German Expressionism and Tim Burton
Tim Burton's films have often been noted as modern day forms of German expressionism (the creative movement in Germany before World War I). It is through such things as sets, themes, makeup and costuming, lighting and shadows, acting techniques, and character that we can see Burton has been widely influenced by films of the era. The notable director's films Edward Scissorhands (1990), Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), all draw parallels to expressionist films of the era and the characteristics these films feature. Burton's expressionist style films are predominantly similar to that of Robert Weine's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu
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This fantasy horror film demonstrates yet again the impact German expressionism has on Tim Burton through his filmmaking career.
Makeup and costuming was commonly over the top and extremely dramatic in German expressionist films. This is a sector of filmmaking that profoundly influenced Tim Burton. The character of Edward Scissorhands is seen with heavy, dark eye makeup, pale skin and messy stark black hair (accentuating the contrast between light and dark), a common expressionist technique. He is also placed in gothic style costuming, contradicting that of the brightly dressed townspeople, emphasising the theme of alienation. His character is often likened to that of Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, as they both have heavy makeup and dark clothing, and are both manipulated in some way. In Burton's Batman, we can see a resemblance between Robert Weine's Dr. Caligari and the Penguin. Both characters are dark, homicidal and mentally unstable in nature. Visually, each was depicted with a round physique and evil grin, often seen dressed in costumes such as top hats and long coats. The Penguin's makeup is extremely expressionist in style, with dark circles around the eyes, a pale face and a darkened mouth area, also emphasising the contrast of light and dark.
The most notable feature of German expressionist films is lighting and shadows.
The most obvious comparison between the novel Dracula and the film Nosferatu is its use of Jewish propaganda. The appearance and portrayal of Dracula includes a hooked nose, pointed ears and bushy eyebrows. This appropriation of Dracula reveals the fear of jews at the time and the disease and destruction that was feared that they carried. Most notably, the film’s title Nosferatu reveals its post-war isolation through the use of the German word for vampire. This shows that the film was created to appeal primarily to its German audience The dramatic use of contrast lighting and shadows, to the extent of painting shadows on backdrops, is evident and heavily used. This technique can be seen where Dracula is represented as a shadow (33:12). Throughout the film, Nosferatu reveals its context using a variety of
The same cinematic technique is utilized in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In the inception of the film, darker and paler shades of colors are emphasized in the scenery. Especially inside Charlie’s home. However, once inside the chocolate factory, conspicuous colors are introduced. Even though the factory seemed like an exuberant center, there was still a profound void inside the hearts of Wonka, the obnoxious children, and non-proficient parents, not including Charlie and his grandfather. They were lacking the warmth of family unity and self content amid impecuniosity, that Charlie and his grandfather possessed. One can discern that Burton’s style is highly influenced by his lighting effects which in turn affects the tone, mood, and imagery of the film. The sharp contrast of coloration, establishes symbolism, tone, mood, and imagery. Another apparent effect of lighting is the mood it synthesizes. During the scenes in which the figures are pale or low key, the viewer feels uncomfortable. The reverse occurs during the high key scenes. Without the implementation of high key and low key, Burton’s message would have never been fully apprehended in both of the films.
Tim Burton is one of the most unusual and unique directors of our time. He brings characters to life by putting them in a habitat they don’t belong. His movies “Alice in Wonderland”, “The Corpse Bride”, “Charlie and the chocolate factory”, and “Edward Scissorhands” all demonstrate how one of a kind his movies are. Using cinematic techniques, Tim Burton points out the misfit character and shows how different they are then everyone else. His use of camera angles, lighting, and sound give the viewers a different perspective on the movies, and help pick out the individual character.
The story of Nosferatu is a tale of xenophobia that used heavy expressionism to display its stances. Without all of the expressionist elements for it, it would just be a bunch of people fearing migrant citizens as they don’t want their culture to be taken over by them. The added expressionism in the makeup, cinematography, acting, and set design added a more fearful and anxious tone to the film. The people of yesterday and today fear everything that Orlok stood for such as madness, disease, and lust as they still believe foreigners will bring all of those things to their home countries. The imagery in the film warned us about the power of Nosferatu and that he was something not to be tampered with. All of these techniques formed Murnau’s masterpiece film and it set the standard for the horror films of yesterday and today.
Young Frankenstein has important visual effects that bring to this film a well-rounded sense of both frivolity and campy thrill. Satirically embodying the older films, Young Frankenstein includes overly dramatic scene transitions such as iris outs, wipes, and “fading to black”, like all classic Hollywood horror films. In classic Hollywood horror, there are lightening flashes, villagers carrying torches and monsters moving in slow motion. The
Inspired by Roald Dahl and Vincent Price, director Tim Burton is easily one of the most remarkable and creative directors of his generation. Burton has a unique and individual way of challenging the minds of viewers and attracting individuals to his films, and has been using this technique for over 30 years. His ways persuade the audience to change the mood they have toward the film. In the films Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, and Big Fish Director Tim Burton uses cinematic and editing techniques such as lighting, sound, and flashbacks in order to enhance the mood and feelings of viewers.
German Expressionism is a kind of art that is supposed to make you feel something. When you look at a painting such as “The Scream” by Edvard Munch (1863-1944), you ask yourself what kind of emotions does this painting give you. A group of early 20th century German artists used the term “expressionism” to desribe the way they produced art. The title later turned into “German Expressionism”. This art movement was prominent during 1905-1925. In German it is known as “Die Brucke” and “Der Blaue Reiter”. Unlike Impressionism, its goals were not to reproduce the impression by the surrounding world, but to express the artists feelings on the surrounding world. Expressionism comes from the route word “expression” which
In conclusion, Edward Siccorhand is a touching film as Burton’s representation of the character and use of techniques in ‘E, S’ accomplish his goal of presenting power of
as a director Tim Burton has more abilities as opposed to a writer to depict mood/tone.In some of his older movies, He utilized a multitude of cinematic techniques to show off sinister tones and mood in movies such as “Batman”. The moods and tones of his movies are practically always eerie and dark. Tim Burton uses lighting, camera movements and sound to depict a distinct, gothic film experience.
FW Murnau’s 1921 film Nosferatu is an appropriation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. Despite it being an appropriation, explicit gothic conventions remain evident, which explore societal fears and values. These fears and values differ from Dracula, due to distinct contextual influences of different time periods.
The world of copyright was just as convoluted in the 1920’s as it is in our world today. The film studio Prana Film, which produced the 1922 German Expressionist film Nosferatu, was sued for copyright infringement by the estate of Bram Stoker, the author of the 1897 Gothic Horror novel Dracula, and ended up filing for bankruptcy after only distributing one film. While this may seem like an immense failure for the studio behind the silent film, it ended up influencing almost a century of vampires, in novels, television, and other films, and made the name ‘Nosferatu’ synonymous with the equally influential novel that it was based upon. On the surface, Nosferatu is a blatant copy of Dracula, from it’s plot, to the characters (besides the change in names), to the portrayal of vampires in general; in reality, many aspects of both bodies of work differ immensely from one another, providing both Stoker and director F. W. Murnau pieces that have influenced generations of vampire media. The structure, characterization and overall tone of Nosferatu is developed differently than Dracula in order to differentiate itself from it’s source material and provide an alternate adaptation of an iconic tale.
From Edward Scissorhands to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Big Fish, Tim Burton uses cinematic techniques in order to intrigue his watchers to have them become more engrossed in his movies. Tim Burton's past is strange for his techniques. An example of this could be that he worked at Disney, which is a place filled of happy things with no dark meaning at all. In Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton uses flashbacks, lighting, and high angles to prove that mood can change in the blink of an eye.
Tim Burton is the director behind a lot of well-known movies in the cinema. Most of it have a special effect of dark, mysterious, complicated feeling for the audience that linger for a long time. After Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, and Big Fish, it is proven how talented Mr. Burton is in driven the audience mood anywhere possible and impossible without any notices. Tim Burton movies have a unique style because he uses elements that both contrast and complement each other like fairy tales, dark and grotesque elements.
Many fans and critics have praised Tim Burton for his cinematic works. Many would credit his fan base and success to his different and twisted sense of reality which stemmed from a childhood obsession with monster movies. However I would argue that his success stems from his masterful use of cinematic elements and techniques such as lighting sound along with camera movement and angles. Cinematic elements work side by side with literary elements to create emotion in a motion pictures audience. Evidence of Tim Burton’s mastery of these elements can be found in any of his works such as Batman, and Planet of the Apes, however some of the best examples are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, and Corpse Bride.
In Corpse Bride which was directed by Tim Burton, he uses the cinematic technique of low-key lighting to show dark, spooky and evil in the world of this film. For example, when Vincent was in the woods