The Hateful Eight

So it's that time of year again. Time for family, holidays, good food and presents. However, it's also time for some interesting movies. Now everyone's been clamoring about the new Star Wars, but personally, I have my eyes set on a different movie. The Hateful Eight is the, coincidently or not, eighth movie from famous director Quentin Tarantino. He's made some of the most commercially and critically successful movies ever, such as Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, and most recently, Django Unchained. He has been known for his sharp writing, over the top violence and meticulous attention to detail that's garnered him such a loving following over the years.

The movie, set to star actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Walter Goggins, Tim Roth among others. Many faces in the cast will look familiar to people who have seen a Tarantino film before. Anyway, the movie is about eight different people who, against their will, get trapped in a building and have to spend a few nights with each other, and this isn't any happy sleepover. No one trusts anyone and tensions are bound to be high.

One choice Tarantino made for the film which is really interesting is he made the decision to shoot using 70mm film, which isn't seen too often these days, and is certainly worth checking out one of the 70mm versions, because it will contain 6 addition minutes of film as well as usage of different takes. The total run time for the 70mm version is 3 hours and 2 minutes, and it's likely jam packed with everything that makes his movies so enjoyable. The movie releases on Christmas day, and I recommend making plans to go see, not necessarily on Christmas. And don't forget to go with someone you trust.

De Last Post

DE LAST OF THE POSTES

     I probably should have gone the route of writing this blog post in the beginning of the week before my sanity packed up a suitcase and left in the middle of the night, but it just sent me  a postcard from the happy recess of my mind so here it goes before I forget.  

     Just like everyone else probably I must reflect on the past year in Fiction Field 2, it had and has its ups and had and has its down, but one thing is for sure...I learned a lot. I learned a lot about production, myself, and other people. Highlights include the workshop with David Scalafile and the Sound Workshop in the Field with Jeff Pullman, and of course the Beautiful Stopover City!

     This was the first semester where I was actually given a taste and an idea of the what the actual industry is like outside of work in the way of making film and television, and i'm happy to say I was excited and optimistic by what I saw. I definitely have a batter of understanding of what i want to do outside of college and what I need to be doing now to get there. 

     Going off that tangent, there is a lot that I know nothing about and there is a lot that I need to learn and fast. I am always over my head but slowly I feel like I am swimming up to the surface and hopefully my next film will go a lot smoother and more stress free than this one. I am so thankful for everyone who helped out on this project and their experience and dedication, I only wish that our in class group was bigger so we didn't have to rely on so many outside sources, as most of them had to take time out of their extremely busy schedules to help us, thank you to all you lovely people!

     To this semester and to this class I say Adios! And in some ways just good riddance, I can't wait to leave the inexperience of this semester behind on my part and now tackle bigger issues that I need to work on to be the best filmmaker I can be.  

Why you should be using Lynda.com everyday

LYNDA.COM, FREE...NICE

     So now the secret is out that Lynda.com is free to all of us students here at Ithaca College, and it's kind of a big deal. Why? Because in case you didn't know Lynda.com has an insanely large library of tutorials and resources, often times each tutorial being 2-3 hours. Especially in the camera department. So instead of browsing mindless Facebook posts or youtube for hours I suggest utilizing your time to learn, and become better at what it is you want to do. 

     I've always been a believer that education outside the classroom is equal and often times more important than that inside, especially in the medium we are in. Experience is key is learning and taking what we learn from the classroom into real life is where we synthesize and internalize.Lynda.com acts much like the classroom, often times giving assignments or tips on how to succeed in the field, and being able to take it at your own pace, and pick and choose what you want to learn, has been extremely valuable to me.  

     Lately I've been on a quest for knowledge, ingesting as much information as I can successfully and the resources we have now in this age are broader and vaster than ever before. There really is no excuse why our generation shouldn't be able to put out the best content in the history of the medium. Learning to utilize these tools is going to determine what the future of film is going to be and I intend to utilize all my resources until I can be the best I can be, which is a looooonnnnggg way off from now. 

