JANUSZ KAMINSKI

#1: From interview by DP/30

#2: From interview [KODAK, 2012]

#3: [Right] with dir Steven Spielberg - "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" [2007]

JANUSZ KAMINSKI

Born: 27 June 1959, Ziebice, Poland, as Janusz Zygmunt Kaminski. Came to the USA in 1981.

Education: Film School of Columbia College [CC], Chicago [1982-87; BA Film in 1987; classmate of Mauro Fiore]; American Film Institute, Los Angeles [graduated in 1987].

Career: Started shooting low budget exploitation films.

His association with Steven Spielberg began after the 1991 airing of 'Wildflower', a tvm he ph for Diane Keaton. Spielberg hired him to shoot the tv prod 'Class of '61'.

Ph commercials dir by Scott Hicks, a.o.

Directed commercials for Visa, Minolta, a.o.

Became member of the ASC in 1994, but resigned in 2006.

Was married to actress Holly Hunter [1995-2001] & prod Rebecca Rankin [2004-15].

Appeared in the doc's 'The Making of 'Lost World' [1997, Laurent Bouzereau; 53m], 'Holly Hunter: Southern Comfort With a Hollywood Twist' [2000, prod: Chris Mortensen; ph: Peter Krajewski, a.o.; ep of tv-series 'Intimate Portrait' for Lifetime-tv], 'Lighting AI' [2002, Laurent Bouzereau; 4m] and 'Catch Me If You Can: Behind the Camera' [2003, Laurent Bouzereau; ph: Ron Siegel; 17m].

Awards: 'Oscar' AA [1994], NYFCC Award [1993], BSC Award [1993], LAFCA Award [1993], CFCA Award [1994], BAFTA Film Award [1994], BSFC Award [1993] & ASC Award nom [1994] for 'Schindler's List'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1998] & ASC Award nom[1998] for 'Amistad'; 'Oscar' AA [1999], LAFCA Award [1998], BSFC Award [1998], ASC Award nom [1999], BSC Award nom [1999], Camerimage 'Golden Frog' nom [1998], CFCA Award nom [1999], Palm Springs IFF 'Da Vinci' Award [2000; shared] & BAFTA Film Award nom [1999] for 'Saving Private Ryan'; Camerimage 'Atlas' Award for the Promotion of Polish Culture Abroad [2002]; American Film Institute Award nom [2002] & CFCA Award nom [2002] for 'Artificial Intelligence'; CFCA Award nom [2003] & Golden Satellite Award nom [2003] for 'Minority Report'; Cannes IFF 'Vulcan Prize' [2007], Plus Camerimage 'Golden Frog' Award [2007], 'Oscar' AA nom [2007] & Independent Spirit Award [2008] for 'Le scaphandre et le papillon/The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'; BAFTA Film Award nom [2011] for 'War Horse'; ASC Film Award nom [2012] & 'Oscar' AA nom [2012] for 'Lincoln'; ASC Film Award nom [2015] for 'Bridge of Spies'.

'Saving Private Ryan' [1997]: 'Kaminski's collaboration with Spielberg included discovering different visual textures with an imaginative mix of camera films, lab processes and specialized techniques, such as 'deconstruction of the slickness that you usually get with modern lenses' - in Spielberg's words. Lenses in 1940 were technically inferior to today's, so Kaminski had a set of older Ultra-Speeds stripped of their protective coatings to emulate the look of 50 years ago. He also flashed the film and used the Technicolor ENR process to alter contrast. "Interestingly, when we analyzed the lenses, the focus and sharpness didn't change very much, though there was some deterioration; what really changed was the contrast and color rendering. The contrast became much flatter. Without the coatings, the light enters the lens and bounces all around, so the images become kind of foggy but still sharp. Also, it's much easier to get flares, which automatically diffuses the light and the colors to a degree and lends a little haze to the image." Kaminski would often mismatch the lenses if he had two cameras running, using one with coated Ultra-Speeds and one with stripped lenses. That lent a certain lack of continuity in picture quality, suggesting an appropriate disjointedness.

Kaminski and his crew shot many feet of film with the camera shutter set at 45 or 90 degrees, a technique that was especially effective in filming explosions. Every particle of blasted sand seems to be visible. The idea, which was born in pre-production testing, helped to create a sense of reality and urgency.

Another technique was borrowed from cinematographer Douglas Milsome, who also used it in an epic war film, Stanley Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket'. The camera's shutter is thrown out of sync to create a streaking effect from the top of the frame to the bottom. It's another way to enhance realism by giving the images the less-than-perfectly controlled look of actual battle footage.' [From the International Cinematographers Guild website.]

