SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998), SPIELBERG

*All images and quotes taking directly from "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, D-DAY 60th COMMEMORATIVE EDITION, 1998, All rights reserved to DREAMWORKS LLC and PARAMOUNT PICTURES", unless cited.

Tom Hanks – “We were making an historical document”

Steven Spielberg by his own admission claimed that in his previous movie series Indiana Jones, he had ‘glamorised’ war. When he took up the responsibility of directing and producing Saving Private Ryan (1998) he would repeat no such portrayal, quite simply the story and setting would not allow it. Saving Private Ryan set a new benchmark within the genre of war films, with its memorable battle scenes and sobering story line. Met with critical acclaim receiving 5 Academy Awards and nominated for another 6, the definitive modern war classic is the perfect place to start with my research, into what filming and research techniques make a film look and sound authentic.

The D-Day 60th Anniversary commemorative edition DVD of Saving Private Ryan provides an excellent insight into the techniques used during pre-production, filming and post-production. The film was lauded for its accurate depiction of war, why that is becomes very clear when watching through these various documentaries. The research carried out is evident with every aspect to this motion picture. Starting with the actors’ own preparation I would like to illuminate this master class in preparation.

In conjunction with their own personal research that Tom Hanks and Matt Damon (the latter claiming that he would ‘track down ’ veterans) confess to carrying out, one of the most impressive features to the research was carried out by Captain Dale A. Dye. A former officer in the United States Marine Core turned Hollywood military advisor, Dye was the perfect educator to the incoming cast of ‘Ryan. In his own words “Much of the movies being done about the military, about the American man, were nonsense”. Describing the actors as ‘sponges’ Dye feels that actors need to be engrossed within specific military activities to prepare them for a precise acting response that they can draw back to during filming. With ‘Ryan this was done in the method of a boot camp. 10 days of training with six of those spent ‘in the field’. This would entail sleeping rough, eating only twice a day, marching, learning accurate hand signals, weapons training and physical training at 5am to name a few. The preparation intended to make the actors act accordingly on screen, a huge factor when making the soldiers appear authentic. For emotional purposes the boot camp would provide another learning experience for the cast. The camp clearly caused physical and mental stress for the cast as the unforgiving Dye would pull no punches to give the genuine feel of boot camp. The implanted feelings of exhaustion and misery would provide the perfect preparation for all of the main cast members who attended. The cast including Edward Burns (Private Reiben) who states with these experiences, he would be able to “Hold on and remember, so when they do the film, he could muster the emotion back up”.

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The filming locations of Saving Private Ryan would raise an interesting problem for Spielberg as the possibility of filming the battle scenes in France were quickly realised to be impossibility. The type of filming that Spielberg required for the original invasion scene, according to Ian Bryce (Producer), fell over the ‘restrictions’ that the original historical Normandy beach location had placed upon it. While aesthetically, the surround areas located in Normandy had become quite industrialised. Therefore the filming for the now famous Omaha D-Day scene would take place in County Wexford, Ireland near the town of Curracloe. The decision to use this particular beach was well thought out, as it had a similar layout to the Vierville-Sur-Mer beach while also possessing sand which was similar in it’s golden shade. The Villages which are used during the filming are completely created set villages. The production team managed to acquire a lot just outside of London in Hatfield and then continue to build these impressive set pieces. In order to create the feeling that this was an accurate French Village production designer Tom Sanders visited several French villages which had been bombed during the war for architectural purposes. He then came back and created what was basically a “best of” in terms of design. In order to make the set appear that it has sustained heavy bombing, the exterior was wilted away using “carving knifes” to give off the impression of destruction. The detailing was also an important factor an example of this is shown with the various genuine road signs dotted around the set. The majority of the filming was carried out within the created set. The village was spliced into two scene settings with a river that ran in-between was also created from scratch. Ian Bryce stated their intent with this design “On a project like this one where you’re re-creating historical detail, the authenticity is vital”.

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Costume design with any war film is vitally important to providing the movie with historical credibility. Joanna Johnston was in charge of Wardrobe for ‘Ryan. The uniforms were gathered from a re-enactment company and the boots were made direct from the actual factory that the original troops’ boots were produced in Minnesota. 2,000 boots with the identical pattern design were ordered. Aging the items that were used was also significant, this to make the various weapons and uniforms seem worn out. The DVD shows extras putting the shoes though their paces in an attempt to wear them out. Finally ‘individuality’ was a touch made to some of the main characters’ uniforms. Through extensive pictorial research carried out by Johnston the image of personalised stencilling was applied to Edward Burns character’s uniform as shown below:



Spielberg along with his director of photographer Janusz Kaminski were very acute with their general footage gathering. The entire film was intended to have a “grainy” feel to it and as Spielberg mentions that he did not want this to be a “Technicolor” movie. Each image was purposely de-saturated and as Kaminski points out most negatives had about “60%” of the colour taking away from them. The reason for this was very deliberate, Spielberg’s general vision was to try and replicate the colour scheme of the newsreels of the time. Coinciding with this was the handheld aspect to the camera and the 45 degree angle of the camera shutters which was an exact angle used in with 1940’s combat cameras.

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The re-creation of the D-Day Normandy landings will be hard to surpass in terms of a cinematic experience. Watching the DVD bonus features makes you understand why this is so. The production consisted of 2,000 extras with a large proportion of these being from the Irish Army. Simon Atherton the production armourer helps with the digestion of the scale by stating that there were 2,000 M1 rifles gathered, some rubber and some blank firing guns. The re-creation itself is a very direct piece of filming. Spielberg shot the scene from start to finish with the actors landing on the beach and then moving up through the controlled explosions. This added extra authenticity to the scene as actor’s reactions were genuine.

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The area of sound provides the most interesting aspect to this film’s post-production period. Spielberg had attached one of Hollywood’s most successful composers John Williams. However as sound designer Gary Rydstrom points out Spielberg did not want the sound to be “Hollywood”. Rydstrom explains that with the opening sequence and following battle scenes they decided that no music at all was necessary and that with music it makes “audience realise from moment to moment they are watching a movie”, this was something different. Rydstrom also goes on to prove the extensive sound research carried out within the film. Talking to Veterans of the war Rydstrom acquired from their personal experience, distinct sounds that they felt summed up the campaign. This could be anything from the pinging sound of an empty M1 metal cartridge ejecting to the distant 'thunderstorm' like noise from battles further away. Rydstrom recieved a Acadmey Award for the sound in the film, however the biggest compliment that he would receive would be off the veterans who would personally congratulate him on capturing the sound of war.

Saving Private Ryan is unarguably one of the most accurate war films of all time and from the evidence gathered from watching and reading the various research it is easy to see why. The moment which stands out with me the most is watching and listening to Barry Pepper who plays the unforgettable sniper Private Jackson. It is hard not to be convinced by him talking about the perfect sniper technique and how he has learned how to take apart his own weapon. He could easily be a genuine member of the armed forced cornered by a news reporter.