     In summation, you have a fantastic resource that is free at the click of a finger. Use it and I promise you you won't regret it. 

Learning from this semester

My name is Michayla Rose Savitt and this semester, I reached my breaking point. What was I thinking? Simultaneously doing production design for TWO films, one of which I co-wrote & developed? I should have known that doing all the production design for my fiction field 2 film would be too much, since I have a tendency to throw my whole self into every project I do (not a bad quality in all cases, but not great when you also have a thousand and one other obligations).

I also took on a large role in post-production by transferring/logging all the footage, re-writing the script supervisor's notes for our editor, and marking half the sound cues to foley in. And because I was so invested in other parts of pre-production, I don't think the production design was as spectacular as I dreamed it would be. This was super disappointing for me when I thought back to my original goals for my independent study in production design.

Over the break 12 hours total driving time to and from home, I had a lot of time to reflect on the semester thus far. A big reason that I end up going to sleep super late all the time is because I have too much going on during the day with planning for extracurriculars/having one too many radio shifts. The clarity was nice, but slightly upsetting. I realized that I need to discontinue more extracurriculars than I originally thought. I've written about this before, but I think I need to say it again for my own sake so I actually follow it. 

While this is an easy thing to say in theory, it's not easy in practice. I already made the tough decision to discontinue my involvement with the online radio station after this semester, since I have become more involved with the FM station. And like i've mentioned before, I am no longer on the producing team of After Hours. So two things that have been a big part of my life for more than a year, but I think I've gotten all that I can out of them and need to move on.

I'd really like to focus more on the art department side of things now that I have more experience under my belt. I made the decision to only take on positions related to art (aka already said no to producing someone's senior cinema thesis) because I want to further enhance my skills in that department. So far I've been recruited to working art crew for a media thesis, and also for this year's David Ames winning script. So i'm excited for both of those.

After rambling for 5 paragraphs, I'll leave you with some tips about how to stay calm when it feels like everything is about to swallow you whole:
-listen to music that makes you happy
-talk to a friend who can sympathize
-make time to exercise. it helps you blow off steam.
-journal about frustrations
-take 10 minutes out of your day to meditate
-make a list of stressor and number them in order of what's most important to worry about/what is actually under your control.
-hug a friend!!!!!!
-BREATHE.

That is all. Good luck this week, friends.

What I've learned from Filming Dollhouse

So throughout the semester, as the weeks went by and we time and time again had nothing tangible to show for our efforts, I knew that on the day filming Dollhouse was going to be a little hectic. I'm not averse to things getting a little hectic on set, as long as the group is working well as a team and stress levels are fairly low. However if I had to go through this whole process again there would definitely be a few things I'd do differently.

1. Get the Script finished faster:
I like writing a lot, but I've never really written a horror film before so this was perhaps the biggest challenge for me. I've grown to like horror movies a lot over the past few weeks, but I still feel as though their not really in my wheelhouse creatively. That being said I do think that our final script was leagues above the one I originally drafted up, and I have Sam and Anna to thank for that.

2. Get a solid budget together:
We've put a budget together fairly early on, but we had to make some cuts due to a few issues with funding. We wanted to stray away from crowd sourcing since we'd were thinking that we'd like to reserve asking for money from our friends for our thesis films, or if we ever become homeless. I thought that using venmo as a way to move money around would be easy as I could track everyone's contribution and make sure that we never spent more than we needed to . Venmo turned out not being such a hot idea, as only two of our group members actually used it to contribute, and the rest of the groups money came to me through cash. I think in the future I'm going to insist that we use cash exclusively for budgeting, things just get too complicated when I have to track two different accounts at once. That being said I really appreciate that everyone participated in lending some cash. It definitely made crafty a lot easier on me, and I'm just now working up how much I can pay back those who spent some of their own money on the project.

3. Better Group Communication:
The first thing that I got whenever I landed on a set in LA was a detailed rundown of what scenes we were shooting that day, and the shot order we were shooting them in. That did not happen on our set and I think our communication definitely suffered for it. There were times where I wished that had all met to talk more about the creative decisions we were looking to make, there were times when things like a storyboard would have definitely come in handy.

