The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Cast: Ralph Fiennes [M. Gustave], Jude Law [Author], Tony Revolori [Zero Moustafa]

The Grand Budapest Hotel: A popular European ski resort in the 1930s, run by concierge Gustave H. with Zero, a junior lobby boy, becoming his friend and protege. Gustave prides himself on providing first-class service to the hotel’s guests. When one of Gustave’s lovers suddenly dies, he finds himself the recipient of a priceless painting and the chief suspect in her murder.

Inspired by: Writings of Stefan Zweig

My rating: 9/10

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Narrative aspects

‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, directed by Wes Anderson, is a film that stretches out the extent to which one’s imagination can be built upon and presented to an audience. Inspired by the works of Stefan Zweig, Anderson developed brilliantly multi-layered characters with intricate and lavish set design and a plotline that is captivating for an audience no matter if they like films with this one’s aesthetical layout or presentation. The film plays around with narrative, building a skeleton that seems as if it is a take on Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’:

• 1st level = A girl reading a book called ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ by a statue of remembrance
  • 2nd level = Old ‘Author’ telling the story into the camera about his book ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ from when he worked there
    • 3rd level = Young ‘Author’ meeting the elderly Zero Moustafa, who tells him the experiences he had when he was younger.
      • 4th level = Young Zero Moustafa travelling on adventures with Gustave H. while being the lobby boy for The Grand Budapest Hotel.

This in-depth take on a story reflects how impactful and captivating the experiences of Zero and the event revolving around Gustave H. were in the history of the hotel as well as for the Republic of Zubrowka. Generations continue to talk and discover more about this particular part of history in the fictional world Wes Anderson created. There is a story within a story and each level of the plot is vital to the other one progressing. moreover, the fourth level of the story (as described above) is further divided into five different chapters, further giving the film the feel of the audience reading a visual book than watching a film. It steps out of the conventions of a film, combining and creating synergy with two different entertainment mediums. Also, it follows the idea of the film’s core plot being eventually written into a book that the young girl in the first level (see above) reads.

Infer & Deduce: ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ shares its name with the hotel in the film that serves as the main turning point in the plot as well as where the main character, M. Gustave H. works. It is the heart of the story while serving as a topic that generations read and talk about, as seen in the film. An audience immediately sees the relation and significance of the hotel to the entire plot of the film.

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Technical Aspects

Wes Anderson is an auteur with a unique visual style. Where his narrative lacks in depth, the aesthetic in which he presents the world of stories makes his films visually pleasing and entertaining. He is truly an artist, using his films as a canvas to portray the world of his imagination.

Much like with his other films, Anderson incorporates unique camera movements that set his film aside from other films at the box office. Especially in The Grand Budapest Hotel, all camera movements consist of panning left and right, tilting up and down, dolly forwards and backwards and using a crane for moving the camera up and down. Rarely (i.e. 2 or 3 shots in the film), the use of hand-held shots are made. The camera movements complement the fairy-like setting for his characters as well as the homage he pays to a vintage look in The Grand Budapest Hotel, is apt for the time period in which it is set. Similarly, Anderson is more prominently known for the colour palettes he incorporates into the look of the entire film as well as different colour schemes from scene to scene. The colour palette in this film is bright but elegant, filled with purples, yellows, reds and pinks. These colours reflect some sort of special occasion’s colour scheme, or desired colours for desserts and pastries, an element that is closely associated with the hotel business in the film. The old aesthetic is also seen through the elaborate, time, setting and character-specific costumes and props that give implicit details on the personality of the variety of characters, the aspects of the locations used and the plot as well.

To add on, there is a lot of diegetic voice narration in the film, which helps to establish certain plot points from a third person point of view. Also, it reminds the audience of the ‘story within a story’ concept of the film, where the author is telling a story of Zero Mustafa. Moreover, the variety of aspect ratios used within the film (Cinemascope, 4:3 etc) helps to differentiate between the different levels of the story and help establish the time period in which each level takes place. Also, it is aesthetically pleasing!

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Favourite Scene

This scene is one of my favourites. It is near the beginning of the film and introduces the two main protagonists of the film: Gustave and Zero. Gustave meets his new lobby boy and decides to interview him while he completes his daily errands, and the humorous side of both the characters is established in this introductory scene. While Gustave asks the new employee questions about his prior experience in the hotel business, Zero answers every question with a comedic ‘zero’, indicating his lack of experience and alluding to his name.

