There are not many world-famous film directors in the world with their own 'signature' visual style - the kind that, at any moment, you can take a freeze frame and say who made this film, without even looking at the faces of the actors.
Of the directors of past years, Terrence Malick, for example, has such a unique style. Of the modern ones, it is probably worth noting Wes Anderson right away. It is worth seeing just one of his works, after which you will never confuse these unique visuals for anyone else's. And you might enjoy following the latest trend on TikTok as well.
TikTok has recently started a new, hilarious trend and movie fans will be more than delighted with it
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The main idea is romanticizing your everyday life videos by filming them in Wes Anderson's visual style
Yes, in recent days, TikTokers have been massively succumbing to the craze to make a regular video about their daily lives - but to romanticize it in the visual style of Anderson's movies. Everything is pretty simple - if we shoot somewhere indoors, that means we choose the The Grand Budapest Hotel as a guide. Filming in transport - just remember The Darjeeling Limited. And so on - eleven full-length movies filmed by the maestro are reference enough for literally any plot.
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Of course, it is unlikely that TikTokers will play roles as inimitable as Anderson's favorite actors and actresses: Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Bill Murray or the Wilson brothers, but this is actually not that crucial. It is way more important to observe exactly the visual range to fit the trend.
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Virtually all of Anderson's films stand out with their specific pastel palette, making even the most modern footage look completely vintage. For example, the recent Asteroid City was shot mostly in warm orange tones, immediately reminiscent of the immortal classics of Hollywood of the fifties. But the main thing in the director's visual style is not even the colors. The main thing is the composition of the frame.
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The two central pillars of Anderson's visual style are vintage color palette and a unique frame geometry
In any composition course, whether it's photography, design, or cinematography, you'll be told not to position your main subject or character right in the center. Anderson, with some kind of magnificent arrogance, spits on these principles, placing literally everything and anybody in the frame in strict adherence to geometric lines. And the actress or actor, you can be absolutely sure, will be in the very center of it. Or somewhere on the side, but then more important lines of perspective will converge in the center of the frame.
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"Anderson can be called a classic of postmodern cinema with endless quoting - and he obviously peeped the very idea of such geometry from Stanley Kubrick, whom he recognized as his idol more than once or twice," says Dmytro Kosygin, a Ukrainian film director and cameraman, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment. "But if Kubrick never abused such plans, saving them for key scenes, then Anderson's geometry is elevated to the absolute."
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“Obviously, even in world art there are not so many works where the main character is placed so strictly in the center. Icons immediately come to mind. And Anderson’s visual style is also a kind of iconography, emphasizing the fragile balance in the frame, which is so easy to break. Thus, the director sets the conditionality of everything that happens. If Tarantino models his postmodern stories with words, then Anderson has enough visual for this. This makes him different; thanks to this, he is a genius," Dmytro states.
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In his movies, Anderson manages to break the fourth wall without words - just image only
Anderson loves to play with the audience, breaking the fourth wall visually without addressing us directly - and the unique construction of the scenes plays a crucial role here. Perhaps this is why TikTokers enjoy parodying this director's style so much, turning ordinary scenes from their daily lives into real works of art, blurring the line between TikTok and arthouse.
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This new trend actually combines arthouse and mass video production - and it's really great. And of course it looks damn good
What a great irony of fate - one of the most prominent figures in contemporary postmodern cinema, loving and able to quote Kubrick, Greenaway and the same Malick, today inspires hundreds and thousands of amateur film directors around the world to imitate his work. This is exactly what postmodernity, brought to the top, looks like; this is how fine art combines with mass trends. The path that the Lumiere brothers started over a hundred years ago is now concluding in a ring...
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Well, you know what - perhaps just forget about everything that we just wrote. All this philosophy and reasoning - just look at these shots, how incredibly juicy, spectacular and just cool they are! In the end, the main purpose of any art is to give us pleasure and not leave anyone indifferent. And let's just agree this brand new TikTok trend handles all of this more than successfully!
People from all over the world are taking part in this challenge - and commenters admiring these videos a lot
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