Color palette and composition in Wes Anderson's films

As one of the new generation directors in the United States, Wes Anderson has successfully created a style of film aesthetics with his unique lens language and vivid high-saturation visual effects.

Color palette

Watching Wes Anderson's film is like having a brightly colored dream. Each one of his films has different main colors according to the plot.

Warm colors

The Grand Budapest Hotel· Pink

The color of The Grand Hotel Budapest in the early scenes of the movie, there's a dream-like pink light, which makes the film look like a fairy tale, forming a strong contrast for the later plot twist and the tragic theme.

There's pink all around: pink sky, pink hotel walls, pink snow and pink trees, refreshing and romantic, reveal an aesthetic chapter of the film.

Wes Anderson takes the color pink to the extreme, it even gives birth to a popular color, pale dogwood.

Pale dogwood is not a specific color, but a general term for a range of pinks. Generally speaking, it is pink with light brown, which is different from bright pink like Barbie pink. It tends to be more retro or vintage.

Warm colors

Fantastic Mr. Fox · Orange

In Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson uses a large area of orange to symbolize the warmth and friendship of the fox family.

The tone of the whole film is so warm that it fills our hearts with love. The highly saturated warm color makes the film full of healing.

Cool colors

The Darjeeling Limited · Green

In The Darjeeling Limited, the three brothers take a luxury train to start a journey through India, creating lots of funny memories. And green becomes an important element to awaken their friendship.

As we know it, Green with warm colors has the effect of relaxing and stabilizing emotions.

Cool colors

Come Together · Blue

The Christmas advertisement Come Together directed by Wes Anderson tells a story of conductors and passengers spending Christmas on a delayed train with cold wind.

Our beloved director chose light blue and green, which kept a good balance between the coldness of the snowstorm outside the train and the warmth inside the train.

Composition

Symmetrical Balance

With great works, color is also a part of the composition. There is a relationship between color and composition that expresses emotion and creates contrast.

Those who are familiar with Wes Anderson's films will be deeply impressed by his title of "Symmetric Monster". According to his photographer, in order to make the symmetry more accurate, he even uses a tape measure to make sure the camera is not off-center.

In addition to symmetry, the front and back layers between objects also make the picture quite interesting.

The balance of objects in the picture brings a pleasing visual impact.

Overhead angle

The overhead angle makes the artistic conception more beautiful. While said technique is being used, when you look down, all things in the picture are transformed into an endless visual enjoyment.

Even if you are not a Wes Anderson fan, I believe you will never forget his film style, which not only creates fairy tales but also ultimate aesthetics. If you like them, you can go watch his movies, tell me which one is your favorite!