American Cinematographer - August 1998 - 38

The Last Great War
Production

we

designer Tom
Sanders created
the decimated
French city of
Ramelle in an
abandoned

were

block

hundreds of

extras

and do them in

just

one or two takes with two or
three cameras. But there was a reason

facility 45
minutes north

of London,
which also
served as the

for that

well. If you

have a huge
day and a half to
pre-rig with squibs and explosives,
you only have one take!
"Amazingly, Steven would
often just cover a scene with one
continuous shot. There were a couple
in which blood or water splattered
on the lens, but we
kept shooting
as

field that takes

company's base
camp and
backlot.

the

"streaking"

that the shutter

and 90

could also be
shooting provided

camera

used for normal

was

set

between 45

degrees.

Storming the beach
a visual approach locked
in, the Private Ryan production was
fully geared up for battle. While
scouting the actual Omaha Beach in
With

France, which is now a historical
landmark, the filmmakers found the

a

stops to 800 ASA

because that's what I assumed would

I'd take 93

happen in reality. Combat

and it was still fine.
pushed two stops over
using Vision 500T pushed one stop.
"Additionally, I again used a
Panaflasher in conjunction with the
ENR process, as I had on Amistad.
Because of the contrast that you

with the ENR, I

get

flashing at about
15 percent so that I didn't get totally
sharp blacks. I was looking for a
slightly flatter look. The Panaflasher
also contributed greatly to the color
being more desaturated. You gain the
was

men

would

not

have time

camera¬

clean

to

the lens.

They'd just have to keep on
going. What we got really had a
documentary feel to it.
"We shot handheld for proba¬
bly about 90 percent of Saving
Private Ryan" Kaminski notes,
"whereas

on

handheld

the

Schindler's List, we
camera
about 60

stretch of coastline in Ireland that

you've desaturated the color already

of the time. Shooting that
demanding on the
operator, Mitch Dubin, as well as Bcamera/Steadicam operator Chris

featured

with the Panaflasher."

Haarhoff, because most of the hand¬

area

to

be

developed to suit their
company then found a

too

needs. The

similarity to
Normandy's gold-sanded beaches
and sheer cliffs. Production designer
an

uncanny

Tom Sanders transformed the Irish

into

battleground
by strategically dressing the land¬
scape with Teller mines, iron hedge¬
hogs and barbed wire, as well as
concrete pillboxes and bunkers.
Kaminski shot Private Ryan in
the 1.85:1 format entirely with
coast

a

war-torn

Eastman Kodak EXR 5293

stock,

which he
ASA

pushed one stop to a 400
rating. He also utilized a lh

Coral filter in

place of normal 85
a slight bluish tint
the imagery. "Pushing the film

correction to lend
to

shifts the
to

contrast

burn the

and makes it easier

highlights out," the cine¬

matographer explains, "but you also
get a bit more detail in the shadows.
Occasionally, I pushed the film two
August 1998

physical and techni¬
of just getting the shots
daunting. Steven wanted to
huge day exterior scenes with

cal challenges

aerospace

36

shot for three weeks," recounts

Kaminski. "The

contrast

back with the ENR, but

In

re-creating the infamous DDay invasion, the production located
many of the original "Higgins boats"
landing craft - in Palm Springs,
California
real-life

-

that

1944

were

used in the

assault.

The

film

company also employed 750 extras
provided by the Irish Army, who
were

then

dressed

in

uniforms

painstakingly re-created by costume
designer Joanna Johnston and
equipped by armorer Simon
Atherton with authentic period
weaponry.

The beach

was

intricately

rigged with squibs and mortars by
special effects supervisor Neil
Corbould, while the "war" itself

was

meticulously planned and rehearsed
by stunt coordinator Simon Crane.
"We started Saving Private
Ryan with the invasion scenes, which

percent

way was very

held work

was

done from almost

ground level, not from the
When the soldiers were

shoulder.
running,
they were really running low. We
wanted to be very close to them, so
Mitch and Chris would often have

operate
monitor

while looking at a little
as they ran. Those shots

also

were

to

difficult

because

the

had to be covered to protect
it from all the sand and explosions,
camera

not

to

because

that

mention

movement

had

we

to

be

were

everyone's
choreographed

running

across

fields covered with live

squibs and
mortars." The cinematographer adds
that he

was

aided

by A-camera first

A.C. Steve Meizler and B-camera first

A.C.

Kenny Groom, as well as second

A.C.s

Tom Jordan and Robert
Palmer, and loader Roslyn Ellis.
American Cinematographer - August 1998

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