More than a film: The Cinematographic Style of Wes Anderson.
Words by Edsard Driessen
Wes Anderson’s cinematic style is one of the most distinctive in modern cinema. His stylistic choices are so unique that familiarised viewers can recognise his work from a single image, no matter what the film is. Combining bold and vibrant colour schemes, vintage flair and adventurous costume design to create an overall cinematographic experience which provides a feeling of escapism; like one has been transported into a children’s picture book. His films are often larger-than-life and define the very best of cinema, producing compositions which create the feeling that every scene is an individual painting or photograph designed to be scrutinised, picked apart and digested. Employing all aspects of the director’s handbook, Anderson has engaged in every kind of cinema one can imagine; blending live-action with cartoon whilst incorporating surrealist elements to create beautiful dream-like landscapes within his cinema. His style is so prevalently unique that attempting to cover all the bases would take far too long, but here are some of the highlights:
Anderson’s colour palette is distinctly measured and beautifully incorporated to enhance every film with a particular tone; in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), he uses a consistent palette of blues and oranges to reflect the marine environment while establishing feelings of melancholy within Bill Murray’s lead character. In Moonrise Kingdom (2012) he embraces an autumnal palette to highlight the natural beauty of its island setting, relying on mustard yellows and olive khakis to reinforce not only certain characters but also to establish links to its regimental boy-scout story line. His latest offering of The French Dispatch (2021) sees him embrace the colours of a 20th century French village through his heavy use of reds, blues and whites, while maintaining a sense of nostalgia through its muted tones of greys and blacks. This use of bright colours against a muted backdrop establishes a real sense of historical nostalgia. His colour palettes further develop a sense that what we are witnessing is removed from reality; even though the subject matter may be real, the plots remain outlandish and the characters stay adventurous; letting us be fully enveloped into a world we know to be fake but want to be real.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, 2004
Moonrise Kingdom, 2012
Most renowned for his pictorial symmetry, Anderson establishes a sense of harmony and balance within every scene he includes in his films. Infamous for measuring every scene to the millimetre, his shots are always precisely managed and minutely planned. The images which Anderson uses within each scene are perfectly flat compositions, with depth established only through actor movement into different buildings or along roads. The flat, symmetrical style plays into what Anderson describes to be his ‘storybook motif’, where every scene is like an individual page within a picture book, making it feel like the viewers are moving through some sort of visually enhanced comic-strip. Within The French Dispatch (2021), every shot is not only pictorially measured to maintain perfect symmetry, but every action was also placed on individual timers, where actors would be directed by metronomes to make sure that not only the symmetry of the shot was established but also the movement of its actors was distinctly timed and perfectly executed. Adhering to perfection within every scene, Anderson is able to create poignant emotional demonstrations of human life. Using the symmetry of each shot to present us with a juxtaposition of the imperfection of human life, interweaving moments of emotional chaos within balanced cinematic shots to establish this dualism at the heart of every narrative.
The French Dispatch, 2021
Finally, to better understand the individual feel of Wes Anderson movies, it is important to consider the films that inspired him. Being a notorious thief of everything film-related, Anderson is a true student of his craft and many play along with attempting to spot the allusions he makes to other films within his own work. Uncompromisingly blatant in his adaptation of others’ work, Anderson sees it not simply as plagiarism but rather as an ode to cinema and this is what makes his films truly progressive; engaging with the past while designing a future is critical to his work. Much of his work is modelled on the absurdism rampant in the works of French New Wave directors Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, adapting their use of fragmented, discontinuous editing and long takes to allow viewers to explore scenes in detail. Anderson is also a huge fan of Hitchcock, heavily referencing his 1966 film Torn Curtain within The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Wherein he pays homage to an extensive number of scenes found in Hitchcock’s work, almost perfectly copying some to the letter. However, this is anything but stealing, Anderson imbues each ‘copied’ scene with his own personal visual style; turning Hitchcock’s angled perspective into a straight-on or profile perspective. In doing so, Anderson uses these references to add to the overall sequence; if one has seen Torn Curtain then they are aware of how the sequence ends and as such Anderson adds a sense of foreshadowing and tension to the film. Overall, this style of reference not only adds to the cinematic experience but also makes his films feel comforting and nostalgic to the average cinema viewer, and allows his surreal take on cinema to feel less threatening to those growing up watching Hitchcock and other such directors.
The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2014
Wes Anderson proves to surprise and elate his audience continuously and his films are an absolute joy to experience. By making you think and actively encouraging you to be a part of the film, Anderson is able to construe cinema as it has never been done before. If you have not already, try and find one to watch; his entire catalogue is extensively brilliant and there will be something for everyone to enjoy.
