Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson was born in Houston, Texas on May 1, 1969. Ironically, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Philosophy, yet with no training in a proper film school I would argue that Wes Anderson is one of the most successful directors of our time. Wes has an incredibly ability to produce a vision that is consistently unique to him, but at the same time refreshing with every story being told. I took a look at three of his films: The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). Each of these films provides a familiar feeling that can only be classified as “Andersony” (a fan dubbed term), a category that is defined by a specific array of techniques that form Wes’ cinematic style.

        For example, lets start with each one of Anderson’s Title sequences. Wes tends to use sans serif fonts, one of his favorites is Futura, these sequences although different seem almost as recognizable as if he had signed the movies himself. The titles are presented in a bold straight foreword way, and each seem to harness/set the tone of the movie to come.
           

Another thing Wes does is frequently reuses certain actors throughout his films, such as Bill Murray and the Wilson brothers (Owen and Luke). In fact Owen Wilson has been a co-writer for the first 3 of Anderson’s films and has starred in all of his films except for Rushmore. Also Anderson credits his stars in same manner for each film, ever since The Royal Tenenbaums we are generally presented with each actor one by one and in the center of the frame, staring at or in the direction of the camera, with their name laid over their chest.  

There are also a variety of camera techniques that Anderson is known to use and frequently pop up in all of his films, such as his use of symmetry in each of his shots. He balances these frames with the actors themselves lined up in front of the camera, and they tend to be at a table or during a dining scene.

Anderson also likes to incorporate overhead shots, allowing the audience to look directly down at a desk top or a book. However it is widely agreed that his signature shot would be the slow motion tracking shot as seen in The Royal Tenenbaums, and at the end of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

However I would have to say that two of my favorite aspects of Wes Anderson films are, one, his beautifully composed soundtracks which apparently follow his affinity for French Pop. And second, his wonderful dollhouse-type sequences: