THE CRUEL SEA

By Darek Kuźma

Acclaimed cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen DFF assisted director Gunnar Vikene in making his poignant War Sailor an unforgettable visual experience. Indeed, Grøvlen’s work on War Sailor brought him the 2023 ASC Spotlight Award and a nomination in the main competition at the 2022 EnergaCAMERIMAGE film festival.

Vikene and Grøvlen’s take on the story of thousands of Norwegian merchant sailors, who were forced to aid the Allied World War II effort and risk their lives in the Atlantic Theatre, is a cinematic feat unto itself.

They depict the emotional, ethical and physical trials and tribulations of civilians enduring incomprehensibly Kafkaesque war-time situations – the camaraderie of collectively facing the horrors of war; the anguish of seeing friends perish in vain; the bravery of facilitating the British in fighting the oppressor; the hope that one day they will return to their homes; the grim realisation that the resources they transport may be used to wipe out their families in Nazi-occupied Norway.

War Sailor is based on real stories of countless unsung heroes who sacrificed it all to make the war winnable, and it is not for the faint of heart. Yet there is a place for hope, too, which is often the only thing keeping the characters – cooks, engineers, teachers, etc. – from giving up. It was also one of the reasons why Grøvlen, though sceptical at first, embarked on the project.

“Over the last years, the history of Norway during World War II has been exploited a lot, so I wasn’t sure War Sailor was something I wanted to shoot,” he recalls. “But the producer Maria Ekerhovd, with whom I worked on The Innocents (2021), convinced me to read the script. Once I did that, I could tell this was something different, less obvious, and, after talking to Gunnar, I knew that it was a project worth investing my time in.”

Although War Sailor has been recently adapted by Netflix into a three-part mini-series boasting more than thirty minutes of never-before-seen footage, the cinematographer asserts that he shot it for the big screen. For this purpose, he chose ARRI Alexa Mini and Bausch & Lomb Super Baltar lenses.

“I’ve shot most of my films on the Alexa Mini, and I know it by heart. It gives a very cinematic base that you can shape to suit any project, and I even have my own system of stripping it down to be more lightweight for handheld,” he laughs.

“I shot The Innocents using the Baltars as I loved the way they’re sort of unpredictable. There’s an element of chance with them that suited this story. I was lucky to find a set, rehoused by Van Diemen Films, that had a better close focus than the original vintage lenses.”

He shot War Sailor mostly using the 25mm and 35mm focal lengths, but also used 20mm, 50mm, 75mm lenses, plus a Canon K35 25-120mm zoom, which became crucial in post-war scenes.

“Our approach was to trust the story was strongenough to carry the viewers where they needed to go,” he says. “Rather than distinguishing each period visually via filters or gels, we followed the characters’ emotional experiences. The war part is mostly handheld and has a sense of urgency, then the camera gets more static, the shots are wider, but we used the same lenses.”

The cinematic quality of War Sailor was additionally enhanced by a LUT Grøvlen and colourist William Kjarval Løkken developed in the project’s early stages.

“We had lots of historical photos for reference, and Gunnar managed to source some colour film material, shot on one of the Norwegian ships during that same period. So we considered it our duty to honour these people and their war struggles,” he reflects.

“We shot a lot of tests on 35mm stock and treated them in different ways to mimic an organic filmic look. We couldn’t afford to shoot on film, and the size and weight of a 35mm camera compared to my stripped-down version of Alexa Mini would have been too bulky and heavy for the kind of handheld shots I wanted to create. The LUT was as close as possible we could get to honouring the time period, without going too far from natural skin tones, whilst having a kind of modern feel to it, that would keep people within the visual experience.”

Ludwig Kameraverleih Hamburg supplied the camera and lenses for the spring/summer part of the shoot and Storyline Oslo provided the gear for the winter part.

The story of War Sailor takes us on an intense journey encompassing both sides of the Atlantic, from 1939 in Bergen through to Malta, England, the US and Canada, ending in 1970’s Norway, when those who survived experience heart-breaking closure. Logistics were a crucial part of prep that lasted from November 2020 to April 2021.

“We decided to shoot everything on-location, except the 1970’s apartment, which, because of its specific layout, we built in a warehouse in Bergen,” he reports. “Figuring-out where and when to shoot on water, what ships to use, how to fuse the VFX organically and keep them low-key, as well as dividing the story into small chunks we’d be able to shoot in one place, all took time. Especially because we had many visual storytelling ideas going beyond the usual coverage of war.”

One such scene shows the survivors from a torpedoed ship drifting on a raft.

“After a traumatic event on the raft, the camera pans away from the characters in a 360-degree move, and returns to them, amplifying the emotional toll of what has happened, whilst also visualising that they are lost on an endless ocean,” he explains.

“We shot on the open sea in a bay in Malta. Most of the raft sequence was shot from a boat with the camera in a splash bag on a Hydro Head that was mounted on a GF14 crane. This set-up made it possible to remotely operate the camera when came into contact with the water. It was an expensive shot because in the grade we had to replace our crew and land with the open ocean, but the result was worth it.

“During the air raid on Bergen, we fixed the camera in an apartment to show the bombing. My gaffer Aslak Lytthans and myself had to create an extensive lighting set-up for this and then merge it painstakingly with the VFX in post, but it speaks volumes.”

Principal photography began in April 2021 in Malta, before the production moved to Hamburg and then Bergen over the summer months, returning to Norway during chilly November to do the winter part of the film over the course of three weeks.

“We had 60 shooting days in total. Along with the water scenes we shot in Malta, Hamburg stood for Liverpool, some of our Bergen interiors, New York harbour and many sequences on the Atlantic, as we had a museum ship at our disposal.

“I used a J.L Fisher 11 dolly for static and moving tracking shots, but the rest was handheld. No gimbals or Steadicam.”

Grøvlen core crew included 1st ACs Boye Klüver and Kjetil Mathisen (winter shoot) and 2nd ACs John ‘Babas’ Farrugi (Malta) and Robert Will (Germany).

Grøvlen’s lighting kit consisted mostly of Litepanels Geminis, Astera Helios Tubes, Litegear LED lights, Litemats and ARRI SkyPanels. He also had an HMI package for the hospital sequences and two 18Ks on cranes to illuminate the New York harbour. The latter was the most challenging set-up.

“We had one summer night to do it, around six hours, and had to light a substantial space. My approach is always to integrate light into locations as much as possible to make the viewers feel natural in there. We put redheads and blondes 10-15 metres apart down the whole harbour area and added Litemats around the camera. Plus, two 18Ks, one on each side of the set depending on which direction we shot in to give it a little push and redheads and Parcans on nearby ships.

“The 18Ks did not play at the same time, but we saved time not having to move one, and had freedom in choosing which direction to shoot in,” he says. “90% of the film was shot with one camera, but we had a second Alexa Mini for that sequence.”

Apart from the harbour, Grøvlen tried to limit his lighting to make War Sailor as authentic as possible.

“Shooting in a bomb shelter, we enhanced onand off-camera candlelight with Aputure MC LEDs for a soft flickering effect. On the raft, and during most ocean exteriors, we only had available light. The problem was that we were shooting autumn scenes on a northern sea in Malta in April, with the sun high and a good weather. It was comfortable, but we had to work on it in the grade,” he laughs.

“It was far more challenging to shoot in Norway in November as the weather was really bad, but the shots turned out to be brilliant, cold, jumpy.”

Smoothing-out weather and continuity issues were some of the most arduous aspects of the DI done with Kjarval Løkken at Post Republic Berlin.

Another impressive feat of visual storytelling was covering the chaos that ensues on a merchant ship moments before a torpedo hits in one long handheld take.

“Gunnar had a long oner in mind before I came on-board. Initially, it was planned to be the opening shot of the film. We shot it in one day, first rehearsing and then doing around ten takes until we had what we wanted. We stitched it together in post with VFX explosions and green screen shots of actors being pulled on harnesses in different directions,” he reminisces.

“It was a daunting physical task for my crew, as well as for the performers who were running and falling and bumping into each other. Not to mention the VFX team led by Jean-Michel Boubil who had to track all of the movement with the motion blur of such a handheld shot.”

These are only a few of many memorable scenes War Sailor has to offer, including the aftermath of the bombing of a Bergen school that was shot in a quarry, and heart-wrenching shots of sailors being pulled out to sea through an open hull of a torpedoed ship.

“The production design built this massive construction in a dry dock with an opening into the water, then lifted it with cranes up and down while we were there shooting handheld in a splash bag. I couldn’t be prouder of the end result.”

Now assuming its new form, of a slightly restructured mini-series, War Sailor will surely dazzle many more viewers with its harrowing tale of friendship, family and survival.