A film by Will Mosley, 2020. All work

A brush laying acid green paint across a dark canvas

Film · Stoven · 2020

One artist. Twenty‑four hours.

A documentary portrait of the Asheville artist Stoven. Will spent twenty-four hours with him, at the canvas, out after dark and back into the day, then cut it into a film of 30 minutes 52 seconds.

24 hourswith one artist, the span the whole film is cut from.

  • 24hthe span of the film, one day with one artist
  • 30:52running time, published on YouTube April 4, 2020
  • 117shots, counted by scene detection on the film file
  • 6.8sthe median shot, so a thought gets to finish

Also measured

1:43

the longest single shot, held without a cut

How each number was counted 5 of 5 sourced

  1. 24 h

    The span the film covers, as stated in its published description.

    Nov 5, 2026

  2. 30:52

    Running time on YouTube. The film file itself measures 30:51.8.

    Nov 5, 2026

  3. 117

    Scene detection run on the film file, counting every cut.

    Nov 5, 2026

  4. 6.8 s

    The middle value of those 117 shot lengths: 6.76 s, rounded.

    Nov 5, 2026

  5. 1:43

    From the same scene detection: 103.0 s, the longest of the 117.

    Nov 5, 2026

The film, cut down

Stoven, in six, fifteen or thirty seconds.

The painted eyes, the brush on the canvas, the artist in his studio, the charcoal drawing and the mountains

01 · The span

One day, start to finish.

The film moves through one stretch of twenty-four hours with Stoven: daylight at the canvas, a night out under string lights and around the fire, then back into the day. Nine frames, grouped by the light they were shot in, with the film timecode under each.

Day

  1. Grey daylight over the city0:43
  2. Stoven in a chair beside one of his canvases4:45
  3. His hand painting on a dark canvas10:50

Night

  1. Street lights in the dark1:28
  2. A lit canvas being drawn after dark0:26
  3. String lights over a street at night, figures in silhouette1:45

Day again

  1. Stoven leaning in, close to the canvas22:50
  2. A wide canvas of blue with yellow lines, Stoven at its edge24:50
  3. Stoven on a couch, smiling, in front of painted walls29:10

02 · The talk

He talks. The camera stays.

Long takes let him finish a thought on camera, in front of a wall of color. The film gives the words room instead of cutting them short.

Stoven talking to the camera in front of a wall painted in green, blue and red
Stoven, from the film.

03 · The work

Close on the hands. Close on the paint.

The camera gets down to the canvas: the brush, the palette, the next stroke going on. The paint is the story as much as the man.

His hand pulling green paint along a yellow line, then Stoven at work on the canvas
A brush in a palette of green and blue paintHis hand painting a dark canvas, a palette in the other hand

Moving frames play without sound. The film itself is below.

04 · The night

Then the lights come on.

The day does not stop at dark. The camera follows him out under string lights, past the fire and the light hoops, and stays with him in the glow.

A light hoop spinning in the dark, cyan, green and violet
A fire spun through the dark, a crowd in silhouetteStoven in his hood at night, city lights behind him

Night frames at 13:22, 18:05 and 27:08.

05 · The detail

Close enough to read the brushwork.

Shot close and left to sit, a canvas fills the frame.

A painted eye in purple, yellow and red, close enough to see the brushstrokes
A canvas in the film, at 11:54.

06 · The cut

117 shots. Thirty minutes.

Every bar below is one shot, as wide as it runs on screen. Short bursts sit beside long, patient takes, and that rhythm is the edit.

Each bar is one shot, in film order

Counted with scene detection (ffmpeg, scene score over 0.35) on the film file. Will’s own shot sheets for the film list 114.

07 · Watch

The whole day, in 30:52.

Stoven, the film: Stoven seated in a red room beside one of his canvasesPlay the film 30:52
Watch the film on YouTube ↗

Your Team

A shoot is one more fire.

Shoots and editing count as fires like any other work.

See Care →See more of the work →

CreditA film by Will Mosley, who directed, shot and edited it. Stoven appears as himself. Published on Will’s channel in 2020; shown here with the film’s own subject. No result is claimed.

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