- ‘but he just makes gangster films’ (YouTube)
Martin Scorsese isn’t your average director. With a career spanning over four decades, he’s created some of the most celebrated American films of all time. Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino; Scorsese has defined the modern gangster film. Yet, this is just one side of his filmography. However, today I’ll look beyond this, and try to identify a wider style that is present throughout his work. Stay tuned for an examination of Scorsese’s childhood roots, cinematic influences and his key collaborators, which all combine to create some of the best films ever put to screen.
- “He’s a MAFIA Boss!” Diddy Latest Feat DJ Vlad | ‘Household Names Will Be Revealed’ (youtube.com)
At the time of this video’s publication, Sean Combs AKA Diddy sits in a New York jail cell awaiting trial for federal indictments including sex trafficking and racketeering. While the world at large has been shocked by these allegations, seemingly everyone that Piers Morgan has spoken to about it had prior knowledge of this frightening ‘open secret’. Their surprise lies in just how long Diddy has avoided justice. With every day that passes, more people join the queue of industry mainstays eager to reveal what they know.
- A Brief Look at Texting and the Internet in Film (YouTube)
Is there a better way of showing a text message in a film? How about the internet? Even though we’re well into the digital age, film is still ineffective at depicting the world we live in. Maybe the solution lies not in content, but in form.
- A Bubbly Origin for Stars around the Sun (youtube.com)
This video describes new research linking an interstellar void known as the Local Bubble to nearby star-forming regions. It begins by zooming into an artist’s rendering of the Milky Way to our own galactic neighborhood. Next, an animation beginning 14 million years ago steps through time to show how a series of supernovas created the Local Bubble. As the bubble expands, it sweeps up gas and dust that condense to form star clusters. The video then resets to 14 million years ago and steps forward again to show how the Sun’s path through the Milky Way galaxy brought it into the Local Bubble about 5 million years ago. Today, we’re coincidentally close to the middle of the bubble. Finally, the video pans around a 3D model of the Local Bubble and associated star-forming regions as they exist today. Video Credit: STScI
- A Tour of the Triangulum Galaxy [4K] (youtube.com)
The Milky Way is surrounded by more than 50 near neighbour galaxies that make up the Local Group. The two largest galaxies are us and Andromeda, but we also have an often-overlooked third large galaxy in our neighbourhood- the Triangulum Galaxy. This galaxy is like its own mini-Milky Way, containing stars, clouds, clusters, supernova remnants, and satellites. These are the checkpoints in the Triangulum Galaxy which make up our tour today.
- Adam Ruins Everything - The Conspiracy Behind Your Glasses (youtube.com)
Did you know that a single company controls 80% of all glasses and sunglasses brands?
- Akira Kurosawa - Composing Movement (YouTube)
Can movement tell a story? Sure, if you’re as gifted as Akira Kurosawa. More than any other filmmaker, he had an innate understanding of movement and how to capture it onscreen. Join me today in studying the master, possibly the greatest composer of motion in film history.
- Apollo 15 Hammer-Feather Drop (youtube.com)
At the end of the last Apollo 15 moon walk, Commander David Scott (pictured above) performed a live demonstration for the television cameras. He held out a geologic hammer and a feather and dropped them at the same time. Because they were essentially in a vacuum, there was no air resistance and the feather fell at the same rate as the hammer, as Galileo had concluded hundreds of years before - all objects released together fall at the same rate regardless of mass.
- Buster Keaton - The Art of the Gag (YouTube)
Before Edgar Wright and Wes Anderson, before Chuck Jones and Jackie Chan, there was Buster Keaton, one of the founding fathers of visual comedy. And nearly 100 years after he first appeared onscreen, we’re still learning from him. Today, I’d like to talk about the artistry (and the thinking) behind his gags. Press the CC button to see the names of the films.
- Charlie the Unicorn (youtube.com)
- Chuck Jones - The Evolution of an Artist (YouTube)
If you grew up watching Looney Tunes, then you know Chuck Jones, one of all-time masters of visual comedy. Normally I would talk about his ingenious framing and timing, but not today. Instead, I’d like to explore the evolution of his sensibilities as an artist. To see the names of the films, press the CC button and select “Movie Titles.”
