All Good Things…
I started this website about 18 years ago, primarily for myself. The first film I posted was Amélie, so I could study the images wherever I went. I posted them online to my website thinking if other people found them useful, they could use my site too. Then I added another film and another. Today I have an image set for more than 305 different films and TV episodes. It has been a gratifying project that has connected me with some of the most accomplished artists, animators, directors and cinematographers in the world. I have met people who have made amazing films, people I respect very much and I am hugely grateful for all the encouragement and support I have gotten over the years. But, it’s a fairly expensive venture to host a website like this for as long as I have. The site uses several terabytes of bandwidth every month. It adds up, and web hosting is expensive. Which brings me to the state of things today.
I’ve been a visual effects artist for over 15 years. Before that, I studied film-making, cinematography, photography, and motion graphics. I never wanted to do anything else. A lot of people have a difficult time trying to figure out what they want to do in their lives. It was not a difficult decision for me. Since middle-school the only thing I wanted was to work on films, to shoot photos, to film things, to light shots, to model and texture and animate and edit and composite. And over the course of my career I’ve gotten to do exactly that while working with very talented people on some fantastic projects.
And now it’s 2026.
I don’t know exactly what’s happened over the last 10+ years, but it feels like Hollywood said “Hey remember all those amazing movies we’ve made over the years? We’re not going to do that anymore. We’re going to preach at people. We’re going to scold people. We are going to hire unqualified activists to make bad movies and shows”. It seems the industry has shifted focus, prioritizing messaging over craft, often at the expense of experienced artists and writers. Soulless sequels and remakes at the expense of original ideas.
There are still good movies and shows, but the number is vanishingly small. 10 years ago I went to the movies just about every week. Sometimes two or three times a week. I went with groups of friends because we were excited to see the movies that were playing. In 2025 I saw only two movies in the theater. I don’t know if I missed much. Movies have experienced a massive decline in quality and I’m definately not the only one who feels this way.
Unfortunately, making bad movies and shows has ramifications. People will not continue to pay money at the movie theater or to a streaming service to watch poorly conceived, poorly written “content” as it’s come to be called. There are too many better, more interesting alternatives. The movie industry is suffering because of it. In October of 2025 The Wall Street Journal reported that “L.A.’s Entertainment Economy Is Looking Like a Disaster Movie”. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists 142,000 people were employed in Los Angeles’ motion picture industry at the end of 2022. In 2024 the number dropped to 100,000. A loss of about 42,000 jobs.
I am one of the people who has been affected. I can’t afford to be in this industry anymore as much as I may love the work. I can’t afford to work 80 hour shifts on a salary that doesn’t pay me overtime. I can’t afford to wait 7 months in between freelance jobs. I can’t afford to put the well-being of my family on the line to work for studios who couldn’t care less about the quality of the films they are making or the artists who are creating them. It’s heartbreaking. but the time has come to move on.
I have closed down the screenshots section of the site, but I’m hoping I can put them somewhere where people can still download them. I am deeply grateful for the support I’ve received over the years and wish everyone the very best.
I’ve been a visual effects artist for over 15 years. Before that, I studied film-making, cinematography, photography, and motion graphics. I never wanted to do anything else. A lot of people have a difficult time trying to figure out what they want to do in their lives. It was not a difficult decision for me. Since middle-school the only thing I wanted was to work on films, to shoot photos, to film things, to light shots, to model and texture and animate and edit and composite. And over the course of my career I’ve gotten to do exactly that while working with very talented people on some fantastic projects.
And now it’s 2026.
I don’t know exactly what’s happened over the last 10+ years, but it feels like Hollywood said “Hey remember all those amazing movies we’ve made over the years? We’re not going to do that anymore. We’re going to preach at people. We’re going to scold people. We are going to hire unqualified activists to make bad movies and shows”. It seems the industry has shifted focus, prioritizing messaging over craft, often at the expense of experienced artists and writers. Soulless sequels and remakes at the expense of original ideas.
