Monday 9/11/20 - Wes Anderson

When it comes to my personal influence Wes Anderson is one of the biggest in terms of filmmaking. He's not only one of my favourite filmmakers but is one of the reasons behind my desire to make films. That's why he's one of the practitioners I chose from the brief.

He is a widely known filmmaker specifically for his very unique and eccentric style both for narrative and visuals. What makes his visuals unique is his take on the rule of thirds and symmetry. Much like Stanley Kubrick (one of his inspirations) he likes to use one point perspective (Shots where the horizon has only one vanishing point) and symmetry however to an even more noticable level. He pays very specific attention to colour often using very hazey, warm and soft, pastel colours you'd expect to see in a more vintage setting. It's done to create a sense of nostalgia and world building.

He is regarded by many as a modern day Auteur, an artist who applies a highly centralized and subjective control to many aspects of a collaborative creative work; in other words, a person equivalent to an author of a novel or a play. [Santas 2002, p. 18] They often feature the same key aspects in their work, a distinct visual style, outsider characters, some absurdities and consistent collaborators. Wes Anderson covers all of these in his work.

I feel Anderson relates to the idea of altered states by the way he lets the audience look into his worlds. He tells us his stories through an altered state such as the cinematography, the eccentric writing and other stylistic choices. Whilst they take place in relatively down to earth settings, they feel like they're from a completely different state of the world.

References

Santas, Constantine (2002). Responding to Film: A Text Guide for Students of Cinema Art. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN978-0-8304-1580-9.