- David Fincher - And the Other Way is Wrong (YouTube)
For sheer directorial craft, there are few people working today who can match David Fincher. And yet he describes his own process as “not what I do, but what I don’t do.” Join me today in answering the question: What does David Fincher not do?
- DMT Breakthrough Simulation (POV)
- Donald Trump Does Dramatic Reading Of ‘The Snake’ | MSNBC (youtube.com)
At a campaign stop in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump uses a dramatic reading of Al Wilson’s 1968 song to warn of the dangers of taking in refugees from Syria. “The Snake” tells the story of a trusting woman who invites a snake into her home and saves it from the cold, but is later tricked and bitten by it.
- Drive (2011) - The Quadrant System (YouTube)
One of the many pleasures of Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” (2011) is that the shots feel both tightly composed and weirdly unpredictable. Even though most of the images follow a simple quadrant system, Refn puts plenty of subtle touches within the frame. Let’s take a look.
- Duck and Cover (1080p) (Remastered) (youtube.com)
“Duck and Cover” is a Civil Defense film, demonstrating the “Duck and Cover” technique of minimizing harm from a nuclear blast. The techniques have been widely ridiculed, although experts still support them. Some critics believe the film was meant to serve a dual purpose of propagandizing against communism.
- Edgar Wright - How to Do Visual Comedy (YouTube)
If you love visual comedy, you gotta love Edgar Wright, one of the few filmmakers who is consistently finding humor through framing, camera movement, editing, goofy sound effects and music. This is an analysis and appreciation of one of our finest comedic voices.
- Examining A Clockwork Orange, 50 Years Later (YouTube)
Kubrick’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’ celebrates its half centennial this winter. What is it that has us still talking about it 50 years later?
- F for Fake (1973) - How to Structure a Video Essay (YouTube)
If you want to make video essays, there’s no better film to study than Orson Welles’ 1973 masterpiece, F for Fake. There are a million lessons to take away from it, but today, let’s see what it has to teach us about structure. NO SPOILERS.
- Four Days at Saturn (youtube.com)
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft stared at Saturn for nearly 44 hours on April 25 to 27, 2016, to obtain this movie showing just over four Saturn days.
- George Lucas definitely hit the history books before this one (YouTube)
George Lucas is our guide as we explore the real world history that inspired the worlds and stories of Star Wars. From WW2, to Ancient Rome, perhaps the universe inhabited by the Galactic Empire and the Republic before it are more similar to ours than we might think.
- Glengarry Glen Ross Speech (youtube.com)
Fragment of Glengarry Glen Ross(1992). Alec Baldwin gives a speech to the employees of a sales company. I can recommend this movie to anyone in sales. “Coffee is for closers only!” I do not own any of the rights to this movie.
- High Dose SHROOMS Trip Simulation (POV) (youtube.com)
- How Cathode Ray Tubes Work (youtube.com)
- How did the Enigma Machine work? (youtube.com)
Let’s use 3D animation to go inside the Enigma Machine! The Enigma Machine was used during WWII by the German Army to get keep messages encrypted. It looks almost like a typewriter. There are 26 keys and 26 letters that can light up. These lights tell you how the keys will be scrambled up. The machine works like an electrical circuit. The rotors towards the back of the machine do most of the scrambling by mixing up the wiring. The plugboard in the front also another layer of encryption. Keyboard mechanism connects or disconnects the circuit to turn on a lightbulb. The path of the wire is difficult to follow so I recommend following it through in 3D! Each time a key is released - the rotors in the back will turn. This is done by the mechanism which includes the actuator bar, ratchet, pawl, and the index wheels.
- How Does an Editor Think and Feel? (YouTube)
For the past ten years, I’ve been editing professionally. Yet one question always stumps me: “How do you know when to cut?” And I can only answer that it’s very instinctual. On some level, I’m just thinking and feeling my way through the edit. So today, I’d like to describe that process: how does an editor think and feel?
