presentation script

Presentation Script: Does the visual narrative style of Wes Anderson make him an auteur?

Projector: Show picture of Wes Anderson (item 15)

Speaker: In every film he has directed, Wes Anderson's particular visual narrative style has been loved and loathed. His detailed sets and shots, long panning takes and similar themes populate throughout his 7, soon to be 8, feature films. His "consistency of style and theme" (item 14) creates the argument for Anderson's auteurship, as his coherent style underlies all his productions. Paralleling the writing's of Francois Truffaut, Anderson imprints his work with his tastes and styles, allowing for the audience to easily recognise his films, allowing for his cult status to be established.

Anderson's films have been commented on their sense of heightened reality, often offering a "view of a world through young and immature eyes"(item 9).

Projector: Play 'Do you steal?' clip from Moonrise Kingdom

This scene from Moonrise Kingdom illustrates an unlikely childhood fantasy. Their physical escape from their families can be seen as an attempt at an escape from real life, a key idea explored throughout Anderson's catalogue of films. The two adolescents, both from dysfunctional families and backgrounds, another staple theme for Anderson, escape into their fantasies, and develop the unlikely perfected camp. Moreover, they represent a childhood innocence, not explicitly explored before in Anderson's films, who venture into a harmless, almost-protecting environment, and is something new and unexplored. Moreover, this sense of naivety persists through Anderson's films, represented in misguided "man-child"(item 6) characters, with a closed view of the world, or even ignorant perception of reality. Characters like Mr. Fox and Max Fischer present a naivety born out of a self-assured attitude, resulting in it being explored and tested until some form of reconciliation. This consistency of characterisation and theme suggests Anderson's auteur nature as his films explore the differences and similarities in people. With Moonrise Kingdom though, we see a different kind of naivety displayed. The visual narration's emphasis on fantasy elements can easily be interpreted as the dreams or exaggerated realities of a child's mind. And this is coherent throughout Anderson's filmography, with the films' main characters battling for their idealistic world, attempting to keep real life at bay. As a result, all of Anderson's films appear separate from our world, portraying his auteuristic qualities. 

This separateness that Anderson creates often results in his films being described as fantasy or fairytale like.  Commenting on the visual narrative style employed in Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson explains that he was  “deliberately wanting to make it feel like a sort of fable” (item 12) suggesting his films should be learnt from, or maybe we, as an audience, are witnessing a character learning or discovering another way. And this is true in all his films; in Rushmore, we see the alienated, controlling Max; discovering it is better to work with others, instead of doing everything alone. Anderson illustrates this with the visual narrative style separating and excluding Max. However in the final scene this changes.

Projector: Play ending scene of Rushmore

In the final scene, the camera pans to show Max and Rosemary going to dance with everyone he has hurt as a result of his selfishness. This illustrates some sort of reconciliation, a common and consistent theme in Anderson’s films, shown as Max physically returns to the group. As well as that, the wide shot allows for Max to melt into the group and almost become lost in them, showing he is no longer an outsider.

Moreover, Anderson's consistency continues in his cinematography.

Projector :  Play Item 7

Speaker: This short clip shows how overhead shots of hands in Anderson's films are a staple, appearing in all his films, even in the stop motion Fantastic Mr. Fox.  This could be seen as an aspect of him being an auteur, as the focus object always appears directly in the centre of the shot, with the character's hands bordering or revealing the object. This suggests that Anderson uses this shot as a key tool to reveal something about the character. This becomes more powerful and shocking when a character's hands are empty. For example, Richie’s in Royal Tenenbaums, are held open, possibly suggesting he is missing something or someone. This unusual change to an Anderson staple makes the scene much more dramatic to an audience familiar with Anderson's work. Adapting a key shot illustrates Anderson's meticulous nature and control over his work, two typical characteristics of an auteur.

Also, the cinematography appears almost symmetrical, with everything carefully planned and in it's place.

Projector: Play Suzy and Sam's first encounter from Moonrise Kingdom

The symmetry of the shots create a balance to his films, allowing for them to seem almost theatrical in nature, reminding the audience that this is a film. We pan from the Scout leader to Sam in one smooth motion, allowing the audience to witness the entire scene, allowing Anderson to immerse them in the characters' world. Also, the camera movement is often smooth and steady, and feels framed like a painting; when Sam walks past the waiting animals, we pan with him, with him appearing in the centre of the long, wide shot. These types of pans are used throughout Anderson's films, allowing him to show off the level of detail, engaging the audience and making the visual narrative more rich and engrossing. 

However, Anderson has used the same cinematographer, Robert Yeoman, in all his live action films, (item 10) suggesting perhaps that this coherent, recognisable cinematographic style is consequently due to Yeoman. This would support the view of William Goldman (item 13), arguing that it isn't solely directors who author films but is a collective work, and that corresponding links between films are not just from the directors, but are from all aspects of the production team. Furthermore he says that directors "must stand helpless alongside the crew and watch the actors work at their craft." implying  that directors have no control over their work, disregarding the auteur theory as fantasy. Contrastingly, Yeoman did not work on Fantastic Mr. Fox, yet there are similarities in shots between Mr. Fox, Rushmore and Moonrise Kingdom, arguing against Goldman's view that auteurs do not exist. Moreover, this emphasises Anderson's influence over his films, showing his cinematographic preferences proceed throughout.

While writing Fantastic Mr Fox, Anderson stayed at Roald Dahl's home (item 4) immersing himself in his world. Much of the mise en scene in Fantastic Mr Fox was inspired by Dahl's home, copying his furniture, and using the surrounding countryside as a basis for the setting..

 As well as that, Fantastic Mr. Fox shows key characteristics of Anderson's visual narrative style

Projector: Play 'Different' scene from Fantastic Mr Fox

The above clip illustrates several key principles of Anderson's style. Firstly, during wide shots, characters either appear directly in the centre or at either corner of the shot (item 9). Characters face towards the camera when they speak, as if on stage in a play; tying in to the play like structure of his films; with the story being told in chapters, with curtains opening each new 'chapter' (item 8). As well as that, during close ups, characters appear in the centre, but directly face the camera. In addition, characters in conflict or who oppose each other are normally separated by cuts. The editing separates Mr Fox and Ash, putting them in opposition.

Anderson also sets a “particular hue scheme” (item 9) to all his films, making consistent colours appear throughout, enabling him to portray a certain attitude or feeling the characters in the film share. For example, pale blue, yellow and green appear throughout Moonrise Kingdom

Projector: Play “Flew the Coop” clip from Moonrise Kingdom

The yellow of the Khaki Scout’s neckerchiefs, the green of the trees and the blue of the sky illustrates Anderson’s highly stylized tendencies, painting his shots in certain colours to create certain aesthetic properties that allow different emotions and feelings to be shown. The lush green that appears behind the boys appears untouched and has some purity aspects to it making it seem like an Eden perhaps. Moreover, the freshness of the green makes almost seem welcoming, possibly explaining why Sam and Suzy see it as a sort of sanctuary, where they can escape from the dull and dreary normality, illustrated by the beige, lacklustre uniforms. 

Overall, Wes Anderson’s consistent visual narrative style does make him an auteur. Throughout all his films, his imprint is clear, with similar themes and aesthetics populating his fantasy fairytales.  However, Anderson himself when asked if he is an auteur or he has a particular ‘style’, he explains how he tries to forget his style and just does what he feels is right.

Projector: Play Item 4 from 8:12 to 9:26

And maybe just doing what he likes is what makes him an auteur, as simply following his instincts has produced his distinctive visual narrative style.