In Conclusion:
I hope that it doesn't come across that I didn't have any fun shooting over the past weekend, or that I don't think we put together a successful project, because that was absolutely not the case. I think everyone, no matter how tired, or frustrated, or hungry they were really brought it on set, and I think our final project will definitely reflect that. Though I didn't play a huge part in shooting the actual film, I had a ton of fun on set  and I hope everyone else did too. I can't wait to see the final cut, and I 'm really happy that this is the last film I'll be a part of here at Ithaca College.

Some sound speed on a Saturday

I am a firm believer in that every choice you make affects the path your life will take. I sat in my bed Friday night thinking of what I wanted out of the weekend. I knew that we would be shooting the Stopover City title sequence and scootering pickups most of Sunday, and also had my 10 AM-noon WICB Best of Broadway show before all of that. So basically Saturday was my only time off; therefore I had a choice to make about how to spend my Saturday; I could either:

a.     go to the Cortaca football game and have a mediocre time whilst freezing my butt off.

b.     sleep in and regain some strength lost from overworking the whole week.

c.      attend the sound workshop held by multiple Ithaca alumni and professionals in the field.

After a fair amount of late night internal debate, I decided to attend the sound workshop. I reasoned that there are a ton of opportunities to sleep and have fun with friends, but it’s not everyday that professional location & post sound mixers come in to talk with students freely (it literally only happens once a semester). I also don’t know a ton about on-location sound mixing but would really like to improve in case I ever needed to do emergency sound mixing for a film.

So I woke up the next morning (at 7:30 AM because my roommates were blasting music in preparation for the game, *sigh*) and made my way over to Park to learn! I thought I would experience some fear of missing out (aka FOMO) but the workshop was so interesting that I forgot all about the other potential plans I had.

The workshop began with the sound mixers in a panel discussion, including both location and post-sound mixers. They spoke not only of the sound industry, but also of the overall tv/film industry workflow. The panelists had a lot of very helpful/inspirational things to say—some of which I wrote down in my handy-dandy notepad. Here’s a few pieces of advice they gave (all 8 of) us:

-it’s really important to invest in your own equipment—that way you get more practice with the equipment.

-(more audio-concentrated but) know signal flow; that helps you troubleshoot a live recording session if something isn’t working

-learn how to manipulate mics

-“it’s all about listening”

-the turnaround is a lot faster in television than in TV.

-fast problem solving is the key to making yourself irreplaceable

-if & when you’re a freelancer, you have to be accountable for yourself

-figure out what type of work you thrive in and what works for your personality*

*I found this piece of advice most significant for people of all concentrations. I am still unsure of where my “calling” is in the industry based on my personality. On the one hand I love doing art department but it is extremely difficult with little to no budget, and I am not interested in producing because I don’t enjoy bossing people around. Location sound is not something I’d like to pursue as a career but I would definitely like to get a better handle on it so I could run sound on a future documentary passion project(?). I am getting quite off topic, but that’s how most of these posts go.

the 1 picture I sniped: mama & baby mixer--SO CUTE

After the panel, we split off into location and post-sound mixing. Four people (including myself) meandered off to 269 for the location sound where Jeff Pullman and David Rosenberg worked with us on refining skills such as boom and lavaliere placement, in addition to little tips and tricks in making our location mix the best it could be. While most of the mixing stuff went right over my head, it was extremely helpful to learn about the microphone manipulation tips. It definitely inspired me to refresh on the pickup patterns of different mics to be better prepared for shoots. At the end of the workshop Jeff generously offered for any of us to shadow him on Madame Secretary in the Big Apple, which I will definitely do (hopefully) over winter break.

Overall, it was a very intriguing workshop and I feel that it was time very well spent.