- How Kubrick Turns Men into Weapons | Full Metal Jacket (YouTube)
Full Metal Jacket sees Kubrick explore the Vietnam war, he focusses on the experiences of the American soldiers and how they are transformed from normal people, with unique personalties and experiences, to reprogrammed soldiers ready to kill at a moments notice. Through characters such as Pvt. Pyle and Pvt. Joker, Kubrick looks at this idea from multiple angles and, with a heavy layer of irony, depicts the Vietnam War in a unique way that no other film has captured since.
- How Kubrick Uses the Camera (YouTube)
Kubrick is one of the most influential directors of the 20th Century, his career spanning almost five decades. He is perhaps best known for his bordering on insane attention to detail when it came to what’s in the frame, requiring take after take until the shot was perfect. This video looks at a handful of his most interesting shots, and breaking them down, examining how they elevate the themes of their films, and the visual techniques that are on display.
- How Star Wars Reinvented Cinema (YouTube)
In 1977 one of the most important films ever made was released, Star Wars. Following this, the film industry underwent a dramatic reinvention, becoming more commercially orientated. Many new blockbuster franchises were made in the wake of Star Wars - Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and Ghostbusters to name a few. This video explores the impact Star Wars had on the film industry, and how its legacy is still felt today.
- I A Man, Part 7 (youtube.com)
Valerie Solanas (the woman who shot Andy Warhol) star’s in I A Man with Tom Baker. Explaining how she digs the chicks.
- I’m What the Culture Feeling (The full story of Kendrick Lamar Vs Drake) (YouTube)
- In Praise of Chairs (YouTube)
One of the great things about detailed production design is that it pays off in unexpected ways. So today I explore the weird possibilities of that most common of objects: the chair.
- Incredible Moiré Patterns! (youtube.com)
Sir Roger Penrose demonstrates the extraordinary moiré patterns produced by overlaying and rotating two identical, repeating patterns. As the two patterns overlapped and rotated they interfere with each other to produce tertiary patterns.
- Infinity is bigger than you think - Numberphile (youtube.com)
Sometimes infinity is even bigger than you think… Dr James Grime explains with a little help from Georg Cantor.
- Jackie Chan - How to Do Action Comedy (YouTube)
Some filmmakers can do action. Others can do comedy. But for 40 years, the master of combining them has been Jackie Chan. Let’s see how he does it. (Note: to see the names of the films, press the CC button!)
- Joel & Ethan Coen - Shot | Reverse Shot (YouTube)
How do you film a conversation? Most likely, you’re going to block the actors, set up the camera, and do shot/reverse shot. But where do you put the camera? What lens do you use? And how do you cut back and forth? Today, I consider the Coen brothers — Joel & Ethan — and see how these choices lend a particular feel to their version of shot/reverse shot.
- Laniakea - Space visualization fly-through (youtube.com)
Deep Sky recently produced several space visualization animations for Burmer Music and Composition Lab. One of the sequences was visualizing our neighborhood of 100,000 galaxies; Laniakea. We worked closely with astrophysicist Daniel Pomarede, IRFU-CEA, Paris to utilized real data of the galaxy super cluster. Daniel provided and translated data into vertice points within an OBJ. Programming was needed to properly visualize Laniakea’s galaxy paths (streamlines) since neither 3D Max, Maya and Cinema 4D could properly translate the data. Blender and After Effects worked well communicating and properly visualizing the star cluster galaxies, streamlines, animation and compositing. Additional script work was used to share camera information between Blender and After Effects.
- Last Witness to President Abraham Lincoln Assassination I’ve Got A Secret (youtube.com)
Mr. Samuel J. Seymour, the last living eyewitness to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. was the mystery guest on the February 8, 1956 episode of the I’ve Got a Secret game show. Mr. Seymour (March 28, 1860 – April 12, 1956) was actually 95 years of age at the time of this appearance instead of 96.
