Each of these short videos is a golden nugget of viewer to film interaction. They enhance the experience and enjoyment of the film and the craftsmanship of the director, camera technique, and style. Can't provide enough praise and appreciation for Tony Zhou effort in creating these. If you really want to know how great these are look at his patroon followers he has for this series. There hasn't been a knew one in a while and we are all looking forward to his next posting.
6 Reviews
Watching movies before and after this is different
Jpawchan1 May 2022
Tony Zhou gives you perspective of how filmmaking can be done. It's not about how good the story is, it's about how much better it can be if you're a good teller.
You can find the series on youtube channel Every Frame a Painting. Episodes unfortunately very short (3-7 minutes), but every minute is a week of work. I remember waiting for each episode and after few of them, watching movies was never the same. It's changed my perspective and suddenly movies have start hitting me differently.
If you're like me who really loves movies I would strongly recommend to watch it.
Ps Tony made Bong Joon Ho number one director in my list long before Parasite won Oscar.
You can find the series on youtube channel Every Frame a Painting. Episodes unfortunately very short (3-7 minutes), but every minute is a week of work. I remember waiting for each episode and after few of them, watching movies was never the same. It's changed my perspective and suddenly movies have start hitting me differently.
If you're like me who really loves movies I would strongly recommend to watch it.
Ps Tony made Bong Joon Ho number one director in my list long before Parasite won Oscar.
A solid series of video essays on movies
aandwdabest9 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I was introduced to this channel several years ago, at a bus when talking to a random stranger. I then went home and immediately checked the channel and really liked it.
To me, these videos - despite their brief length - are sharply edited, decently structured, and covers a wide range of topics, from live action movies, animated movies, to even tv shows (featured in some videos). In a sea of what I now considers as the bloated YouTube Video Essays scene (these videos nowadays are at least 20-30 minutes long), videos like these are quite valuable to me, because they get their points across (even though I disagree with some of them) while not overstaying their welcome. My favorite videos from them are the ones they did on Michael Bay, Satoshi Kon, How Vancouver never plays itself (a nice examination and tribute to the city of Vancouver and its place in the filmmaking industry), Jackie Chan and Chuck Jones.
Another reason why I wrote this review is to address the elephant in the room - The review written by user adam_cook. I don't think that review is entirely fair. Firstly, Tony Zhou (the showrunner of the channel) and Taylor Ramos (who help co-run the channel and provide feedbacks to Tony) have examined and complimented the modernity traits films and televisions have embraced in recent years, which is evident in the video "A Brief Look at Texting and the Internet in Film". Secondly, the channel also covers lesser-known films and filmmakers like Wolf Children and Satoshi Kon (seriously, that video was amazing), who may be well known within a certain niche circle, but certainly not to the general public. Thirdly, while these videos mostly feature the so-called "Masters" like Kurosawa, Fincher, and Spielberg (I do wish that the channel could examine more diverse filmmakers during their run), the channel pick a specific trait (or traits) on why these directors' films work well and show examples of it, in a manner that I find approachable and digestible.
But what really got my reaction is this sentence - "It takes no courage whatsoever to praise films that are already glorified as great...and it really speaks to one's cowardice when they crap on films that have already been thoroughly denigrated."
My counter argument for the first half is this: it certainly takes efforts and skills to effectively showcase "HOW AND WHY" are these movies considered great, especially towards the general public who doesn't know anything about film, and that requires painstaking efforts and courage. In that front, I think that this channel does a generally good job. For the second half, I would like to offer a counter example: "Michael Bay - What is Bayhem?" Tony and Taylor could have made a 10 second video saying, "Michael Bay's film sucks, goodbye!" and call it a day, and had they done that, I would call that cowardice. However, the video does a solid job on explaining how and why Michael Bay's filmmaking styles are the way they are, from Bay's usage of telephoto lens to how the original "West Side Story" (not the Spielberg remake) and other blockbusters influenced Bay's visual language. I did not know about any of this and upon learning them, I gained a better understanding on certain aspects of Bay's filmmaking style.
So yeah, this channel is a solid introduction to people who wants to learn more about movie techniques and niche films/filmmakers. I liked it.
Edit: The channel also got a shoutout from Epic Rap Battles of History, in the "Steven Spielberg vs Alfred Hitchcock" video. Your favorite channel could never.
To me, these videos - despite their brief length - are sharply edited, decently structured, and covers a wide range of topics, from live action movies, animated movies, to even tv shows (featured in some videos). In a sea of what I now considers as the bloated YouTube Video Essays scene (these videos nowadays are at least 20-30 minutes long), videos like these are quite valuable to me, because they get their points across (even though I disagree with some of them) while not overstaying their welcome. My favorite videos from them are the ones they did on Michael Bay, Satoshi Kon, How Vancouver never plays itself (a nice examination and tribute to the city of Vancouver and its place in the filmmaking industry), Jackie Chan and Chuck Jones.