Cloverfield

In the realm of novelty movie genres, found footage is probably one of the most famous, and also one of the most divisive. People are always kinda torn on whether or not they like this style. On one hand, it provides and interesting change of pace from typically movies and allows for some cool tricks. It also gives some better insight into the characters involved, seeing them from an up close personal space. On the other hand, found footage movies are typically shaky and can easily cause viewers to get motion sickness. The reason I bring this up is because these were some of the comments surrounding J.J. Abrams' 2008 sci-fi film, Cloverfield.

This movie revolves around the idea of a group of friends trying to escape New York as a giant monster starts wreaking havoc on the city. This style of filming was used before, in movies such as The Blair Witch Project, and has since been used many times, like in the Paranormal Activity series of movies. However, when this movie first came out, it kickstarted the trend. It was really interesting to see how the characters react in the situation and every little nuance of their personality that gets caught on camera. Another nice touch is how they used the effect of stopping recording, as periodically, seeing how the camera guy is recording over another characters video which gives some background to the movie, it switches between the present with the monster and the past with the boyfriend and girlfriend on their date. The main criticism is, of course, the shaky camera, as it made seeing what was going on difficult and did make some movie goers motion sick.

Overall it was a solid and enjoyable flick that gives a new perspective to the millions of people running from the monster instead of the heroes fighting it off.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman

So last night I had to go out and do a fundraiser for the Club Softball team, which I did not want to do. So when I got home at 1 am, and I was tired but didn't want to sleep yet, I wanted to watch a light hearted movie that. As I was scrolling through Netflix, I saw Mr. Peabody & Sherman on my suggested list. I vaguely remembered hearing that the movie was good, so I decided to give it a go.

I was hooked in the first 10 minutes. Not only is the animation beautiful and the color pallet very bright and pleasing, but the character design for Sherman is absolutely adorable. Not only that, but Ty Burrell is an absolute delight, and the story is actually very compelling and witty for a children's movie. 

I am also a huge fan of historical anything in films, so I really liked that while yes fictional and intended to be comical, the history they brought in with the time travel aspect was really interesting to watch, and brings a little humor and goofiness to some very famous points in history. The script is intelligent, cute, and able to bring two generations together to enjoy one movie.

YouTube And The Independent Filmmaker

YouTube And The Independent Filmmaker

     Does YouTube have a role to play to the Independent Filmmaker? YouTube is itself perhaps the greatest global distribution platform we have on the internet ; or at least the most widely used. With over a billion viewers, 4 billion views per day, and 300 hours of video uploaded every minute youtube is teeming with creators but what kind of creator? In Independent Filmmaker?
     YouTube has a reputation of cat videos, memes, music, tutorials, poorly shot bits of TV and Movies, and things that keep you distracted from your homework but not cinema that will engage you. Those types of things (short films, web series, ect....) have pushed there way into Vimeo, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and other sites. But why? Why isn't the next House of Cards, or the next great short film being not only uploaded but promoted through YouTube with its vast diversity and range for audience? 

     I  think there are many problems towards when putting your work on YouTube as a main mode of distribution and exposure. One is the sheer mass of content that is being put on youtube. Another is the audience that I think youtube has created and the culture around it. YouTube stars have dominated the marketplace creating a medium of societal commentary through narration rather than a platform to share storytelling ideas. 

     Though it's not as if youTube hasn't tried to cater to the independent filmmakers in the past. In 2013 at SunDance youtube launched "Youtube Shorts @ NEXT WEEKEND," featuring the likes of College Humor, Machinima, and VICE, to show the industry of short films on YouTube. But even then these companies do not represent the individual user that uploads content on YouTube. 

     This all ties into YouTube's recent announcement "YouTube Red" which is adding for a $10 a month subscription fee to those users who want access to things like no ads, more extensive music features, and exclusive videos from YouTube creators (mainly youtube stars). There are many problems with this flawed model, including why people wouldn't just use ad block, and how YouTube creators are going to deliver the quality and quantity videos needed to sustain a "exclusive" club for people who pay the price. 