FILMS
1985	Unexcused Absence [Mark Pavia] 16mm/c; short/30m
1985	Drowning [Juan Carlos Valdivia] 16mm/c; short/30m; prod CC
1986	Lisa [Karen Erbach] c; short/28m; + co-prod/co-ed; prod CC
1986	Lady America [Nick Gaitatjis] b&w; short/52m
1987	Transients/En transit [Juan Carlos Valdivia] 16mm/c; short/31m; prod CC
1988	Emma [Andrea Kampic] 16mm/c; short/30m
1988	Selling Short [?] ?
1988	Grim Prairie Tales/Hellbent [Wayne Coe] c; 4 seg
1989	Streets [Katt Shea Ruben] c; 2uc; ph: Phedon Papamichael
1989	Watchers II [Thierry Notz] c; 2uc; ph: Edward Pei
1989	All the Love in the World [Daniel Curran] 16mm-35bu/b&w; 2uc (+ gaffer): Mauro Fiore
1990	The Rain Killer [Ken Stein] c; 2uc: Flavio M. Labiano
1990	To Die Standing/Crackdown [Louis Morneau] c; addph; ph: Pili Flores-Guerra
1990	The Terror Within II [Andrew Stevens] c; addph: Jim Mathers; 2uc: Mauro Fiore
1990	The Unborn [Rodman Flender] c; 2uc; ph: Wally Pfister
1990	Pyrates [Noah Stern] c
1990	One False Move [Carl Franklin] c; 2uc; ph: James L. Carter
1991	Star Time [Alexander Cassini] c; co-addph; ph: Fernando Arguelles
1991	vanilla ICE - cool as ICE [David Kellogg] c
1991	Mad Dog Coll/Killer Instinct [Greydon Clark & Ken Stein] c/V; uncred addph (?): Nicholas Josef von Sternberg; filmed in Russia
1991	Killer Instinct/Homicidal Impulse [David Tausik] c; as Jennifer Stoltz
1992	Trouble Bound [Jeffrey Reiner] c; 2uc Arizona: Mauro Fiore; addph: Jan Kiesser
1992	The Adventures of Huck Finn [Stephen Sommers] c
1993	Schindler's List [Steven Spielberg] b&w-c
1993	Tall Tale [- The Unbelievable Adventures of Pecos Bill] [Jeremiah Chechik] p/c; blue screen unit ph: Don Baker; vfx ph: David Hardberger & Les Bernstein
1994	Little Giants [Duwayne Dunham] c; 2uc: Rexford Metz
*1994*	The Scarlet Letter [Roland Joffé] scheduled as ph, but replaced by Alex Thomson
1994	How to Make an American Quilt [Jocelyn Moorhouse] c; 2uc: Lawrence Blanford; addph 2u: Chuck Cohen; filmed 1994-95
1995	Sangre [Belita Moreno] ?; short/15m
1996	Jerry Maguire [Cameron Crowe] c; 2uc: Chuck Cohen
1996	The Lost World: Jurassic Park [Steven Spielberg] 35mm (+ 70bu)/c; uncred 2uc: Mauro Fiore; vfx ph: Pat Turner; miniature unit ph: Eric Swenson
1997	Amistad [Steven Spielberg] c; uncred 2uc: Mauro Fiore
1997	Saving Private Ryan [Steven Spielberg] c; see above
1998	Armageddon [Michael Bay] p35mm-70bu/c; uncred addph (Shanghai destruction; filmed 1998); ph: John Schwartzman
2000	A.I. Artificial Intelligence [Steven Spielberg] c; 2uc: Irek Hartowicz
2001	Minority Report [Steven Spielberg] s35/c; vfx ph: Vance Piper; aph: Larry Blanford & David B. Nowell; uwph: Pete Romano

[Left] with Leonardo DiCaprio - "Catch Me If You Can"

2002	Catch Me If You Can [Steven Spielberg] c
2003	Jumbo Girl [Daniel Curran] c; short/30m; addph: Mauro Fiore
2003	The Terminal [Steven Spielberg] c
2004	War of the Worlds [Steven Spielberg] c; 2uc: David Devlin; vfx ph: Kim Marks & Martin Rosenberg
2005	Munich [Steven Spielberg] s35/c; addph: Jarred Land
2006	Le scaphandre et le papillon/The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [Julian Schnabel] c; uwph: Pascal Morisset, Michel Revest & Roland Savoye
2006	Mission Zero [Kathryn Bigelow] s35/c; comm short/9m; premiered on internet (2007); for Pirelli Tires

