OUAN502 - Every Frame a Painting

Every Frame a Painting is a series of video essay produced by editor, Tony Zhou. Through the series Tony focuses on film form and film making methods of various artists and directors and the techniques they used. I started watching the series at the beginning of the academic year at around October time and it has been a contuining source of not just entertainment but also insight and in itself provides concepts that I hadn't really considered or thought of before. I terms of the host, Tony, he has been editing professionally for what he says is around 10 years now. Throughout his videos he always poses an interesting question to the viewer and one I think he is still trying to find out himself, the question: “How do you know when to cut?” This question was actually direectly addressed in his most recent video (How Does an Editor Think and Feel?) and he talked about how knowing when to cut is a very instinct driven thing. He elaborates and explains that to a certain degree he is simply just thinking and feeling my way through the edit of a shot or of a scene. Like I mentioned all of the episodes to date discuss film form to some extent and sometimes look at the work of specific directors and film makers - exploring their techniques directly. Film form refers to the way that images or visuals and sound work together to create meaning to an audience. I have also heard film form referred to as the vocabulary and grammar if film is a language. Throughout the series he looks at a huge range of film aspects, more general aspects of film such as, composition, lighting, editing, color, silence, movement, and music. But he also looks at specific example of these. He did a video that talked about the use of ensemble staging and the composition of shots throughout the film Memories of a Murder (2003). He has also looked at directors Akira Kurasawa, Joel and Ethan Coen, Steven Speilberg; also looking at aspects of film such as visual comedy and the way people talk into the lens during the documentary Imposter (2012). I find this kind of analysis very interesting and also fun to learn about, so I usually attempt to watch the video that is brought up on a monthly basis as quickly as I can and they usually range between 3 and 9 minutes. When it comes to film I think a lot of people understand the language of film quite well, but videos such as this allow me and many others to become more literate and articulate when discussing these aspects of film form.

The series has been a huge help to me as someone with a pre-existing interest in fim form and the ability to learn from the content within the Every Frame a Painting series. Something the series has done aside from allow me to learn about film form is it has introduced me to new film makers and a range of films that I don't think I would have come across either now or in the immediate future. Most notably it made me aware of Akira Kurasawa and although I believe I may have seen one or two of his films before watching the episode on his work, I am now more aware of who he is, what he does and plan to watch more of his work because of this. A film in particular that I was introduced to because of the series is South Korean film, Memories of a Murder (2003). Talking about specific films like this has meant that sometimes when watching a film I've noticed things that I wouldn't have know about previously. In some cases I have made a conscious effort to analyse film and take from it what I can. Finally, by noticing and understand the techniques that are being used it means I'm able to try and incorporate them into my own work. Tony recently did an AMA on reddit which was also quite insightful as he was able to expand on his methods, some of his influences and talk more about general editing and directing.

The episodes that I have found the most helpful and been able to consider when working on my own pieces are;

• Satoshi Kon - Editing Space & Time
• Memories of Murder (2003) - Ensemble Staging
• Akira Kurosawa - Composing Movement
• Drive (2011) - The Quadrant System
• Mother (2009) - The Telephoto Profile Shot
• The Imposter (2012) - Looking into the Lens