A few of my friends have been doing speedpaintings from screenshots of movies. I think it’s a pretty great way to study films more closely. So here are a couple of speedpaints I did tonight from The Departed, which has some absolutely stunning shots throughout.

I think this is actually an over-the-shoulder shot, with the cell phone as the point-of-view character. Not only that, notice how the shot is oriented so that the phone is higher in the frame than Matt Damon’s face–meaning the cell phone is actually in a dominant position here.

This shot is only on screen for about ten frames, inbetween other shots that aren’t quite as disorienting. The effect is so subliminal, you probably don’t remember the shot even being there. But you feel it.