---
title: 'How One Movie Achieved Visual Perfection | Film Perfection'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=eKMNYto0AWs'
video_id: 'eKMNYto0AWs'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 1048
---

# How One Movie Achieved Visual Perfection | Film Perfection

> Source: [How One Movie Achieved Visual Perfection | Film Perfection](https://youtube.com/watch?v=eKMNYto0AWs)

## Summary

This video analyzes the 2015 film 'Macbeth' to uncover why it is considered one of the most visually striking movies ever made. The presenter, Phil Mento, argues that despite its difficult Shakespearean dialogue, the film achieves visual perfection through three universal techniques: color contrast, environmental motion, and strategic use of foreground and background. These techniques can be applied to any film, regardless of budget or genre.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to the Concept** [00:29] — The phrase 'every frame a painting' is an exaggeration, but Macbeth comes close to achieving it.
- **Color Contrast** [03:44] — Macbeth uses multiple shades of color in every scene, especially in light, and contrasts them to avoid visual fatigue.
- **Negative Example: Solo** [05:03] — Solo: A Star Wars Story fails because it uses a single heavy color without contrast, making it tiring to watch.
- **Motion and Environmental Movement** [07:08] — Motion implies action and intent, making frames more interesting. Macbeth creates motion through the environment when characters are still.
- **Examples of Environmental Motion** [10:53] — Environmental motion includes wind, candles, smoke, rain, waves, fire, and flickering light, present in almost every shot.
- **Foreground and Background** [11:28] — Foreground and background can be used aesthetically, but the masterful use is to boost the emotional impact of the foreground with the background.
- **Example from Seven** [12:28] — Example from 'Seven' (1995): background of Somerset hanging his head multiplies the defeat emotion of Mills in the foreground.
- **Macbeth's Use of Background** [14:11] — Macbeth uses background chaos to amplify Macbeth's hopelessness, and emptiness to show his isolation.
- **Conclusion: Three Key Factors** [16:35] — Three key takeaways: build shots on color with contrast, fill with motion (character or environment), and use foreground/background together to boost impact.

## Transcript

[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
hi
my name is phil mento and this is phil
mento
if you've been following the film side
of youtube for a while you've probably
heard the phrase
every frame a painting if not in essence
this phrase could be seen to mean that
whenever you pause a movie that
paused frame should be visually
impressive enough to be hung up on a
wall
as a painting obviously in reality the
phrase is exaggeration and
unreal not every frame of a movie ever
is or should be worthy of being a
painting
because of basic filmmaking things like
motion blur but still on a more of a
shot level
it is an interesting topic how can a
movie actually make it so that
many if not all of its shots are
visually impressive enough to be
paintings and what better way to study
this topic further than with 2015's
macbeth if it so happens that you've
never seen 2015's macbeth
i don't blame you it's not really a
thrilling film that would have much to
offer narratively
most of it is just people monologuing
about their inner feelings which at
least to me
is a big big no-no and it doesn't help
that to a more average modern audience
most of that monologuing sounds like
pure nonsense
first desire ms kinsman and his subject
strong
both against the deed the earth earth
bubbles as the water has and these are
of them
come to my woman's breasts and take my
milk for all
you murdering ministers confusion i hath
made his masterpiece most sacrilegious
mother have broke
open the lord's anointed temple and
stole vents
the life of the building what
uh the king has been murdered
well why did you just say that
despite all the shakespeare stuff this
movie still is a remarkable cinematic
experience
because of two reasons the first reason
is the simply
incredible music the second reason and
the reason we will be focusing on today
is the visual side to put it shortly
2015's macbeth is without a doubt
one of the most visually striking and
impressive films
ever made if any movie truly is worthy
of the phrase every frame a painting
there's a good chance that it's
this one and that's why we are here
today to find out
why that is of course there are
countless different visual factors at
play in macbeth
some of them are more common factors
we've examined before like the dynamic
use of slow motion
other factors are directly tied to the
story like the breathtaking landscape
and the epic war battles
sadly not every movie can be filmed in
scotland not every movie has huge crowds
of people it can use
to me however there are just three core
visual factors behind macbeth that made
this movie the visual masterpiece that
it is
three universally compatible visual
filmmaking factors that
can and should be used by every film
regardless of whether it's a massive
blockbuster or a tiny indie project
and so let's take a closer look at
2015's macbeth and try to find out what
those three key visual factors are let's
try to find out what you can actually do
to make your movie worthy of the phrase
every frame
a painting
the very first thing you will probably
notice when watching through macbeth
is the color whether a scene takes place
outside or inside
the movie always retains a consistent
ability of featuring
multiple different shades of color
especially in its light
we have white we have blue we have
yellow red
gray green black take a color wheel and
pick any of the slices
odds are you will find that color in the
movie if not as light then
at least as an object or a piece of
clothing what this constant use of
various colors does
it not only gives the movie a visually
striking appearance
it also separates all the scenes from
each other and keeps
everything fresh and what makes the
whole thing even more impressive
is the way the movie manages to
incorporate color into the theme
and purpose of a scene if we have a
scene where a big bunch of nameless
scottish and irish soldiers are killing
each other
then everything is depressingly gray if
we have a scene of two sworn enemies
finally
clashing together in one last battle to
the death the world is red
out of anger if we have a small child in
a forest being hunted by murderers
the forest has a scary murky look
however
there is one big downside to using
strong heavy colors
and that's the fact that those strong
heavy colors can become repulsive for
the audience to watch
take the recent han solo movie for
example while this film does have some
impressive colorful cinematography
there are many scenes and sequences
where the color simply put
becomes too heavy in some scenes the
screen is entirely blue
in other scenes it's entirely brown to
the point where it all becomes
tiring and unpleasant for the human eye
a big criticism many moviegoers had
against solo was that it just felt too
boring and although there can be many
reasons for this i would argue that one
of the more notable reasons
is the color but even though macbeth
uses very strong colors just like solo
does
it never suffers from the same problem
and the reason why
is something that every movie needs to
keep in mind when using color
you cannot pick just one color and put
it on screen and be done with it
you always have to contrast that color
against
another color take a look at these two
shots from macbeth and solo
in essence they are very similar both
use very heavy strong colors
both have their own narrative reasons
for doing so yet for some reason
it only works in macbeth why do you
think that is
what's the difference between these two
shots well it's the factor of
contrast in solo the screen uses blue
and that's it in macbeth the screen uses
red
but also contrasts that red against
yellow
and white and that right there is the
difference between
unpleasant and impressive if you want to
make your shot look like a painting
then build it out of color it doesn't
have to be colorful
but it should have a color in form of
light or
character or nature or object or
whatever and in order to keep the shell
from becoming unpleasant to the eye
make sure to contrast that color against
another
if the sky is pale then maybe wrap your
character in black
if the inside of a house is candlelit
yellow then maybe mix
in blue light of nature if the knight is
dark then maybe light it up with flames
anything to keep the frame refreshingly
colored
the second key visual strength of
macbeth comes from its ability to
utilize
motion to bring its imagery to life even
if we weren't talking about film but
instead just still images
i would still argue that motion and
movement are crucial
in creating a rich compelling frame that
feels alive the frame might not be
moving but it still requires
motion because of what motion means
motion
implies action action implies intent
and intent implies that things are
happening
and no matter what form of art we are
talking about moving pictures or
unmoving paintings those forms of art
will
always be more interesting to look at
when things are happening
a good example of this is tom cruise who
has arguably become the greatest
hollywood action movie star of
all time maybe you don't agree maybe you
don't like tom cruise that's fine but
regardless of any personal opinions the
fact
is that especially as ethan hunt in
mission impossible
tom cruise is always very intriguing to
watch
and that's because he is the physical
manifestation of
intent and action and motion he's always
running he's always
jumping he's always driving motorcycles
and hanging from planes and helicopters
and as a result his movies are filled
with visuals that hold
massive interest
[Music]
[Music]
even without factors like action and
intent
motion just by itself is a great way to
