20 Questions Film » Every Frame A Painting

WATCH: When To Cut

Mads Black — Sat, 21 May 2016 02:42:31 +0000

Tony Zhou from Every Frame A Painting has once again released an insightful and inspiring video essay; this time about the art of the cut. When to cut. Why to cut. What to cut.

He brings up several good points in his effort to explain ‘how an editor thinks and feels’ – the point that most resonated with me, was that editing is about rhythm. If you give it time, the scene will tell you when you cut. If you’re going for a certain feeling, you may interrupt the rhythm by cutting early or late. And that timing – the rhythm – is instinctual.

This made me think of a recent experience I had, learning how to shoot sporting clays. Random, I know, but stay with me. My instructor told me to line up the aim on the barrel, find the clay with my peripheral vision, then forget about the aim and instead focus on the clay, follow it and attach myself to it’s rhythm – then pull the trigger when my instinct told me the two (aim and clay) were aligned. It’s a gut feeling, not a science, but if you can get into the rhythm of the clay as it shoots across the sky, you’ll hit it. And I did.

A Word (And Two Videos) On Long Takes

Mads Black — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 18:48:53 +0000

Ok, long takes are cool and there are numerous Best Of lists to prove it. Birdman is one of my favorite movies and who can argue that the opening of Gravity is anything but jaw-droppingly awesome. But there’s a time and a place for everything in filmmaking – some scenes call for fast editing and some may call for uninterrupted camera movement.

Now You See It recently posted a video about what long takes can’t do, rather than what they might accomplish, and there are some really great examples. It’s food for thought and a welcome reminder that great filmmaking is about motivation. Are your character’s actions motivated? Are you lens choices? Dialogue? Edits? Movement? If you’re doing something just to do it, you may want to take a step back and rethink what it’s actually doing for (or against) your story.

Check out the video. Take notes.

And then – still on the subject of motivated choices – take a minute to appreciate how Spielberg uses the long take, almost unnoticeably, to move his stories forward. Towards the end of the movie, Tony from Every Frame A Painting really does a great job of breaking down how Spielberg manages to keep the pacing brisk, the story moving and the visuals interesting, while staying in a long take – and why he does it. Two scenes that he points out, are masterful uses (and examples) in my opinion; the drinking contest from Indiana Jones and the scene from E.T.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to the YouTube channels of both Now You See It and Every Frame A Painting.

WATCH: How To Film A Conversation Like The Coen Brothers

Mads Black — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 18:49:34 +0000

There is no doubt that the Coen brothers are masterful filmmakers. They get the laughs, they get the tears, the empathy, the discomfort, the heart and soul of the characters – due in large part to the way they shoot conversations. Here’s a brilliant little video essay by Every Frame A Painting that’ll show you how the Coen brothers manage to do what they do.

If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to Every Frame A Painting on YouTube – and check out our list of other channels to follow.

5 YouTube Channels You Need To Subscribe To

Mads Black — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 18:05:55 +0000

It’s easy to disappear down the YouTube rabbit hole and re-emerge hours later with nothing to show for it. There goes another afternoon wasted. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are five YouTube channels you can binge-play guilt free; every minute spent watching the videos on these channels will make you smarter as a filmmaker.

#1 Every Frame A Painting

My personal favorite. Every Frame A Painting is like the class you wish you had in film school. It’s a triumphantly unpredictable bastard of a film analysis class and the rantings of your favorite, passionate teacher. By analyzing certain scenes, director trademarks, genre-specific filmmaking tools or something else you would have never thought to analyze, host Tony Zhou and his expertly edited videos will leave you not only smarter, but inspired and amazed.

#2 Film Riot

Fast-talking host, independent filmmaker and DIY handy-man Ryan Connolly and his rag-tag team of film aficionados deliver tutorials, DIY builds, real-life examples and How-To’s on just about everything you could ever think of related to filmmaking. The beauty of this channel is not so much the hyper-active presentation (though that’ll certainly keep you focused), as it is the way in which these guys manage to take the mystery out of Hollywood filmmaking, while preserving all the magic. Specifically targeting independent, DIY or super low-budget filmmakers, the channel abounds with videos on how to make your film look and sound like a million $ without breaking the bank.

#3 Filmmaker IQ

With a somewhat more technical and perhaps film school-like approach, Filmmaker IQ is an immensely valuable resource. Think of it as a ‘How Stuff Works’ for filmmakers; some topics are highly technical, borderline scientific, while other topics are pure entertainment. Wanna know how a camera sensor works? No problem. Wanna brush up on the origins of auteur theory? Why not. Wanna learn how to light a film noir? You should. And all of that can be done in the same place. Filmmaker IQ.

#4 Indy Mogul

With roughly 1250 videos on their channel, Indy Mogul is almost like a Discovery Channel of the Internet. Before Discovery Channel became all about reality TV, of course. Indy Mogul is an impressive library of engaging video tutorials, hands-on reviews of cameras and equipment, Q&A’s with filmmakers and a whole lot of tips and tricks to up your indy filmmaking game. Now, Indy Mogul hasn’t been active in years, so don’t expect new videos about the latest in gear or software. But do expect to get lost in a massive library of goodies that are equally helpful today as they were 6 years ago.

#5 Now You See It

Similar in style to Every Frame A Painting, Now You See It is sort of a hybrid between film analysis and geeky musings on what makes movies great. Though not always entirely on point, mostly the videos from Now You See It will give you lots of a ha! moments and insightful takes on movies, scenes or techniques you already thought you knew everything about.