What is Frame by Frame?

Frame by Frame is a film and video review site.

Videos are not only reviewed, but subject to analysis from a variety of perspectives. What makes a movie frightening, exciting or scary? What makes for a YouTube phenomenon or conversely a critical success amongst the cultural elite?

Ultimately Frame by Frame is about watching movies actively, understanding what’s on the screen, how it works and why. Its educational for anyone who enjoys watching movies and essential for anyone who aspires to make them.

Online videos are selected through a process of random browsing, recommendations and intentional searching. Other reviews/critiques could come from the theater, television or the shelf of the video store. Frame by Frame’s scope is the moving picture, whether live action or animation, on the silver screen or a cellphone screen.

I focus on short films for a variety of reasons. One is that its easier to watch a dozen shorts every night than it is a dozen features. There’s also a lot of them, a whole lot. I’ll never run out of shorts to watch. Plus shorts tend to be more interesting and daring than features. Features are incapacitated by their budgets, their duration, the simple need to please (and turn a profit). As a result they don’t take the same risks or push the boundaries nearly as much as shorts do. Shorts cover a wider spectrum of stories, style and technique.

I hope you find the reviews and critiques engaging, informative, perhaps even inspiring.

Enjoy.