create interest in a frame
which can be done with moving characters
and to be honest that's not really any
astonishing secret information creating
motion through characters
that's pretty obvious that's done by
pretty much every movie ever the real
dilemma is
how do you create motion when your
characters aren't actually
moving in macbeth there's a big bunch of
slower scenes where characters are just
standing still
talking or looking or whatever yet
despite this
the movie still somehow manages to
incorporate
more movement and motion than most big
action heavy blockbusters
and the way it accomplishes this is what
visually sets it apart
from nearly all other movies since
macbeth cannot make its characters move
around the environment
it makes the environment move around the
characters
and the effect quite honestly is
astounding
but don't take my word for it see for
yourself let's look at a couple
different shots of people standing still
and you tell me which you think is
visually more intriguing and powerful
you make me strange
even to the disposition that i owe
being have no woman born
yet i will try the last
[Music]
even though this climactic scene is
mostly just two people standing in place
and talking
it feels so full of power and high
stakes
because smoke and dust is racing past
them a thousand miles an hour
it might sound like a small thing but it
does make this dialogue moment
more powerful than when iron man tosses
hulk down into a skyscraper
and the genius of macbeth is that
there's environmental motion much like
this
in pretty much every shot sometimes in a
smaller scale
sometimes in a bigger scale but the odds
are that it's there
in fact the other scene i just showed
you as an example that's one of the rare
few moments where there's no
environmental motion
at all most other times the filmmakers
have always
thought of something wind candles smoke
rain waves fire fog flickering light
dogs there's always something as there
clearly
should be and so if you want to make
your visuals powerful
and interesting and energetic you should
always add in some form of
motion if not motion of character then
motion
of the environment or why not both
the third and final core factor that
makes macbeth the visual masterpiece
that it is
is the way it utilizes foreground and
background
now there's a couple different ways of
using foreground and background
in film there's a more common purely
aesthetic way where you for example
shoot something in the foreground and
then use the background to make that
shot
visually cooler you can take a dialogue
scene and shoot it against a gorgeous
backdrop of scottish mountain tops or
then you can even couple this method
with the two earlier visual techniques
we talked about
you can have a red foreground and
contrast that against a yellow
background you can have two characters
talking in the background and create
motion by having a flickering campfire
in the foreground
all good proper uses of foreground and
background but the real framing method
that separates good visual movies from
visual masterpieces
is when you not only use the background
to make your foreground shot look cooler
but when you also use the background to
boost the emotional
impact that you want your foreground to
evoke
as an example let's look at the 1995
movie 7 directed by david fincher who
many people consider
as one of the most talented visual
directors today there's a lot of great
frames and shots in seven to choose from
but for me
the greatest of them all comes at the
very end after mills has killed
john doe
[Music]
looking at the framing of the shot the
main driving visual force is the
foreground the purpose of which is to
evoke the emotion of defeat
and disappointment mills knows he's
screwed up he knows
john doe won he knows this whole thing
just ended
in defeat and just by itself it would be
a good shot
but because fincher is fincher good is
not enough this needs to be
an amazing shot so then how can you make
this into an amazing shot
by boosting the emotional impact of the
foreground
with the background now instead of it
being just meals knowing that they lost
we also have somerset quietly hanging
his head which evokes that exact same
emotion of defeat and disappointment
and just like that the emotional impact
of the shot
is multiplied a good shot is now
an amazing shot even though macbeth
isn't directed by a well-known hollywood
superstar
it still easily stands up to the work of
masters like fincher
there are scenes in macbeth where the
background for example is used just to
make the foreground look cooler like
there are in every movie but in addition
to that
there are also multiple shots where the
background is used to boost
the emotional impact that the foreground
is meant to evoke
like this one
[Music]
again the main driving force of this
shot is the foreground
well technically i guess it's the middle
ground but let's just keep it simple the
purpose of the foreground
is from macbeth to evoke the emotion of
hopelessness
and misery because of the tragic nature
of this chaotic battle he's in you could
argue that macbeth is just distracted by
the witches
but for me this whole sequence above all
else revolves around the tragedy of
fellow men
killing each other and because michael
fassbender does do a great job here
it would be a good shot but how do you
make it an amazing shot
by actually simultaneously showing the
chaos
and the death happening in the
background this choice might seem
obvious now
but i don't think that's true a much
more common and safer way would have
been to for example first shoot a
close-up of macbeth looking at the chaos
and only
then actually cutting to the chaos but
because those two shots are combined
into one by making proper use of
foreground and background
a good shot is now an amazing shot and
at least to me
this shot is even more visually
impactful than the one in 7 because it
also mixes in contrasted color
as well as motion in form of character
and environment
once again you don't need huge battles
or fancy exteriors to make use of
foreground and background
look at this shot for example the
foreground here is meant to convey the
information that the wife of macbeth is
dead
and that at this point he doesn't really
care focus on the background
notice how the dogs don't pay any
attention notice how the fire keeps on
flickering like normal
the maid on the bed is sad and crying
but the camera
intentionally pushes her face out of
frame
and it's all meant to boost the
emotional impact of the fact that the
wife of macbeth is dead
and that he does not really care look at
this shot we have macbeth in the
foreground
and then nothing in the background but
emptiness and again
that emptiness is there for a reason to
visually hammer in the fact that macbeth
is now completely alone
and that he has nobody in his life
anymore in other words
sometimes all you need to improve your
foreground driven shots
is to add in a simple background of
emptiness
and so here we are fellas and filarets
if you want to make your movie visually
incredible like macbeth
there are three key things to keep in
mind build your shots
on color and don't forget to contrast
that color against some other color
fill your shots with motion in form of
character
or environment or both and lastly
whatever emotions or
information your shots are meant to
convey be sure to use the foreground and
the background together
to boost its overall impact that's how
you can begin to make a visual
masterpiece like macbeth
that's how you can begin to make a film
that's worthy of the phrase
every frame a painting
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
you