Watch: Every Frame a Painting’s Video About the ‘Sustained Two-Shot’
by Alex Billington
August 28, 2024
Source: YouTube
“You can just point the camera and let the scene play out… Let the actors do what they do: tell the story.” There is a brand new cinema video essay out this week from the iconic YouTube channel known as “Every Frame a Painting“. They originally ran from 2014 to 2016 (we posted many back then) then stopped for a while. Now they’re back preparing to release a short film called The Second. This video essay is about “The Sustained Two-Shot,” which they use in their short film. The two-shot is a filmmaking / cinematography technique of framing two actors in conversation together. Sustained means it keeps going through the scene – with major examples referenced from films like Pulp Fiction, There Will Be Blood, The Dark Knight, Good Will Hunting, La La Land, The Big Lebowski, and many other classics. There’s also a famously long one in Steve McQueen’s Hunger. If you’re a filmmaker or just want to learn more, this is a must watch video essay.
Here’s the brief intro via YouTube: “What do you do when you’ve got two actors, a bunch of dialogue, and only enough time to get one camera angle? Consider one of the oldest tools in the filmmaking toolbox: the sustained two-shot.” From the narration: “Remember – this is a shot about the performances. So don’t get in the way, keep it simple.” The Sustained Two-Shot is part of a limited series of video essays created & released by the iconic “Every Frame a Painting” YT channel. The video essay is made by filmmakers Taylor Ramos & Tony Zhou. You can follow Zhou on Twitter @tonyszhou – they originally created the YouTube channel called Every Frame a Painting (watch more) described as “a series of video essays about film form, made from April 2014 to September 2016.” This latest series is part of a promo leading up to the debut of their short film titled The Second (view the teaser here). Stay tuned for more videos from Ramos & Zhou.
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