, it is a great investment to your family's entertainment.
Giveaway Time!
If this sounds interesting to you, please take a minute to learn more about it on their website, enJoy Movies Your Way, and connect with them on facebook and twitter.
Would you like to try enJoy Movies Your Way for free? They are generously offering FIVE 2-month subscriptions to my readers here at Living and Learning at Home! Please fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
What a great resource. We'd love to have our kids watch the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, but there are several battle scenes that we deem too intense right now. I'd love to be able to cut most of that out, but still let them see the rest of it.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great example! My husband has wanted to show my kids that movie too, but we end up turning it off because of the types of scenes you're talking about. My kids are just too little to handle that darker stuff and enJoy Movies Your Way would fix that!
DeleteI'd use this for The Hobbit. My 8 year old wants to see it so badly, he loves the book. My husband and I just recently watched it and decided it was too violent. This is such a cool giveaway :) Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I've heard it's good, but that it does have that violence. This software would be a perfect solution! Thanks for entering =)
DeleteJourney 2. It's a great example of relationships between parents and kids, the adventure is pretty non-violent, but there are a few scenes with language that is unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of that one before, but the language would be easy to take out! Thanks for entering!
DeleteI think this is an awesome way to view movies. Would love the opportunity to try it for myself.
ReplyDelete