New Outdoor Film You Have to See!

[drake22]

Acclaimed filmmakers show hunting as "elegant"

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Elk hunter and mountain athlete Mark Seacat has long believed that the primal act of hunting is, at its core, quite beautiful. Now he and director Christopher Murphy think they’ve proven it. They’ve created what they call an “elegant and authentic hunting story” with their new short film, Searching for West.

Revealing the beauty of a discipline that’s been relegated to three-digit cable channels meant using the latest cutting-edge equipment – like gyroscopic camera stabilizers mounted to helicopters and a camera that shoots more than 2,500 frames per second. It meant inventing graceful new ways to show the flight of arrows and bullets. And it meant telling good stories, like when Seacat is forced to choose between spending Thanksgiving weekend with his young family and making one last foray deep into the backcountry after spotting “The One.”
The teaser for Searching for West is available to view at searchingforwest.com, and the short film in its entirety premieres Aug. 16 in Bozeman at the Emerson's Crawford Theater. It will be free to view at searchingforwest.com, sitkafilms.com and leica.com starting Aug. 22.

The film stars Seacat, 33, an accomplished elk hunter and professional photographer whose son, West, was born 10 days before the 2011 Montana elk season. He pushes himself to do it all – chasing elk each day in grand and unyielding landscapes, getting home in time for a late dinner, staying up the night with his newborn to let his wife rest, and leaving well before dawn to do it all again.

“You have all these tensions,” Murphy said. “Mark’s a relatively new husband, a brand new father, and a passionate hunter. Hunting is his livelihood, it's the thing he's been living for for most of his life. But now he's striving to be a great father and husband. He has to find balance, but balance ultimately requires sacrifice.”

Murphy, 34, grew up on a ranch near Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness and hunted with his father when he was young, though skateboarding became his passion. As a professional skateboarder, he was constantly in the presence of camera equipment, fell in love with the art of film, and studied the subject in college.

Murphy and business partner Kina Pickett, founded Bozeman-based Helio Collective, the production house behind Searching for West. Helio is known for creating pieces for clients like Red Bull Media House, Teva, Dakine, Quicksilver, Oracle, and gained international notoriety for their motion graphic work in the intro sequence to the 2011 snowboarding epic, The Art of Flight.
“What I love about working with Helio is that they know how to weave a story,” Seacat said. “This is something that’s really personal to me. Our goal all along was to share how beautiful and inspiring hunting can be. I think the story is something that everyone can relate to, something that really tugs at the emotions.”

The film is sponsored by Sitka Gear, Leica Sport Optics, and GORE-TEX®, whose products appear throughout.

About Mark Seacat:

For Mark, elk hunting has always been a family activity. His mother was elk hunting while he was in the womb, and his father was beside him when he harvested his first elk at 12, and when he tagged his first 6-point bull at 14. He’s harvested an elk nearly every fall since. In his 20s, he worked as an elk-hunting guide near Yellowstone National Park, and supervised an Ecological Field Station in Cooke City, Mont. His first job in the hunting industry was at Mystery Ranch Backpacks, he then started Outdoor Life Magazine’s Live Hunt Blog in 2009 and founded Seacat Creative, a marketing firm for outdoor gear makers, that same year. Mark currently works for more than 20 companies in the Camera, Outdoor, and Hunting Industries. He can be reached at mark@seacatcreative.com.

About Helio Collective:

Helio Collective is a multi-disciplinary creative production company that produces branded content, advertisements, and brand films with rich stories. Helio combines their disciplines of writing, directing, design, animation, cinematography, and editing to create engaging experiences for broadcast, web and film. Simply stated, they are artists with a passion for storytelling and the aspiration of creating captivating authentic media. Helio can be reached at info@heliocollective.com.

For information on where to see the trailer for this film go to : http://www.facebook.com/TruckVault/app_190854347612697