00:00I don't know about you but I think
00:02different films can be enjoyed on many
00:04different levels some films are an
00:06in-depth character study that make us
00:08question our Humanity or compassion some
00:11films are a visual experience less about
00:13narrative and more about aesthetic color
00:16cinematography misonsen and of course
00:18some films are just brain candy and
00:20simply offer diversion and Delight but
00:23for those of us who enjoy analyzing film
00:25and interrogating it as a piece of art
00:27it can be overwhelming just how much
00:29there is to take in and what to watch
00:31and what to look out for
00:33in this list I've tried to put together
00:3520 films for you to hone your skills by
00:38signposting elements worthy of analysis
00:40this definitely isn't my list of
00:42greatest films of all time but each one
00:44will introduce you to a very specific
00:46aspect of film from genre analysis to
00:48author study decoding cinematography and
00:52narrative breakdowns so you can start
00:53enjoying film analytically before we
00:56start I just want to signpost you to my
00:58newly launched patreon and I'll tell you
01:00a little bit more about that at the end
01:07what better way to start this list of
01:09films to analyze than by looking at one
01:11of the greatest filmmakers of all time
01:14I very easily could have put vertigo or
01:16the birds on this list but there are
01:18several specific reasons why we're
01:20looking at psycho first a film that is
01:22brazen enough to kill off the leading
01:27psycho is a great starting place for
01:29film analysis because Hitchcock has an
01:31incredibly motivated cinematic style
01:33that is difficult to miss that's not to
01:36say it's simplistic far from it but
01:38every single camera movement every prop
01:40close-up every side glance is done with
01:44such clear intent that you can easily
01:46notice and start questioning why do you
01:49suppose he's shot from that high up
01:52why there's so many mirrors what do they
01:56the subtlety and motivation behind his
01:58camera work will instantly be familiar
02:00to David Fincher fans for the same
02:02all you've got to do is learn to notice
02:04and question why there's no better place
02:07to do this than in the infamous shower
02:09scene a master class and camera work
02:27next we're going to look at narrative
02:28structure so I'd like to recommend
02:30Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan I don't
02:32think this is his Masterpiece that
02:34belongs to Interstellar but this film
02:36will introduce you to a complex
02:37non-linear structure that demonstrates
02:40how time can be manipulated through
02:42editing I don't really want to explain
02:43the mechanics in too much detail because
02:46part of the joy is working it out but
02:48essentially Dunkirk tells three stories
02:50each in completely different time scales
02:53as you watch it pay close attention to
02:56how the sequencing that's literally the
02:58order of scenes builds a sense of
03:00tension peeking at the actual rescue
03:02attempt it's also a film to make special
03:04effort to watch in IMAX another staple
03:07of Nolan's films as he uses the format
03:09to its fullest cinematically
03:23grave of the fireflies is on this list
03:26as your introduction to anime as a
03:28serious film medium in my opinion Studio
03:31ghibli's finest work it's an anti-war
03:33film that explores the impact of
03:35conflict on a brother and sister their
03:37remarkable resilience in the face of
03:39setback after setback makes their tragic
03:41ending even more heartbreaking
03:44watch this film and consider the impact
03:46of the medium itself would it be as
03:49effective if it weren't animated
03:51for me the contrast of the childhood
03:53optimism that we associate with animated
03:55movies with the cold realities of War
03:57makes the message far more powerful and
04:00the children all the more vulnerable
04:07the budding screenwrite is among you my
04:09recommendation is lock a film that can't
04:12hide behind special effects or big
04:13budget set pieces are you okay
04:18okay cat please the whole film is Tom
04:21Hardy fighting fires a marital breakdown
04:23missing a football game with his son
04:25coordinating a concrete delivery
04:27remotely all from his car phone this
04:30will be your first character study of a
04:32man who was Duty bound to a fault the
04:34dialogue is razor sharp so as you watch
04:37this film pay close attention to how
04:39writer director Stephen Knight and solo
04:41actor Tom Hardy create a portrait of a
04:44man who only knows how to manage life's
04:46challenges with a cold calculative
04:48pragmatism that is my decision I have
04:51I have not behaved in the right way with
04:54this woman at all I have I have behaved
04:57in a way that isn't like me but now I am
05:00going to do the right thing
05:01how do you sell silent Cinema to a
