An awesome, educational, fair use-using post about studying, recognizing, and appreciating components of visual storytelling.

So I want you to watch this movie and think only about staging, how the shots are built and laid out, what the rules of movement are, what the cutting patterns are. See if you can reproduce the thought process that resulted in these choices by asking yourself: why was each shot—whether short or long—held for that exact length of time and placed in that order? Sounds like fun, right? It actually is. To me. Oh, and I’ve removed all sound and color from the film, apart from a score designed to aid you in your quest to just study the visual staging aspect. Wait, WHAT? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? Well, I’m not saying I’m like, ALLOWED to do this, I’m just saying this is what I do when I try to learn about staging…

Hit the link at the very bottom for a soundless, black and white version of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Ask yourself what modes of study IP law is functionally preventing. [hint: some interesting ones]

via A one-of-a-kind marketplace from Steven Soderbergh. – Extension 765.