     This idea of people paying for YouTube content I think is a failure as a  model considering their audience and the nature of their content but maybe it proposes a counterpoint to Vimeo in some way and a better model for the Independent Filmmaker and the web series that are littered the internet. If youtube could tap into the market of short films, web television and convince people to pay for seeing these services I think filmmaking could make it's way to youtube. With it's great distribution and audience and short films great quality and appeal maybe it could hold a future in the world of indie films.  

#ContinuityProbs

So because I am a sucker for any movie with cool dancing in it, over fall break I watched the second installment of the every growing Step Up movie series; Step Up 2: The Streets. The final scene of the film is a super long and I will admit, super cool dance scene that takes place outside and in the rain. After the heroic team finishes their awesome rain dance, one of the characters, Moose, goes to talk to the girl he likes, Sophia. However it seems like in each cut in the scene of them talking, Moose's hat is turned a different way, even though you are never shown him actually switching his hat.

Okay so here we are in the first part, and Moose's hat is on frontways

Then as soon as we cut to a two shot of the back of him, his hat is backwards

Then we cut to a closer shot of the same exact scene where they are talking and once again, his hat has switched.

And then, as all teen movies go, Sophia kisses Moose in this closeup and yayy!! His hat is still on frontways

Okay, okay awesome, some consistency, lets see if we can cut to a wider shot of this kiss 

Damn! All we did was cut to a little bit wider and once again, his stupid hat is switched again, and I think we all can agree that he did not switch his hat based on that claw grip he has on Sophia's arm.

Anyway, my point is, while you are shooting you may not think that continuity is that important and that you can remember how the actors did each of the scenes, it is an incredibly important part of making a good and consistent film so make sure you get a dope script supervisor.

The Revenant: Words from the Set

WORDS FROM THE SET OF THE REVENANT

    

     The Revenant is a western directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman), it's release date is late December.The movie revolves around the Hugh Glas, and American Frontiersman and his escapades in exploring the West. If you haven't heard of Hugh Glass, wikipedia him immediately, his story is better than most anything and everything Hollywood has produced in the past five years. 

     Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass and in a recent interview with the A.V. Club talks about the film process and says, "It's going to be one of the most unique film-going experiences that audiences have seen in modern times." Watch the trailer and you can see why. This film looks extremely ambitious, from it's filming, to it's production design, to the conditions that they were in. DiCaprio confirmed that thought the cast remained crew members left due to the conditions of the film. 

     We all know that a lot of work goes into every film but I have a feeling this film is going has broken our expectations of a hard day on set and I am hopeful in what the fruit of all their labor will be. 

     

Black Dynamite

Shaft, Undercover Brother, Pootie Tang, Django Unchained. All of these movies have one thing in common: they are all a part of the sub-genre of film known Blaxploitation. This genre has seen many entries over the years, but one of the best, in my opinion, would have to be Black Dynamite. This movie, released in 2009, was made as a spoof of these types of movies, and it is one of the funniest movies I've seen ever.

The film follows the titular Black Dynamite as he uncovers a conspiracy that goes far beyond what you would originally think. Everything is made to look like a film from the 70's, from the costumes to the music, everything thing meshes really well to encapsulate the feeling of the era. One element of humor used throughout the movie is the use of "mistakes" in either production or editing. These instances are done on purpose to give a low budget feel to the film and it's really funny to see them run with mistakes that normal movies avoid like the plague.

For instance, in one scene Black Dynamite stands up and his head hits the boom, which is clearly in the shot and he looks at it confused, or when another character gets slapped in a fight, he breaks character and actually gets pissed which is followed by a quick cut and resuming the scene with a completely different actor. Little things like this go a long way for keen viewers picking up on every little subtle joke. In addition to the movie, an animated show was produced for Adult Swim, featuring the cast of the original movie, and that just takes the over-the top factor, well, over the top. This movie definitely isn't for everyone, and from a technical perspective it isn't really anything spectacular, but it is just such a good time that it's hard not to enjoy while watching it.

