10 Unique Tricks Every Movie Started To Rip-Off
5. Symmetrical Cinematography - The Films Of Stanley Kubrick
The Trick
Often referred to as "one-point perspective," this technique sees filmmakers aiming to make the image as symmetrical as possible. Stanley Kubrick employed it extensively throughout his filmography, but for what purpose?
The overwhelming majority of movies do not feature many - if any - symmetrical shots, and that's to be expected. And so, a director who deliberately attempts to make the frame as symmetrical as possible is likely intending to give their film an otherly, "off" feel.
The uneasy tenor throughout Kubrick's filmography is generated through a combination of techniques, in part the eerily, beautifully sterile organisation of his images, which creates unconscious anxiety in the viewer.
The Rip-Offs
Though still relatively uncommon in mainstream cinema circles, a number of singular auteurs have appropriated the technique for themselves.
Wes Anderson has a similar, tireless commitment to symmetry, but unlike Kubrick this is typically to enhance the oddball comedic nature of his situations and punchlines.
More similarly to Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson and Yorgos Lanthimos often employ symmetry to create a detached, unsettling vibe that seems divorced from the usual stylistic tenets of filmmaking.
Until Michael Bay starts doing it, though, it probably won't get totally tiresome.