Patrick Willems’ YouTube channel has undergone a bit of a tone change during this time of pandemic but he is still creating insightful film commentary that is worth watching.

One of his latest video essays is on Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women. She has done something with this adaptation that I think should be taught as a masterclass case study on how to find the true spirit of a piece of work and adapting it in a way that plays to the strength of the new medium, in this case, film.

The ponysmasher YouTube channel is owned by David F. Sandberg, director of Shazam!, Lights Out, and Annabelle Creation.

I found his YouTube channel because of a video he made titled, “The Problem Solving of Filmmaking” which explains problems that he encountered while making Shazam!. What I did not realize at the time was that he was also into making simple short films with his wife and posting them to YouTube.

Before you watch this making-of video, please watch the full short film. Trust me you will be amazed and inspired.

This is a great video to help demonstrate how hard and rewarding it can be to make a movie. A lot of times things that you may not like about a movie are not intentional and the director may not like it either. Other times obstacles can create happy accidents that improve a film in ways unforseen.

David F. Sandberg created this great 5 min video breaking down one scene in Shazam! and the problems presented to him during the shoot. I first saw this awhile back but I am just now getting around to posting about it.