Every Frame A Painting
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''Every Frame a Painting'' is a series of
video essay A video essay is an essay presented in the format of a video recording or short film rather than a conventional piece of writing; the form often overlaps with other forms of video entertainment on online platforms such as YouTube. A video essay al ...
s about film form, editing, and cinematography created by Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou between 2014 and 2016, published on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
and
Vimeo Vimeo ( ) is an American Online video platform, video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a ...
. The series is considered a pioneer of film criticism on YouTube, and has been praised by several filmmakers. The series was revived in a limited series in 2024, alongside a short film by Ramos and Zhou.


History

Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou created ''Every Frame a Painting'' after facing difficulties in their professional careers of "communicating visual ideas to non-visual people"; Ramos is an animator and Zhou a film editor. Around March 2013, Zhou often found himself identifying film techniques, which he believed would make for effective
video essays A video essay is an essay presented in the format of a video recording or short film rather than a conventional piece of writing; the form often overlaps with other forms of video entertainment on online platforms such as YouTube. A video essay al ...
. About a year later, after Zhou complained about his work, Ramos told him to pour his creative energy into a new video series, which prompted him to start writing. For each essay, Zhou wrote and researched, Ramos organized the thesis and made animations, and they both worked on the final editing process. Zhou narrated each video, opening with his signature line, "Hi, my name is Tony and this is ''Every Frame a Painting''". The first video was published on April 16, 2014, about
Bong Joon-ho Bong Joon Ho (, ; born September 14, 1969) is a South Korean filmmaker. Bong Joon Ho filmography, His work is characterized by emphasis on social and class themes, genre fiction, genre-mixing, black comedy, dark comedy, and sudden tone shifts. ...
's ''
Mother A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...
'' and the use of side-on profile shots. Ramos and Zhou forwent traditional commercial sponsorships and funded the series with viewer support on
Patreon Patreon (, ) is a monetization platform operated by Patreon, Inc., that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service and sell digital products. It helps artists and other creators earn a recurring income by provid ...
. The final essay of the original run was published on September 12, 2016, about the use of orchestral sound in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appe ...
. Ramos and Zhou published the script of the final, unproduced essay on
Medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...
on December 2, 2017, as both a farewell and explanation for the series' end, as well as a
postmortem An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death; ...
with advice for future essayists. They felt the channel's increased audience and YouTube's copyright policies limited their creative freedom. Following this, Ramos and Zhou produced video essays released as special features for
the Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...
and
FilmStruck FilmStruck was a film streaming service from Turner Classic Movies which catered to cinephiles and focused on rare, classic, foreign, arthouse, and independent cinema. It launched in November 2016 and succeeded Hulu as the exclusive online stre ...
. They also wrote the introduction to the artbook ''The Wes Anderson Collection: Isle of Dogs'' (2018), and wrote, produced, directed, and narrated several episodes of
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
's video essay series ''
Voir ''Voir'' was a francophone alternative weekly newspaper in Montreal, Quebec, published by Communications Voir. ''Voir'' was founded by Pierre Paquet in November 1986. The first issue of the newspaper was published on 27 November 1986. Later o ...
'' (2021). Ramos and Zhou's short film—''The Second'', starring
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (; born August 16, 1972) is a South Korean-Canadian actor and television host. He is best known for his roles as Randy Ko in the soap opera '' Train 48'' (2003–2005) and as family patriarch Appa in the play '' Kim's Convenie ...
—premiered at the
Fantasia International Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on fantasy, horror, sci-fi and cult genre films. Regular ...
on July 20, 2024. After the script was written, Ramos storyboarded the film; Zhou created a 15-minute
animatic A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of simple illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding proces ...
, which was shown to others when pitching the film. It was filmed in Toronto, while additional production and editing in Los Angeles and Vancouver. A limited series of three video essays, announced in July, was released on ''Every Frame a Painting'' in preparation for the film's release; the first was released on August 26, and the last on January 13, 2025, alongside ''The Second'', followed by the film's animatic the next day. Ramos and Zhou found YouTube's interface "much more complicated" upon returning but were thankful they had maintained subscribers over their eight-year absence.


