Ellen Rouse-Barron

An Auteur is a film maker whose style is precise and distinctive which creates a signature auteur for them. Auteur theory states that directors have a distinctive style or constant theme that is unmistakeable.

Wes Anderson uses a variety of different things to make him an auteur author, such as repeatedly using the same kind of subject matter, often addressing the same particular themes, reoccurring visual and aesthetic style etc.

Anderson regularly collaborates with the same actors in his movies – Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody etc. – if the actor does not fit a main character, he will create other characters or even short little cameos, for them to still appear in his movies.                                                                                                                                                             

He frequently uses non-diegetic typography on screen, which is usually in the font ‘Futura’, this is to keep with his aesthetics. He mainly uses it on chapter title cards. His movies are often split into chapters which are displaced onto cards on the screen. This is another aspect which make his movies so recognisable and unique.

Anderson is also very recognisable by his use of camerawork. Some of them are unnatural and not typically used in any other director’s movies. He uses stationary pans, where the camera movies from left to right between two subjects, he also uses drastic zooms, this adds to the retro feel. The conversations between characters are often always shot-reverse-shot. Over the shoulder shots are often normal in any other movie, but Anderson never uses this. The characters are placed centrally in the frame, and the scene is set up symmetrically, long and mid-shots are often used to emphasis this. He also uses a lot of high angled shots, to film directly above an object.

His mise-en-scene is meticulously constructed, a lot of his scenes with objects include pictures (props), figures in the background and décor which draws the attention of the audience. Therefore the audience see all aspects of the scenes and movie, realising more detail, and not only watching the action.

The costumes are anachronistically out of place from the real world, but fit so perfectly with the colours of the movie, and is quite aesthetically pleasing. The music is predominantly British artists from the 60’s and 70’s again fitting with his aesthetics and themes. Common themes in his movies are death – characters defined by a loss in their background –, forbidden love and Fatherhood.