The Stylings of Wes Anderson

Few directors can boast a style as immediately recognisable as that of Wes Anderson. In a career spanning two decade now Anderson has made a name for himself as the archetypical indie/hipster director in North American film. I would define Anderson's style as being storybook-like, with almost theatrical staging and blocking of actors and cinematography reminiscent of a polaroid photograph. Anderson's most notable directorial trademark is probably his centre staging and the way he has characters address the camera directly, almost like the way a narrator addresses the audience in a play. Anderson takes much of what he applies to his films from techniques used in theatre, such as ensemble staging and a sense of artificiality to the sets and environment. Characters in a Wes Anderson film are very much aware that they are in a film and this informs almost every aesthetic decision in the film.

Techniques employed in Anderson's only animated feature to date, Fantastic Mr Fox has proved influential in his more recent works Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Earlier works such as Rushmore and The Life Aquatic, while often incorporating some more fantastical elements were still based in a sense of reality, the camera moved more often and more often than not Anderson shot in real life locations. After Fantastic Mr Fox there is a noticeable aesthetic shift to more hyperreal sets and environments as well as a more simplified, but at the same time noticeable, colour palette. Moonrise Kingdom, while often being shot in real life locations has an emphasis on symmetry and has a noticeably autumn-y tone to it.

My main takeaway from Anderson's work is that film and animation do not necessarily have to reflect a reality and can be self aware in the way that they present themselves, which more often than not lends them a certain energy and charm. Cinema can borrow from animation and Animation can also borrow from cinema, the two mediums are one and the same in the language they have to communicate.