A recent trend has emerged on the video-sharing platform TikTok with a vibe taken from a Wes Anderson movie. The shorts feature users carrying out their day-to-day activities like waking up, eating, reading, and travelling. And these are presented in a pastel colour theme with peaches, coral and teal shades, symmetrical shots and quirky actions.
Users have taken Anderson’s cinematic approach, especially particular cinematography, colour design and composition as an inspiration. The key idea is to add an aesthetic to otherwise ordinary and mundane activities of their lives.
How It Started
It all started with Ava Williams, a 26-year-old photographer from New York. She filmed herself on a train and perfectly nailed that signature Wes Anderson style. Some of the distinctive elements include warm hues, close-up shots, deadpan stares, and classic architecture.
“I was inspired to make the video after watching The French Dispatch with my parents the night before. I was going back to New York after a very short visit with my family and I was sad that I was leaving so soon. And I didn’t want to really end my trip on such a sad note. So I was hoping to make the most out of a situation that wasn’t totally ideal,” Williams said.
She said, “I thought about how I could enjoy the trip if I basically romanticised the moment, made it more exciting and tried to enjoy the train ride in style,”
“The video was really a way for me to document a moment I didn’t particularly want to enjoy and try and enjoy it,” Ava added.
Her video featured a deadpan stare into the camera, quick cuts of a ticket stub, sneakers, and ordinary objects. The video, posted on TikTok on April 8th has garnered more than 11 million views and over 8,000 comments, inspiring everyone.
Now hundreds of videos have spawned showing people doing things like going to a shop and holding a burger on their lunch break. Or even holidaying in Paris. There is a punchy title like “To Grand Central Terminal”. And the track “Obituary” by French composer Alexandre Desplat for the Wes Anderson movie Touch. In fact, you can learn the signature style of the filmmaker from these videos.
