Need help with first applescript@Quicktime- can't figure out a few lines...

Question

Ok guys I need help, here is what I want to happen. I want the script to just shorten a movie file. It should be so simple!!
lengthofmovie = film length
set time range from 0 to (lengthofmovie-1)
save the movie as a new file
That is all I want done, I am ripping my hair out of my head trying to do this. Please help me!!
Here is my code so far:
with timeout of 86400 seconds
display dialog "Before beginning batch processing, make sure QuickTime Player is set to the desired export settings, and all videos to be processed are in a folder named ‘Input’ on the desktop." with icon note
tell application "Finder"
set the startup_disk to the name of the startup disk
end tell
set user to do shell script "whoami"
set inputfoldername to "Input"
set input_folder to startup_disk & ":Users:" & user & ":Desktop:" & inputfoldername & ":"
set user_desktop to startup_disk & ":Users:" & user & ":Desktop:"
set output_folder to startup_disk & ":Users:" & user & ":Desktop:Output:"
set file_extension to "_export.mp4"
try
tell application "Finder"
make new folder at user_desktop with properties {name:"Output"}
end tell
end try
try
set thefolderlist to list folder input_folder without invisibles
repeat with x from 1 to count of thefolderlist
set the_file to input_folder & item x of thefolderlist
set output_file to output_folder & item x of thefolderlist & file_extension
tell application "QuickTime Player"
activate
open the_file
//change timeline, trim NEED HELP HERE
export front document to output_file as MPEG4 using most recent settings with replacing
close front document
end tell
end repeat
on error
display dialog "This script requires a folder named ‘" & inputfoldername & "‘ located on the desktop." with icon stop
end try
beep
end timeout

Answer 1

Hi plashd,
First, I must confess that I don't know much about QuickTime. Nevertheless, while trying to understand your problem, I discovered that the AppleScript dictionaries of QuickTime Player and QuickTime 7 were very different from one another, and was unable to use the “export” command of QuickTime Player. However, I finally was able, with the following script, to use AppleScript to shorten a QuickTime movie and save it under another name:
*set the_file to POSIX file "/Users/pierre/Desktop/MVI_0503.MOV"*
*set output_file to "/Users/pierre/Desktop/NewMVI0503.MOV"*
*tell application "QuickTime Player"*
activate
*open the_file*
*tell front document*
*trim from 1 to (duration - 5)*
*save in output_file with replacing*
*close without saving*
*end tell*
*end tell*
Hope it can help.