Devan Scott
@dagscott.bsky.social
Cinematographer | Colourist | Professor | Director [Vancouver, BC]
Host of 'How Would Lubitsch Do It'
www.movingimageagency.com | https://letterboxd.com/DevanAGScott/
Host of 'How Would Lubitsch Do It'
www.movingimageagency.com | https://letterboxd.com/DevanAGScott/
I'm a pretty tough and grumpy mark for this type of YouTube cultural criticism video essay, but this is legitimately a really good rundown of the implications of the Oz Sphere monstrosity for film restoration and the future of cinema as communal art/entertainment.
The Wizard of Oz at Sphere Is Nightmare Fuel
YouTube video by Be Kind Rewind
www.youtube.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:14 PM
I'm a pretty tough and grumpy mark for this type of YouTube cultural criticism video essay, but this is legitimately a really good rundown of the implications of the Oz Sphere monstrosity for film restoration and the future of cinema as communal art/entertainment.
Reposted by Devan Scott
My take on the Optic/Haptic vid is: It tries to develop a unifying theory on a broad thesis with a shaky premise (“Why don’t movies look realistic anymore?”) and inevitably winds up with a mess of cherry-picking, self-contradictions, specious reasoning, along with a lot of individually good points.
November 21, 2025 at 2:28 AM
My take on the Optic/Haptic vid is: It tries to develop a unifying theory on a broad thesis with a shaky premise (“Why don’t movies look realistic anymore?”) and inevitably winds up with a mess of cherry-picking, self-contradictions, specious reasoning, along with a lot of individually good points.
Well, I finally found time to speculatively tint Lubitsch's THE OYSTER PRINCESS (1919).
November 18, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Well, I finally found time to speculatively tint Lubitsch's THE OYSTER PRINCESS (1919).
Two questions about the new Lubitsch Musicals BD set from Criterion:
1. Where's the tinted ONE HOUR WITH YOU restoration?
2. Gimme the new tinted ONE HOUR WITH YOU restoration.
1. Where's the tinted ONE HOUR WITH YOU restoration?
2. Gimme the new tinted ONE HOUR WITH YOU restoration.
Eclipse Series 8: Lubitsch Musicals
Renowned as a silent-film pioneer and the man who refined Hollywood comedy with such masterpieces as Trouble in Paradise, The Shop Around the Corner, and To Be or Not to Be, Ernst Lubitsch also had an...
www.criterion.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Two questions about the new Lubitsch Musicals BD set from Criterion:
1. Where's the tinted ONE HOUR WITH YOU restoration?
2. Gimme the new tinted ONE HOUR WITH YOU restoration.
1. Where's the tinted ONE HOUR WITH YOU restoration?
2. Gimme the new tinted ONE HOUR WITH YOU restoration.
Interesting to note that the (UNRELIABLE) 35mm fan-scan that's floating around is somewheres in between the two home video releases in terms of the hue of the moonlight.
November 11, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Interesting to note that the (UNRELIABLE) 35mm fan-scan that's floating around is somewheres in between the two home video releases in terms of the hue of the moonlight.
Saw IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT; went very long about the way in which attempts to separate the "story" and "quality" of a film from context and metatext are doomed to fail.
I rarely say I'm "happy" with what I write on LetterBoxd because that ain't the point, bit I'm unusually happy with this.
I rarely say I'm "happy" with what I write on LetterBoxd because that ain't the point, bit I'm unusually happy with this.
A ★★★★★ review of It Was Just an Accident (2025)
• Going back to THIS IS NOT A FILM, the [artistic, not legal] charge against Panahi has been some permutation of: "his films are only being acclaimed because of politics [his status as a righteous dis...
letterboxd.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Saw IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT; went very long about the way in which attempts to separate the "story" and "quality" of a film from context and metatext are doomed to fail.
I rarely say I'm "happy" with what I write on LetterBoxd because that ain't the point, bit I'm unusually happy with this.
I rarely say I'm "happy" with what I write on LetterBoxd because that ain't the point, bit I'm unusually happy with this.
Reposted by Devan Scott
A story of an icon. A story of changing times and media.
Read @dagscott.bsky.social in STEVE JOBS MONOGRAPH, coming soon!
Read @dagscott.bsky.social in STEVE JOBS MONOGRAPH, coming soon!
