Essay on Tim Burton

Submitted By nerrkerr
Words: 787
Pages: 4

Tim Burton

·

“I was never interested

in what everybody else was interested in. I was very interiorized. I always felt kind of sad.”

Background
● Born in 1958 in Burbank, California
● Introverted and misunderstood, misfit.
● Enjoyed Horror and Sci-Fi movies growing up
● Graduated from California Institute of Arts in 1979
● Worked as a Disney animator for less than a year ● First short film, Vincent, was based on a poem he wrote.
● Favorite films are Dracula A.D. 1972, The
Wicker Man, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The
War of the Gargantuas and The Omega Man
● Voted the 49th Greatest Director of all time by
Entertainment Weekly, being the youngest director on this list of 50.

Awards
Emmy Award
● (1990) Won: Outstanding Animated Program for Beetlejuice
Academy Awards
● (2006) Nominated: Best Animated Feature for Corpse Bride
● (2013) Nominated: Best Animated Feature for Frankenweenie
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
● (2004) Nominated: Best Director for Big Fish
Golden Globe Awards
● (2008) Nominated : Best Director – Motion Picture for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
National Board of Review Awards
● (2008) Won: Best Director for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
64th Venice International Film Festival
● (2007) Honored: Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement
Lacanian Psychoanalysis Prize
● (2010) Won
The Order of the Arts and Letters
● (2010) Knighted by Culture Minister of France
Moscow International Film Festival
(2012) "Golden George" for his contribution to world cinema

Influences





Dr. Seuss
Edgar Alan Poe
Alfred Hitchcock
Vincent Price

Director style







Gothic
Twisted fantasy
Artificial
Satirical
Dark expressionistic
Quirky

Edward Scissorhands

Summary: The film shows the story of an artificial man named Edward, an unfinished creation, who has scissors for hands. Edward is taken in by a suburban family and falls in love with their teenage daughter Kim.

Edward Scissorhands
Colors






Edwards mansion is very dark
Edward himself wears dark clothing
The town has bright pastels
Used to show irony between good and evil.
Dark doesn't always mean evil.

Edward Scissorhands
Lighting






When Edward is first seen the lighting is low key, high contrast
Use of shadows, fairytale like
The town has high key low contrast lighting
At the end lighting adds suspense, very dark with light coming through the broken roof.

Edward Scissorhands
Camera Placement
● Low angle
● Establishing shot
● Close up
● Medium shot
● Point of View

Edward Scissorhands
Themes:
● Conformity vs. Individuality
● What defines Happiness?

Burtonesque Character





o o o
·

Misfit
Outcast
Do not conform to society trying to exsist in a normal world
Edward Scissor Hands: Edward
Alice in wonderland: Mad Hatter
Sleepy Hollow: Ichabod Crane
Symbolic of Burton himself.

Big Fish
Summary: Edward Bloom, a former traveling salesman from the Southern
United States with a gift for storytelling, now confined to his deathbed.
Bloom's estranged son, a journalist, attempts to mend their relationship as his dying father relates tall tales of his eventful life as a young adult.

Big Fish
Mise en scene:
● Artificial
● Controlled setting
● Fairy Tale like
● Saturated color, rich

Big Fish
Camera Techniques






Voice of son