I recently watched "Saving Private Ryan". There was what I guess was a filter effect used in the scenes after the battles. The light from things like fires and other highlights went up, sort of like a speed filter.

Does anybody know exactly what sort of filter they used? If this was a computer effect, how could it be approximated using filters?

Thanks.

-- Brian C. Miller (a-bcmill@exchange.microsoft.com), August 18, 1998

Answers

Haven't seen the film but have you tried reading "American Cinematographer" magazine? Not sure where you're writing from but that's a monthly for the working cinematographer put out by A.S.C.

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), September 24, 1998.

I haven't seen the movie, but I read somewhere (photo.net?) that the cinematographer had all the lens coatings stripped off to provide a more washed-out look.

Urban myth? I dunno.

duncan

-- Duncan McRae (duncanm@zip.com.au), September 28, 1998.

Well, I sent email off to Schneider Optics, and here's their answer:

See if you can get a copy of American Cinematographer, August 98. The cover story is on "Saving Private Ryan", and they talk about throwing the camera's shutter out of sync to create the effect you mention (pg. 34).

Kevin Cruse Schneider Optics, Inc.

I guess this means that the easiest way to approximate this effect is to place the camera on a tripod with a long exposure, and towards the end of the exposure, release the ball head or whatever, and let the camera fall forward. A black cloth just below the field of view will prevent extraneous light from producing unwanted streaks.

As for reduction in color saturation, under exposure will do that. Shoot some Fuji 100/1000 at 1000/1000. That's definitely lack of color saturation there. I have also had the same effect with Agfa Portrait 160 shot about 1-1/2 or 2 stops under, then developed normally, and printed for best C&D.

-- Brian C. Miller (a-bcmill@exchange.microsoft.com), September 29, 1998.