Analysis Of Wes Anderson’s Use Of Lighting And Composition Techniques In The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” is an incredibly made visual masterpiece. Inspired by the writings of Stefan Zweig, Anderson accomplished his goal of creating a special atmosphere to the film using the techniques he is well known for. The movie won four academy awards, including the best achievement in production design, costume design, music written for motion pictures, makeup and hairstyling. However, I could not care less for the awards that this beautiful piece has won if it would not actually be this good. Wes Anderson’s use of mise-en-scene elements has created a great symmetry in the movie, where every single shot is well-planned and perfectly balanced. We, as an audience, get the feeling of surrealism, as it feels like the characters are arranged in the doll-house room frames. Many critics claim that the purpose of Anderson’s planimetric style is to observe the story not from an oblique angle, but with the sense of our own presence. The narrator wants us to feel for the protagonists and experience the adventure that they are going through. I would like to make an attempt of explaining how Wes Anderson conveyed the concept of mise-en-scene in “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, particularly focusing on lighting and composition. Why did he choose certain techniques and what did he try to accomplish by it?
First of all, throughout the whole movie Anderson uses lighting to convey certain states of Zero’s emotions depending on the narration. We can obviously notice how strongly he feels about Agatha, because even though she is considered as one of the key characters, she wasn’t properly introduced until much later than it was expected. Only forty-five minutes into the movie, when it comes to the part when Zero had to establish Agatha’s role, the lighting suddenly changes. First, Wes Anderson shoots an establishing wide shot of the writer and Moustafa Zero, sitting on the table in the hotel restaurant, while in the background we are able to capture the complete environment. He does that in order to establish a scene, including spatial relationships and location. The lighting at that very moment is bright and the room was filled with it. But a second after, the light starts to dim originating from the frame corners, and then completely until there are only back lights of Zero and the writer left. Zero puts his head down and pushes his dish back. Then the mid shot of the concerned writer is taken in order for him to ask Zero about the sudden change and if he felt sick. Then the shot tracks left, and we still can not see Zero’s face clearly, although he replies that he is absolutely fine. However, we can still feel the tension implying that Zero’s a bit hesitant and emotional about this exact part of the story. He does not know how to continue. Then the camera shoots the eye-level close-up shot of Zero’s face, where the lighting coming from the right side finally shows his face clearly. Now, the audience can see that he is crying, by the tears coming down his face. The mise-en-scene in this moment is characterized by high-key and low-key lighting. He tells that the reason of him not disclosing Agatha’s key role in the story is that he is unable to control his feelings whenever he talks about her. I believe that for the man of that time, who originally came from the country where it was unacceptable for men to show weakness, Zero did not want to burst into tears in front of the writer. Nevertheless, there was not the other way to continue the story. Wes Anderson once again reminds us that we are experiencing the events through Zeros’ perspective by using mise-en-scene effectively. In this great example, we can appreciate how powerful lighting techniques can be in controlling the scene. The audience can only see what we want them to see. By means of using different lighting techniques we can emphasize on particular parts of the story, where we are able to convey feelings and emotions of the main characters. As an audience, lighting coordinates and leads me throughout the narrative of the movie, and I believe that this is exactly what directors like Wes Anderson aim to do.
When young Zero gives a book as a gift to Agatha, he writes to her “To my dearest, darling treasured, cherished Agatha, whom I worship. With respect, adoration, admiration, kisses, gratitude, best wishes and love from Z to A”. It seems like he ran out of the words to express his love to Agatha. He is overwhelmed by his strong feelings for her that he cannot even describe it with words. Agatha is hard-working young woman, devoted to her job at Mendl’s despite an obvious low pay and extremely unsatisfying working conditions. She is a symbol of purity, grace and quiet, but strong feminine power in the movie. Forty-seven minutes into the movie, quite a popular scene of Agatha’s close-up eye-level shot, showing her pretty face, while the round lights of different colors rotate in the background. The lighting in this scene is exceptional. The interchanging colors of the lights, varying from red and white are illuminating and coming from the left side of the frame accomplish Wes Anderson’s purpose of showing her in Zero’s eyes. Accentuating on her blue eyes, birthmark in a form of Mexico and a soft smile on her face.
The composition, as it was mentioned before, is consistent to Wes Anderson’s signature style of extreme symmetry and framing. The objects in the scene are arranged right in the middle in order to reflect the perspective of characters in the film. The 4:3 aspect ratio allowed Wes Anderson to use unique composition opportunities that would not be possible or nearly as good in wider aspect ratios. The chosen ratio did not give much of a headroom space, but Anderson dealt with it by filling the frame from lower angle shots. For instance, the scene where the officer Norton is coming out the hole, from which Mr. Gustave and his cellmates have escaped. To fill the frame Anderson shoots the scene using a low-angle shot, allowing his soldiers to surround him in the background. Another example, which is portrayed eighty-six minutes into the movie are the high and low-angle shots captured with a wide shot, used in the movie multiple times. Agatha falls from the window, but manages to grab a hold of balcony handle, while the painting is hanging one floor higher. Zero looks down on Agatha from the higher floor trying to figure out the room, from which window she is hanging. Anderson also uses the rule of thirds, a photography technique, which involves positioning of important elements along the two horizontal and vertical lines. Almost eleven minutes into the movie, the low-angle mid shot in the elevator including Zero, Mr. Gustave, Madame D., and the bellboy shows the composition in which Mr. Gustave and Madame D. filling the right corner, bellboy taking up a left side, and Zero in the middle. Anderson uses a variety of composition techniques to create a very specific view from different character’s perspective.
In conclusion, I believe that the film can be claimed as one of the best stylistic pieces ever made. Wes Anderson, using the rich color palette, lighting and composition techniques creates a special atmosphere to the film. The movie is a great example of all the elements of mise-en-scene, involving a certain setting of a stage with regard to actor placement and scenery lighting. The amount and the variety of elements Wes Anderson used is overwhelming. The story of Zero’s alive memory and a constant grief over loss of his love- Agatha, is told from his point of view, through his outlook. In this essay, I tried to analyze and answer the initial questions regarding Wes Anderson’s choice of lighting and composition techniques. To sum up, every single element that Anderson masters has a purpose. The ones that I have discussed about, lighting is used to convey characters’ emotions, lead the audience throughout the most important aspect of the film, creating an atmosphere. The composition and the framing are used to arrange objects in the symmetric, almost comic way, showing the perspective of Zero’s character. Overall, there are far more aspects and techniques that should be discussed in a more thorough analysis. The film is extraordinary in terms of cinematography on so many levels and degrees that are beyond my imagination.
Bibliography
- Leeds, David (2017, August 18). “Beauty at a Distance: Cinematic Techniques of “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@davidleeds/beauty-at-a-distance-cinematic-techniques-of-the-grand-budapest-hotel-1a738924cf62
- Tom (2015, September 28). “Cinematography in Grand Budapest Hotel”. Retrieved from https://timeinpixels.com/2015/09/cinematography-in-grand-budapest-hotel/
- Bordwell, David (2014, March 26). “THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL: Wes Anderson takes the 4:3 challenge”. Retrieved from http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2014/03/26/the-grand-budapest-hotel-wes-anderson-takes-the-43-challenge/
- Unknown author (2014). “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2278388/