Gustave’s personality is understood with more depth through this scene as he is witnessed genuinely caring for the hotel he works at as a concierge and does not consider it as just a job. He is also the core powerhouse that the entire hotel operations runs on, as all his subordinates ask for his approval for certain hotel management aspects while he interviews Zero.

Visually, the scenes seem to have natural lighting (at least in the appearance) which contrasts with the unrealistic use of colour and costumes. Within the hotel, the setting is not over-illuminated as it would be expected in a fairytale-like surrounding that the hotel looks like. The lighting also aids with the saturated colours within the setting that enhance the tone and mood of this scene, and the entire film in general. This scene, being at the beginning, establishes the mood of the film through its array of bright colours. To add on, there are a variety of shot types, movements and angles in this short duration of the scene that also compliment towards setting the round-off idea and feel of the film that viewers can familiarise themselves with.

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What would I do differently?

‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ uses brilliant camera techniques, has a multi-layered story with intriguing characters and is aesthetically very pleasing to watch. Personally, I would not choose to change anything. It is the perfect movie for my own viewing and every time I watch it I enjoy it as if it is my first time.

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Further Research Areas:

10 Old World Lodgings That Inspired The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Grand Budapest Hotel Complete B-ROLL (2014) – Wes Anderson Comedy Movie HD (YouTube)

LUXX Studios | Behind the scenes of Grand Budapest Hotel (YouTube)

Behind the scenes at the Grand Budapest Hotel – Telegraph

The graphic designer behind Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel”

The Real-Life Muse Behind Wes Anderson’s ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’

Models, maps, plans, elevations, sections – Wes Anderson, the director of new film The Grand Budapest Hotel is easily the most architectural film-maker out there, says film critic Steve Rose

The Magnificent Locations of The Grand Budapest Hotel

Is The Grand Budapest Hotel’s ‘Boy with Apple’ artwork plausible? – Guardian

The untold story behind The Grand Budapest Hotel’s ‘Boy with Apple’

Task 2 – Campaign Film

TASK :

To create a two-minute film for a campaign (societal/communal movement) that is applicable in the UAE (United Arab Emirates).

 

PRE-PRODUCTION

Once again, I got to work with people I haven’t with before during this year, which was motivating. Each person in the class has one area of strength compared to the rest and as projects are tackled one after the other, our special skills gradually become more refined.

The team and I sat inside our favourite place to be: The Film Lab. Here, we had a brainstorming session, sharing our ideas and thoughts about what campaign we should choose and promote awareness for. I had pitched my idea in relation to mental health, inspired by an old Facebook post (a version of it below) that had been viral at its time:

Immediately, the team was on board with the idea of using this post concept for a campaign film on mental health. We then set out to pick out ones from the post’s list which would be applicable in UAE culture the most and altered them accordingly. We included: Self-consciousness with appearance, work stress, high expectations from parents and domestic violence.

HOWEVER, when the pitching day came along, the team’s entire world was turned upside down… it literally felt like that because we had to rethink our entire concept. What’s worse is that we completely exhausted ourselves with stress regarding actors and locations since after the pitch we were ready to start production. So when we had to rethink our idea, we apologised to the actors and didn’t collect the equipment. Instead, we sat once again in the film lab and brainstormed… talk about Déjà vu.

But being creative people, an idea sparked in our heads.

We decided to star one character and their life during four different days. We would show the exact same schedule and shots of waking up to eating breakfast to traveling to uni to working and so on, but as every day would go by, the character’s health and motivation would change and reduce. The people around her would be negatively impacting her mental state, whether it is her parents arguing continuously, classmates ignoring her or gaining unwanted attention from strangers.

And with a version 2 of our idea intact, we set out once again to find the actors, locations and rent the equipment accordingly.

Equipment used: 1 BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, 1 Canon Lens, 1 Tripod, 1 ZOOM Microphone, 1 GlideCam (we tried using a GoPro but we couldn’t get the proper body harness we were hoping for)

 

PRODUCTION

Production went reasonably well! We finished everything in our planned three days without any issues. The only constraint we had to work around was that the actress had to leave for a bus before 5:30 PM to her home.

We filmed the scenes outside block 16 and inside the food court on Day 1, the classroom and tram scenes on Day 2 and all the house scenes on Day 3. Our production had quite a few extras but the lack of dialogues balanced out how hectic it was to film the scenes. Each shot had to be done four times, with a change of clothes each time. It seemed to be hectic but the actor was enthusiastic during all three days of production, which the entire team is so thankful for.