There are still good movies and shows, but the number is vanishingly small. 10 years ago I went to the movies just about every week. Sometimes two or three times a week. I went with groups of friends because we were excited to see the movies that were playing. In 2025 I saw only two movies in the theater. I don’t know if I missed much. Movies have experienced a massive decline in quality and I’m definately not the only one who feels this way.
Unfortunately, making bad movies and shows has ramifications. People will not continue to pay money at the movie theater or to a streaming service to watch poorly conceived, poorly written “content” as it’s come to be called. There are too many better, more interesting alternatives. The movie industry is suffering because of it. In October of 2025 The Wall Street Journal reported that “L.A.’s Entertainment Economy Is Looking Like a Disaster Movie”. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists 142,000 people were employed in Los Angeles’ motion picture industry at the end of 2022. In 2024 the number dropped to 100,000. A loss of about 42,000 jobs.
I am one of the people who has been affected. I can’t afford to be in this industry anymore as much as I may love the work. I can’t afford to work 80 hour shifts on a salary that doesn’t pay me overtime. I can’t afford to wait 7 months in between freelance jobs. I can’t afford to put the well-being of my family on the line to work for studios who couldn’t care less about the quality of the films they are making or the artists who are creating them. It’s heartbreaking. but the time has come to move on.
I have closed down the screenshots section of the site, but I’m hoping I can put them somewhere where people can still download them. I am deeply grateful for the support I’ve received over the years and wish everyone the very best.
53 Responses
I will miss your site as a resource for screenshots of beautiful films. Have always appreciated your taste and curation. Thank you for your work. And good luck on your next endeavour. Wishing you the best, as always.
Thanks Cláudio. I appreciate the kind words.
It’s very sad after all these years to have to take the screenshots offline.
Thank you for your work, your time and your energy Evan.
I’m in the vfx/animation industry since mid 2000 and for few years now, for each new project I had a routine : a coffee and scrolling across your website to find references before starting anything.
I hope brighter days will come soon, take care!
Loïc
Thanks Loïc!
I hope you continue to thrive in your work.
I appreciate your kind words of support.
I will sorely miss your screenshots. In a very real way. I used them for lookbooks, pitches, reference and for PowerPoints to film students. I don’t think there’s been a week where I didn’t browse the images. In fact I only found out that you were closing shop today when I was telling a student DoP about your site. I couldn’t understand where it had gone. But I totally get your decision. As a director/writer I see how the film game is changing – and not just in hollywood (I directed a horror film that had a lot of hollywood folks Input and tbh I really didn’t like them) – but everywhere. I think these days the poster and trailer are more important than the movie itself. And AI is here like it or not. I feel dirty using it – but there’s no way round it. Pretty much everything I learned about film making over the last 25 years is pretty much obsolete. Sad to see you go Evan. Thank you for the great screenshots over the years. Must have been a lot of work. You will be missed. (ps – how do you do the film images thing – just press screenshot every so often?) Bye my friend. Clive
Hey Clive, I’m glad you’ve found the site useful over the years.
I have been using a command line tool called FFMPEG to capture screenshots. Its quite a process though. First you need to rip a bluray into a relatively standard video format, Prores, or high bitrate MP4. Then you can get FFMPEG to rip an image out of the video once every 3 seconds (or however often you want). When I’m done, I have a folder of between 1500-3000 images. Then I go in and manually remove all the duplicate frames, motion blurred frames, etc. It generally took me about 3 hours to take a film and turn it into a good collection of screenshots. It wasn’t quick.
The ability to browse the images as galleries was too expensive to continue but I’m trying to find a way to post the screenshots of entire films as downloads somewhere. Still working on the logistics.
I look forward to seeing them again.
Evan
I am sorry its gone, it been a source my creative spark for years. You were doing a wonderful thing – thank you
Thanks Vadim!
