Raw Footage: Stephanie Swift is Makin' a Scene Review

Reviewed by Kelly  on  5/13/2004

Title: Raw Footage
Company: Wicked Pictures
Length: 1 hour and 29 minutes (89 minutes)
Production Date(s): May 27, 1999
Release Date: January 27, 1999
Condoms: Yes. Used by all males for vaginal and/or anal.

Director: F.J. Lincoln

The Abridged Version: As oh so many porn stars have done in past features, Stephanie Swift plays a porn star in Raw Footage. She is a successful and popular star in the industry but has become jaded with the artificiality of her work. She is tired of producing art that merely imitates life. Cinema verite is her goal and she explains as much to good friend and fellow porn star Alexa Rae. So, she sets out to produce her own video, consisting of footage taken of friends and co-workers fucking on set and unaware what Swift intends to do with the material. She told all of them that she was just doing a behind the scenes documentary, leading off every time with, “Do you mind if I ask you some questions?” Of course, this ends up going nowhere as one of the girls is furious when she finds out and pledges to sue Stephanie because our thoughtful porn star never stopped to think about the reality of needing a signed release from the models. In light of the past couple of years, this is a rather tired premise. However, this was made in 1999 when reality television was not that big of a deal so that can be forgiven. What can’t be forgiven is how mundane the sex in a film largely about the artificiality of sex in pornography proves to be. The storyline is okay the acting above average but the sex is a poor. And it does not help that this is Stephanie Swift circa 1999, meaning it is freakishly thin Stephanie. She is one of my favorite porn stars of all time but she is way too thin here. On top of that, even her usually reliable energy is lacking in the scenes. I am no fan of feature porn but I have seen far better than this one.

Scene 1: Stephanie Swift (cover girl) w/Mr. Marcus (14 minutes)

Remember that scene from 9 ½ Weeks where they used food as foreplay? No. Well, remember the scene from Hot Shots where they made fun of that by using extremely non-sensual foods, such as steak? That is kind of how this scene comes off only they don’t know that it is funny. Mr. Marcus plays Stephanie’s boyfriend. They are in their kitchen together and feeling amorous. Marcus lifts her up and puts her on a counter in the kitchen. He feeds her pizza and ice cream and then rubs her body with both foods. Sorry. Didn’t find this sexy at all. Unfortunately, the only appeal this scene ends up having is that it is Stephanie with a black guy. They go through the foreplay before screwing cowgirl and missionary. Marcus shoots off on her chest. We cut to Alexa Rae and her boyfriend sitting down to watch a video they had borrowed from Stephanie. Turns out that Ms. Swift goofed and gave them a homemade video of this very scene. Alexa turns the TV off after a minute, uncomfortable with what she was seeing.

Scene 2: Elle Devyne (slightly older, foreign, hot body, amazing natural D-cups) w/Devin Wolf (13 minutes)

Elle and Devin are designing a bathroom set with flowers, debating over the reality vs. fiction dynamics of porn. Elle claims that fucking two guys in a bathtub full of flowers, as a girl is scheduled to do the next day, sure ain’t her fantasy. Stephanie comes along with her camera and Devin vows to show her what reality is like. Devin pays quite a bit of attention to Elle’s marvelous breasts, as they stand in the bathtub. They stay standing and fuck facing each other, a position seen so often in softcore yet far too infrequently in hardcore. They kneel down and engage in more foreplay before the scene quick cuts to her riding him reverse cowgirl as he penetrates her ass. He shoots off on her breasts.

Scene 3: Stephanie Swift and Sydnee Steele (hot brunette, decent implants) w/Evan Stone (11 minutes)

After supposedly viewing reality, we return to the artifice of the on-set experience as Stephanie’s character films a three-way with Evan and Sydnee. She pleads with the director for some insight, asking, “So, have I just met these people? Am I dominant? Submissive?” He ignores her and retorts, “Just sex, Stephanie. Just sex.” Stephanie and Sydnee engage in some g/g debauchery for the delight of Evan. He, of course, joins in rather quickly. Instead of focusing on each other, the girls team up and apply their talents to Ms. Stone and his cock. Once he has been properly prepared, he screws Stephanie reverse cowgirl. Sydnee sits by, providing her mouth to clean off Evan’s dick when it might happen to slip out of Stephanie. Evan gets Sydnee back in missionary and caps it off with a stack-em up doggy style for Stephanie. Incidentally, by stack-em up I mean that Sydnee and Stephanie are stacked up on each other so that Evan can go from pussy to pussy if he wants to. Here, he just sticks to Stephanie before shooting off on her back. Afterwards, Stephanie quietly grabs her camera and interviews Sydnee and Evan, who are apparently supposed to be a couple.

Scene 4: Maya Devine (platinum blonde, implants) w/Eric Masterson ( minutes)

Maya and Eric on set doing dialogue, which apparently requires Maya to wear a black mesh top and fishnet stockings. The director yells cut and out of nowhere comes Stephanie with her questions. Maya is rather pissed at her intrusion but her boyfriend Eric distracts her with something and the next thing you know she is displaying how in charge of Eric she is during sex in their personal life for Stephanie. After Maya gets her pussy eaten and Eric gets his dick sucked, they are ready to go. Stephanie seemingly feels bad and sets the camera down on a table, still directed at the action, and quietly leaves. She misses Maya and Eric doing it in cowgirl and missionary. Eric jerks off on her chin and chest. As they pause to catch their breath, Stephanie sneaks back in to retrieve her camera.

