Movie directors are notorious for complaining about how studio recuts of their films damage their original artistic visions. But now there's consumer technology on the market that gives an entirely new meaning to the phrase, "final cut." As "Tech Live" reports tonight, the next wave of filmmakers may be consumers seeking to reedit Hollywood releases to eliminate sex and violence.

Companies like Movie Mask are enlisting "family values" icons such as singer Marie Osmond to explain how consumers can censor scenes they don't like from Hollywood movies.

Home censoring

Movie Mask's software helps home PCs catch objectionable content before the film is played through a TV. That means movie viewers can filter out profanity, violent scenes, and nudity.

So the famous topless sketch scene in 1997's "Titanic" becomes a bit more chaste as a corset is digitally drawn across the chest of actress Kate Winslet. And a scene of Mel Gibson planting an axe in a British soldier's head gets deleted entirely from Columbia Pictures' "The Patriot."

"Scenes can be skipped and language can be changed," said Breck Rice, co-founder of Trilogy Studios, which markets Movie Mask. "You could leave all the violence in but take all the nudity out, or vice versa."

Hollywood keeping watch

But such technology is coming under close scrutiny by the Directors Guild of America. Last Wednesday, The Hollywood Reporter indicated the DGA is discussing legal action against Movie Mask and other companies like CleanFlicks, which markets cleaned-up DVD versions of Hollywood hits.

The DGA declined to comment directly on reports it may sue these companies.

"We believe the majority of Americans would agree that no one has the right to take someone else's work, alter or deface it, then represent this new product as the work of the creator," DGA President and Director Martha Coolidge said in a written statement.

"It is true that many consumers do not want to see films with certain levels of violence, sexual content or language, just as many people do not wish to read certain books for the same reasons," Coolidge said. "The solution -- for books, films and other creative endeavors -- is to offer a wide-range of material from which consumers can decide what best fits their standards. We believe that the movie industry does this already."

But proponents of the software say these kinds of technology are simply giving consumers the "clean" movies they want.

"We are not violating copyright in any way," said Trilogy Studios' Rice. "We believe that our system will keep the artistic integrity intact much better than any other system available."

Rice added that the technology will benefit the studios in the long run.

"We're personalizing movies now," Rice said, "which would broaden their market."