Wes Anderson Evaluation

The aim of this essay is to identify my strengths and weaknesses throughout this project and to evaluate if I succeeded with the stylistic challenge. The director I chose as my auteur is Wes Anderson, who is well known for his unique and eye catching visual style. In order to become more familiar with the directors individual style, I researched into all aspects of Anderson's filmmaking, focusing on the cinematography and reoccurring themes within his films. I particularly focused on his use of certain shots, for example symmetrical, tracking and overhead shots. I did a lot of experimentation with this, using a dolly and grip to create my own tracking shot, also incorporating a whip pan effect, which has been used in many of Anderson's films. …show more content…
A lot of people believed that it ‘felt like a Wes Anderson film’ especially with the ‘symmetrical and overhead shots’, which is something I experimented with the most within my film, wanting to pay homage to his signature style. I’m glad this was recognised within the film, as it proves how vital camera experimentation is, especially with shots that are more technical, for example, the tracking shot took a long time to perfect, which would have been disruptive if practiced on filming day. The aspect I asked the audience to analyse the most was the colour grading, as it is something I haven’t particularly focused on before, but is also probably the hardest thing to perfect in regards to Wes Andersons style. In preparation for this I analysed some of his films, and noticed that most of them have an orange/mustard yellow hue that is matched with the costume as well. I was pleased with the final outcome with the colour grade but felt it didn’t suit all of the shots as the lighting changes quite a lot throughout. Someone noticed this within the feedback, saying ‘the colour grading could do with some work as it makes the actors look darker/ lighter in some shots, but overall it gave it a unique style’. In future I am going to focus on using lighting, as I believe it makes a shot look more cinematic, whilst also making it easier to colour