System and method for processing electronically captured images to emulate film tonescale and color

1. A method for converting a sequence of electronically captured images into a sequence of modified images for providing the appearance of images captured by a film reproduction system, the film reproduction system being of the type that includes motion picture negative film printed onto a motion picture print film that is displayed, or a reversal motion picture system in which the reversal film is displayed, or a motion picture film electro-optically scanned to standard format video by a telecine and further displayed, or a motion picture film electro-optically scanned by a scanner suitable for producing digital data intended for additional digital image manipulation, further prepared as a digital master for electronic distribution or recorded out to another film to be used as a printing master for producing distribution optical prints for theatrical projection, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) electronically capturing a sequence of images, resulting in linearized neutral-corrected electronically captured image data;

(b) transforming the neutral-corrected electronically captured images with a non-linear function that renders the neutral-corrected electronically captured images with a tone scale of the film reproduction system, resulting in tonescale-corrected electronically captured images;

(c) transforming the tonescale-corrected electronically captured images with a linear function that emulates a film color look provided by the film reproduction system, resulting in modified images that provide the appearance of an image captured with the film reproduction system, wherein the transformation steps are referenced to scanned film densities of a film used in the film reproduction system;

(d) color balancing the modified images representative of scanned film densities before subsequent utilization by balancing a reference neutral to a predetermined scanner density, resulting in modified images; and

(e) transforming color-balanced modified images to standard format video signals suitable for television.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the step of transforming video signals for recording on film.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the step of transforming video signals for display.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the display is selected from the group consisting of (a) an electro-optical display including at least one of a digital projector, a television display, a video projector, a liquid crystal display or a laser projector; (b) retinal projection and (c) an electro-optic mechanism.

5. A method for converting a sequence of electronically captured images into a sequence of modified images for providing the appearance of images captured by a film reproduction system, the film reproduction system being of the type that includes a motion picture negative film printed onto a motion picture print film that is displayed, or a reversal motion picture system in which a reversal film is displayed, or a traditional motion picture film electro-optically scanned to standard format video by a telecine and further displayed, or a motion picture film electro-optically scanned by a scanner suitable for producing digital data intended for additional digital image manipulation, further prepared as a digital master for electronic distribution or recorded out to another film to be used as a printing master for producing distribution optical prints for theatrical projection, said method includes a lookup table that represents any transforming step or subsequent transforming step, either as a single step or as a combination of consecutive steps comprising of:

(a) transforming electronically captured image data into linearized exposure data, resulting in neutral-corrected electronically captured images;

(b) transforming the neutral-corrected electronically captured images with a linear function that emulates a film exposure of the film reproduction system, resulting in exposure-corrected electronically captured images;

(c) transforming the exposure-corrected electronically captured images with a non-linear function that renders the neutral-corrected electronically captured images with a tone scale of the film reproduction system, resulting in tonescale-corrected electronically captured images;

(d) transforming the tonescale-corrected electronically captured images with a linear function that emulates a film color look provided by the film reproduction system, resulting in modified images that provide the appearance of an image captured with the film reproduction system, wherein the transformation steps are referenced to scanned film densities of a film used in the film reproduction system;

(e) color balancing the modified images representative of scanned film densities before subsequent utilization by balancing a reference neutral to a predetermined scanner density, resulting in modified images;

(f) transforming color-balanced modified images for recording on film;

(g) transforming color-balanced modified images to standard format video signals suitable for television;

(h) transforming video signals for recording on film; and

(i) transforming video signals for display.