Evan, as you know, and as I already wrote to you by email, I’m going to include the email I sent you to thank you for all the work you’ve done, for all the love, passion, perseverance, and determination you showed in creating this collection of stills.
I was also honored to download almost the vast majority of the screenshots of the films and videos you posted on your site. I keep them very carefully on my hard drives.
“I wanted to write to you to tell you how important your work has been to me. The time, attention, and passion you devoted to creating such a remarkable website—a true gem dedicated to movie still images and the films you loved—are truly impressive. Honestly, it’s fantastic.
I discovered your site about ten years ago, and since then I have used it constantly. I have downloaded almost all of the images referenced in the index, as the quality, coherence, and richness of the work you accomplished deeply impressed me. To this day, it is without a doubt the highest-quality website I have ever seen dedicated to movie still images.
Before the site closes, I really wanted to take the time to thank you. What you have built is exceptional and has had a real impact on my career and my artistic perspective. I will also make sure one last time that I have downloaded all the images from Movie Reference Archive, as your work truly deserves to be preserved.
Thank you so much for everything you have created. You have accomplished a remarkable body of work.
With all my admiration and gratitude,
Brice Weber”
I found this site invaluable for understanding scene progressions and beautiful composition in film. Really appreciate the hours and amount of work that went into curating such an incredible resource. Hoping you find an easy way of hosting/posting them somewhere!
Thanks!
Thanks!
I’m exploring options.
Hi Evan. I’ve used and appreciated your site for years. I’m sorry that you can’t continue but I completely understand the reasons and wish you all the best for whatever is next. This is an incredible resource you have built and it will have helped many people, and celebrated some lovely work. I hope it can stay accessible in some way without you needing to dedicate the time to maintaining it.
Thanks Ben. I’m looking into it.
I first discovered this website in 2017 when I was still an animation student. At that time, I used the stills from The Third Man for painting studies, and those images were truly pivotal during my student days. Six years ago, I became an animation instructor. Over the past few years, I have constantly used this website to search for inspiration or to share resources with my students. Your dedication to cinema has been a cornerstone of my growth and my teaching. When I opened the site today, I actually thought I had made a mistake or something. I’m truly grateful for your hard work in maintaining this and for your generous sharing over all these years. Your passion for cinema has truly helped us! Thanks a lot, Evan!
sorry to see to see you leave the industry i could only imagine the amount of time you spent your website was the best you had every frame
Hello Evan, I found your website several years ago, maybe 2018? it has been an exceptional resource of study and inspiration, thank you man!
I am so sorry to read this. We study Film as a GCSE in a secondary school in Woking and your site has been a wonderful resource.
I’ve used this site for so many years. It’s surreal to see this happening. I’m in the same boat. I appreciate all the work you’ve done. Wish you the best! – Luis
Thanks Luis
Hi Evan,
Your website has been an invaluable resource for me, not as a cinematographer or someone working in film, but as an artist and illustrator. I have recommended your site as a resource countless times and completed no small amount of art studies from your curated selection. It would be wonderful if perhaps you could upload your collection somewhere, either as a paid resource or simply allowing donations.
All the best.
Thanks!
Noooooooo…. Is there a way to monetize the website to offset the cost of hosting? Brand deals, ads, etc? Have you considered creating a free Flickr account to host the images for now? I’d rather you get the monetization than Flicker, but maybe Flicker could do in a pinch. Anyway, wishing you and your family the very best, Evan. Thank you for all the years of film reference you provided for us.
I’m looking into it. I think I’ll have something worked out before too long.
I was coming maybe once or twice a year on your website to get inspired of which great movie I’ll watch next.
I will miss your website and its wonderful “photographies” you had distilled over the years.
As a parallel to your movie industry realization, I am fearing the internet itself goes nuts nowadays,, and non human anymore.
I’d like to let you know : browsing your website always have made me feel excited, curious, passionate, but also humbled, seeing such beauty and complexity coming from pictures, all gathered and shared one by one, movie after movie.