Grand Designs and Flat Characters

If you're at all interested in horror or thriller movies chances are you're aware of the brimming box office success of director Guillermo Del Toro's (spelled his name right first try) newest film "Crimson Peak". Crimson peaks follows the story of a wealthy american heiress, played by Mia Wasikowska, who finds herself wed to struggling English inventor, played by Tom Hiddleston.

Mia is whisked by her new lover from the comfort of the streets of buffalo New York to a grand and desolate mansion in the heart of  the English countryside. After a few nights it becomes both clear to Mia and the audience that something ghostly is a foot, but for the sake of spoilers I'll spare you all the details of the rest of the plot.

Overall the film is gorgeous, I really found myself being sucked into the frame by the wealth of period details. Perhaps the only fumble on the part of the production design was in layering on too many heavy handed metaphors throughout. Early on in the film is compared to a butterfly and from that point forward there is distinct insect iconography in almost every scene. 

On the topic of butterflies, it's strange to me that Mia's character is compared to one so often despite the fact that she undergoes no character metamorphosis what so ever. Her character lacks any sort of motivation ; even when she's hit over the head with plot details that would leave any other person paralyzed with fear, she doesn't bat so much as an eyelash.

The film as a whole just felt a little bit too fast, like someone cranked up the speed on the haunted mansion ride at disney. There are a few scary parts, but the film jumps to the next scene so fast that you never get to seep yourself in the horror of the protagonists situation. I'd definitely recommend it to those of you looking to go into production design, but if you're looking for a truly gripping thriller you could do a whole lot better than Crimson Peak.

Follow Flow

The other night I noticed that the movie Boogie Nights was added to Netflix. I had heard this movie was really good before, and it's by Paul Thomas Anderson, so how can it be bad. It stars Mark Wahlberg as he breaking into the "movie" industry. Anyway, a few times throughout the movie, they use these kinds of shots, like in the opening sequence when they show a good portion of the characters in a night club, or at a house party where they transfer from conversation to conversation before taking a dip in the pool. There are many other shows and movies that make use of this style well, such as in True Detective with the now famous drug raid follow shot that goes on for a solid 6-minutes, or the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode that was all one perfect follow shot for the whole episode, which was inspired by the True Detective one. It's hard not to be impressed with follow shots, whenever they show up in media. There's so much work going into it, and being able to move with the action really draws you into the scene and makes it feel all the more realistic.

I feel that each time one of the follow shots came up, it feels like they improve the feel of the scene. Plus, you have to consider all of the work that goes into making it happen: everything needs to be perfect for the an entire run. All the actors need to get their line on the first try, nothing incorrect happens in the background at any point, and also making sure that nothing that isn't supposed to be shown isn't. The point I'm trying to make is that if you ever see one, make sure to appreciate all the it manages to accomplish.

The Longest Yard (Remake)

I was a little lost trying to figure out something to write about for my blog this week. I ended up getting distracted while brainstorming and watching Youtube videos. Then I found myself watching the "Funniest Moments in The Longest Yard" and I noticed some interesting film techniques.

In analyzing scene from The Longest Yard it was interesting to me to see how the film has changed for me now that I have been studying film. It is one of my childhood favorites and I never noticed until now how spoon fed the shots where. Each and every shot in the film is showing something


intended. Each reaction shot, every play, and all the pans/tilts. It was a very interesting and easy film to break down.

While I still enjoy the film I just found it interesting to see how formulaic its approach in records to camera usage was.

If you would like to check out the funny moments highlights check out this link: Funniest Moments

Casting Call Tips

With our second casting call for Stopover City rolling around I've definitely picked on to some of the do's and don'ts of casting calls. I thought you all would appreciate some tips for your future casting calls...

How to run a successful casting call

• Casting Location
• The location needs to be in an comfortable environment with ample room for actor to prepare prior to auditioning.
• Advertise Casting Call
• Promote your casting date on all social media (Facebook, Twitter, and the film webpage)
• Promote via posters *literally post them everywhere*
• Expand promotion outside of school, send mass emails and contact actor agencies.
• Choose Scenes for Actors to Read at Casting Call.
• Look for short scenes that involve the character interacting and illustrate a range of emotion.
• Have more than one scene available for reading.
• Make a schedule

• Rent Location for casting, and if needed equipment before hand to avoid any potential conflicts
• Extensive time block. *you want to avoid making the actor feel rushed.

