Filmmaking Video Essays

When you think of filmmaking video essays you probably think of Every Frame a Painting by Tony Zhou. And of course, he’s probably the best there is at this particular educational art-form. In fact, his most recent essay on how an editor knows when to cut, is worth watching on repeat. (You should also check out this post rounding up the best of Every Frame a Painting along with a few other treats.)

Also worth mentioning is the masterful Kirby Ferguson’s Everything is a Remix, which makes him pretty much the granddaddy of video essays. His most recent essay covers Star Wars The Force Awakens and it’s excellent.

I included this video as part of this post on Insights on the Craft of Film Editing, which includes more great videos from Tony, like this one below, on the masterful use of shot-reverse-shot by the Coen brothers.

That said, the point of this post was really what comes next…

The Royal Ocean Film Society Video Essays

If like me you’d not heard of The Royal Ocean Film Society, a collection of filmmaking video essays written and edited by Andrew Saladino, then you’re in for a real treat. His most recent is a great watch for film editors as it takes a look at David Lean’s legendary ‘scene transitions’ and serves as a masterclass in moving the audience seamlessly (or not) between scenes.

Here are a few more of my favourites, but you can check out all (so far) eight episodes here.

This is a great lesson in visual storytelling and if executed correctly, demonstrates the power of not cutting. It’s also a great example of storytelling structure within each shot.

“Like everyone else of sound, mind and body I think Jaws is hand’s down on of the greatest movies ever made.” – Andrew Saladino

In this essay on the commercial success of “Christian films” Andrew provides a really interesting take on a little discussed topic. An interesting 7 minutes!