- Laure (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (youtube.com)
- Legend Of A Mind (youtube.com)
- Lynne Ramsay - The Poetry of Details (YouTube)
What can one detail tell us about a scene? If you’re Lynne Ramsay: absolutely everything. Today I consider the poetic possibilities of cinema and one of our finest contemporary filmmakers.
- Mad Men: One Perfect Scene (YouTube)
Mad Men has a lot of great scenes, but this one might just be perfect.
- Martin Scorsese - The Art of Silence (YouTube)
Even though Martin Scorsese is famous for his use of music, one of his best traits is his deliberate and powerful use of silence. Take a glimpse at fifty years of this simple technique from one of cinema’s masters. SPOILERS for Shutter Island (2010), Superman (1978) and Man of Steel (2013)
- Memories of Murder (2003) - Ensemble Staging (YouTube)
How do you emphasize to the audience that something is important? Well, you could always cut to a close-up, but how about something subtler? Today I consider ensemble staging — a style of filmmaking that directs the audience exactly where to look, without ever seeming to do so at all. NO SPOILERS.
- Michael Bay - What is Bayhem? (YouTube)
There are filmmakers we love and then there’s Michael Bay. Even if you dislike him (as I do), Bay has something valuable to teach us about visual perception. This is an exploration of “Bayhem” — his style of camera movement, composition and editing that creates something overblown, dynamic and distinct.
- Mother (2009) - The Telephoto Profile Shot (YouTube)
A brief analysis of one aspect of Bong Joon-ho’s great film Mother (2009). WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS. For educational purposes only.
- Myanmar Dance Workout during the military coup | Full video (youtube)
- Ndirande; Whats Inside The Most Feared Largest Slum Of Malawi 🇲🇼? (youtube.com)
- no wonder everyone prefers part two (YouTube)
Dune: Part Two is a great film, amazing cinematography, visual effects, world building and sound design. But that’s not what this video is about. This video is about why Dune: Part Two is a great sequel. Join me as we explore some of the greatest sequels of all time, The Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Knight, The Godfather Part II, and The Two Tower, and why Dune: Part Two can find it’s place among these greats
- PARIS, TEXAS and the Power of Color (YouTube)
“How can a movie even have colors this good?” \ An analysis of cinematographer Robby Muller’s masterful use of light and color in PARIS, TEXAS.
- Photoshop: The First Demo | Adobe Photoshop (youtube.com)
Watch history repeat itself as John Knoll, one of the creators of Adobe Photoshop recreates the first demo he ever gave with the product.
- Powers of Ten™ (1977) (youtube.com)
Powers of Ten takes us on an adventure in magnitudes. Starting at a picnic by the lakeside in Chicago, this famous film transports us to the outer edges of the universe. Every ten seconds we view the starting point from ten times farther out until our own galaxy is visible only as a speck of light among many others. Returning to Earth with breathtaking speed, we move inward- into the hand of the sleeping picnicker- with ten times more magnification every ten seconds. Our journey ends inside a proton of a carbon atom within a DNA molecule in a white blood cell. POWERS OF TEN © 1977 EAMES OFFICE LLC (Available at www.eamesoffice.com)
- Robin Williams - In Motion (YouTube)
Robin Williams was a genius, but he was also a dedicated craftsman who explored how an actor could express character through movement. Join me in honoring this tiny facet of his work.
- Rock Identification with Willsey: BASALT and its many varieties (youtube.com)
Team up with geology professor Shawn Willsey as he investigates basalt in all its wonderous varieties. Observe and learn pillow lava, scoria, reticulite, volcanic bombs, and more. Also watch for a special guest appearance at the end by some true rock stars.
- Rockhounding Tips & Advice: Real advice on How to Find interesting rocks and minerals. (youtube.com)
We had the hardest time for about the first year we were rockhounding, often we would go places only to learn a hard lesson about researching the area, bringing the wrong tools, or not knowing exactly where we were. All of this could have been avoided if something like this existed.
- Russell’s Paradox - a simple explanation of a profound problem (youtube.com)
- Satoshi Kon - Editing Space & Time (YouTube)
Four years after his passing, we still haven’t quite caught up to Satoshi Kon, one of the great visionaries of modern film. In just four features and one TV series, he developed a unique style of editing that distorted and warped space and time. Join me in honoring the greatest Japanese animator not named Miyazaki.
