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Analysis on Tim Burton's cinematic style
Tim burton cinematic techniques essay
Tim burton cinematic techniques
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Tim Burton is a creative director when he directs gothic movies. This essay talks about the cinematic techniques that Burton uses in the movies, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Alice in Wonderland. Tim Burton uses shots and framing, sound, and lighting, to make a dark and gothic movies. He tries to make you feel a special way, in a certain scene, in his movies, by his different techniques.
Tim Burton uses shots and framing to show emotions, establish settings, and to show interactions between two people. Tim Burton, in the movie Edward Scissorhands, uses shots and framing, in order to show emotions, establish settings, and to show interactions between two people. For example, he uses a establishing shot. An establishing shot is a shot used to establish a setting, and to show transitions between settings. He uses this shot when Peg was driving around her neighborhood, this shoot showed the setting of the movie. He also uses a shot reverse shot, this shot is used to show Edwards emotion when he was looking at the photo An establishing shot is a shot used...
Individuality is rejection, whether it be a rejection of society or a rejection by society. Burton explores the consequences that can derive from rejection and how appearances may differ from reality. The work of Tim Burton consists of a unique style unlike any other. Not only do his films convey his ideas of individuality to the audience, they are done in a distinctive Burton way. Burton’s style of the formal elements of German Expressionism, gothic horror, and unique characters allow him to convey his ideas.
Using the production elements of symbolism; especially hands themselves, and the use of allusion to elements from other genres; particularly those from fairytale and gothic romance/horror films, Tim Burton has directed the film in such a manner to illustrate, emphasise and ridicule the materialism and lack of imagination of society. The film however, is prominently a satire which has certain elements from fairytale, comedy and horror genres. Through the choices made by the director, the audience is invited to become aware of the inhumanity present in the way society functions, especially in its prejudiced treatment towards people who do not conform. The use of allusion in Edward Scissorhands is one of the most important choices in production that has been made by director Tim Burton. In order to fully appreciate and understand the plot, the movie is dependant on the audience being able to recognise certain references and elements emulated from other films.
Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (2005), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Big Eyes (2014), and Frankenweenie (2012) are just a few titles out of the many films Tim Burton has directed. Tim Burton is an American director, producer, illustrator, writer and animator. Tim Burton was born on August 25, 1958 in Burbank, California. Growing up, Burton felt quite alone and felt as if he was a misfit. Many of Burton’s childhood thoughts and circumstances pose as the inspiration for certain themes and events portrayed in his films. Within these films, Burton effectively communicates his sinister and uncanny style through many cinematic and stylistic techniques. By utilizing lighting, sound, camera movements and shots, Burton creates compelling and meaningful
Indisputably, Tim Burton has one of the world’s most distinct styles when regarding film directing. His tone, mood, diction, imagery, organization, syntax, and point of view within his films sets him apart from other renowned directors. Burton’s style can be easily depicted in two of his most highly esteemed and critically acclaimed films, Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Burton ingeniously incorporates effective cinematic techniques to convey a poignant underlying message to the audience. Such cinematic techniques are in the lighting and editing technique categories. High key and low key relationships plus editing variations evinces the director’s elaborate style. He utilizes these cinematic techniques to establish tone mood, and imagery in the films.
An advocate of individuality, director Tim Burton says, “One person’s craziness is another person’s reality.” Growing up rather socially inept, the director has always found joy in movies and animation. After graduating from the California Institute of the Arts, he worked for Disney for a year, then left and created his own film production company. Although critics tend to label him as grotesque, his creations often comfort today’s recluses. In his films Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Alice in Wonderland, Director Tim Burton portrays the idea that one’s mind-set, not the circumstances, determine their happiness. This notion develops through style characteristics such as protagonists who use their disabilities to
The sharp gleam of light slicing through the air as it reflects from an array of smooth blades. A whiplash of a tail and the shimmer of iridescent scales before it slithers into the murky waters. A bony hand threading delicate buttons onto a little doll’s eyes. Hundreds of dark, macabre, bittersweet chocolate wrapped in shiny and thin foil paper. These are the distinctive representative objects showing Tim Burton’s dark style.
“One person's craziness is another person's reality.” –Tim Burton. A well respected director Tim Burton has always been known for the ability to send a strong universal message. In one of his most widespread movie, Edward Scissor Hands he reveals his true potential as a filmmaker to show how society can treat an outsider. Edward Scissor Hands Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and many more of his creations, Tim Burton uses lighting, and camera movements to depict a unique gothic cinematic experience. The appearance of a person is only an illusion, the inside is the truth of someone.
On August 25, 1958, Timothy Walter Burton was born (“Biography”). Burton had a painful childhood in which the relationship with his parents and brother was nonexistent (Morgenstern). Through his intense feeling of isolation, his visual talent began to develop. The comfort found in hobbies such as writing and drawing led him to attend the California Institute of the Arts which led him to his first job in any artistic field at the Disney Animation Studios (“Biography”). Burton has since been referred to as one of the most visually gifted writers, artists, and filmmakers that America has seen (Hanke). His short stories, poems, and film scripts are centered on an inner darkness which he has been slowly acquiring since his childhood. He throws himself into everything he writes and makes even the simplest characters have a deep, complex meaning. His famous darkness and symbolism is shown in his book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. The book contains a collection of his short stories, poems, and illustrations about a variety of fictional characters that can be compared to Burton and his life. Tim Burton’s home life and previous hardships have made a significant impact on his work. In my paper, I will draw parallels to his life and work as well as prove that there is reasoning and beauty in the way he is.
