Cinematography Into the Wild

Philippe Birker ID 517518

Cinematography in Into the Wild

A film directed by Sean Penn (2007)

Motivation:

I choose the movie Into the Wild for my midterm paper, since I it is one of my most

favorite movies and since I think that the cinematography is simply exceptional. The

cinematographer Eric Gautier is famous for his use of wide shots, and his capability

of capturing the beauty of nature. Into the Wild is as a result a movie with some

breathtaking nature shots. However I decided not to analyze one of the many famous

sequences in the nature, but rather the scene when Christopher Mc Candless alias

Alexander Supertramp comes back to the city for the first time. This scene is not one

that receives a lot of attention, but in my opinion it is one of the most important

scenes in the movie and I will show in the following how the cinematography

contributes to this importance.

Plot of the Movie

The movie Into the Wild is based on the book by John Krakauer, which describes the

true story of Christopher Mc Candless, who abandoned all his possesions and gave all

his savings to charity, after his graduation from Emor University. Then he started a

two year journey to Alaska, where he wanted to live in the wild.

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Context of the Scene

The specific scene that I am going to analyze is right after Alex (I choose this name

for the rest of the analysis, since this is what he calls himself for 90 percent of the

movie) trip with a kayak, all the way down to Mexico. It is the last time Alex returns

to the city life and the moment where he realizes that he does not belong in the city

any more. I will show how the cinematography underlines this feeling.

Into The Wild - Los Angeles City Scene

The Los Angeles city scene goes from moment 1.09.28 (hour.minute.second) to

1.13.26 of the movie, but the part I want to focus on is 1.12.09 to 1.13.26. In this part

one sees Alexander after he leaves the city mission, in which he just received a bed,

and starts walking in the city at nighttime.

The camera uses a straight on angle on an eye level and switches between a close up

of Alex and his facial expression and his surrounding from his perspective. Through

this the viewer sees the images Alex sees and right afterwards his facial reaction.

Thereby it creates a very realistic view of what Alex sees and feels while he is

walking through the city.

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The amazing thing that is done by the cinematographer Erik Gautier, is that he makes

use of a freeze frame of a split second, whenever the viewer sees the other people on

the street from Alex perspective. Through this the image has a bigger impact on the

audience and the discomfort and shock that Alex is feeling is truly conveyed.

Furthermore the whole sequence is filmed in a low shutter speed and through that, one

really feels like one is walking in LA as well. This adds again to the realism of the

scene and to the understanding of the viewer of the discomfort that Alex feels.

Another thing that underlines the negative connotations of the city, is that everything

is very dark and that the lightning changes all the time, sometimes even in such a way

that Alex is just one big shadow and one can not see his face but only his shape, even

though he is filmed from the front with a medium close up shot, a short focal length

and a straight on angle. Through that the whole negative and depressing atmosphere

of the city is even more enhanced.

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At 1.12.40, the location changes and one sees Alex walking through a tunnel, next to

the street, while an ambulance is driving on the street behind him. The scene is filmed

from the front with a long focal length, creating the feeling that Alex is somehow not

really moving forward and that he is completely lost and misplaced in the city. This

feeling is even more enhanced through the fact that a selective focus is used, drawing

the viewer’s attention to Alex and thereby emphasizing the fact that he does not fit in.

After that, the audience sees Alex walking past a bar that is filled with young middle

and upper class people, which are talking and drinking.

Now Gautier makes use of a dolly shot and the camera tracks along the room,

capturing the faces of the different people, before it zooms back to Alex who looks

into the bar from outside and looks completely misplaced.

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Even though the shot is filmed from inside the bar and Alex is further away than the

two girls that are also in the shot and that are talking and laughing, the focus is clearly

on him. Gautier chose to rack the focus on Alex, while zooming in on him, so that he

really sticks out at 1.12.55, once again showing that he does not belong here. The

zooms continues until a close up of Alex face, at which point the perspective turns

180 degrees and we now look into the bar from Alex point of view.

At exactly 01.13.00 we look straight at a guy from Alex point of view. The camera

zooms in until we have a medium close up of the guy, at which point his face

transforms into Alex face, back into the other guys face and back into Alex face

laughing and basically being the other guy. Then the camera switches to a close up of

Alex face outside the window looking judgmental and despairing at the people in the

bar and at the person that could be himself. The whole scene shows in my opinion that

Alex knows that he could also be that guy inside the bar, which is drinking his

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cocktail and flirting with girls. But he chooses not to be. This is in my opinion the

final moment, where Alex and through the use of the cinematography also the viewer,

realize that Alex does not belong in the city and that this is not the life for him.

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Then there is a cut, we see Alex taking his back from his locker at the city mission

and we see him running outside. The whole time the camera follows him, using a side

tracking shot at the height of his waste and then, when Alex goes past the lady on the

counter, capturing her surprised facial expression. Again showing that his behavior is

weird and unexpected for city people, even the ones at a city mission.

Then another cut, and we get an extreme long shot view of the city. What is rare for

the movie is that this is a deep focus shot, meaning that there is no focus and that the

whole picture is very clear, something that is not done very often.

At 1.13.24 Alex head appears in the front right corner and the focus directly shifts to a

selective focus on him, leading to the fact that the city in the background becomes

very fuzzy and that there is a clearly visible distinction between Alex and the city.

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This again symbolizes that Alex is outside of society and does not belong in the city

anymore. At 1.13.26 the scene ends. However by this moment, I believe that it was

clearly established in this scene, among others with the use of cinematography, that

Alex does not fit into this modern city live anymore and that he has only one choice,

to go into the wild.

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Cinematography Into the Wild