- Schoolhouse Rock- How a Bill Becomes a Law (youtube.com)
- Snowpiercer - Left or Right (YouTube)
Characters make choices which they cannot take back. The question is: how do you show it visually? Here’s one solution from Snowpiercer. Warning: SPOILS ENTIRE FILM.
- that time Tarantino tried to reinvent himself. (YouTube)
Jackie Brown is maybe one of Tarantino’s lesser known films, but maybe on of his best? Join me as we explore his follow up to Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs and takes his cinematic style in a new direction. With blaxploitation influences, meta casting decisions and a fresh approach to violence - Jackie Brown is unlike any other movies in Tarantino’s filmography
- The Absolute Annihilation of Sneako - Video Vigilante (youtube.com)
- The Bad Sleep Well (1960) - The Geometry of a Scene
One of Akira Kurosawa’s many gifts was staging scenes in ways that were bold, simple and visual. I’m working on a longer essay about him and this piece didn’t make the cut, so I’m releasing it as a short standalone video. Thanks for watching!
- The Darkest Album I Have Ever Heard - Everywhere at The End of Time - A Bucket of Jake (youtube.com)
- The Gold Rush 1925 (youtube.com)
Charlie Chaplin’s brilliant film The Gold Rush (1925)
- The Golden Ratio (why it is so irrational) - Numberphile (youtube.com)
- The Great Attractor (youtube.com)
No matter where you are, you are always moving. The Earth orbits the sun, and the sun moves round the galaxy. But what is it that makes the galaxy move? That is going to be our topic today. Everything in our local galaxy supercluster, Laniakea, is being dragged towards a very high concentration of mass hidden behind the plane of our galaxy. It has all the ingredients for an epic space mystery, it is the Great Attractor.
- The Greatest Maths Mistakes | Matt Parker | Talks at Google (youtube.com)
When math goes wrong, things can get expensive. Or absolutely hilarious. For this talk we invited YouTube personality (Numberphile, standupmaths), math communicator, comedian, and one third of the Festival of the Spoken Nerd, Matt Parker, to share his favorite math mistakes from his new UK #1 bestseller, “Humble Pi - A Comedy of Maths Errors”.
- The Imposter (2012) - Looking into the Lens (YouTube)
A brief analysis of Bart Layton’s The Imposter (2012). WARNING: SPOILS EVERY GODDAMN THING.
- The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake (with introduction) (youtube.com)
The following dramatisation of the Marriage of Heaven and Hell and the introductory talk were originally broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The Blake Society is grateful to the dramatiser for making this available. As with all the recordings they are available for mp3 download on the Blake Society web site at www.blakesociety.org.uk/voice.
- The Marvel Symphonic Universe (YouTube)
Off the top of your head, could you sing the theme from Star Wars? How about James Bond? Or Harry Potter? But here’s the kicker: can you sing any theme from a Marvel film? Despite 13 films and 10 billion dollars at the box office, the Marvel Cinematic Universe lacks a distinctive musical identity or approach. So let’s try to answer the question: what is missing from Marvel music?
- The Missile Knows Where It Is… (youtube.com)
The missile knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn’t.
- The Most Misunderstood Concept in Physics (youtube.com)
One of the most important, yet least understood, concepts in all of physics.
- The Opposite of Infinity - Numberphile (youtube.com)
Continuing to talk Infinitesimals, this time with Dr James Grime.
- The Origin of the Zodiac Sign of Aquarius: Zeus and Ganymede - Greek Mythology - See U in History (youtube.com)
- The original Technoviking video (youtube.com)
- The Real Swaziland/Eswatini They Don’t Show You! (youtube.com)
- The Silence of the Lambs - Who Wins the Scene? (YouTube)
In drama, two characters walk into a room. Each wants something from the other. The question of the scene is: who gets what they want?
