Wes Anderson and Auteur theory

 

Auteur Theory and Wes Anderson

 

 

Auteur Theory is the idea that arose in France in the late 1940s that I director of a film can have a major effect on the creative style and vision of the movies that he/she produces, in effect making the director more the author than the person that actually wrote the material.

"A true film auteur is someone who can bring something genuinely person to his subject instead of producing a tasteful: accurate but lifeless rendering of the original material." Francis Trauffat, 1950.

 

Wes Anderson is widely thought of as director that would qualify to be an Auteur. This is because he brings a very unique style to all of his movies that is easily recognisable to almost anyone who has seen his films before. For example he often includes very similar themes within all of his films. For example the stories tend to revolve around middle to upper class families that are more than a little dysfunctional as well as precocious and pretencions characters.

Also Wes Anderson has a very notably quirky style of cinematography that appears in the majority of his movies. For example a he often makes shots completely symmetrical. He also likes to use tracking shots that last a relatively long time and require a large amount of choreography in order to shoot. The is also a slow motion shot in every one of his films not including Fantastic Mr. Fox.



 

Wes Anderson also has a habit of using high angled shots in his films, here is some examples.

The mes en scene that Wes Anderson creates is always very vintage, with a very 60's era style to it. He uses costume that would be out of place in today's world, and props that should be long outdated.



He also often uses a very similar colour palette throughout each of his films that includes shades of yellow, red, blue and orange.

Wes Anderson titles are also a notable signature of his, in a bold yellow font that fits his colour palette.

Not only do his characters and cinematography have very distinct styles. But also his choice of actors. Wes Anderson's movies has repeatedly collaborated with multiple actors in his films, such as Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Jason Schrwatzman. When Wes Anderson Directs a new movie it is expected for at least one of these actors to be in the film.

 

 

In my personal opinion, because of all of these unique and quirky things that Wes Anderson brings to his movies, that make his work instantly recognisable as a film made by him, he fits the definition of an Auteur. He is someone that makes a movie his own. Bringing something different to its delivery that only Wes Anderson could do, because that is his style of film making