My family and I love to the Astor Theatre because it is a picturesque backdrop and a marvellous cinematic experience with great old classics from the likes of Orson Wells, Alfred Hitchcock Francis Ford Coppola, riveting new film and modern classic from the likes of Stephen Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino to name a few. One night we watched a Wes Anderson Double Feature: ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ and ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’. Prior to this momentus occasion I had never watched any of Wes Anderson’s film therefore I had no idea of what to expect.

Unpredictable, outrageously crude and dry at times and a real black comedic sense of humour to his films but all of this was intertwined with a sensation set of film techniques and principles including eye bulging colour palettes and patterns, tracking shots, incredibly mise-en scene and symmetry.

What I discovered was Wes Anderson had particular characteristics which he regularly embeds within each of his masterpieces. These distinctive elements are evident in all of his films.

Tracking shots as mentioned in my previous blogs are widely used and are heavily disposal in Anderson’s technical arsenal. Put a camera on rails, and let it glide, left to right, right to left and backwards; its a technique that creates movement and energy; it’s a huge part of what makes Anderson’s films feel lively when the storyline is downright depressing and bleak.

Anderson uses palettes and patterns in all of his films to get his points across. Anderson’s sharp eye for pattering and for bursts of colour is evident in ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ making patterns out of the furniture in the hotel lobby, litters the mountainside and places a deliberate arrangement of evergreen on the slopes.

In the nearly two decades since Anderson has been making movies, he’s managed to cultivate a regular troupe of actors and actresses who consistently appear in many of his projects.

The list is as long as it is loaded with talent; Anjelica Huston and Bill Murray (who has had roles in all but one of Anderson’s films) lead the pack as the most veteran thespians of the bunch, but they’re joined by the brothers Wilson (Luke, Owen, and even Andrew), Willem Dafoe, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Eric Chase Anderson (Wes’ younger sibling), Michael Gambon, Jeff Goldblum, Wallace Wolodarsky, Brian Cox, and many others.

Anderson is also in love with the past and it is evident in all of his films and this can be portrayed through the story elements of structuring of time. He uses nostalgia to shape his films outfits from 1950s in the ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ and ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ are very colourful and retro. It was makes his films very characteristically his own.

Once you start getting in-depth with Anderson’s films, you’ll find even more common threads that tie them all together and distinguish them; connections between protagonists from one movie to another. I find every time I watch the films there are common cinematic techniques used but they are all used in a way that is visually engaging.

The films are colourful, beautifully filmed, perfectly framed and almost don’t feel like reality. What I have learnt from them is as a filmmaker you are constantly trying to bring some of the most admirable and successful (in your eyes) techniques out there and see if they work in your films. Although I wouldn’t go as crazy as Wes does with the black comedy, characters chopping off limbs and dealing with death in a very emotionless ways I would certainly adopt some of his cinematic techniques and use them as inspiration in my pieces. The way Anderson uses the tracking shot to track his subjects and reveal new setting, traverse through walls going from place to place, time to time is incredible and certainly something I look to for guidance in how to execute a proper tracking shot or style of tracking shot. The way he uses symmetry in his shots are also very importantly almost consistently using the rule of thirds and having in characters spaced out meticulously, and in there is one character on screen you can always predict where they will be, dead centre of the frame, often with a colourful backdrop that isn’t too layered nor complicated.

These techniques are brilliant and certainly ones in which I will incorporate into my filmmaking repertoire in future.

Michael Serpell