Wes Anderson // Centered

October 27, 2015 1:02 PM

Wes Anderson scenes and their symmetry through centering
posted by glaucon (19 comments total)

    ¦
beau¦tiful
    ¦

posted by 0xFCAF at 1:07 PM on October 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

That was surprisingly soothing.
posted by SLC Mom at 1:24 PM on October 27, 2015

 

 

 
{ nice }
 

 

 

posted by mazola at 1:39 PM on October 27, 2015 [5 favorites]

The shot beginning at 1:41 is the most impressive to me. Right on the spine!
posted by banal retentive at 1:43 PM on October 27, 2015

Amateur move. The real pros stick with a straight left edge, which makes films faster and easier to read
posted by oulipian at 1:53 PM on October 27, 2015 [4 favorites]

Thus demonstrating that Wes Anderson is surely a very accomplished stylist. I just wish I could find something more than that to recommend his work.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 1:55 PM on October 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Saw only one scene from Life Aquatic and nothing from Bottle Rocket.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 1:57 PM on October 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm assuming Futura is not your default MeFi font, then?
posted by Xavier Xavier at 1:57 PM on October 27, 2015

It's impressive how easy Anderson makes those shots look when they've got to be a huge amount of work to setup and shoot. For that one from Moonrise Kingdom in the house with the two 90% pans they must have designed the whole set around getting just that shot since it has three centered shots from one vantage point and everything has to line up just right and stay in focus and be lit right.
posted by octothorpe at 2:07 PM on October 27, 2015 [5 favorites]

Saw only one scene from Life Aquatic

This is a feature, not a bug.
posted by pxe2000 at 2:08 PM on October 27, 2015 [4 favorites]

The first Wes Anderson movie I saw was Bottle Rocket, and I quite liked it. Much less stylized, of course. I think the balance of style and story hit its peak around the Life Aquatic. After that, I've been arguing with some more devoted friends of mine that the set design has overshadowed the storytelling so much that I find it distracting and irritating. I have always had the sense that he was a massive theatre nerd and he's only had the complete freedom to make these super quirky, theatrical sets in the last three movies. I found Grand Budapest to be so twee that it was impossible to take seriously.
posted by jimmythefish at 2:30 PM on October 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Previously.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:07 PM on October 27, 2015

Confirmation of things known, but still worth a view. And a smile. I watched with the sound off, & the edit still retained / added to the Andersonian effect. Thanks!
posted by foodbedgospel at 3:58 PM on October 27, 2015

it was impossible to take seriously

well see that's the problem - Wes Anderson films aren't meant to be taken seriously, they are meant to be enjoyed
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 4:17 PM on October 27, 2015 [8 favorites]

I just wish I could find something more than that to recommend his work.

The fact that no American filmmaker has more consistently or sensitively dealt with how we live in a world that is increasingly emptied of those we love, and that they continue to affect us long after they are gone?
posted by maxsparber at 4:34 PM on October 27, 2015 [15 favorites]

One of the vimeo commenters is very correct when pointing out Anderson owes a lot of this to Kubrick, though Anderson does it.... you know... wider.
posted by rokusan at 6:53 PM on October 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

I like to think that he does this so he can watch all of his films on a 1971 Zenith console TV without letterboxing. Pan and scan all the way baby.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:03 PM on October 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Kubrick one-point perspective
posted by dinsdale at 11:55 PM on October 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Related: Mad Max: Center Framed (previously) was a visual decision by the director George Miller to keep all of the action directly in the center of the frame to reduce the time for viewers to track what was going on, sort of the opposite of the more relaxed, atmospheric shots of the Wes Anderson films that encourage your eyes to wander. The video with commentary by DP John Seale illustrates the "crosshair-framing" technique with a literal crosshair overlaid on one of the epic fight scenes.
posted by autopilot at 6:58 PM on October 28, 2015