Feeling a bit sad for you that it did not turn out the way you would have liked it to be, but hey : you’ve been a passionate person all along and I’m sure I’m not the only one that could benefit from the wind you moved in the right direction working on this website and in cinema 🙂
Bonne route ! Merci !!!
I’ve read that well over half of all new content on the internet is created by AI. I believe it too.
Maybe this is a good thing though. If the internet and YouTube get ruined because everything real gets drowned out in a sea of AI generated slop, maybe people will get off their phones and start going outside and talking to humans again.
We can only hope!
Hi Evan.
I’ve used your site many times for film references and school slideshows, and it was the best of its kind. Thank you for that.
It’s funny—just as you’re leaving the industry and say you don’t think good movies are being made anymore, I’m trying to enter it, and I’m seeing more movies than ever. Just last year, between Sinners (incredibly well-done allegory for cultural assimilation), Wicked: For Good (superb exploration of authoritarianism), Superman (story about adoption and the Biblical figure of Moses), Marty Supreme (deconstruction of the “success dream” and exploration of how different minorities feel bigotry differently), Hamnet (absolute masterclass in color theory), Frankenstein (fantastic delve into generational trauma with wonderful visual storytelling to boot), and many more, I felt like a kid in a candy store—this year even more so. The pandemic was a wake up call.
An actor friend of mine recently told me he felt that film is doing very well as an art and very badly as an industry. Maybe that’s the best description of what’s going on here.
If you do find an (affordable) way to continue to share these wonderfully-chosen images, I would be forever grateful. But what you’ve done already is enough.
I’m glad you’re finding movies that you’re excited about!
Cheers
Thank you for the many great years on this website, I have followed this website since the early days of my career which roughly 8 years ago. I am thoroughly going to miss browsing the screenshots section. Hope things get better for you as well. I work in the games industry and its also going through the same crisis that you described, about messaging over craft and storytelling. On top of that, I lost most of my team last week due to layoffs.. Sigh its tough wanting to be an artist in this day and age.
But all power to you and may God give you all the success in the future!
Much love
A humble illustrator/3D Artist
Anzal
I used your site for reference and inspiration a lot over the years. Thank you for keeping it running as long as you did. Vive le Cinéma!
Hello Evans,
I really appreciate all the effort you have put into this website. I agree with your overall statements. While my goal was becoming an artist for the video game industry, all fields of entertainment are affected by the mindless, adrenaline rush of slop for short-term profits. I used your screenshots for film studies and now wish I had done more. There are still many great movies being made today, but it is clear that originality and creativity are not the focus as much more key-jangling slop is churned out and gets higher box office numbers. Even without genAI exasperating the situation, we exist in a society, at least in the USA, where the value of human content has been bastardized and violated. Executives and shareholders do not care beyond the numbers going up and it feels the general public does not either or is too tired, too overwhelmed to.
It is clear we have to take matters into our own hands. At least on the gaming side, most of the creativity lies in indies and some of AA. It’s not the most stable income obviously and unfortunately we exist in a system where money matters too much and is too centralized. So I am training for a day job and working with friends in a startup studio. I am fortunately in a position where I can do these things and learned early on that the industry would not help me fulfill my creative goals.
Rambling aside, thank you for all the work with the screenshots. I hope you will be able to find a place where people can download them. I hope you will be able to pivot into more stable and sustainable income while maintaining your craft for filmmaking. Sometimes our hobbies should not be turned into jobs for our love is destroyed in the soulless logistics of corporate and sometimes we must build that place instead, but it will take time.
Good luck in all your future endeavors.
Evan, thank you for all the time, heart and soul you’ve poured into this website. I’ve used for the past several years to teach student animators how to light and color their scenes, and we will sorely miss it as an unparalleled resource. Best wishes for success and happiness to you and your family.
We have lost an amazing individual in our industry. Thank you for the years of inspiration
Hey Evan.
