One of YouTube’s best video essay channels is back after a seven-year hiatus, and this time, it’s analyzing the work of its own creators. Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos have revived Every Frame A Painting to support their new short film The Second.
Beginning in 2014, Zhou and Ramos turned Every Frame A Painting into one of YouTube’s premier film hubs by producing some of the best video essays on the platform. The duo’s work, which attracted more than two million subscribers to their channel, left no stone unturned. Every Frame A Painting essays discussed everything from elemental filmmaking techniques to innovative auteurs while considering the work of editors, sound mixers, lead actors, and everyone else on set.
Those videos kept coming until 2017, when Zhou and Ramos put their channel on hiatus — until now. They recently updated the Every Frame A Painting channel description to announce a brief return to their YouTube hub. “We’re back!…for a short while,” the description reads. Viewerss can expect “a limited series featuring brand new video essays, followed by a short film.”
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The film in question is The Second, which Zhou and Ramos premiered at Canada’s Fantasia Festival last month. Every Frame A Painting has always made its amateur viewers feel like season directors, and during its return, the channel is sprinkling in some scenes from The Second. Zhou and Ramos are showing their fans how they incorporate the filmmaking techniques they have taught to millions of subscribers.
The Every Frame A Painting return is occurring during an interesting time for the YouTube film community. Prominent indie distributors like A24 and Neon have taken interest in creator-driven fare, which has opened up opportunities for the likes of Racka Racka and Chris Stuckmann.
Zhou and Ramos could be angling for a similar career move, but they’re unlikely to stick around for long. When Every Frame A Painting initially went on hiatus, Zhou authored a Medium post in which he explained that his videos “skirted the edge of legality” with regard to copyright and fair use. As he told IndieWire, similar issues continued to dog him and Ramos when they moved onto their next project, the Netflix original Voir.
For as long as Zhou and Ramos revive their YouTube activity, I will be one of the 2 million+ YouTube subscribers following along. They may not make many videos, but it’s safe to say that each one will be an art piece in and of itself.
