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swo17 wrote:I can't believe I beat Jeff to this

The Grand Budapest Hotel tells of a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars and his friendship with a young employee who becomes his trusted protégé. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting, the battle for an enormous family fortune and the slow and then sudden upheavals that transformed Europe during the first half of the 20th century.

“A few months after this conversation, the director shot his eighth feature, The Grand Budapest Hotel, in three different aspect ratios: 1.33, 1.85, and 2.35:1. The movie jumps through three time periods; the different aspect ratios tell viewers where they are in the timeline.”

"I play someone called Agatha and she works in a bakery... I was nervous about it because his actors in those films have such a specific acting style. And I was really worried that I wasn't gonna be able to do it. And I remember the first day I went in and I had to do just really simple stuff like walking in a corridor. And I had to bring like a little package into a room. It was all very simple. And I did it and I thought, 'O.K., this is probably the way someone like Wes would want it done.' But you're still not sure. And then I did it and he came over and he is like one his own characters in a way. He does this with his hand [she holds her left hand up and pinches her thumb and forefinger while flaring out her pinky]. He looks from side to side. Or, you do something and he'd say, 'Just put your arm up like that, yeah. And then tilt your head to the side like that. And then just do a little look.' And I was like, 'O.K.,' so this is how Wes wants his film done. And once you've got that figured out it's great and it's really good fun."

"It's almost like he's doing an animated movie. Basically if you just do what Wes does you're fine. And he's got everything decided before he even shoots the film. So he's got these animatics on a little iPad mini that he has with him every day. Story boarded the entire film, every single shot. And voiced every single character in the way he wants it to be read and the beat that he wants in between. So he's like, 'O.K., this scene is supposed to be a minute and a half. How long was it,' he'll ask the script supervisor and she'll say, 'It was about a minute and 50 seconds.' And he's like, "Okay. We need to make this [line] a little bit shorter then.' The result is it works and everything is great that he does. And his editing doesn't take that long... He's edited before he's even shot the film. It's incredible."

Jeff wrote:Missed this when Ryan posted it a week ago. Apparently it is revealed in Matt Zoller Seitz's new long-form interview book with Anderson that The Grand Budapest Hotel will be in three different aspect ratios.

“A few months after this conversation, the director shot his eighth feature, The Grand Budapest Hotel, in three different aspect ratios: 1.33, 1.85, and 2.35:1. The movie jumps through three time periods; the different aspect ratios tell viewers where they are in the timeline.”

George Lucas came up with the idea of shooting each of the four story lines in a different aspect ratio. Milner's Drag racing was in the 1950's exploitation style using a wide angle, stationary camera. The Vietnam sequences were shot on 16-milimeter film, like the TV reports of the time. Laurie and Steve's campus riot resembled a Hollywood version of student rebellions like The Strawberry Statement or Getting Straight. Debbie's trip were in multiple-image split-screen, inspired by Woodstock.

Michael Kerpan wrote:Jeff -- sounds like his methodology is pretty much similar to Ford and Ozu.