Sad to see this site go. Things are dire in the film industry, dire indeed.
Have you looked into google sites? Its free, only domain costs, as you know. Maybe carousel images works, or links to your drive, as images…
Or maybe even start advertising, a banner on only the front page, “this months stills are sponsored by…”
Good luck in your endevours. I only had two sites bookmarked for stills, and this was one of them. Maybe you’ve collected a big audience around this site, it’s no shame to use it. You provide a valuable service.
Heiki
I will miss you….
I’ll miss you too.
Oh, no! I’m sorry to hear this!
I’ve taught a film class for years at a high school in Bellingham, Wa, and my students and I were always relying on your great work to analyze cinema!
Please know that you’ve helped us appreciate cinema for YEARS!
Wishing you all the best in this next step of your life! I hope it all works out for you.
Thanks Damon!
Hi Evan,
Sorry to hear that you have been affected.
I want to thank you so much for this site. It provided me so much info over the years and really made me understand about lighting. It was a great source for visual references which made me develop as a film maker.
Thank you so much for all your hard work, it truly is appreciated.
Thank you again,
Anishka
Evan , have a look here for the business model they use to keep their site going, I think you should do the same.
https://www.moviestillsdb.com/premium-membership
One of the problems though is, that although I have enough website know-how to set up this site, I’m not sure I know enough to set up something that complicated with payments and logins and all that stuff.
But I’ll look into it. Thanks!
Hi Evan,
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for what you built over the years.
Your screenshots area wasn’t just a collection. It was a tool, a study library, and honestly, a source of inspiration. For those of us who work with images, having that kind of organized and thoughtfully curated visual reference is incredibly rare. I’ve spent many hours there, not just browsing, but learning. As a colorist, it helped train my eye in a way few resources ever have.
I’m really sorry to hear about your situation. And regarding what you said about the industry, I agree with your perspective in a broader sense. It’s genuinely disheartening to see artistic work being turned into commodities, often losing what feels like its core purpose along the way. I also work in the industry, in my case within the Brazilian film scene, which is far less structured and unionized, and that in itself brings a different set of challenges and limitations. In the end, though, many of these difficulties start to feel quite similar.
As Sofia very well put in the message above, the value of human-made content has been distorted and disrespected. As long as we continue operating within a system where shareholders and numbers dictate the direction of everything and algorithms tell us what to watch, it’s hard to imagine a truly healthy environment for meaningful art, strong films, and thoughtful creative work to thrive. Of course, there is still great art being made out there, often hidden in less visible corners, but it would be great to see that kind of work finding its way back into the mainstream, as we’ve seen in other times.
For what it’s worth, your site had a real impact. Not in an abstract way, but in a practical, day-to-day sense for me trying to get better at what I do.
I truly hope you find a path that gives you both stability and creative fulfillment again, whatever form that takes.
And if those image sets ever find a new home, I’ll definitely be there.
Thank you again. This meant a lot.
All the best,
Gus
Thank you Evan for all your hard work and commitment over the years. It’s been such an amazing resource and though I totally appreciate how disillusioned the industry has made you with the current state of filmmaking, know that we appreciate you immensely and what you’ve been sharing here has been an immense gift to the community. I’m a cinematographer, and I started in film almost exactly when you did – so I found this, just as I was beginning my journey as a camera assistant. I became a DOP and you’ve helped me translate my ideas into images, share feelings with directors, win projects, and just enjoy the beauty of cinema in frozen form. An endlessly kind and generous endeavour. Thank you again and I hope you find another course for your career which you enjoy as much as the best times in film. All the best,
Dave
Hi Evan,
for years I have loved your website and came by every now and then to gaze at amazing stills and marvel at the result of your dedicated work.
Now I was trying to assemble my pwn SICARIO collection, and hoped to find the best images here. Too bad, I’m too late.
Will you upload the shots elsewhere?