November 2, 2025 at 5:11 PM
A story of an icon. A story of changing times and media.
Read @dagscott.bsky.social in STEVE JOBS MONOGRAPH, coming soon!
Read @dagscott.bsky.social in STEVE JOBS MONOGRAPH, coming soon!
/r/colorgrading in a nutshell
November 2, 2025 at 3:54 AM
/r/colorgrading in a nutshell
Revisited Heaven's Gate for the first time in a couple of decades.
A ★★★½ review of Heaven's Gate (1980)
Criterion Director's Cut • I last saw the director's cut pre-Criterion release back in the late 2000s. At the time, it was a real personal revelation: one of the most reviled movies ever made is great...
letterboxd.com
November 1, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Revisited Heaven's Gate for the first time in a couple of decades.
It will never not bug me when I see period pieces not even bother to hide the fact that they're using digital projectors to double for film projectors.
See THE BRESLAU MURDERS, in which they use a modern 1.78:1 screen and projector and don't even bother to matte off the black padding.
See THE BRESLAU MURDERS, in which they use a modern 1.78:1 screen and projector and don't even bother to matte off the black padding.
October 27, 2025 at 4:15 PM
It will never not bug me when I see period pieces not even bother to hide the fact that they're using digital projectors to double for film projectors.
See THE BRESLAU MURDERS, in which they use a modern 1.78:1 screen and projector and don't even bother to matte off the black padding.
See THE BRESLAU MURDERS, in which they use a modern 1.78:1 screen and projector and don't even bother to matte off the black padding.
Used this as an opportunity to write a piece I had been longing to find an excuse to write for years and years: a brief history of Danny Boyle's use of digital cinematography. Out soon!
Some personal news 📚
10 years ago today, Steve Jobs (2015) was released. This year, I am launching a book: a work of 8 writers, analyzing it piece by piece, to appreciate the film as greater than the sum of its parts.
Sign up is now open to find out when you can own a copy of STEVE JOBS MONOGRAPH.
10 years ago today, Steve Jobs (2015) was released. This year, I am launching a book: a work of 8 writers, analyzing it piece by piece, to appreciate the film as greater than the sum of its parts.
Sign up is now open to find out when you can own a copy of STEVE JOBS MONOGRAPH.
October 24, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Used this as an opportunity to write a piece I had been longing to find an excuse to write for years and years: a brief history of Danny Boyle's use of digital cinematography. Out soon!
Reposted by Devan Scott
Some personal news 📚
10 years ago today, Steve Jobs (2015) was released. This year, I am launching a book: a work of 8 writers, analyzing it piece by piece, to appreciate the film as greater than the sum of its parts.
Sign up is now open to find out when you can own a copy of STEVE JOBS MONOGRAPH.
10 years ago today, Steve Jobs (2015) was released. This year, I am launching a book: a work of 8 writers, analyzing it piece by piece, to appreciate the film as greater than the sum of its parts.
Sign up is now open to find out when you can own a copy of STEVE JOBS MONOGRAPH.
October 23, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Some personal news 📚
10 years ago today, Steve Jobs (2015) was released. This year, I am launching a book: a work of 8 writers, analyzing it piece by piece, to appreciate the film as greater than the sum of its parts.
Sign up is now open to find out when you can own a copy of STEVE JOBS MONOGRAPH.
10 years ago today, Steve Jobs (2015) was released. This year, I am launching a book: a work of 8 writers, analyzing it piece by piece, to appreciate the film as greater than the sum of its parts.
Sign up is now open to find out when you can own a copy of STEVE JOBS MONOGRAPH.
A shot I stole while interviewing Frederick Elmes for
@viffest.bsky.social
@viffest.bsky.social
October 10, 2025 at 2:55 AM
A shot I stole while interviewing Frederick Elmes for
@viffest.bsky.social
@viffest.bsky.social
Rewatching THE PHANTOM THREAD and I *knew* I recognized that hotel.
October 4, 2025 at 5:18 AM
Rewatching THE PHANTOM THREAD and I *knew* I recognized that hotel.
I liked it
A ★★★★★ review of One Battle After Another (2025)
1.9:1 Digital "iMax" Presentation • That one car chase scene must represent the most inspired use of telephoto lenses since Tomas Alfredson got Hoyte van Hoytema to point a 2000mm lens down an airport...
letterboxd.com
October 2, 2025 at 5:52 AM
I liked it
I'll be hosting a talk with cinematographer Frederick Elmes (BLUE VELVET / WILD AT HEART / ERASERHEAD / HULK / PATERSON / FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER, among many others) at VIFF on October 8th!
