If you enjoy a good film as much as I do, then merely watching the theatrical cut of the trailer isn’t enough. I enjoy watching all the special features on the Lord of the Rings extended DVD’s almost as much as I enjoy watching the movies themselves.
The creation of a movie is unlike any other fine arts production. It involves hundreds of people- actors, directors, editors, makeup artists, set designers, composers and more working together to create a single finished product. Because there are so many parts that go into a movie, there are just as many ways to analyze movies. And luckily for film enthusiasts like myself, there are a whole host of YouTube channels that provide quality analysis and insight into the film creation process.
(As these channels analyze many R-rated films, their videos often include strong language)
Every Frame A Painting
Every Frame A Painting likes to take a variety of actors and directors and analyze the work across their filmography. He covers Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Robin Williams, Joel & Ethan Cohen, Jackie Chan, Edgar Wright and more.
Cinefix
Cinefix produces a variety of content, but my favorite is their series of lists where they highlight brilliant moments in film, such as this one where they go in-depth into a handful of scenes from various movies.
Channel Crisswell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l293Qyua5QM
With a number of video essays about individual movies like Her, The Revenant, or Apocalypse Now, Channel Crisswell also discusses specific aspects of film-making in videos like Composition in Storytelling, where he expounds the importance of cinematography.
Lessons From The Screenplay
As the name of the channel suggests, Lessons From The Screenplay focuses on analyzing movies from the standpoint of… you guessed it, the screenplay. Although a fairly new channel with only a handful of uploads, Lessons From The Screenplay does a great job of analyzing some fan-favorites in The Dark Knight, Ghostbusters, and Independence Day.
Chris Stuckman
Known more for his reviews of new releases, Chris Stuckman also creates some in-depth analyses of complex movies. And by in-depth, I mean he spends twenty or even thirty minutes analyzing one movie, scene by scene and line by line. He also has videos where he talks about the current state of particular genres, like Action and Horror, and what needs to be done to improve them.
@jusstadams