Scene 5: Stephanie Swift and Charlie (sexy eyes, best implants I’ve ever seen, hot, full-figured) (11 minutes)

Stephanie turns to good friend and apparently well-qualified Charlie for an opinion on her work thus far. As it turns out, Charlie is an agent for an independent film company and could be Stephanie’s ticked to mainstream. Of course, this sends ripples throughout her personal life. Alexa Rae is pissed and of the opinion that Stephanie is suddenly too good for porn. The script is good here because a lot of porn girls do actually turn their backs on the industry once they get a whiff of mainstream. They all usually end up coming right back a year or so later. Ironically, Alexa Rae went through this exact phase a couple of years ago, claiming to be “too hot for porn” before having to come back begging for money. Back to the storyline, Mr. Marcus breaks up with her, out of fears that the tape they made of their sex life, which is now missing, has found its way into Stephanie’s independent film. We jump ahead in time as Charlie is visiting Stephanie at her pool at her house, bringing news of the first reviews of her just released film. Stephanie is not very excited and Charlie tries to cheer her up, as they both admit to having dreamt of fucking each other since the day they met. They jump into the pool together, Stephanie still wearing her dress and Charlie now in a matching see-thru brown bra and panty set. Even though this is Stephanie and Charlie, it is still a girl/girl scene and could have been far better with a fresh injection of cock. I really liked the fact that they tried to maintain some sense of realism by having the girls gradually work out of their clothes, but once that happened and the pussy licking started it became a bore until Stephanie stuck a vibrator up Charlie’s tight ass in the end. Stephanie was much more into this than she was her actual boy/girl scenes.

Scene 6: Alexa Rae (implants, blonde-brunette, sexy face) w/Brick Majors (11 minutes)

We return to Alexa and Brick, who are still in the same room they were way back in the beginning of the film when they accidentally watched part of the home video of Stephanie and Marcus. Alexa can’t stop talking about how much she hated Stephanie’s “art” film. Brick is pretty much ignoring her, busying himself by watching the tape of Stephanie and Marcus. This pisses Alexa off. Brick wants some action and lets her know it, by grabbing her and kissing her. They move to a couch where his mouth finds its way to her nipples and pussy. She reciprocates with a slow yet adequately sensuous blowjob/handjob. They go at it in missionary and reverse cowgirl before he unloads over her face and chest.

In the end, Stephanie gets calls from pretty much everyone thanking her for putting them in her movie. In one way or another, most of their lives were ruined by her actions. Stephanie is crushed but Marcus comes back to her and they resolve their relationship. Alexa repairs their friendship and Charlie calls to again congratulate her. She wants to quit but Marcus assures her that she is talented and encourages to pursue her next goal: writing a screenplay.

The Verdict: It is not a good sign when a girl/girl scene in a feature porno is the best scene. And that is the case here. Though I was very negative in my description of Charlie and Stephanie’s scene, it is actually the best sex on this disc. In her time with Wicked, Stephanie did far better work than this though. Still wondering where she is going to go (2004) now that she left them.

Rent it or Buy It: Neither. Even for couples fair, this is a forgettable feature.

The DVD:
All Access (23 minutes)-Making of feature. Good stuff.
Girls of Raw Footage (3 minutes)-Montage of the girls from the film on set doing photoshoots. Stephanie looks 10x hotter here than she does anywhere in the actual feature.
Bloopers (2 minutes)-Oh, those silly porn stars and their flubbed lines.
Star Stats-Scrolling biography/filmography for the main girls.
Star Galleries-Star specific photo gallery.
Interviews-Alexa Rae, Maya Devine, F.J. Lincoln, Mr. Marcus, Evan Stone, and Devin.
Photo Gallery-Slide-show of hardcore stills from Raw
Trailers-Beautiful/Nasty, Mrs. Right, Inside Porn, Wicked One, Sex Safari, Spellbound, Double Feature, and Working Girl.

About the Author: A current college student, Kelly began his infatuation with pornography with the likes of late night Skinimax before graduating to hardcore. As such, sometimes storylines go a long way toward his enjoyment but sometimes he just wants to see some hard sex. In either avenue though, girl/girl bored him to tears. He used to operate a fan site dedicated to Taylor St. Claire, who is still to this day his favorite porn star. Other favorite girls include Renee LaRue, Zora Banks, Cherry Mirage, Avy Scott, Alyssa Love, and Devinn Lane. Though he does generally prefer voluptuous, big-breasted women, he also enjoys the work of Stephanie Swift, Jennifer Luv, August Night, Luci Thai, and Selena Silver. His current favorites are Kimberly Kane, Jennifer Luv, Eva Angelina, and Avy Scott. He avoids Max Hardcore, Ed Powers, Vivid, and compilations as much as possible, and eagerly looks forward to releases from Evil Angel, Devils Film, Red Light District, and Platinum X. He generally favors anal scenes and DP scenes with big facials, but is too timid for gangbangs and any such other extremities. His favorite directors are Vince Vouyer, Mike John, Joey Silvera, Tom Byron, and Jules Jordan. His favorite porn films of all time include The Fashionistas (2003), Whack Attack 9 (2001), Nice Rack 6, and Service Animals 7 (2002).