Frederick Elmes on Four Decades of Cinematic Collaboration | VIFF Talk
Legendary cinematographer Frederick Elmes has spent decades helping to define the visual language of directors like David Lynch and Jim Jarmusch. Don't miss this opportunity to hear about the cra...
viff.org
September 11, 2025 at 8:28 PM
I'll be hosting a talk with cinematographer Frederick Elmes (BLUE VELVET / WILD AT HEART / ERASERHEAD / HULK / PATERSON / FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER, among many others) at VIFF on October 8th!
I have been alerted to the fact that this is currently what emerges when you Google the lyrics to 'Born to Run'.
September 2, 2025 at 3:19 PM
I have been alerted to the fact that this is currently what emerges when you Google the lyrics to 'Born to Run'.
Reposted by Devan Scott
Thinking about the common response media criticism that "art's effect on the audience is subjective and down to individual preference".
It tends to be a means of arguing that we shouldn't make declaratives saying people who like something or wrong or that less work like it should be made. thread 🧵
It tends to be a means of arguing that we shouldn't make declaratives saying people who like something or wrong or that less work like it should be made. thread 🧵
September 1, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Thinking about the common response media criticism that "art's effect on the audience is subjective and down to individual preference".
It tends to be a means of arguing that we shouldn't make declaratives saying people who like something or wrong or that less work like it should be made. thread 🧵
It tends to be a means of arguing that we shouldn't make declaratives saying people who like something or wrong or that less work like it should be made. thread 🧵
Finally saw THE LADY AND THE DUKE, closing one of my final outstanding Rohmer blind spots. Fascinating as an early digital work.
A review of The Lady and the Duke (2001)
• Francesca's entry on this represents one of those happy coincidences wherein someone has - with uncanny specificity - said virtually all I had intended to say about this years earlier, so go read th...
letterboxd.com
August 24, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Finally saw THE LADY AND THE DUKE, closing one of my final outstanding Rohmer blind spots. Fascinating as an early digital work.
2 Hours of Jordan Cronenweth footage just leaked!?!?!
U2 - 19&20/12/1987 Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe (35mm Master Source HD)
YouTube video by Kennerad0
www.youtube.com
August 21, 2025 at 3:20 AM
2 Hours of Jordan Cronenweth footage just leaked!?!?!
Reposted by Devan Scott
First contemporaneous update to my digital list since 2023.
Digital Cinema
Movies that use digital sensor-based cameras in actual interesting ways. Not appearing on this list: DOCUMENTARY NOW, which leverages digital cameras to emulate everything from 16mm to MiniDV to broad...
letterboxd.com
August 3, 2025 at 9:53 PM
First contemporaneous update to my digital list since 2023.
Probably my frontrunner for best-cinematography-of-2025 at this point. Holy moly. I genuinely didn't think Boyle had it in him.
A ★★★★ review of 28 Years Later (2025)
• Had a real "oh we're SO BACK" reaction as soon as Boyle started cutting Jodie Comer's first scene together in absolutely wacky ways, and by the time Alfie Williams and ATJ were sprinting across a ta...
letterboxd.com
August 3, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Probably my frontrunner for best-cinematography-of-2025 at this point. Holy moly. I genuinely didn't think Boyle had it in him.
Went on Tim Brayton's podcast to talk the restoration and new Arrow release of THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, and the state of film preservation on home video as a whole. Ritrovata, AI "upscaling", and Wong Kar-Wai all make appearances. The mini-media tour continues!
Fifth Tuesday: The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Film Preservation, with special guest star Devan Scott - Alternate Ending
Our fifth episode of July 2025 is a very special one: cinematographer and colorist Devan Scott (and host of the podcast How Would Lubitsch Do It?, where Tim was a regular guest) joins Tim to discuss t...
www.alternateending.com
July 29, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Went on Tim Brayton's podcast to talk the restoration and new Arrow release of THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, and the state of film preservation on home video as a whole. Ritrovata, AI "upscaling", and Wong Kar-Wai all make appearances. The mini-media tour continues!