- The Spielberg Oner (YouTube)
One overlooked aspect of Spielberg is that he’s actually a stealth master of the long take. From Duel to Tintin, for forty years, he has sneakily filmed many scenes in a single continuous shot.
- The Sustained Two-Shot (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.
- Tiny Octopus Gets So Excited When His Diver Friend Comes To Visit Him | The Dodo (youtube.com)
- Tower Hill Agate Rockhounding Monroe Washington (youtube.com)
#towerhill #towerhillagate #melanophlogite
- Universal and Existential Quantifiers, ∀ “For All” and ∃ “There Exists” (YouTube)
- Vancouver Never Plays Itself (YouTube)
Perhaps no other city has been as thoroughly hidden from modern filmmaking as Vancouver, my hometown. Today, it’s the third biggest film production city in North America, behind Los Angeles and New York. And yet for all the movies and TV shows that are shot there, we hardly ever see the city itself. So today, let’s focus less on the movies and more on the city in the background.
- Waiting for Godot (YouTube)
- What is Chamber Music? (youtube.com)
- What is wrong with me? Apology to QTCinderella (YouTube)
Hello everybody.I wanted to come here and discuss the situation with QTCinderella.
- What Makes Westerns so Cool? (YouTube)
The Western genre is one of the most recognisable genres out there, with many classics such as ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ and ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.’ When people think of classic films, no doubt Westerns spring to mind. But why are they so memorable? And why have they had such a lasting impact on popular culture and cinema as a whole? This video aims to answer this question by examining what makes them so cool, by focussing on Sergio Leone’s western filmography.
- What Was The First Fungus? (YouTube)
- What’s special about 277777788888899? - Numberphile (youtube.com)
- when the director happens to be an expert in colour theory (YouTube)
Join me as we explore how director Damien Chazelle made use of colours in La La Land. Instead of using the standard emotional connotations for certain colours, Chazelle gives each colour its own thematic resonance and narrative weight, adding an extra layer to the visual storytelling. He uses inspirations ranging from German Expressionism to classical Hollywood to create a film that is not only colourful, but uses these colours for specific purposes.
- When you live and breathe cinema (YouTube)
Scorsese has had one hell of a career. From his origins in the 70s, to the titan of the industry he is today, he’s been a constant presence in modern filmmaking. Working with numerous actors, such as DeNiro and DiCaprio, and receiving an untold amount of critical acclaim, Martin Scorsese has certainly devoted his life to cinema.
- Whitest Kids U’ Know: Sniper Business (youtube.com)
This is literally a hostile business takeover.
- who said practical effects are always better? (YouTube)
We’ve got to the point where fully CGI characters can be near flawless, we easily forget that Caesar from Planet of the Apes, Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean or Gollum from Lord of the Rings are just visual effects creations, and accept the illusion without second thought. How did we get here? What makes good CGI characters good and bad CGI characters bad? Join me and Andy Serkis as we explore the development of motion capture and performance capture, and look at a few examples which demonstrate how to use this technology most effectively.
- Why Blade Runner still looks like a Billion Bucks (YouTube)
In this video, we’re going to discuss why Blade Runner still looks a billion bucks, even after all these years. \ Blade Runner has been around for over 40 years and it’s still one of the most iconic and visually stunning films ever made. The visual effects still look incredible and the story is still gripping. In this video, we’ll discuss the reasons why Blade Runner is still so popular and why it continues to hold our attention even after all these years.
- Why π^π^π^π could be an integer (for all we know!). (youtube.com)
- Wolf Children (2012) - The Lateral Tracking Shot (YouTube)
Looking for a unique lateral tracking shot? Consider this example from Mamoru Hosoda’s excellent film Wolf Children (2012). NO SPOILERS. Happy (Late) Mother’s Day.
- Yellowstone National Park Trip Planner | The Ultimate Guide (youtube.com)
Are you planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park? Then, this Ultimate Yellowstone Trip Planning Guide is for you! / I’m talking you through everything you need to know to plan an amazing trip to Yellowstone National Park including the best way to get to Yellowstone, where to stay when you visit, the best things to do in Yellowstone National Park, and more!
