Batman, one of the most famous movie series ever produced, symbolizes the climax of Tim Burton’s career. It’s dark, evil mood easily entrances us with its beauty. Supported by his dark past as an outcast, Tim Burton pours his very soul into his movies. It is this that distinguishes him from the masses. His history is mimicked in everything he creates; his dark past reflects itself into his characters. The place he found in our society, as a director, transfers into the theme of every movie he creates. Director Burton reveals his somber yet joyful style by using contrasting music, lighting, and people and by expressing themes that deeply relate to his life. Without his unique style, Burton’s movies just won’t be “his.”
Contrast, a paradox, is present in all of his movies. Burton uses contradicting music, lighting, and people to highlight his style. For example, this contrast is highly prominent in Edward Schissorhands. Right before Peg discovers Edward, loud, booming music plays, and the room is lit by low-key lighting. The music outright suggests that in the room where Edward should lie, lies a great evil, and the dark lighting inspires a feeling of dread in us. We expect an utterly terrifying monster in that room. Instead, in that room lays one of the purest of beings. Despite his deceiving appearance, Edward is as innocent as a new-born baby. The town is noticeably more cheerful when he comes around, and everyone rejoices when he improves the town. A mix of happiness and darkness is present underneath the obvious. One cannot survive without another. Furthermore, in the same movie, the townspeople are always met with the brightest of lighting and colors, perhaps too bright. Bright light is usually good, but there is a thing such...
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... by his father’s death. A pattern emerges here. A character starts a journey when the mood is dark. The mood then , gradually grows happier. After the happiness is at its height, the modd is, again, polluted by regret and misery. The movie revolves around a cycle of joy and somber. It contains both at the same time yet contains none totally. One cannot exist without its companion, forming a paradox of opposites, a fitting theme for Burton’s style
Mere parts of a whole, contrast and theme are glued together with many other elements to form Burton’s style: a paradox of misery and utter joy. Burton’s soul resides inside his movies, and we can use that connection to understand him. Famous and popular yet an outcast, Burton is a contradiction himself, which oddly resembles Burton’s style. Through our link with him, we can gain insight into life that few will ever give.
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.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish, and Edward Scissorhands are all flooded with the magical elements of camera angles, lighting, and non-diegetic sound to create various moods, allowing the audience to enter life in the eyes of Tim Burton. The films would not be able to achieve the desired effect on the audience without Burton’s delivery of these powerful techniques. Burton’s mastery in the art of storytelling through film definitely rewards him the the title, “Burton the Wonder Wizard of
For example, in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) Burton implements dim lighting during meaningful moments and bright lighting during more vibrant moments. This effectively conveys the tone set for the scene and maintains a clear balance in the scene. This helps the audience clearly understand the scene’s characteristics and its meaning to the film. Similarly, in Edward Scissorhands (1990) Burton utilizes lighting to set contrast between the characters. The superficial town is set in a bright, sunny setting, however, the lives the characters lead are quite the opposite of bright. These individuals spend their free time judging others and have no individuality whatsoever. Furthermore, Edward, one of the only characters who is kindhearted, is portrayed in dull, dark lighting. The lighting contrasts with his sweet personality to emphasize who is accepted and who is not. This contrast helps the audience understand the contradicting worlds of Edward and the frivolous town. In addition, in Big Eyes (2014) Burton implements lighting to show the slow transition of Margaret Keane’s life. The lighting depicts the dulling of her life as she faces troubles in her life. The use of lighting here helps the audience see the clear transition in Margaret Keane's life and clearly understand the conflict in her life. Similarly, Burton utilizes lighting in his films
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.
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.
When Tim Burton writes his film, his style becomes more distinguished and striking. He creates characters from his own life experiences, such as Edward Scissorhands who represents him in his childhood days. His films shows his true colors as a person and his style continues to influence many who undergo similar experiences. Despite the unusualness, Burton executes the normality into his eccentric
His bizarre and surreal characteristics have influenced me on my series. I have altered ordinary subjects in life into sinister and peculiar ones. Furthermore, the content of my work is not likely to be seen in daily life, but rather in some nightmares, just like most of Tim Burton’s work. All three pieces of my series contain body features that are exaggerated to make it dark and strange. However, the difference between my works and Burton’s works is that my photographs have a more real-life structure while his sketches and painting are more cartoonish. My series is able to reach the surreal and bizarre point that I wish to “exploit” from Tim Burton’s unique
Tim Burton is a weird, unique, director, producer, and screenwriter. He was born in Burbank, California, on August 25, 1958. He worked as a Disney animator for less than a year before striking out on his own. He is known for putting fantasy and horror together in his films. Burton has a distinct style when it comes to film directing. His certain techniques, his setting, and how he makes his characters is a lot different than other film directors. Tim Burton chooses a system and style of cinematic techniques - like music, sound, and camera movement - to keep the audience entertained. It is very easy to compare his techniques and style in the movies Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Alice in Wonderland.
movie Charlie and the chocolate factory when the candy was getting packaged and shipped, the lighting was gloomy or dark. Another example, in the movie Big fish there was low-key lighting when will goes to see the giant and makes him leave town. The last example is from the movie Edward scissorhands when Peg entered the mansion, it was scary and dark. There are two types of lightings used through Tim’s cinemas to portray the mood. Different lighting is mandatory for movie making for Tim.
Good Morning Teachers and students. Today I will be exploring Tim Burton’s creative world, and how he looks closely at the outsider character to deepen our understanding of the world. You might wonder why it is that Burton so consistently portrays outsider characters in his films. As an Auteur, he strives to show us the outsider in a more familiar and close up way, and comments on the way that conformity can often lead to unhappiness. Burton chooses to show the outsider to us using a mixture of Gothic and German Expressionistic elements, such as the
Tim Burton, a director who portrays a movies tone, and mood, by using various elements of a movie that everyone uses, but the way he manipulates these techniques is truly fascination. In short, Tim Burton uses lighting, music, camera framing, and camera movements, editing, and music/sound in order to help further develop the mood of a story. These different cinematic techniques can especially be seen in “Edward Scissorhands”, Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, and “Alice in Wonderland”
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
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, it is 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. His views of individuality are evident through the work of his film 'Edward Scissorhands' and short film 'Vincent'.
People are constantly being judged and pressured to change to fit society’s standards. In Tim Burton films, there is always one character that does not fit the mold. These outcast characters in the movies Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands are strange and isolated from the world. Despite the outcast’s difficulties, misfit characters like Edward and Wonka go on to be the hero of the story. Therefore, Burton uses many different cinematic techniques to illustrate that one does not need to conform to society in order to have a happy and successful life.
Director Tim Burton has directed many films. He started out working at Disney, but shortly after he decided to make his own films. He split away from Disney because they wouldn’t let him add the scariness and darkness he has in his films. After he left he created many great films and also developed his own style. He uses many cinematic techniques in his films for example he uses close-up camera angles on symbolic items, he uses music to show foreshadowing, and he uses lighting and color to show mood