• Distribute information sheets to actors
• At the end of each audition, you should provide the actor with an information sheet that contains the following:
• outline the days of production
• contact information for them to fill.
• Extra Tips for Casting Day!
• Be knowledgeable of script and all deadlines
• Have a script available. I recommend 1 electronic copy, and 2 hard copies.
• Have a script breakdown and character descriptions *actors will appreciate more context of their character prior to auditioning
• Have a camera ready to record the audition
• Have a sign in sheet posted
• Provide refreshments and snacks to leave a professional and lasting impression.

Use of Music in FIlms

What would a film be without music. Nothing. Well okay, it would still be a series of images that make up a story, but it really wouldn't be that good. A film can be absent of dialogue, or color, and it can still be a great film. However, without music, a film cannot be great.

 Music is the thing in films that evoke emotion. Music is what is going make you cry or laugh or get that really warm feeling when things turn out the way that you want them to. Music can really enhance the cinematic experience.

The score is what can take a film from good to iconic. There are some scores that have transcended our respect for music in films, here are some of the best film scores in my opinion.

E.T.

To Kill A Mockingbird

Jurassic Park

Back to the Future

Harry Potter

Running wild for the film Wild.

Over the weekend I decided to watch the 2014 film Wild starring Reese Witherspoon and directed by Jean- Marc Vallee. The film Wild illustrates Cheryl Strayed's journey to spiritual fulfillment and a better self. Cheryl Strayed decided to take an untraditional route to recovery by hiking the 1,000 miles Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) alone. The trail runs through California, Oregon, and Washington almost touching the Canadian border (according to the film). In awe, the hike is extremely difficult and dangerous due to the fluctuating altitudes, weather, and exposure to wildlife and overall isolation. Strayed's memoir was almost entirely made to be a great film, and a great film is exactly what it was!

Reese Witherspoon's performance had an exceptional performance as Strayed. She presented the torments and overall emotional damage and perseverance Strayed carried throughout her hike. I appreciated that Valle incorporated the aspect of femininity in the film. Noting that the PCT predominately was male dominated and the fact that Strayed not only hiked it alone but completed it was phenomenal and definitely worth mentioning. In the film Witherspoon starts off with an enormous back pack filled with a lot of things that she expects she’ll need but really doesn’t. That moment, although a bit comical, is actually a sign showing that Strayed was prepared to hike the PCT. Gradually over time she begins to learn how to keep herself going, and along the way make the back pack lighter by getting rid of the unnecessary stuff.

The back pack is very much a symbol of the spiritual and mental weight that Strayed carried around from so many years after the death of her mother, her ill childhood, heroine addiction, and over all damaging path as an adult. As she hikes through the PCT she mentally is dealing with all her demons and overcoming them in an edgy way. That is represented by her slowly lightening the weight of her backpack throughout the hike.

I want to compliment the way the director Vallee decided to go about representing Strayed’s demons. He replicated the how when someone is alone they are often times flooded with unwanted thoughts—like when we lay down to sleep after a long day we often think about the bad points or something that bothered us days ago. Vallee represents this by using flashbacks in the film, almost as if every time Strayed overcomes or approaches a new demon she has a flashback on a particular incident. At times it was her mothers death from cancer, or her mothers joyful, uplifting attitude while singing in the kitchen. Other times it was her husband’s disappointment in her addiction and inability to commit to solely him. I must say that there are a lot of strong images of addiction and promiscuity in the film but that is what makes it raw and uncut—relatable to the audience.

I was often times very emotional throughout the film, and completely consumed by it. The film Wild runs a bit under 2 hours total but is definitely a great watch. I recommend it to you all.

Here's the Trailer: