How to Make A Wes Anderson-Inspired Family Christmas Video

After a family viewing of Moonrise Kingdom, and the opportunity of days without any obligations (read: nothing to do), we decided to shoot our own short film as a a tribute to Wes Anderson. I highly suggest this creative exercise during your next family holiday. Here are the tips and tricks we used while making our Wes Anderson-inspired Christmas video:

1) Third-person narrative: potentially omniscient. Use this to frame your story line and also move the plot along. We choose to use the youngest and cutest member of the family

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2) Off-center framing: Wes Anderson only frames a shot in the center if it is a perfect center

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3) Foreground vs Background: have something serious happening in the foreground, with something completely unrelated and active in the background. Neither acknowledge the other.

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4) Alternative Indie music choice: Wes Anderson listens to better music than all of us. Choose something hip.

5) Font choice: for the introduction and/or if you choose to do a 'Rushmore'-style montage you'll need a really great font. If you are using iMovie just use Helvetica.

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We added a few other Wes Anderson-inspired elements like a tinted filter but left out one like obligatory smoking character. Special thanks to our actors, my nephews, brother and brother-in-law, and our creative director and video editor, my boyfriend. Enjoy!