Learning from Wes Anderson: On Artificial Memory and Detail

This thesis focuses on the reproduction of detail, through compression and misarticulation, an artificial memory of its reference. The project culminates on three films of Wes Anderson: The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel. These specific films were chosen due to their cult following within the Anderson canon. Wes Anderson articulates his cinematic universes very meticulously. He uses unique methods to capture certain emotions in his films. A huge part of Anderson’s film worlds is his attention to detail. All parts of his films are deeply invested in maintaining the illusion of the film world he has created. Anderson often forfeits practicality for aestheticism, making it easier to dissect the film sets. The architectural detail is a map for construction, ensuring the building is built to a certain standard. They are often dimensional, implying a set of rules, followed to reach one goal. On the contrary set detail is much different. Although ultimately it serves the overall, it does so for the sake of the image, not the construction. Often constructed from thin pieces of plywood built up, set details have a huge difference in the physicality of construction details. The details are not reproduced accurately in size or place but are different in scale and projection. The details come from a kit assembled of exterior and interior elements taken directly from film stills themselves, giving them scale and depth where before they were only image. The accumulation and redistribution of these film details ultimately create and reference the film in an indirect way. By misplacing these details they aren’t exactly matched in the film, yet recognizable. It is in the objects recall of the film sincere yet contained, much like how Anderson treats his films. They aren’t meant to be faithful in reproduction but an idealized conglomeration reminiscent of the films themselves, an artificial memory