The Mise-en-Scene of Wes Anderson

       


    I slightly enjoyed the mise-en-scene in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou more than I anticipated. I had never previously watched any Wes Anderson films however, I was aware of his style and am familiar with how unique and specific his style is. Mise-en-Scene can be defined as "putting on a stage" from the Moving Pictures textbook. This is strongly reflected throughout Anderson's film through his use of color schemes, lighting, framing, costumes, and even sets, big or small. Anderson can be seen practicing this by taking mise-en-scene by its definition setting the stage for his films. 

   

    To focus on some of the specific design aspects he embraced all throughout the film, Anderson sticks within a color pallete unique to every film and remains true to it, no matter the emotion or setting of the scene. For an example from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, remember the funeral scene after Ned Plimpton, also known as Kingsley Zissou, had passed away from injuries obtained during the helicopter crash. As this was a funeral for Steve's dead son, the mood of the affair was very somber and regretful however the appearance of the scene through colors was almost the exact opposite. The colors of the scene remained very bright and hopeful with light blue uniforms and bright orange hats which when compared to traditional funeral attire, which is all black, we can see the commitment Anderson makes to the color overtakes any traditional presentation of certain scenes. This can even be seen through the presentation of the coffin, as it was draped with the flag his son created in that same light blue. 


    Another main aspect of the Mise-en-Scene of Wes Anderson is his continued use of symmetry. In almost every shot, there is partial or full symmetry. This symmetry continues to be seen throughout all of his films and is utilized to show the emphasis Anderson puts on formalism. Formalism in films can be defined as an approach to film theory that is focused on the formal or technical elements of a film such as the lighting, scoring, sound, set design, use of color, shot composition, and even editing. All of these aspects are things Anderson enjoys putting an emphasis on in any film he creates and shows simply how much he favors the theory of formalism over traditional realism.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rear Window

Image
    During the fourth week of this class, we moved forward with continuing to explore new films and their specific formats. The focus was on a well-known classic directed by Alfred Hitchcock, "Rear Window". This film was a groundbreaking film at the time of its release, as it explored new shots and angles that had yet to be used or popularized while largely relying on the visuals telling the story, as the audience's knowledge and view are limited to that of the wheel-chair bound main character. Hitchcock found an inventive way to take advantage of a small, confined space and make it feel unrestrained.      While I still largely prefer more modern movies, I continue to enjoy all of the films we have watched so far, regardless of how old the film is. Rear Window in particular maintained a balance of curiosity and suspense even with the slow-moving storyline, culminating with L.B. being thrown out the very window he observed his neighbors from, ending the film with...
Read more

A Week on Film History

Image
Looking back on the previous week of classes, I have already learned so much interesting information about the history of film that I would have never considered delving into without this course. Starting with the reading from Moving Pictures, and just how surpising it was to think that the modern day multi-billion dollar ($91.83 billion in the U.S alone) movie franchise was started by a "wealthy robber baron" who was bored and wanted to win a bet against his friends.  The series photography, which was used to win the bet, later became more and more developed with first silent films like "The Cabinet of Dr. Calgari" from the 1920's, followed by "unpredictable and trangressive" films such as "Bonnie and Clyde" in 1967, and just 10 years later in 1977, the very first Star Wars episode was realsed and "Hollywood would never be the same" as Moving Pictures, and many others have claimed.  Personally, I have never had much of an interest ...
Read more

Planning Stages of the Fascination Project

Image
Monty Python Black Knight GIF from Monty Python GIFs After being introduced to the fascination project as a group film, I was able to join a group looking to create a film with a business/comedy/horror theme. I took that to mean a very cheesy type of horror where the characters are in typical horror movie scenarios but something about either the acting, the setting, the props, or even the music adds a very light, comedic lens to the traditionally terrifying scene. During the first class, we were provided with time to work on the projects, my team and I used it as a brainstorming session to just share any "bits" or scenes that we think would work well and to get a basic grasp of the type of film we were looking to produce. Never Give Up No Surrender GIF from Never Give Up GIFs Personally, I think that movies like Monty Python and the Holy Grail would be a good type to try and match in terms of humor and such. I especially think a scene with either the victim...
Read more