[Are you listening to me?]
[I look into your eyes,]
[and I cant tell whether you're]
[getting anything I'm saying.]
You know you're watching a Wes Anderson film if...
There's a rich microworld with a focus on art direction.
Wes Anderson's films have become synonymous
with unique and idiosyncratic production design.
that makes us feel like we've entered inside
a human dollhouse.
The dense overabundance of detail
gives the impression that this world
is home to any number of peculiar adventures
we're not currently seeing on camera.
These worlds he builds make Anderson's films
uniquely Anderson.
And that testifies to the power of
production design.
In nine feature films,
Anderson has worked with four different
production designers,
so it's clear that the director himself
exercises a great deal of control.
According to critic Matt Zoller Seitz,
Anderson also uses "material synecdoche" --
and Seitz finds that as showcasing objects,
locations and articles of clothing
that define personalities,
relationships or conflicts.
For example, Gustave H's perfume.
[L'air de Panache.]
Chas and his boys red jumpsuits.
[Fire alarm!
Let's go!]
Or Susie's binoculars.
[She left her binoculars]
[on a hook in the chapel tent.]
[Just leave them!]
[We can't.
It's her magic power!]
Anderson's production design or costumes
actually develop his stories and characters.
Before we go on, we want to talk a little bit
about this video's sponsor, Skillshare.
Skillshare, of course,
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You can get 2 months access to all their classes
for only 99 cents total.
Stay tuned at the end,
to find out which Wes Anderson collaborator
is teaching a class on Skillshare.
Children act like adults and adults act like children.
[You're a married man, Blume,]
[and you're supposed to be his friend.]
Anderson has said Charles Schulz
is a significant influence on him,
and critics have noted that
Charlie Brown-like articulate nature of
Wes Anderson's child characters,
the way they talk and think
like well-educated grown-ups.
[I admit, supposedly,]
[he's emotionally disturbed,]
[but he's also a disadvantaged orphan.]
Sam and Suzy's sophisticated romance
in Moonrise Kingdom is serious and sober
in its total devotion to whimsy --
their relationship feels like
it come out of a Godard movie,
but starring 12 year-olds.
The adults in Anderson's films
never talk down to children --
they treat them like equals or in some cases
as intellectually or emotionally superior.
[You're probably a much more]
[intelligent person than I am,]
[in fact I guarantee it.]
And, in this universe
where children act like adults,
[Excuse me, everyone.]
[I'm gonna go meditate for half an hour.]
it only stands to reason that adults
would act like children.
[People say that when someone says something like that,]
[it's because they're jealous.]
[But it still hurts.
It hurts bad.]
[You dropped some cigarettes.]
[Those aren't mine.]
The inverse of the couple in Moonrise Kingdom,
adults Margot and Richie Tenenbaum feel like
two teens wrestle with a first love.
[I think we're going to have to be secretly]
[in love with each other]
[and leave it at that Richie.]
And the "manchild" is a recurring trope.
Anderson's manchild is unable
to cope with his realities.
He tries to resolve his issues
through juvenile means,
like in Darjeeling Limited
when Peter travels to India
instead of being with his pregnant wife
because he's not ready to be a father.
[It's a boy.]
[It got born already?]
or in Rushmore when Herman
runs over Max's bike to get even.
But in Anderson's stories,
it's not a bad thing to be a manchild.
Take the lesson Royal Tenenbaum teaches his family,
how to recover that joy
of being irresponsible like a kid.
Overall, Anderson's characters teach us
that adults can learn to relax
and have a little more fun like children,
while children can be a lot more directed,
serious and ingenious than we tend to think.
We meet characters who become "unglued".
Anderson has said he thinks there is humor
in a character becoming "unglued"
and that falling apart can be funny.
Matt Zoller Seitz observes the influence
of Orson Welles and Anderson's focus
on impressive men who are deteriorating.
[Hey, are you okay?]
[Mmm, I'm a little bit lonely these days.]
Seitz wrote: Anderson's films...
are filled with loquacious, combative,
often hyper achieving individuals...
[She was a playwright and won a Braverman Grant]
[of fifty-thousand dollars in the ninth grade.]
...who seem fully formed and secure in their identities...
[It's okay, I'll tell you.]
[I'm adopted.
Did you know that?]
...who reveal themselves to be deeply damaged
by class anxiety, social expectations
and family dysfunction.
[She was known for her extreme secrecy.]
[For example, none of the Tenenbaums knew]
[she was a smoker, which she]
[had been since the age of 12.]
[You're really complicated, aren't you?]
[I try not to be.]
