#video essay

Before Edgar Wright and Wes Anderson, before Chuck Jones and Jackie Chan, there was Buster Keaton, one of the founding fathers of visual comedy. And nearly 100 years after he first appeared onscreen, we’re still learning from him. Today, I’d like to talk about the artistry (and the thinking) behind his gags. Press the CC button to see the names of the films.

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Perhaps no other city has been as thoroughly hidden from modern filmmaking as Vancouver, my hometown. Today, it’s the third biggest film production city in North America, behind Los Angeles and New York. And yet for all the movies and TV shows that are shot there, we hardly ever see the city itself. So today, let’s focus less on the movies and more on the city in the background. Press the CC button to see movie names and locations.

For educational purposes only. You can donate to support the channel at
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This video was co-written with Taylor Ramos. Follow her on:
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If you grew up watching Looney Tunes, then you know Chuck Jones, one of all-time masters of visual comedy. Normally I would talk about his ingenious framing and timing, but not today. Instead, I’d like to explore the evolution of his sensibilities as an artist.

For educational purposes only. You can donate to support the channel at
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One of the great things about detailed production design is that it pays off in unexpected ways. So today I explore the weird possibilities of that most common of objects: the chair.

For educational purposes only. You can donate to support the channel at
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What can one detail tell us about a scene? If you’re Lynne Ramsay: absolutely everything. Today I consider the poetic possibilities of cinema and one of our finest contemporary filmmakers.

For educational purposes only. You can donate to support the channel at
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If you want to make video essays, there’s no better film to study than Orson Welles’ 1973 masterpiece, F for Fake. There are a million lessons to take away from it, but today, let’s see what it has to teach us about structure. NO SPOILERS.

For educational purposes only. You can donate to support the channel at
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Can movement tell a story? Sure, if you’re as gifted as Akira Kurosawa. More than any other filmmaker, he had an innate understanding of movement and how to capture it onscreen. Join me today in studying the master, possibly the greatest composer of motion in film history.

For educational purposes only. You can donate to support the channel at
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One of the many pleasures of Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” (2011) is that the shots feel both tightly composed and weirdly unpredictable. Even though most of the images follow a simple quadrant system, Refn puts plenty of subtle touches within the frame. Let’s take a look.

For educational purposes only. You can donate to support the channel at
Patreon:http://www.patreon.com/everyframeapainting

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Updating Shakespeare? Gender in She’s the Man & 10 Things I Hate About You

could a twenty-first century remake of Twelfth Night be LESS progressive than something written four hundred years ago? hate to say it but….

Empire Wreckers “How Bad Movies Are Made Featuring ‘The Rise of Skywalker’” (2021)

Video essay detailing the process of writing and filming the movie “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”. 

Natalie Ng talks about how good costume design can add more layers to a film’s storytelling and refers to the specific use of gloves in Park Chan-wook’s THE HANDMAIDEN.

Read her original review at Filmed in Ether

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 14
A Field In England: The Presence of Absence

Ben Wheatley’s ‘A Field In England’ contains many unusual creative choices, from using tableau to re-dubbing audio, but each decision seems to be directed at one thing: absence. But to what effect?

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 13
Over The Garden Wall: What Makes The Unknown So Familiar?

If ‘the unknown’ in Over The Garden Wall is meant to be so mysterious, then why is it so familiar? This video looks at why the show’s creators might have chosen to reference so much nostalgic Americana in a Germanic fairy tale structure, and how it shapes 'the unknown’.

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 12
Zabriskie Point: Blowing Up and Breaking Down

How does the desert setting of Zabriskie Point reinforce it’s core themes, and what are those themes anyway?

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 11
Kill List: The Folk Horror Revival

Folk Horror has evolved over the years, from The Wicker Man in 1973 to Kill List in 2012, but why are we afraid of Folk? What is Folk Horror all about?

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 10
House of Leaves: The Horror of Fiction

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski encompasses many genres - postmodernism, romance, satire - but my personal catagorisation would be horror. So how does the book use the specific conventions of fiction, specifically written fiction, to explore this?

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 9
The Lego Movie: Constructing and Reconstructing Identity

The Lego Movie has been theorised to comment on many things, from capitalism to copyright laws, but here’s a look at what it might mean for our own identity.

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 8
Night In The Woods: Do You Always Have A Choice

Most narrative games are driven by the choices of the player, but most of the choices in Night In The Woods seem inconsequential. This video essay analyses how NITW uses familiar gaming conventions and mechanics to explore the very nature of choice in a universe that doesn’t care.

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 7
The Babadook: The New Physicality of Ghosts in Horror

Are ghosts becoming more physical? An analysis of how The Babadook uses the conventions and associations of a ghost story to explore notions of presence and absence in both horror and mental illness.

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 6
Sightseers: Creativity in a Caravan

Ben Wheatley’s dark comedy Sightseers takes a particularly bloody road trip through the British countryside, but with murder discussed in the same breath as creative writing, are we to draw a connection between the two?

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 5
Paprika: The Storm of Progress

Paprika introduces us to a psychedelic and surreal interpretation of the dreaming mind, but are these unconscious visions the only dreams it explores?

What’s So Great About That: Episode 31
Blue: The Most Human Colour

Blue is the world’s favourite colour, so what does this colour mean to us?

What’s So Great About That: Episode 30
Untitled Goose Game: Is it Good to be Bad?

The nameless goose of Untitled Goose Game has been declared an agent of chaos, but is it really chaos that makes inhabiting its destructive body so satisfying?

What’s So Great About That: Episode 29
Horror is the Best Genre (and here’s why)

When we weigh the merits of media, there’s a tendency towards to absolutes, towards seemingly objective statements. And this is similarly a feature of the writing on ‘why people like horror’, which tends to focus on scientific studies and cites the adrenaline of safe scares as the cause. But horror as a genre is much more concerned with the interstitial, the malleable, the uncertain -  a genre that, even outside the context of art, strives to make a mockery of objectivity.

What’s So Great About That: Episode 28
The Speed (and Stillness) of Being Online (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the memes)

We’re all familiar with the idea that, with each passing decade, we’re moving ever faster, becoming more and more easily distracted - but, in the age of the hour long YouTube video and the increasingly overwhelming volume of media, can an argument be made for the opposite? 

What’s So Great About That: Episode 27
First-Person Shooter: Mysterious Photography in Firewatch

We’re all good at finding evidence to justify our personal narratives, whether it’s believing we’re the centre of a conspiracy or using one minor mechanic to thematically explore and entire game. This essay looks at Campo Santo’s ‘Firewatch’ through the lens of its virtual camera.

What’s So Great About That: Episode 26
Kondo-Culture: The Fall of the House of Stuff

The recent decline of objects goes beyond decluttering, so why are we suddenly so keen on getting rid of things? And what role do objects play in our increasingly digital world? This essay follows the rise and fall of ‘stuff’, through art, philosophy and Marie Kondo.

What’s So Great About That: Episode 25
Phantom You [Tube]: Fighting Our Digital Doubles

With our online and offline lives becoming increasingly connected, to what extent do we create our own other? And to what effect?
Since the 1990s, horror and sci-fi have considered how we might create our own worst enemy - and the friendly face of this dystopian future is yours.

What’s So Great About That: Episode 23
Next Stop, Analysis: The Contradictory Trains of Cinema

Ever since the Lumière brothers’ ‘Arrival of A Train At La Ciotat Station’, the train has been embedded in both English and cinematic language, with too many iconic scenes and potential puns to ever fit in one video. The train transcends genre, the setting of adventure, romance, horror and mystery. So how can it be so many things at once?