a quick synopsis

Wes Anderson uses cinematic patterns to build fantastical, whimsical worlds in his film. In a guest lecture at UMSI, I break down his films block-by-block to showcase just how masterful Wes is at visually manipulating info on screen.

Listen here:

Behind the Scenes

tl;dr What my lecture is about

Unless you're really curious about how I managed to combine my entire undergrad and graduate degree together in the audio above, I'll summarize my most important points.

Film can be broken down into building blocks (much like a design system) with every filmmaker essentially owning the same toolkit. You have 3 glossy high-level categories: the visuals, the audio, and the structure. Under each of those categories, you have subsequent techniques and components. Film shares the same library, so how can Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelié be so drastically different to, say, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings? And how does someone like Wes Anderson somehow convey stylistically that all his films are related in one way or another? I explore the nuances of these building blocks, break down the patterns that Wes uses explicitly in all his movies (that make his "signature"), and even manage to get a little theoretical by posing the existential question, "What even is film, really?"

Interested in this topic? Take a look at my slides here
Better yet, let's talk movies