And even if characters aren't always
wealthy or upper-class,
they tend to be culturally refined
and intellectually superior.
But they often suffer as a result of:
Dysfunctional or fractured family relationships.
The Tenenbaum children are the product
of one parent who cares a lot
[Etheline Tenenbaum kept the house]
[and raised the children]
[and their education was her highest priority.]
and another who cares too little.
[Well, did you at least think]
[the characters were well-developed?]
[What characters?]
[This is a bunch of little kids,]
[dressed up in animal costumes.]
[Good night, everyone.]
Max Fischer spends most of Rushmore
embarrassed of his father's profession as a barber
and attracted to Herman Blume's success.
[What's your dad do, Max?]
[He's a neurosurgeon...]
[at, uh, St. Joseph's Hospital.]
The Whitman brothers feel abandoned by their mother,
and take a cross-India train trip
to rehash family issues
while carrying around the literal
and figurative baggage of their deceased father.
Moonrise Kingdom's Bishop family showcases
an entire host of issues from
lack of respect and disinterest
[I hate you.]
to infidelity.
It's within the dysfunction of family
that Anderson derives entertainment,
and he presents family as not only
the source of conflict,
but also the source of resolution--
the Whitman brothers work through their issues
through their relationship
[Why don't you hang onto mine?]
once Royal Tenenbaum re-engages with his family,
the Tenenbaums start to heal.
[I've had a rough year, Dad.]
[I know you have, Chassie.]
and when Max accepts where he's come from
[I'd like for you to meet my father, Bert Fischer.]
[He's a barber.]
he truly flourishes.
In the end Anderson's films celebrate that family,
in whatever form, is a special bond,
and we don't need to force everything
to fit into a conventional formula.
It's escapism with meat.
[These guys are trying to escape!]
At first glance it seems
that Anderson's work is escapist --
and it is, in certain ways.
It invites us to disappear
into these carefully curated tableus
and idiosyncratic characters.
But within that escape,
we're surprised to encounter
dark topics and tender humanity.
[The story itself is something]
[of a confection but when you cut into it]
[there's meat there.]
[You see there are still faint glimmers]
[of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse]
[that was once known as humanity.]
[Indeed that's what we provide]
[in our own modest, humble, insignificant...]
[oh, (beep) it.]
There's a distinct pattern of speech.
[To the north, a long rickety causeway]
[over a noxious sludge marsh]
[leading to a radioactive landfill]
[polluted by toxic chemical garbage]
[that's our destination.]
[-Great.
-Got it.]
[Get ready to jump.]
[Sharp little guy.]
[He's one of the worst students we've got.]
A dry, exacting deadpan delivery
brings out Anderson's particular brand of humor.
[Was he a good dog?]
[Who's to say.]
The world is full of peculiarities,
but the actors deliver their lines
like they're dead serious,
[Is it dark?]
[Of course it's dark, it's a suicide note.]
completely unaware of any potential comedy
in what they're discussing.
So the combination of the writing and acting styles
leads to a tone that's equal parts sincerity
[How long have you been a smoker?]
[22 years.]
[I think you should quit.]
and absurdity.
[You're looking so well, darling.]
[You really are.]
[They've done a marvelous job.]
[I don't know what sort of cream they've]
[put on you down at the morgue,]
[but I want some.]
There's a recurring cast.
For example, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman,
Wally Wolodarsky, Luke Wilson, Anjelica Huston,
Willem Defoe, Jeff Goldblum, Waris Ahluwalia,
Edward Norton, and the list goes on.
There's an art nouveau color palette.
Colors tend to be a shade or two
off of the most obvious rendering:
not yellow, but "mustard";
instead of blue, "navy";
instead of green, "moss."
These colors contribute to
the overall flatness of the image --
it feels like a pastel storybook illustration
or a monochromed theater set.
Meanwhile each film has its own chromatic language.
Think the pacific blues with a pop of coral
in the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
or the earthy browns and rich yellows of Fantastic Mr. Fox.
And of course, there's a distinctive camera language.
Anderson's visual language is influenced
by Orson Welles and Francois Truffaut,
and it's executed through the cinematography
of Robert Yeoman.
One of Anderson's most recognizable trademarks
is the wide-angle lens,
combined with symmetrical, center-framed shots.
He uses a lot of rectilinear shots,
meaning frames that contain straight lines.
And the prominent lines in the frame
highlight the symmetry of the shot.
So the two techniques work together
to organize a composition,
create movement, and direct our eye in the scene.
They also create a sense of forced perspective,
as if we are looking at something
that has the illusion of depth
rather than actually possessing it --
so this adds to the feel of theatricality.
