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.
35 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