Any source you would point me towards where I could find happiness and high res SICARIO aerial photography images from those amazing vertical flyover scenes?
All the best to you and may you find a rewarding and adequately paid job!
Serio, sou muito grato a você, pois sua coletânea de screenshots ajudou absurdamente no meu estudo de desenho e fico triste comigo mesmo de não ter aproveitado melhor deste seu trabalho incrível e caso um dia colocar em algum lugar pra baixar eu seria muito grato também kkkkk.
Boa sorte na sua jornada e que consiga tudo que deseja alcançar ^^
I’ve come too late to find your wonderful web site. I’m a budding sketcher and love using film scenes to exercise the skills I’m learning. Are you familiar with imaginemore.art? Might that be a good online catalog to store your collection?
Evan,
I am a filmmaker who has loved coming to your website regularly. It has been such a resource and renewed my love of cinematography and given inspiration when I needed it. I’m so sorry, and also relate, to what you’re going through. Maybe you can start a campaign to raise enough donations for what you’d need to continue the website – both the cost of hosting and your labor? I know a fan like myself would definitely contribute! Moving your blog to substack or using substack as a way to monetize parts of this could be another idea? That platform makes it much easier to make money off your written and visual content and helps you reach new audiences more effectively than other platforms, if that helps. Regardless, thank you for everything.
How should I put this? It’s really such a pity. When I was learning concept design, I often came here to look for movie storyboards. For me, great movies are not just about a good story; their storyboards can also withstand careful study and analysis. Every movie is a great lesson in storyboarding, and learning never ends. Thank you, Evan, I really appreciate it. I’ve gained a lot here. I wish you peace and smooth days ahead. These words are translated, so there might be some expressions that are off—please forgive me.
Oh man this is gut wrenching!! Hope you’re doing well Evan.
Is there a way as a community we could chip in and help pay the costs of hosting for you? A patreon would be useful for something that is so beneficial, say $3/$4 a month? If you had 50-100 people, surely that would cover it?
I 100% would be willing, i’m certain there will be more.
Evan, I am saddened to read this note, but I echo all the sentiments you have shared here. I am a cinematographer who lived and worked in los angles between 2016-2024, and the changes I saw during that time, especially after Covid, were incredibly depressing. The type of art making its way to the theatre screen and streaming platform changed dramatically, Your blog was somehow the perfect encapsulation of this, because you brought into focus how amazing the heyday of cinematography and film making was. I already miss having access to the images, and would be more than happy to pay to download them. As reference and pure inspiration they are absolutely priceless.
Just a latecomer stopping by to say thanks for your site. Like many others I also had come to hit up the archive a few times a year to try and beef up my skills with composition, color, and light, and I recommended it often to art pals of mine. Saved a lot of choice stills and was enticed to watch quite a few films that I browsed in the gallery, often things that I had heard of but overlooked. Good luck out there.
Evan, this site has been a constant go-to for me in looking up stills of some of my favourite films of all time. You’ve collected such a vast array of truly great work, curating a fantastic collection and it’s really sad to see how the industry as it is today has killed your passion for your work.
As a 10+ year Union Camera Assistant, Cinematographer/Operator, Director, Writer (basically jack-of-all trades wannabe). I couldn’t agree more with how the film and television industry has turned. I used to go to the cinema all the time growing up into my early 20’s. Now it’s once or twice a year and only for actual projects that are worth my time that I hope won’t preach a political agenda or scolding social narrative to me. I miss the escapism films used to represent to me, it was a major reason I delved into this as a career. I couldn’t agree more with you on what modern television and film has become. Sadly, I feel like I’m in the same boat with considering career alternatives and getting away from the mess this industry has become which is basically a corporatized algorithm machine just pumping out content like a factory assembly line for what MIGHT be most profitable.
Anyway, I wish you all the best with your next endeavors in life. Thank you so much for providing this website as a resource and place of what is now nostalgia for everyone. Take care!