05:04contemporary audience it's no small feat
05:06many discount anything in black and
05:08white let alone without speech well the
05:10answer comes in the form of the artist
05:13this film is a love letter to early
05:14Cinema just as the talkies were becoming
05:24beautiful could you give me just one
05:27but by taking a step back to a time
05:29where so much more story had to be told
05:31with performance and cinematography
05:33you'll hone your ability to identify
05:35visual storytelling it's also a great
05:38place to start identifying the coolest
05:40of effect in editing pay close attention
05:42to how every car connects the shot that
05:44precedes it and follows it every cut is
05:47effectively caused an effect
05:56next we're going to focus on sound
05:57analysis and our case study is sound of
06:00metal just as POV shots are often used
06:02to show the audience what a character
06:04can see and position us with them this
06:07film uses fantastic sound design to
06:09offer us the perspective of a musician
06:11who is losing their hearing
06:26it makes for an uncomfortable watch at
06:28times so as you're watching pay
06:30attention to how a sense of panic is
06:32built through the use of first person
06:34sound camera work and performance
06:54horse girl is a film about a woman whose
06:57reality is coming to question as her
06:58dreams seep into her daily life which is
07:01not you in film but what I loved about
07:03it was how it was executed here
07:06almost all films you watch in the cinema
07:08are coherent and makes sense because of
07:11something we call continuity editing
07:12long established editing techniques such
07:14as match on action eye line match the
07:17180 degree rule that all mask each cut
07:20and allow you to understand time and
07:22space and places that you've never
07:24actually been horse girl uses these
07:27rules and breaks them intentionally to
07:29disorientate the audience and lead them
07:31as frantic as the main character while
07:33you watch pay close attention to your
07:36sense of time and space within a scene
07:38and how your expectations for how each
07:41scene will play out are usually dashed
07:43because of these rules being broken the
07:46ultimate effect will be disorientation
07:57how do you know about that dream
08:00how do you know about that I've never
08:07Hey kid how good are you
08:13anyone who's been to my channel before
08:15will know about my appreciation for
08:17Butch Cassidy in the Sundance Kid but
08:19why this Western rather than The Good
08:21the Bad and the Ugly or the Searchers
08:23Birch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid marks
08:26the end of the classic Western era by
08:28the time this film came out audience
08:30tastes were beginning to change and the
08:32narrative is as much a farewell to the
08:34genre as it is the day of the Bandit at
08:36the turn of the 20th century
08:39gold bang it was beautiful
08:43and paper Beauty while you watch look
08:46out for this theme of finality and the
08:49end of things pay attention to how the
08:51inevitable end of the Jewish life of
08:53crime is foreshadowed throughout and
08:56then compare your notes to my analysis
08:57which you can watch here
09:01you didn't see the fours out there did
09:11for a moment I thought we were in
09:17a little turn now side to side
09:22other people can see
09:25dancer in the dark is a film that was
09:27introduced to me as a film student and
09:29it stayed with me ever since it's on
09:32this list because it's a post-modern
09:33genre study of the traditional musical
09:35but there is nothing conventional about
09:37this last one Trio film a name that
09:40you'll come to know more as you explore
09:41Cinema it plays on all the conventions
09:43we expect to see in a musical big set
09:45pieces choreography lots of color but it
09:48tells it from the perspective of a young
09:50factory worker who lives for music but
09:53is slowly going blind the contrast
09:55between this increasingly Bleak
09:57existence and idealized musical
09:59spectacle illustrates the unrealistic
10:02Romance of musicals in stunning scenes
10:04like this she is literally transported
10:06from the realist documentary-esque style
10:09that von Trier is known for into the
10:11conventions that we expect of the genre
10:23it's as if we experience her hyper
10:25reality this film will change the way
10:27you look at musicals and act as a
10:30fantastic introduction to one of
10:31Cinema's most controversial directors
10:45while we're on the topic of Music this
10:47film has the most famous two notes of
10:51but that's not why it's on the list
10:57Spielberg is the man responsible for
10:59what we now recognize as the modern
11:01Blockbuster and this is the film that
11:04the reason this film is on the list is
11:06it will show you how to Pace a film
11:09spoolberg is known for his long takes
11:11and this is just one of the tools that
