Harold Rattray (left), Electronic Engineer and Terry Claborn, Answer Print Timer

Technicolor Creative Services was honored at this year's Scientific and Technical Academy Awards for its Realtime Answerprint System on Feb.  18. The company's patented light and projection system has improved the photochemical color timing process and brought a new level of precision to the interaction between filmmakers and color timers. 

The Realtime Answerprint System, which has been used on more than 50 feature films including Million Dollar Baby and The Aviator since its introduction three years ago, makes use of specially modified ARRI LOCPRO projectors in conjunction with Technicolor's proprietary optical and drive systems. The configuration allows the timer to project a positive print on a screen and dial up for the client an image that looks exactly like a new print would if it were augmented with another point of density or two points of blue, for example.  Rather than having to actually strike a new print to see precisely how a different set of timing lights would look, people can now see precisely what it would look like before putting the valuable negatives through the printing process.

The system was initially conceived as a tool for timers to use in the nether regions of a facility, away from clients. Tim Reynolds, General Manager of Technicolor's North Hollywood location, began making use of LOCPRO projectors for timers to compare prints and do quality control work that had previously been done on older, less flexible projectors. Unlike a traditional film projector, these older machines allowed the timer to hold individual frames onscreen for extended periods. The trade-off was that these devices could not also be used for normal projection; instead, when film moved through the gate it looked on screen like a streaking blur.

Timers were used to working that way, but the LOCPRO's ability to project full motion at many different frame rates and stop on individual frames made it a valuable tool. The new capability suggested to Reynolds the possibility of a system that could not only project a print, but also be used to represent the effect a timing adjustment would have on a subsequent print. By being able to see precisely how an adjustment affected individual shots and the flow of a scene from shot-to-shot, the timer could make better decisions and go through fewer passes in the process of getting to a final print.

Reynolds and electronic engineer Harold Rattray assembled a team to begin the work of developing what became the Realtime Answerprint System.  The team included timer Terry Claborn and engineers Steve Garlick and Bill Hogue -- co-recipients with Reynolds and Rattray of the Technical Academy Award. The team also comprised of head color timer Terry Haggar and other Technicolor employees. The group set to work overcoming the numerous technical challenges involved in bringing the idea to fruition.

The ARRI LOCPRO

Albeit this idea might seem simple for a facility that has been altering the color and density in prints for decades, intuitively, one might think that Technicolor should be able to put the same kind of light-altering technology between projector and screen that printers have between the negative and the positive to control the color and density of a print. It isn't that simple. In the first place, Rattray points out, "None of the pieces of equipment were optimized for projecting a print on a screen." A positive print has a different structure than a negative does and the light source for a projector is a very different thing from one used to make prints. Even though some of the basic light valve technology in the Realtime Answerprint System bears some similarity to the guts of an optical system of a printer, it also has some significant differences that the team ultimately spent months working out.

Clearly, such a system would be worthless if it was less than 100% accurate every time. Skilled and talented timers were already excellent at seeing in their mind's eye the effect a timing change would have on a print and there were tools such as gel filters that could also help. For the system to be worth the research and development, timers would need to have complete confidence in its precision. It took many months of work for the team, but they finally got the system working up to the required level of accuracy.

It soon became clear that by bringing the Realtime Answerprint System out of the back rooms and into the spaces where clients work, it would be possible for the creatives to interact with a timer much more precisely than had ever been possible before. "As soon as we showed it to the creatives," says Reynolds, "they loved it and wanted to use it."

What had traditionally been a series of often abstract notes that developed over many days and multiple prints could suddenly become a much more defined and effective session. Technicolor could now offer clients and timers the kind of interactivity that had previously only been available in the digital realm.  People sitting in a room could all talk about the kinds of changes they might like to see and have those changes projected before their eyes, taking the guesswork out of the discussion.

"A cinematographer might say 'Make it warmer,'" says timer Haggar, "but that could mean more red and yellow or it could mean more magenta. Timers who work in this realm every day can imagine exactly how a certain change will affect the print, but we can't get inside the filmmakers' heads to know what they're envisioning. Now those sorts of decisions can be worked out right there at the time."

"The beauty of the system," says John Schwartzman, ASC, who used the system recently on the hit comedy Meet the Fockers, "is that it gives me the flexibility of the digital suite in the photochemical world. And it's also great to know I'm not subjecting the negative to additional handling every time I make a change."

Rattray (left) and Claborn stand behind the system

"There are so many ways that colors can interact," says Daryn Okada, ASC, who used the Realtime Answerprint System on the Reese Witherspoon romance Just Like Heaven. "You might try adding yellow to bring down the level of blue in a scene and that might work perfectly. But it also might introduce green that you don't want. With the system I can experiment with the timer and we can both see the results of any particular change."

Technicolor now has the Realtime Answerprint System in seven suites – four in North Hollywood, and one each in London, Rome and Bangkok. It has also become an indispensable tool at Technicolor for working with creatives involved in digital animation who are generally used to working in the digital realm and were often frustrated by the film timing portion. Previously if people from the digital animation world were unsatisfied with the color on a film print, it could be difficult to determine whether to address it in their digital files or in the film printing process. Technicolor added calibrated monitors into selected Realtime Answerprint System rooms that allow creatives to see their work before and after the introduction of the film part of the process, that way informed decisions could be made much more quickly. The system has been used on a number of animated features, including The Incredibles, Madagascar and Shrek 2.

As digital technology continues to offer filmmakers more options, Reynolds believes that as long as film remains the primary medium for photographing and projecting feature films, a company like Technicolor should maximize film's full potential. He credits the company for its support during the creation of this Academy Award-winning system.

"You come up with an idea," he says, "but you need people with passion and drive to make it happen. Technicolor, by devoting the time and resources required to the process, has indicated its commitment to continued improvements in the photochemical aspect of their business even while it also continues to grow the digital portion."

"If film is going to survive," adds Rattray, "the process has to be more efficient than it has been in the past."

Jon Silberg