Thinking Outside Your Filmmaking Box

When you’re out on a shoot, do you find yourself falling into the same old same old. Same old compositions. Same old camera moves. Same old lighting setups? Is your shooting conventional and rudimentary? Are you shooting to get the shot, or are you shooting to establish a style?

I’m always thinking about these kind of things in everything I do. But particularly in my filmmaking. That’s why it was so refreshing to discover this video essay from San Francisco editor Tony Zhou. His series is known as “Every Frame A Painting.” He’s racked up hundres of thousands of views with these essays. In this episode, he talks about how famed comedic director Edgar Wright goes beyond funny dialog to construct his films. He uses the camera itself to enhance the comedy. Tony’s analysis of Wright’s direction is a lesson every visual filmmaker should heed:

“The frame is a playground. So play!” ~ Tony Zhou