There was a month last Summer that I was in between leases in Fredericksburg. I was sleeping on a couch in the basement of my parents house and painting the upstairs as a form of rent. Conveniently, they had cable television, so this is how I spent most of my time not painting.

One day, I happened upon the ending to the movie “Letters to Juliet.” I thought, “hey, that was pretty bad, but not the worst I’ve ever seen,” and it rolled off of my brain and made no impact on me as a human being whatsoever. The problem was that I saw this ending at the very beginning of my month-long stay. I’d be flipping channels and happen upon it maybe 6 more times during said month (I blame repetitive showtime movie channels). I decided that I would make an alternate ending. Then I decided that that would be a complete waste of my time and talents. Then 7 or 8 months later, after having my blogging ability crippled because I was consciously not making this content, I decided that I had nothing better to do. I would make the alternate ending.

That is to say, I instantly ran into complications with the new Windows Live Movie Maker. It is completely and utterly useless for any kind of video editing. It no longer has a timeline feature, which is found in every other audio and video editing software. It also has no ability to edit audio or really edit video. I guess it might be good for slideshows? But why not just use power point?

Luckily, I could still download a copy of the old windows movie maker, which somehow doesn’t crash anymore, but still refuses to actually export the changes I make, sometimes? Only sometimes. You sort of have to cross your fingers and hope for the best, multiple times, which I grew accustomed to during my time at DS106. Also, somehow I couldn’t get it not to glitch up the sound at the beginning during the exporting phase. It was fate.

Manipulating the clip audio was actually the easiest part. Adobe audition, and audacity for that matter, have the function of removing vocals, so overdubbing the British guy’s voice was easy… if you have a really posh English accent, which I don’t, so don’t fault me for that.

I also decided to cut it to black and white, done and done, and add a French fin ending, check. For your viewing pleasure, the alternate ending to “Letters to Juliet.” May you never have to actually see the real ending, or even have to talk to someone who has seen the movie at all.

Letters to Juliet, Alternate Ending

Things to Think About At Night:
Q: Why has this video crippled my content making ability?
A: Because you should never consciously not make content. I know it’s not particularly profound, but it had to be done, just like the fake screenplay for “SpeedOne: Airbud: Ruff Turn Ahead.” If you feel like you should make stuff, you should make stuff, because then at least you made stuff?
Q: How long until someone files a copyright claim and Youtube shuts down your account?
A: Maybe a week, could be years, maybe they’ll include my ending in the criterion collection box set.

Addendum:
Not even 24 hours after I posted the video, I received a copyright take down notice from Summit Entertainment.

I hope they at least watched my masterpiece.