We did not actually face any problems during production, only time constraints where we then had to hurry with completing shots.

 

POST-PRODUCTION

I wasn’t the editor for this project so I do not have a full account of the ups and downs, BUT I did make some changes after the class screening session.

The Professor had given us some pointers that we could adjust before submitting our work before the deadline later that day. These points included stabilization of the footage and the audio levels. We divided the two tasks amongst two group members. I did the audio correction, boosting the decibels of all the audio effects and dialogues a little bit since when the video was screened with the projector, the audio levels were completely off, lower than desirable.

Hopefully, in the end, my audio knowledge pays off and the levels are corrected (although in actuality, I still think it’s low :))

 

FINAL VIDEO:

Baby Driver, Opening Scene Recreated – 

 

 

Task 4 – Scene Recreation

TASK :

To recreate a one minute and thirty-second scene from a film to the closest as possible in terms of actors and acting style, set design and props, sound, and camera movements, angles and shot types, and editing.

 

PRE-PRODUCTION

This was a big project; something the entire class were about to face which would make us realise what pressure is. Even our Professor kept reminding us about it, which helped I guess 🙂

After having a shuffle of teams from the previous project, and having the knowledge and brief of the assignment in our minds, my team and I went to the Film Lab to discuss ideas. Nothing says ‘film class’ like watching movies, specifically short scenes, all day long over and over again, while looking at the costumes one run and the lighting in the other. Of course, within the first day of planning, we couldn’t settle on a solid idea but we gathered a list.

The next day, coming back to the mammoth of a task that is scene recreation, we went through the list again and started being more critical about how practical it would be for students to pull off every detail. We were left with the dinner scene from La La Land (2016), the Pokemon scene from Paper Towns (2015) and two scenes from Baby Driver (2017) which was the opening and the planning scene.

While each team member had their own preference for each scene, we tried to weigh out the pros and cons for each (a kind of SWOT analysis) and leave the list to a remaining two or three options. The planning scene in Baby Driver was something I had suggested in class as an example for choosing. It brilliantly combines a small number of dialogues and sounds, with just enough camera movement to make it interesting. Plus, all the action is in-sync with a music track. Although, in the end, because of the location requirements (a warehouse with industrial machinery) we cut it off our list.

After much contemplation and arguments, our list was (in this order of priority):

1. The opening scene – Baby Driver
2. Pokemon scene – Paper Towns (backup)
3. Dinner and argument scene – La La Land (backup, if everything fails)

Now, as much as me and another team member were passionate about Baby Driver as a film and how interesting the scene would be if we actually pull it off… We didn’t realise the challenges we would end up facing to pull it off.

 

Equipment used: 1 ZOOM microphone, 1 BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, 1 Canon Lens, 1 Tripod (and the sad reality that we could have used the GlideCam but we had not learnt about how to use it in class… )

 

PRODUCTION

This phase had started great and it ended great but the middle… not so much.

Our first day of shoot ended up being a test shoot with various setbacks. It was a domino effect with the actor, playing Jon Hamm’s character in the movie “Buddy”, ditching us, the sun rising and the weather being the usual Dubai weather which led to all of our footage is completely burnt, and to make matter worse, our actress couldn’t make it for the next day so we had to recast all the character roles, except Baby who was being played by our director.

As long as that sentence was above, our stress went on until we wrapped our production phase completely. Since it was on the brink of winter starting, days were short and the window of golden hour time wasn’t enough for us to execute 30 shots in a lower number of days. We had multiple shooting days, more than we hoped, with multiple cars since the same car wouldn’t be available for all the days. We ended up using four cars for a one-minute and thirty-second clip… FOUR CARS.

It was hectic and tiring and in many cases a waste for us reaching the location, only for it to get too dark or only shoot one or two shots.

But we had fun, and it was probably the most fun I have had on any project this year (this is my reflection all the way in April 2019. Oh, the many things I would tell my 2018 November-self doing this project…). As we gradually ticked off each shot on our storyboard and shot list, we called a wrap at the end of each day with relief that we were one step closer towards finishing the project.

 

POST-PRODUCTION

The day had finally arrived when I had all the footage on my computer, ready to be compiled into a small duration of a minute and thirty-seconds. Being the editor, I sat in the comfort of my home and spent endless days and nights trying to make everything work.