11:13he uses to draw out a scene and leave
11:15the audience hanging on the edge of
11:17their seat in anticipation for this
11:24very often get pacing wrong and they
11:26feel either too slow or too fast but
11:28Jaws will show you that great films know
11:31how each beat plays with the audience
11:33pay attention to your awareness of when
11:36things are about to go wrong or when
11:37there's looming danger and how Spielberg
11:40teases the audience with pacing
11:45hey you guys you guys okay over there
11:53it's undeniable that there is an element
11:55of voyeurism about Cinema and no film
11:58explores this quality quite as
12:00explicitly as Hitchcock's rear window
12:01there's no there's nothing to see
12:05see look through that window this will
12:07be your introduction to the concept of
12:09the male gaze the widely accepted
12:11principle that the camera lens offers us
12:13a heterosexual male perspective and in
12:15this case we literally have that with
12:17the first person Viewpoint of the male
12:20character who's being directed by a male
12:22filmmaker as you watch try to think of
12:25the camera as an actual person whose
12:27eyes we are looking through
12:29what does that say about gender and the
12:31character's attitudes towards women what
12:33does it say about men how much of your
12:35perspective of the world has been
12:37learned through this male gaze
12:41to appreciate truly minimalist
12:43understated filmmaking I recommend
12:45portrait of a lady on fire the lack of
12:47any score and minimal dialogue helps us
12:49to focus on the story communicated
12:51primarily Through The Eyes
13:04while you watch pay close attention to
13:06how director Celine siama builds layers
13:09and layers of mystery around the main
13:11character by revealing them through
13:13tidbits of information but never fully
13:15revealing her for the first 20 minutes
13:18by the time we do eventually see them we
13:20are as curious about her as the painter
13:30in contrast to rear window it's also a
13:32great example of the female gaze a film
13:34about expectations put on women shown
13:37from a female character's perspective by
13:39a female director look out for the
13:41female gays in the camera work and how
13:43their developing relationship is
13:45represented in the portrait as it goes
13:47from abstract to intimate
13:53I'm sure you've heard this saying show
13:55don't tell well this film exemplifies
13:57just that I'd like to recommend Children
14:00of Men for its visual storytelling we
14:02don't really know how the world got into
14:04this Bleak dystopian state or how
14:07governments and Society have adapted but
14:09we see subtle Clues to it everywhere
14:18watch this film and really take in the
14:21background not just the action in the
14:22foreground you'll be amazed at just how
14:24much World building you'll discover
14:26simply through the Nissan sent
14:33there is cinematography conventions in
14:35mainstream films that you may not even
14:37be aware of but you will definitely
14:39notice them when they are broken the
14:40rule of thirds eyeline match open
14:43framing nowhere is breaking these rules
14:45more evident than in the films of the
14:48French New Wave a film movement all
14:50about breaking the rules and defying the
14:51Hollywood System of filmmaking and is a
14:54jumping on point for this film movement
14:55we'll be watching Cleo from five to
14:57seven it's not as radical as other New
14:59Wave films we could have looked at but
15:01as you watch take note of whenever the
15:04camera does something different really
15:06take note of what it does and doesn't do
15:09and it will demonstrate to you how
15:11exciting variation and difference from
15:21we've already talked about a range of
15:23outstanding filmmakers in this list each
15:25of whom could be described as an altar
15:27but one of the most exciting and clearly
15:29identifiable cinematic signatures
15:31belongs to Bong Joon ho the Korean
15:34director that became a household name
15:35when parasite won best film a few years
15:37ago I've followed him since Snowpiercer
15:40which is an ideal jumping on point if
15:42he's new to you it's in English it's
15:44incredibly fast-paced but most
15:46importantly it illustrates how director
15:48can have a set style and a theme that
15:51they explore across most of their movies
15:53case he explores issues surrounding
15:56class divides As Told through outrageous
15:59analogies and in this film the train
16:01with the higher classes at the front and
16:03the lower classes at the back is our
16:07you are a shoe I belong
16:13ahead so it is it's filled with dark
16:15humor and an aesthetic that you'll come
16:17to expect if you follow this up with
16:19viewings of parasite and okya
16:21I'd recommend you try and watch all of
16:23his back catalog and ask yourself what
16:26quantifies a bong Joon ho film in fact I
16:29challenge you to ask this of each of
