"We shot handheld for probably about 90 percent of Saving Private Ryan," Kaminski notes, "whereas on Schindler’s List, we handheld the camera about 60 percent of the time. Shooting that way was very demanding on the operator, Mitch Dubin, as well as B-camera/Steadicam operator Chris Haarhoff, because most of the handheld work was done from almost ground level, not from the shoulder. When the soldiers were running, they were really running low. We wanted to be very close to them, so Mitch and Chris would often have to operate while looking at a little monitor as they ran. Those shots were also difficult because the camera had to be covered to protect it from all the sand and explosions, not to mention that everyone’s movement had to be choreographed because we were 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. Additional action was covered by C-camera operator Seamus Corcoran.
"Janusz and Steven wanted the camera to be a real participant in the film," Dubin details. "The soldiers jump out of the landing boats but are trapped in the surf by bullets from the German emplacements on top of the cliffs. At a certain point they make this mad dash to the edge of the cliff, which they called the ’shingle.’ That was a very involved shot with all of the actors, hundreds of extras and a huge number of effects. We had three separate cameras rolling; I was following Tom Hanks as he ran. When we rolled the cameras and Steven called action, all hell broke loose. I just remember running for my life and following Tom. When we hit the shingle, we both looked up at each other, astonished that we had actually run through this event. We did it in one take and then moved on. That shot really set the tone for rest of the film."
Adding to Dubin’s task was the weight of the Platinum camera (about 34 pounds with 500’ mag and lens) when coupled with the Image Shaker (about 15 pounds) and Panaflasher (about 4 pounds). The extensive use of low-perspective, handheld work prompted the camera department to call in a lighter unit. "We got a Moviecam SL, which worked out great," recalls Dubin. "It’s one thing to carry a camera on your shoulder, but everything in this film was down low, which is very difficult, especially when you’re running with the camera almost touching the ground.
"In Steven’s movies, the camera is always an active participant in the storytelling process," Dubin continues. "Along with the primary concerns of the script and the acting, he tells the story through the framing. Accordingly, the frame and image are of utmost importance. When you add the handheld camera into the mix — which is a very immediate and responsive form of operating — the whole process becomes even more exciting."
Though he strove to simulate the battle’s graphic scenes of carnage as realistically as possible, Kaminski didn’t lose sight of the real importance of the story. "The film is realistic because of the actors’ performances," he opines. "Audiences will be shocked by what they see during the invasion sequences, but the most emotional moments are when the characters look at each other afterward and have a chance to reflect on what they’ve just experienced. There’s a little push-in shot on Tom Hanks after they’ve conquered the beach which we’ve just witnessed firsthand and his reaction is such a powerful moment that the audience will just lose it emotionally. It’s this human element that makes the film so powerful. We are all familiar with gore, but the way that it is presented in this film is similar to how it was done in Schindler’s List bang and you’re dead."
Lighting D-Day
Fortunately for Saving Private Ryan’s crew, the production was blessed with fairly consistent overcast skies throughout the three-week D-Day shoot, which closely resembled the actual weather conditions on that fateful day in 1944. Kaminski took this into account while devising his approach to not only the Omaha Beach sequence, but the entire film’s photographic design.
"For the most part, we really didn’t light much on the invasion," explains gaffer David Devlin. "When the actors were in the Higgins boats, we did add some light with white and silver bounce cards to up-light the actors a little so we could see their eyes under their helmets. The ’lighting’ was more about how the negative was being exposed, the lenses and the use of the ENR. The great thing about war movies is that almost everything is drab, dark and dirty, so we weren’t fighting those elements. In fact, the actors’ eyes become [comparatively] bright because their faces are so dark and dirtied."
Kaminski determined that with constant overcast light, he could suitably control the film’s look with the aid of the Panaflasher and the ENR process. Additionally, he incorporated the heavy use of smoke which obviously was a key component in selling the "war" visually as an essential ingredient in his photography. Dense black smoke also offered the added benefit of blocking out any unwanted sunlight that might have sneaked through the cloud cover. Devlin recalls, "One of the most amazing and awful things I’ve ever seen were these big drums of diesel fuel that the special effects guys were burning to create huge clouds of black smoke. They also designed a system for making white smoke that was mounted in the bed of a pickup, which was attached to a trailer with a 200-gallon tank of diesel fuel. They had about six of these pickup trucks that could drive up and down the beach as a self-contained unit. The lighting for that whole sequence was more about taking the light away, and when they turned those smoke machines on, it would cut down three or four stops of exposure."
"For closer shots, we’d sometimes bring in a bounce card or solid for negative fill," adds Kwiatkowski."One of the things I’ve learned over the years while working outside is that if the cinematographer wants to control the sunlight — and the production can afford it — you should have a crane and a large frame standing by. That way you can cover a large area and get the lines [of the overhead’s coverage] out of the shot. Because we used a 30’ by 30’ silk and smoke on Private Ryan, the smoke would cover any of the lines made by the silk. Between those two elements, the ’lighting’ was consistent and it worked great."
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