Extensive tracking shots display
Anderson's crafted worlds like a intricate diorama.
The precise movement showcases all of
the incredible detail of the microworld,
and again it gives the impression
that we are moving through a set
on a stage aware of the playful artifice,
as opposed to pretending any of this is reality.
And we get Anderson's very recognizable shots
from above looking directly down onto
his meticulously crafted and arranged props.
There's slow motion,
to highlight symbolically loaded moments,
like in the bookend scenes
of The Darjeeling Limited.
In the beginning,
we see a businessman running for the train,
until he is overtaken by Peter.
The slo mo makes us feel the tension
of whether or not Peter will make it,
we sense how important it is
that he takes this trip.
Then at the end, the Whitman brothers
chase after their train home,
shedding the literal and metaphorical baggage
they inherited from their father.
The slow motion celebrates the triumph
of the brothers' revelations and renewed closeness,
they're now ready to face their home lives.
So it's also really urgent that they catch this train.
There's a mid to late 1960s and early 1970s soundtrack.
We hear music from popular artists of the 60s and 70s,
but they're deep cuts.
Anderson's films had made mainstream hit songs
like These Days by Nico,
Strangers by The Kinks,
and Ooh La La by the Faces.
Rolling Stone songs underscore
a number of important moments in Anderson's films,
like when Richie and Margot
express their feelings for each other
and when Max Fischer feels his life has fallen apart.
The trailer for Isle of Dogs
features "I Won't Hurt You,"
by West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
debuted in 1966.
Frequently a Wes Anderson film
will feature a performance of some kind.
This production within a production
has the same psychological effect
as a dream within a dream --
it's the film's way of conveying information
to the audience about the movie we're watching,
whether that's foreshadowing,
characterization or bringing more attention
to a specific detail.
Take Margot Tenenbaum's first play.
It features a zebra
who has been shot by a bear.
So young Margot's writing
turns light childlike imagery
into dark, traumatic stories,
which expresses how she feels about her childhood.
The performance in Moonrise Kingdom,
foreshadows the actual flood
that will ravage the island of New Penzance.
Suzy is dressed as a raven,
another symbol of foreboding.
Anderson's creations are creators themselves.
Presumably like the director,
his characters are obsessively detail-oriented
and trust in their own "weird" visions.
Max Fischer manages his plays in Rushmore
down to every last elaborate detail,
and both Anderson and his creation/creators
believe that all the details matter.
[What happened to the cannoli line?]
[You're supposed to say,]
[â€˜forget about it Sanchez the old man likes his cannolis.]
[Look I made a mistake, alright.]
[It didn't make any difference, anyway.]
[Hey.
I'm letting it go,]
[but don't say it doesn't matter.]
[Every line matters!]
It's also co-written by Wes Anderson.
Wes Anderson has co-written every film he's directed.
This speaks to Anderson identity as an auteur,
he has great control over every aspect of his filmmaking.
[The text is his.
He writes all of that.]
But it's striking that he also
always collaborates with a writing partner.
Either Owen Wilson, Noah Baumbach or Roman Coppola.
So maybe this spirit of collaboration
is part of what produces the sense
of fun and joyful playfulness in many of his films.
And before we finish,
a few more Anderson trademarks for the road:
The Futura font,
binoculars,
sudden bursts of abrupt violence,
and a chapter-like structure.
An Anderson film shows us cinema's power
to whisk us off to another world,
we discover a place more charming
and creative and perfectly curated
than anything we've known.
But in the midst of that fantasy,
we also discover something earnest,
sad, even tragic--
and by the end we might learn to
find comfort in our relationships,
in our own individuality,
and the act of choosing
to be elegant and civilized --
why not be the best version of ourselves.
[How was that?]
[That was a good toast.]
This is graphic designer Jessica Hische.
Jessica designs the typeface for Moonrise Kingdom,
she also happens to be a teacher on Skillshare,
where she teaches in depth classes on
lettering and local type design.
Look at that beautiful logotype,
it's totally done--
absolutely not, there's lots of work to do.
Jessica is the perfect example
of why we love Skillshare service.
The courses are taught by
amazing accomplished working professionals
in design, photography, social media,
business, entrepreneurship and more.
In fact, we use Skillshare to learn more
about graphic design and animation
to keep improving our videos.
They offer 80,000 classes about any skill
you might want to learn.
All for less than $10 a month.
Right now, you can get 2 months access
to all of their classes for just 99 cents total.
But that's only if you're one of the first 500 people
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It's a great deal, so hurry up and don't miss out!