Tim Burton said in an interview that when he was a kid he would watch all kind of monster movies. “My parents said I started watching those movies before I could even walk.”As a kid he loved horror movies and he liked drawing pictures. He said he did not care what people thought of his drawings and just drew them his own way. His drawings also show his love for horror because they are all unique and creepy looking. Some of his pictures are based on the movies he directed. He started directing at twenty years old. He was very interested in animation. One of his first films was Batman. Most of the films he directed have a gothic horror aspect. I believe since his childhood was all about horror movies, he gained an appreciation for those films and applied his passion in the films he directed. "Vincent Price, Edgar Allan Poe, those monster movies, those spoke to me. You see somebody going through that anguish and that torture –things you identify with –and it acts as a kind of therapy, a release. (Tim Burton 17).”Besides the fact that he watched horror movies, the place where he lived influenced him as well. The dark and light aspects of life have always fascinated Tim Burton, consistently arguing that one cannot exist without the other: ‘life is an incredible jumble of being funny and sad and dramatic and melodramatic and goofy and everything’. During his childhood in suburban Burbank, Burton found the
Film adaptations based on particular works such as Dickens’s Great Expectations are not the only means through which we get a glimpse of Victorian culture and society. Animated films such as Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005) represent the Victorian era through humor and exaggeration and reveal Burton’s awareness of 19th century English society. In his study Gothic Fantasy: The Films of Tim Burton, Edwin Page argues that Burton’s films are not realistic in nature, but like fairy tales they communicate through symbolic imagery, as they speak of “things far deeper within our conscious and subconscious minds than most films would dare to delve” (7). His films are believed to be personal and reflect dark humor, as he combines elements of fairy tales, the gothic, parody and grotesque. Most importantly, Burton usually identifies himself with subordinate characters in horror films that exhibit grand melodramatic emotion and also finds himself “identifying with the monsters rather than the heroes, as the monsters tended to show passion whereas the leads were relatively emotionless” (13). The monsters in his films symbolize the outsider and the alienated, a figure that defies society and is almost always exaggerated in representation. Significant examples from his numerous films include Edward in Edward Scissorhands (1990), demonic Mrs. Lovett and the blood thirsty barber in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and the tragicomically grotesque jilted bride Emily in Corpse Bride (2005).
Tim Burton is an icon in the filmmaking industry. His childhood has very much affected his style and the way he uses his cinematic techniques. His first shorts film, Vincent, depicts some of the different themes of his childhood experiences. He considered himself an outcast and this could possibly be the reason for his distinct style. He uses cinematic techniques like low key lighting that contain vivid colors and nondiegetic noises to contrast the character’s traits and to communicate the message of staying unique and always acting like yourself.
Like in Edwards Scissorhands when Edward is sitting at the dinner table looking at the family, this was a point-of-view shot. To me, I think Edward was examining his new family that he would be living with and wondering what they would be like. Or when they did a close up on Edward when he was holding the hands, he looked frightful and weak, vulnerable but still powerful. In my point of view, Edward was lost and he didn’t know right from wrong because of being isolated for so many years. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton utilizes a high angle shot to show the 5 golden ticket winners standing with their parents outside to show how small and powerless the people are compared to Wonka’s factory. These camera angles and shots brought mood and tone of these scenes because it shows where the scene is and what the background is or how scenes are close-ups so you can see the details in
Tim Burton has always had a unique style throughout his movies. This could be due to many things in his life, such as his love of fairy tales and his fondness of Edgar Allen Poe, who is known for his dark poems and stories. But one thing that stands out in all of his movies is his use of stylistic techniques. Specifically sound, camera angles, and editing techniques. These techniques can be heavily seen in all of his movies, particularly in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Big Fish. Overall, Tim Burton uses sound, camera angles, and editing techniques to create and control the mood of the scenes in his movies.
Burton uses close-up camera angles to show significant items in his film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Tim Burton uses a close-up camera angle when Charlie finds the golden ticket to show how it is significant to the story. The golden ticket is significant because it is like his ticket to a new and better life. In Edward Scissorhands there is a close-up of the hands his inventor was going to give him which is very significant to the story because if his inventor finished him and
Edward Scissorhands, written by Tim Burton, tells the tale of a young man who is lovable, childlike and sensitive, bewildered by the humanity around him, yet is terrifying- someone who has scissors, the deadly weaponry, for hands. Many viewers may read this film as a “Tim Burton” type of fairytale which includes both an alternative aspect and romance. However, through the presentation of mise-en-scene in this film, Burton drives in a much more serious subject of social criticism by establishing two different understandings of life in the movie.