16:31your favorite directors for me that's
16:35now this might be a controversial
16:37opinion but Inglorious Bastards is my
16:40favorite of his films we're actually
16:41going to look at it because of two
16:43specific scenes firstly the
16:45interrogation of the farmer at the very
16:46beginning and secondly the undercover
16:48interrogation by the SS officer in the
16:51second act both of these scenes are
16:53truly gripping despite comprising mostly
16:55of Cinema's most boring sequence of
16:57shots shot reverse shot as you watch pay
17:01close attention to how Tarantino uses
17:03lingering shots of each speaker and
17:05slight changes to our proximity to them
17:07to communicate the balance of power in
17:19these are some of the tensest moments
17:22that I can think of in recent films and
17:23I dare you to watch it without holding
17:26your task is to identify how Tarantino
17:28constructs this quality
17:36Amadeus is a truly accessible entry into
17:39period dramas the Nissan sen themes and
17:42play on relationships is authentically
17:44period drama but the language is very
17:46contemporary they're all so beautiful
17:49why don't I have three heads
17:57it's a biopic of the composer Mozart As
18:00Told by his jealous and nowhere near his
18:02taunted counterpart salieri this makes
18:04for such an interesting case study
18:06because we are positioned as an audience
18:09to view each event from the perspective
18:10of the outsider solieri looking in he
18:14goes from revering Mozart to hating him
18:18the effect is Mozart carries a Godlike
18:21quality unobtainable to the rest of us
18:23and it's beautifully captured in scenes
18:32that consider how different the film
18:35would have been had it been told from
18:37Mozart's perspective I don't think he
18:39would feel nearly as Untouchable had we
18:42not been positioned as an outsider
18:512001 A Space Odyssey is the absolute
18:54definition of a real science fiction I'm
18:57not talking about this they will stop
19:00the return of that stick
19:07I'm talking about actual technology
19:09pushed to the limits meaning of life
19:12what else is out there in the universe
19:14science fiction the film is fantastic
19:16for analysis as it's so open to
19:19interpretation what does the monolith
19:21mean what is director Kubrick saying
19:23about man and machine in the
19:25interactions with hell
19:27just what do you think you're doing Dale
19:30while you watch it pay special attention
19:32to the camera work it's precise measured
19:35and lifeless almost like the technology
19:38that has allowed man to explore the
19:41next we're going to be looking at color
19:43in film and the case study is her color
19:46is without doubt one of the most
19:48powerful Tools in a filmmaker's Arsenal
19:50perhaps it's because color is largely a
19:52universal language that goes beyond just
19:54film but into fashion architecture all
19:58what this means is when we see blue or
20:01red or an absence of color it has the
20:04innate ability to make us feel something
20:06even if we aren't sure why in her pay
20:09attention to how color is used to
20:11reflect working Phoenix's emotional
20:12state and feelings towards the
20:14artificial intelligence that he falls in
20:16love with different shades of red and
20:18different degrees of saturation make
20:21this a fascinating study of color
20:30it's only a matter of time once you
20:32start taking films seriously before
20:34you'll discover Akira Kurosawa
20:37Seven Samurai is a fairly simple
20:39narrative about a group of Samurai
20:41obviously who become employed to protect
20:43a village against Bandits it's a
20:46narrative that's been replayed countless
20:47times in Hollywood but never as well as
20:50it is here watch this film for a master
20:52class in blocking the art of arranging
20:55actors prop setting within a scene
20:57something that you'll come to see quite
20:59quickly with Kurosawa films is the way
21:01that he uses movement and space to
21:04communicate just as much as dialogue in
21:06nowhere is this more apparent than in
21:09the final battle scene which you'll be
21:11analyzing on a shot to shot basis
21:23try to think Beyond simply how each shot
21:25is framed but instead consider how the
21:28players within each scene move and use
21:30the space within them
21:43films guys I would love to hear what you
21:46think of them and your observations for
21:48each one do a little bit of an analysis
21:50and leave your comments below now as I
21:52mentioned before I've just started up on
21:54patreon and it's my way of ensuring that
21:56I can deliver these videos more
21:58regularly and provide more support to
22:00those of you out there who are studying
22:02film and media if you're able to check
22:04out the page and pledge some support I'd
22:06be incredibly grateful but otherwise I
22:08look forward to seeing in the next video
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