And everything did.

My most dreaded fear during production was that we would overlook filming a shot, assuming that we had done it, and when I would come towards editing, that shot would be missing. THANKFULLY, all the shots were in place and they were more perfect than I had expected.

Other than placing 30 shots and editing it exactly to frame of the original clip, the only other thing I had to focus on was the colour grading and correction. Even though we would not be assessed on that aspect since we hadn’t learned of it in class, I used it to give life to the clips and in most cases make the red of the car stand out, since all the cars we used were more of a maroon shade of colour than red. Moreover, since we had limited time to check settings like the white balance and the ISO, I adjusted the colour to closely look as similar as possible, so that when someone is watching the video, it wouldn’t be distracting.

One editing aspect I really enjoyed was the sound design and mixing. Having knowledge of sound editing beforehand, I recreated the entire audio track of the video to match as closely to the real clip as possible. I did not use any sounds from the real clip. I changed the decibel levels and the pan from left to right, with multiple layers of audio on top of other audio.

An interesting element in the video is that at 0:27 (see below), there is a black coat that passes in front of the camera making it appear as if it is a wipe transition. In the original clip, it is from someone walking in front of the camera but since we did not shoot the scene like that, I had to do some post-production magic to replicate it. Using a stock photo of a man wearing a coat, I scaled it so it would fit the entire screen vertically then used keyframes to move it from one end of the screen to the other, altering the speed to match the speed of the original clip. It was a little tedious since I had no clue about how to do it in DaVinci but the end result looked extremely believable!

 

 

FINAL VIDEO:

Baby Driver, Opening Scene Recreated – 

 

 

Task 1 – Two-Shot

TASK :

To film two varying shots of maximum ten-seconds in length to be edited into a sequence in class.

 

PRE-PRODUCTION

This was one of the first projects the class received. Being someone who has always worked individually on media projects, I was looking forward to this assignment without any concerns.

Although we weren’t expected to prepare any pre-production documents for this task, I did have a one-on-one session with my mind palace to come up with an interesting concept. I have always been a fan of the ‘new and unique’ and I did not want to submit something ‘expected’ or ‘predictable’, coming from a student in year 1 of film.

The previous mini-task, ‘Task 0’, had been filming a 20-second clip on your mobile device of anything. Even for that task, I wanted to present something intriguing to watch and eye-catching. It led me to shoot an extreme close-up, still shot of my sister’s pink Croc on the stairs, her putting it on her foot then walking towards the front yard. Throughout the entire video, the only object in focus is the pink Croc and when it is out of the close-up frame, the entire video is out of focus.

So, personally, I needed to come up with a concept for this task and not just film two different videos. I kept this close in my mind because we would have to edit these clips together in class, and the inner experimenter in me started to arise.

Being an avid fan of films and TV shows, I started looking at videos online, scribbling ideas on sheets of paper and scrunching them into balls that would be thrown into a trash bin when I got too ambitious or impractical… or just boring!

In the end, like a sign from above, I settled on doing two shots inspired the idea of ‘The Upside Down’ from ‘Stranger Things’ on Netflix. It would allow me to experiment with editing as well as showcase some interesting filming techniques. I eve used my phone to film some test shots inside my house, carrying out the specific camera movements needed to achieve the look of the concept.

Equipment used: Fujifilm FinePix Camera, Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) – Task 0

 

PRODUCTION

This assignment was the first opportunity where the class had to rent out equipment from the IT office. It was exciting and concerning since we would have to take extra care of the sophisticated equipment, otherwise, we would have to bear the consequences. Nevertheless, I was excited to film my concept!

But life does not always go as one plans it and I faced problems with my SD card. The Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera requires a certain SD card specification to record and read data. I had bought mine online and the price was close to the market standard. Although, I faced the perils of online shopping and it was a faulty card. Funny enough, it works on other cameras (on my Fujifilm) and other devices perfectly, but not on the Black Magic cameras. The whole thing remains mysterious until today… The specifications listed for the product are probably not correct, I DON’T KNOW!

Other than that, production ran smoothly. Even though there were quite a few takes for each shot, the process was quick to finish.

 

POST-PRODUCTION

Even though the official post-production phase of this assignment was to be held in class, I did my own trial version of the concept at home using the software, CyberLink PowerDirector (software that has been with me from year 9, the first year I took media studies).

