Akira Kurosawa was a master, there's no question, but what made is films so great? There wasn't just one factor, but in another terrific video essay from Tony Zhou, Kurosawa's use of character and camera movement is explored:


What's really interesting about this video essay is that it explores more than one kind of movement. Kurosawa wasn't just a master of camera movement and composition, but also moving his characters in the frame in the most interesting way possible to tell the story. Creating new frames with each camera movement makes them feel much more motivated, especially when the final frame of the movement gives you a completely new piece of information that you wouldn't have gotten if the camera didn't move.

That's really the power of movement in the frame, whether it be camera, character, or both. You're giving the audience new information without needing to tell them. At the end of the video, we're given the reason we do this in the first place — because of the visual stimulation, otherwise it's just radio. That's what makes film special.

Source: Tony Zhou