[Left] with c.asst Henryk Jedynak [right] - "Hania"

2006

Hania [Janusz Kaminski] c; addph: Piotr Redlinski; filmed in Poland (4 December 2006 - 27 January 2007)

[White shirt] with dir Steven Spielberg [right]

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"

2007	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull [Steven Spielberg] p/c; 2uc: Flavio M. Labiano & (uncred) Irek Hartowicz; aph: Reed Smoot
*2007*	Interstellar [Steven Spielberg] announced as doph, but ph by Hoyte van Hoytema and dir by Christopher Nolan in 2013
*2008*	The Trial of the Chicago 7 [? (replaced Paul Greengrass)] pre-production
2008	Funny People [Judd Apatow] 35mm (+ D-Cinema)/c; filmed 2008-09
2009	How Do You Know [James L. Brooks] 35mm (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Goran Pavicevic
2010	War Horse [Steven Spielberg] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/b&w-c; uncred 2uc: David Devlin (+ gaffer) & Simon Baker (+ c.op 'c' cam)
2011	Lincoln [Steven Spielberg] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c
2012	Broken Night [Guillermo Arriaga] HD (Nikon D800)/c; short/10m; c.op 'c' cam: Paula Huidobro
2013	The Judge [David Dobkin] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Bill Trautvetter; addph: Thierry Labbe & Erick Garibay; aph: Steve Koster
*2013*	Indiana Jones 5 [Steven Spielberg] announced
2014	The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara [Steven Spielberg] pre-production
2014	Bridge of Spies/St. James Place [Steven Spielberg] Hawk Scope (+ D-Cinema)/b&w-c; addph: Bartosz Nalazek
2015	The BFG [Steven Spielberg] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT/p)-to-D-Cinema (also 3-D version)/c; concept unit ph: Steven Hall; aph: Adam Dale
2016	Ready Player One [Steven Spielberg] s35/c; chase unit ph: Fraser Taggart; aph: Jeremy Braben
2017	The Post/The Pentagon Papers [Steven Spielberg] s35-to-35mm (+ D-Cinema)/c; ph Washington D.C.: Stuart Dryburgh & Bartosz Nalazek

TELEVISION
1991	Wildflower [Diane Keaton] tvm
1992	Class of '61 [Gregory Hoblit] tvm
1993	Love, Cheat & Steal [William Curran] tvm; co-addph; ph: Kent Wakeford
2010	Write the Future [Alejandro González Iñárritu] RED (scope)/c; commercial/3m; guest cinematographer; ph: Emmanuel Lubezki; for Nike (premiered during the FIFA World Cup 2010)

MISCELLANEOUS
1985	Nothing in Common [Garry Marshall] intern; ph: John Alonzo
1987	Not of This Earth [Jim Wynorski] gaffer; ph: Zoran Hochstätter
1988	Dance of the Damned [Katt Shea Ruben] gaffer; ph: Phedon Papamichael
1988	Saturday the 14th Strikes Back [Howard R. Cohen] gaffer; ph: Levie Isaacks
1988	Stripped to Kill II [: Live Girls] [Katt Shea] gaffer; ph: Phedon Papamichael
1989	After Midnight [Jim & Ken Wheat] gaffer; ph: Phedon Papamichael
2006	The Sunday Man [Danielle Shamash; short/15m] set photographer; ph: Art Meyerhoff; prod AFI (Directing Workshop for Women)
2009	The Adventures of Tintin [: The Secret of the Unicorn] [Steven Spielberg] p+HD-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema [also 3-D version])/c; anim/107m; uncred consultant

FILMS, TELEVISION & INTERNET AS DIRECTOR

With actress Winona Ryder - "Lost Souls"

1998	Lost Souls [feature] ph: Mauro Fiore
*2003*	Fields of Fire [project]
*2006*	A Woman of No Importance [pre-production]
*2006*	Mama Masai [in development]
*2006*	The Night Witch/White Rose [announced]
2006	Hania [feature; + ph] see Films
2010	The Event [ep #15 'Face Off'] 22-part tv-series, 2010-11; ph (HD [Genesis]): Feliks Parnell
2011	American Dream [feature; + story/co-exec prod] ph: Keith Dunkerley
2013	Making a Scene [RED Epic/c; short/10m/11 seg] ph: Bartosz Nalazek; for The New York Times Magazine (internet)
2014	The Divide [ep #4 'Never Forget'] 8-part tv-series, 2014; ph (HD): Bob Aschmann
2015	The Postcard Killings [feature; replaced Everado Gout] pre-production