Stand by Me

For this class Ollywood I was assigned to choose a movie that would best suit me and would be able to watch. I chose "Stand by Me" by Rob Reiner. I was recommended by my teacher and so I watched it thinking probably it was going to be boring but at the end I really like it and now it's one of my favorite movies of all times. I think that this movie was great. I am really proud that I got to see this movie because it was fun to watch especially a movie from the 80's.

Hey, my name is J.R and I’d like to talk to you about a really great movie titled Stand by Me directed by Rob Reiner” This movie was released on August 8, 1986, The Main characters are Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman. Stand by Me is now one of my favorite top movies that I’ll always recommend to other people. I liked this movie very much because it used some cool film techniques and some of the kids lives were a mess because of their parents really stood out throughout the whole movie. They really expressed a lot of their emotions and that’s one thing that I really liked because it made me feel what they were going through.

This movie is about four young kids that go on an adventure trying to find a missing dead body. As, they go on their adventure they go through some challenges and also become more mature. These kids try to find a missing teenage boy that got hit by a train. When they` found out about the missing boy they thought that if they found him they probably will become hero’s and have their faces on tv and the newspapers. The boys really want to do something different and special with their lives, and some just want to get away from their terrible families.

In some scenes of the movie there were a lot of fade out (dissolve) editing cuts used, more in the parts where the boys were talking/walking together on the train tracks and well because the movie is one long flashback. So, it makes good sense that the film editors would use fade outs to capture these past moments. Another editing cut used effectively was the Eyeline Match used when the group of boys all started on their adventure and one of them mentions “Food” and none brought food so they start giving their money to Gordie to count. The editing here shows that Gordie is really the unofficial leader of the group by focusing our eyes on what he is doing as he collects all of the money as the one in charge. In addition, camera techniques including long shots and mid-shots of the train tracks were used in the scene when the boys debated whether they should risk taking the train tracks and getting killed by the train and jumping off but it was 100 ft. These camera techniques, along with the editing made me feel like I was part of the group.

Besides editing and camera angles, the soundtrack of “Stand by Me” included songs weren’t really that familiar to me because the story takes place during the late 1950s. The song that really stood out to me was “Lollipop” by: The Chordettes, which is played in the scene when the boys were walking in pairs singing lollipop and making the “POP” sound. The song actually matches the action in this scene, which is interesting because the soundtrack is part of the story, not just playing over it like in most other movies. Another powerful part of the soundtrack is the flute played in Ben King’s “Stand by Me” song which is played in the early part of the film and played again in a different beat at the end of the movie. which is “stand by me by: Ben King” This song is also the title of the film, which makes me think that the theme of is really important in the movie.

Some sound effects that really brought certain scenes to life and made the boys’ journey more realistic were crumbling rocks, barfing and gunshots.

The film focuses on the friendship of these boys, and since it is told as a flashback by the main character, Gordie, it seems to show the difference between childhood and manhood. There were many scenes that showed parts where it was childhood to manhood like when all four of them went together to find this missing dead body. Chris manning up in front of his brother when both his brother’s gang meet where they find the missing dead body.

I’d recommend this film because it shows a lot of friendship between these kids and shows lots of bravery and confidence in going on to an adventure to find a dead missing body together. The best part is that each one of them has each others back no matter what.

Thank you for reading!