Format

Each ''Every Frame a Painting'' essay explores one particular topic, often a single creator, with many organized around a scene that illustrates the idea. The editing style, use of film clips, and remixing of audio were developed in response to
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
's
Content ID Content ID is a digital fingerprinting system developed by Google which is used to easily identify and manage copyrighted content on YouTube. Videos uploaded to YouTube are compared against audio and video files registered with Content ID by co ...
system, with the goal of meeting the criteria for
fair use Fair use is a Legal doctrine, doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to bal ...
and to avoid being flagged by the copyright violation algorithm. Zhou lamented that the format imposed by Content ID prevented them from making videos about filmmakers such as
Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. Works by Andrei Tarkovsky, His films e ...
and
Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter and photographer. Varda's work employed location shooting in an era when the limitations of sound technology made it easier ...
, as they would require longer clips. He experimented with private uploads to test YouTube's Content ID system.


Videos


Reception and legacy

Kevin B. Lee, a film critic and video essayist, called the series "the standout newcomer to the video essay scene" in 2014. Many critics point to the essay on
Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born Chan Kong-sang; 7 April 1954), known professionally as Jackie Chan,; is a Hong Kong actor and filmmaker, known for his slapstick, acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically perf ...
and
action comedy film The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the Americ ...
as among the best. ''
Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...
''s Brian Raftery credited ''Every Frame a Painting'' for kicking off "a dramatic growth spurt" in YouTube-based movie criticism and stated the channel's "astute, patient, visually assured film essays...help dpush the medium past its ranting-rando-with-a-camera phase". Allison de Fren called the series "a master class on film form" with consistent style and tone; she found Zhou's "chummy, upbeat performance" a stark contrast to previous essays such as '' Los Angeles Plays Itself'' (2004). ''Every Frame a Painting''s 2024 videos were named by three critics in ''
Sight and Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (formerly written ''Sight & Sound'') is a monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Since 1952, it has conducted the well-known decennial ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. ...
''s list of the year's best video essays. Filmmakers such as
Christopher McQuarrie Christopher McQuarrie (born October 25, 1968) is an American filmmaker. He received the BAFTA Award, Independent Spirit Award, and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the neo-noir mystery film ''The Usual Suspects'' (1995). He made hi ...
,
Seth Rogen Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known primarily for his comedic Leading actor, leading man roles in films, the accolades he has received include nominations for three Golden Globe Awards, ...
, and
Edgar Wright Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English filmmaker. He is known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical Film genre, genre films, which feature extensive utilisation of expressive popular music, Steadicam tracking shots, dolly zo ...
have given praise to ''Every Frame a Painting''s essays.
Mark Mothersbaugh Mark Allen Mothersbaugh (; born May 18, 1950) is an American musician and composer. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead vocalist and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose " Whip It" was a top 20 single in the US ...
said ''Every Frame a Painting''s video essay on "unmemorable" Marvel Cinematic Universe scores directly influenced his composition of '' Thor: Ragnarok''s score to be different from previous Marvel films.


See also

*
Film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...
*
Supercut A supercut is a genre of video editing consisting of a montage (filmmaking), montage of short digital video, clips with the same theme. The theme may be an action, a scene, a word or phrase, an object, a gesture, or a cliché or trope. The techniq ...
*
Cinephilia Cinephilia ( ; also cinemaphilia or filmophilia) is the term used to refer to a passionate interest in films, film theory, and film criticism. The term is a portmanteau of the words '' cinema'' and '' philia'', one of the four ancient Greek words ...


Notes


References


External links

* * {{Official website, https://vimeo.com/tonyzhou, Tony Zhou's Vimeo channel 2010s YouTube series 2014 web series debuts 2017 web series endings Collage film Collage television Essays about film Film criticism television series Film theory YouTube channels launched in 2014