Comparison Of The Direction Style In The Grand Budapest Hotel And Gravity

Firstly, I want to write about general overview of my paper. There are some elements why I chose these films. First element is my preference. I like science fiction film. Gravity is science fiction film and also The Grand Budapest Hotel has science fiction part. For a filmmaking part, I liked camera angle and color of the movie. Especially, The Grand Budapest Hotel film highlighted on color and Gravity film was highlighted on camera movement.

The miniature in the Grand Budapest Hotel film also influenced choosing film. These elements are very important because if they do not exist, there are no any differences with other films. Camera angle, position, color, props(miniatures) make special film.

We can say that these elements are representing films. Furthermore, I want to compare and contrast these two films with camera position(angle), lighting, color, new techniques that they have applied first in the film industry. In general it will be cinematography, editing, narrative structure.

I will start with comparing cinematography of The Grand Budapest Hotel film and Gravity film. Firstly, I will start with depth of field. Gravity film used many depth of field because the film story was about problems in the space. Therefore, they had to use many zoom and depth of field techniques. Gravity sometimes used narrow depth of field techniques sometimes wide depth of field techniques to show that the action is processing fast. Also, Gravity used various wide and long shot to cover the space and spaceship.

Both of films did not use close up techniques. Instead of close up technique Wes Anderson used fixed frame. As for the camera angle, Wes Anderson(The Grand Budapest Hotel) let actors move horizontal or vertical. We can say that The Grand Budapest Hotel film’s angles are limited. But Gravity film used many various angles. Gravity used vertical angle when they were fixing the spaceship and when the main character was in the spaceship without gravity. In this angle, we can see only head of characters or shoulders. Gravity used also eye level angle in the spaceship when communicating with others. This angle showed actor’s face which helps to feel the detail emotion.

In addition, Gravity film used low angle. The low angle is the angle from the bottom to the top. It is also called elevation angle. It enhances the sense of speed and movement, and even if you shoot the same action, it looks faster and more powerful at low angles. Gravity used low angle technique when they have problem with the spaceship and one guy was flying in to the space. Furthermore, they used square angle. The square angle is an angle that slants sideways, suggesting tension, variation, and imminent variability. This angle used when the main woman was in the spaceship. She has problem with dashboard and wanted to solve emergency problem. In a word, these two films have different camera techniques.

Personally, I want to add some interesting parts of The Grand Budapest Hotel. For me the using the miniature and the color of the film was really great. For comparison, Gravity film use CG instead of miniature. I think using miniature, making people feel like in fairy tale. In addition, the color of background or buildings, clothes etc. were very impressive. This choice also make people to concentrate on the film.

Now, I will move to write about editing. There are a lot of editing skills in film industry. First of all, as we know there is a 180 degree rule but in Gravity and The Grand Budapest Hotel violate 180 degree rule. Also, both films did not use nonlinear temporality editing. Their story was going by order. For the ambiguous spatiality, the time was in an order but in the same place. The Grand Budapest Hotel did not follow rough jump cut rule. Because in the scene where the lighting changes and camera moves one person to another person, it shows that the Grand Budapest Hotel did not follow rough jump cut rule which goes over 30 degree. And the Gravity film violate rough jump cut rule easily even in the first scene where they have problem with spaceship. Furthermore, I did not notice about short/reverse shot in Gravity film but in The Grand Budapest Hotel noticed some scenes. I did not noticed about eyeline match in The Grand Budapest Hotel because the whole film was fixed frame and could see everything from the far.

As for the reestablishing shot, I think Gravity and The Grand Budapest Hotel used reestablishing shot. Personally, it is not easy to make situation or story without reestablishing shots. When I was studying POV cutting, I thought that it is similar to eyeline match. In the Gravity film used many POV cutting including scene which main woman character was watching dashboard in the spaceship. There are temporal continuity in frequency and duration. These both film mixed temporal continuity in frequency and duration together.

Now, I will move to narrative structure. There are three components of narrative-causality, time, space. First of all, the Grand Budapest Hotel has a whole story about the murder crime and in that story has detailed small stories. Therefore, we can say that whole story about the hotel is a ‘story’ and detailed small stories as a plot which they try to discover. Also the Gravity film has same formation. Both films used diegetic and nondiegetic information techniques which are necessary. In addition, the time order is going in order like ABCD.

In conclusion, I wanted to compare and contrast these two films in detail. I tried to mention every technique which I learned. Personally, I think that directors of these two films were first mover. The one director tried lighting, bilateral symmetry, camera angle, colors which effects very well on the audience. The other director tried 3D technology, CG with short shots.

When I was checking film techniques in these two films, some parts were similar and some parts were different. For example, Gravity used CG instead of miniature which Wes Anderson used, the camera angles were completely different. The Grand Budapest Hotel used horizontal or vertical movement while Gravity used various movements. In result, we can say directors have to use some elements or techniques which are necessary but in some parts they can change and adopt something new.