LOS ANGELES – Oftentimes as audiences and critics laud a film's stunning photography, a cinematographer mulls over how much better it could have been, if only the DP had more control over the Telecine and Digital Intermediate (DI) processes. Now Gamma & Density is delivering that control to those who need it most, with a program designed by cinematographers for cinematographers.

G&D, a pioneering software company based in West Hollywood headed by DP Yuri Neyman, recently debuted the newest version of its Cinematographer's Color Correction Program (3CP). This software, packaged with a PowerBook G4 laptop and specially calibrated display, is portable, user-friendly and a hit with cinematographers using the system.

Introduced in April, the 3CP system was first used by DP Checco Varese on the set of the ABC movie of the week Their Eyes Were Watching God (due in early 2005), starring Halle Berry. An avowed fan of G&D's Telecine Color Control Chart, he jumped at the opportunity to be the first to use the new tool.

"I am a longtime admirer of Yuri's work and the G&D Color Control Chart, which ensures my images turn out 90 percent the way I want them to be," says Varese, "but 3CP makes the process even more accurate and 3CP's film to video translation makes it easy for me to address problems on the set with quick solutions."

Another DP who embraced the 3CP solution is Jerzy Zielinski (Galaxy Quest, Dodgeball), currently shooting the remake of Fun with Dick and Jane for Sony Pictures.

"I knew I would need a way to keep the dailies calibrated to my specifications, and 3CP gives me that level of control," says Zielinski. "Without it, the Telecine colorist could go off in hundreds of thousands of different directions, all away from the visual I worked so hard to achieve."

Zielinski notes that choosing 3CP was as much a studio decision as it was his - it was evident from presentations, that 3CP would make the Telecine and DI process better, faster and cheaper. Sony also chose 3CP for Zathura, being shot by Guillermo Navarro (The Long Kiss Goodnight, From Dusk Till Dawn). Putting the system to work is not only a testament to the brilliance of 3CP, but a realization by decision-makers that investing in on-set color correction upfront not only minimizes misunderstandings between DPs and colorists, but also saves time and labor in the Telecine and DI process.

"The DI process is very labor intensive and requires so many steps that without proper means of communication, the DP's image can suffer," says Neyman, who in addition to his DP experience is also intimately familiar with modern postproduction practices. "A lack of common standards is to blame."

"By using 3CP, the cinematographer creates a common reference base, understood on all levels of postproduction, thus ensuring consistency between images created on the set and the Telecine and DI transfers," says Neyman. "Not only does 3CP preserve the cinematographer's vision, but it also makes the colorists job easier by providing a visual and instrumental guide created for them by the DP."

By eliminating the guesswork, 3CP creates the standard.

Neyman, who as a DP saw his original vision for films become corrupted in the telecine process on numerous occasions, began working a few years ago on a solution that would enable him to preserve his visual idea for the dailies.

Originally creating the Telecine Color Control Chart for his own use, Neyman saw the system catch on among others and become, by now, a household name among DPs working in more than 30 countries around the world. This success lead to the founding of G&D and soon after to creation of the world's first on-set color correction system (a prototype of today's 3CP) which he successfully used while lensing the Lion's Gate feature, Civil Brand.

The G&D team designed the latest version of 3CP to be user-friendly. The cinematographer does not need to have any in-depth knowledge of color science and technology and does not need to spend a lot of time learning the program interface. It usually takes no more than 60 seconds for a DP to color-correct one scene and the results can be seen immediately. When the job is done, the 3CP color-corrected images (in the form of report files containing the technical data) are then sent to post production facilities either via the Internet or on a CD-ROM.

"3CP was easy to learn and it is obvious it is based on a DP's knowledge," says John Christian Rosenlund, a Norwegian cinematographer currently who recently finished shooting Factotum (starring Matt Dillon). "There is a lot of great practical thinking behind the product. Now, the producer and director are very happy with the dailies, the editing looks great and the pictures match how they will appear on screen. 3CP has made it possible to create a product very close to my original vision."

G&D is in the process of establishing strategic partnerships with post facilities and 3CP is currently being used by telecine colorists at Technicolor, FotoKem, Modern Video & Film (Glendale, Calif.), and Chimney Pot (Oslo, Norway). Because 3CP is also designed to work with HD cameras, G&D is developing a partnership with Plus 8 Digital, a company specializing in HD camera rentals.

Although Neyman and his G&D team plan to officially debut 3CP at NAB 2005 in Las Vegas, positive word of mouth in DP circles is spreading, and 3CP is available for use right now.

Technical Highlights of 3CP:

• Works with film, digital intermediate (DI), video (NTSC/PAL) and HD productions. Resolution independent.
• Color corrections and metadata are easily electronically transmitted from the set to the telecine or DI suite via an Internet connection or CD-ROM.
• Reference images make it easy to pre-visualize future results and achieve accurate color grading thanks to the many tools available:
• Exposure tools
• Printing lights, gamma (contrast), and density
• Video Levels, hue, and saturation
• YRGB gain, gamma and pedestal
• Customized profiles (for film stocks, processing, RGB curves, filters, etc.)
• Presents all color and tonal corrections in terms understood by both cinematographers and colorists: printing lights, IRE units, millivolts, f-stop differences, etc., while unifying them all using the simple G&D Thorough Control System.
• For unmatched precision, 3CP makes it possible for colorists to see reference images from the set, and scanned images from the film negative, to be seen on the same monitor in the telecine suite.
• Floating-point color correction ensures full precision and latitude for all color correction operations.
• Provides an objective view of all changes via familiar waveform monitor, vectorscope, histogram, and channel curve displays.
• 3CP works easily within your current production workflow and allows you to optimize the post-production workflow and transfer of color correction adjustments.
• Uses the patented Gamma & Density Thorough Control System chart for superior consistency and correctness in video and HD transfers.
• To ensure preview accuracy, all elements in the color correction workflow (input devices, previewing and telecine monitors, and HD and film projectors) are calibrated using the proprietary Thorough Control System technology.
• 3CP flags any color changes that push areas of the image outside of "legal" limits within the selected color system.
• For needs of HD productions, converts the green-tinted, low-contrast FilmStream images from the Thomson Viper HD camera to full-range photographic quality images, allowing the DP to monitor and preserve the artistic and technical integrity of their vision.