To my relief, the clip blended quite well and looked great! The best part was that it looked realistic, and the transition from the ‘real world’ to the ‘upside down’ worked brilliantly. I couldn’t wait to show my class and the Professor my concept.

 

FINAL VIDEO:

This is the edited version, with both the separate videos put together – 

 

Task 0 – 20-second clip shot using a mobile device

Task 1 – Advertisement

TASK :

To create a thirty-second advertisement for a product, service or place.

 

PRE-PRODUCTION

The project began with assigning our teams. I finally got to work with three people that I did not get the opportunity to work with for the rest of the projects and I was looking forward to it. Although at first, we had a differentiation in our ideas for an advertisement, in the end, we settled on the concept of doing an advertisement for our course. It would be completely vintage, in the form of a 1960s film, then transition gradually to a modern cinematic look. Going home after the day of discussion, we were all satisfied.

However, when hearing the initial ideas from other teams, I felt unsatisfied all of a sudden with our film concept. It seemed to bland, to express openly, and I voiced my opinion to the team who all understood the point and wanted to really make this advertisement great.

Sitting in Professor Daniela’s class one day during an intermission after watching the Weekly screening, I started to look at slogans for various companies and brands. As I felt like my research was going nowhere, I came across KFC’s classic slogan of “It’s finger lickin’ good”. I found the idea amusing if we could actually depict people licking their fingers and-

“Why not actually make it for McDonald’s and put ‘It’s finger lickin’ good too’ at the end?”

Before class started I rushed to my team and pitched the idea. At first, a couple of them didn’t quite understand it but as I explained it further they got the concept and were immediately on board. As we refined our idea and made it much more surprising or perhaps entertaining to watch, keeping both KFC, McDonald’s and rivalry advertising in mind, we were ready to pitch for the first time it in front of our module Professor, a nerve-wracking but exciting experience.

 

Equipment used: 1 BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, 1 Canon Lens, 1 Tripod, 2 ARRI Redhead Light and light stands

 

PRODUCTION

After collecting our equipment, we were looking forward to finishing of the production phase of our project. We had booked a room in block 19 in advance, gathered all the actors and appointed an assembly point: the film lab in block 16.

Since all acting were our classmates, casted for helping each other out and getting extra credits, they realised the possible hassles a team can go through during production. They were extremely cooperative, and in the end, they were getting a chance of eating free food!

As two members set up the lights, the other two helped the actors feel comfortable and get a little more acquainted with our concept and what they have to do without giving too much to the twist away. That was saved for screening day.

Each actor had to carry out a series of actions: Eat a sandwich wrap and fries, drink a fizzy drink, lick their fingers and whistle to ‘Don’t worry be happy’ by Bobby McFerrin.

We filmed each actor in one sitting so that we would not have continuity problems with their clothes, shot angles and light and shadows.

There were times when we were stressed about the lighting, there were moments when the backdrop didn’t seem to work and there were instances where the actors found it challenging to carry out of the actions. Nevertheless, there were a lot of laughs and tons of fun during production for this advertisement. While the actors enjoyed eating free food, the crew members had a great time filming.

It couldn’t have gone more smoothly.

 

 

POST-PRODUCTION

I was the editor for the project and since I have the editing software, DaVinci Resolve, at home, I stayed in the comfort of my house and edited the project.

Firstly, I made a rough cut and sent out a test video to the team to gain their feedback and opinions. I stayed in close contact with each of them, especially with the director, to make sure that I deliver a final product that the whole team is proud of and that it is what the director envisioned.

Although everything was going well and I was on the right track, in-sync with everyone’s visions, I worked closely on the colour to bring out the ‘red’ of the background and the brightness associated with the brands we were incorporating into the advertisement. Moreover, I scaled all the shots to make sure that all the subjects aligned in the centre.

Towards the end of the advertisement, there is a ‘text erasing’ sequence which consumed most of my time on this project and in this phase of production.

I used another editing software, Sony Vegas Pro, to create the animation since I felt more comfortable with it (having prior knowledge of it) and I did not want to waste time learning how to achieve the same result or even better in DaVinci Resolve.

It was a quiet post-production phase as I stayed in my bedroom for hours on end, clicking away on my computer and making everything satisfy the perfectionist inside me.

 

FINAL VIDEO:

McDonald’s vs. KFC – A Rivalry Advertisement –