Anyone out there who doesn’t think that There Will Be Blood is one of the best movies to come out of America in this fine new(ish) millennium? No? Perfect, let’s move on. Here we are, with a fascinating video essay that focuses on There Will Be Blood but could really be applied to any film out there. Want to use the knowledge from this video essay and apply it to Paul Blart: Mall Cop? You’re an idiot, but you can still do it.

Have you ever watched a movie with a notebook to count the shots? The fine folks over at Nerdwriter have! And while we probably wouldn’t recommend making a habit out of the practice, it’s interesting to be privy to the results of said practice, at least from the perspective of those fine folks over at Nerdwriter. Do you think that film is a just a bunch of images that make sense sequentially in relation to a narrative, and nothing more? In the case of Paul Blart: Mall Cop, you’d actually probably be right.

But with the best of films, the people behind those best of films but time and thought into how they want to compile their work to maximise the effect of it. In some movies, cuts means something. Take There Will Be Blood, for example. But don’t take our word for it, watch this wonderful video essay instead!