Another reason why I wrote this review is to address the elephant in the room - The review written by user adam_cook. I don't think that review is entirely fair. Firstly, Tony Zhou (the showrunner of the channel) and Taylor Ramos (who help co-run the channel and provide feedbacks to Tony) have examined and complimented the modernity traits films and televisions have embraced in recent years, which is evident in the video "A Brief Look at Texting and the Internet in Film". Secondly, the channel also covers lesser-known films and filmmakers like Wolf Children and Satoshi Kon (seriously, that video was amazing), who may be well known within a certain niche circle, but certainly not to the general public. Thirdly, while these videos mostly feature the so-called "Masters" like Kurosawa, Fincher, and Spielberg (I do wish that the channel could examine more diverse filmmakers during their run), the channel pick a specific trait (or traits) on why these directors' films work well and show examples of it, in a manner that I find approachable and digestible.
But what really got my reaction is this sentence - "It takes no courage whatsoever to praise films that are already glorified as great...and it really speaks to one's cowardice when they crap on films that have already been thoroughly denigrated."
My counter argument for the first half is this: it certainly takes efforts and skills to effectively showcase "HOW AND WHY" are these movies considered great, especially towards the general public who doesn't know anything about film, and that requires painstaking efforts and courage. In that front, I think that this channel does a generally good job. For the second half, I would like to offer a counter example: "Michael Bay - What is Bayhem?" Tony and Taylor could have made a 10 second video saying, "Michael Bay's film sucks, goodbye!" and call it a day, and had they done that, I would call that cowardice. However, the video does a solid job on explaining how and why Michael Bay's filmmaking styles are the way they are, from Bay's usage of telephoto lens to how the original "West Side Story" (not the Spielberg remake) and other blockbusters influenced Bay's visual language. I did not know about any of this and upon learning them, I gained a better understanding on certain aspects of Bay's filmmaking style.
So yeah, this channel is a solid introduction to people who wants to learn more about movie techniques and niche films/filmmakers. I liked it.
Edit: The channel also got a shoutout from Epic Rap Battles of History, in the "Steven Spielberg vs Alfred Hitchcock" video. Your favorite channel could never.
Strange amount of hate on this one
cosmicfish1414 December 2016
So I am a fan of Every Frame A Painting, and have enjoyed most of his short and sweet video essays.
Also I looked at the amount of rating this had on IMDb, and saw the majority of ratings were 1/10. And the only review of this is a 1/10 with 200 users saying this was helpful. So I think someone has just been creating loads of IMDb accounts and just all rated this 1/10 or people just kept spamming 1/10 ratings. If that is what happened, I feel thats pretty ridiculous and I don't really see what you're trying to get out of it. But anyways, just strange the amount of 1/10 ratings this has.
Also I looked at the amount of rating this had on IMDb, and saw the majority of ratings were 1/10. And the only review of this is a 1/10 with 200 users saying this was helpful. So I think someone has just been creating loads of IMDb accounts and just all rated this 1/10 or people just kept spamming 1/10 ratings. If that is what happened, I feel thats pretty ridiculous and I don't really see what you're trying to get out of it. But anyways, just strange the amount of 1/10 ratings this has.
An interesting look at the construction of film
skyemarthaler27 January 2017
One of my favorite web series out there. Recommend it to all fans of film and movie-making. The episodes are well put together and while they might not all be of interest to me I will state that they are all worth watching. There is always some bit of insight to be gained.
As an amateur filmmaker I have found useful ideas within these episodes and the series has done a good job of helping me take a more critical look at films I enjoy. It has made me take a more critical eye on how I write scenes, stage, cast, and film them. It also has introduced me to artists, directors, and films I was not aware of. If you are a fan of film then this series is worth checking out.
As an amateur filmmaker I have found useful ideas within these episodes and the series has done a good job of helping me take a more critical look at films I enjoy. It has made me take a more critical eye on how I write scenes, stage, cast, and film them. It also has introduced me to artists, directors, and films I was not aware of. If you are a fan of film then this series is worth checking out.
Nothing more than simple film school dogma
adam_cook11 September 2016
Every pseudointellectual analysis is based on antiquated rules of understanding cinema. He lauds the filmmakers who have already been lauded. He trashes hand-held because just about everyone else does. He preaches the same lessons Fincher preaches because Fincher is so popular among the film school hipsters. Everything is just the same dogma from "filmmaking teachers," diminishing the efforts of anyone who disagrees.
So many rules, ratios, and techniques of technical composition to give the appearance of expertise, but no grasp of what filmmaking is beyond emotionless practices of narrative function.
It takes no courage whatsoever to praise films that are already glorified as great...and it really speaks to one's cowardice when they crap on films that have already been thoroughly denigrated.
So many rules, ratios, and techniques of technical composition to give the appearance of expertise, but no grasp of what filmmaking is beyond emotionless practices of narrative function.
It takes no courage whatsoever to praise films that are already glorified as great...and it really speaks to one's cowardice when they crap on films that have already been thoroughly denigrated.
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