Tim Burton Cinematic Techniques

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

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.

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.

The film ‘Edward Scissorhands’ by Tim Burton can be seen as a modern day fairytale. However, there are many important themes that make the film richer and deeper in meaning. The film is not simply entertaining, because the director examines the importance of individuality, love and appearance and reality.

Lastly, Tim Burton, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, uses lighting to show that the people are somewhere. For example, in the first few seconds of the elevator, the scene is dark, low key lighting. This creates an ominous feeling in the characters and the audience. Although these are the present effects in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton in Big Fish used lighting to give off effects that are conflicting of one another. For example, when young Edward is traveling through the forest on the dark and abandoned road, low key lighting is used. This gives off an ominous feeling.

In addition, mise-en-scene is used to show the contradictions between the two understandings of life. The barbecue and dinner scene show the emotional overkill and unstable conduct of the residents in the town by using the lively and distinctive color (Burton, 1990). The distinction with Edward’s gothic punk style of fashion, hairdo and makeup is unusual and marks him as an outcast. It is not only his exterior that points out his detachment from people, but also his ideas which represent his own reality and separates him from the world that he does not belong to. When the people discover Edward’s talents they begin to request different tasks from him. Overall, it seems as if the society is only accepting of Edward for their own benefit. However, Burton makes it clear that there is no true acceptance for Edward when he is forced to leave Peg’s house. Kim, the girl Edward falls in love with, knows she cannot change society, so she leaves him in the castle and tells everyone he’s dead so he is protected.

Another example from the movie is when Edward is introduced into this brand new style of living where he is the new ‘toy’ and uses his creative side to make people’s lives more enjoyable and fulfilling by cutting neighbours hair and turning a hedge into art. Tim Burton makes us think to look beneath the surface and not too just leave out someone who doesn’t look normal, he makes us think about our everyday life how we can be ignorant, rude and reject people who don’t look like us and have a disability. In Edward Scissorhands Edward isn’t always seen as the good guy from the town’s perspective. In the opening seen when we are given a bird’s eye view of the cars moving in and out of the town, this gives us the thought that the town is bright, bubbly and organized to the split second that the cars come out of the drive way but really as the movie goes on they seem to take the tag of being the ‘bad town’. In the movie the town thinks he is the bad guy because of what people have been gossiping about. Edward becomes the ‘bad guy’ as he is being betrayed/forced into the role of the town devil when he is the town hero as he has bought something to the town that will

In the same vein of logic Burton also visually compares his characters through the settings in which they are portrayed. In an almost laughably shocking contrast, the gothic mansion in Edward Scissorhands is quite literally looming over the uniform pastel ranch style homes of the characters. This clear juxtaposition can

High key lighting makes the viewer feel very happy and open, since high key lighting is usually used in bright and playful scenes. For example, in Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, when the Willy Wonka is introducing the tourists to the candy room, there is a variation of colors and the lighting used was very bright. By using this type of lighting, it makes the viewer feel joyful and very positive. Also, in Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, the scene when Edward is introduced to Peg’s neighborhood, the lighting is very bright. This makes the viewers understand the differences between Edward’s deep and dark mansion, compared to Peg’s bright and colorful neighborhood. The contrast allows the readers to feel the uniqueness between the two different lifestyles of Edward and

Tim Burtons gothically themes fairytale like story of an uncommonly gentle man in the film Edward Scissorhands, allows, through the eyes of Edward himself, the audience’s unconscious to live his emotions vicariously, allowing the exploration of our own society and anxieties. To analyse the heart of this film it must be looked at Edward’s own childhood misfortunes and consequences, the system of the society that deems him an unholy monster, and typical American relationships of the 1950’s.

Director Tim Burton is brashly thought of as having a dark, macabre, and humorous style in his films. This being true, there is a multitude of ways that the style is created for the audience. Furthermore, Burton’s cinematic technique usage is a direct mark of creative exposure of this dark style throughout the duration of a film’s story. Director Tim Burton uses diverse cinematic techniques to create a variety of effects that represent his style of grim childlike misfortune, tampered by opulent optimism.

The film ‘Edward Scissorhands’ by Tim Burton, is a modern day fairy tale which follows the story of Edward, a young man that is taken out of isolation and introduced into a new way of life. Although the film is for entertainment, that is not its sole purpose. The film has deep and rich themes, which convey many important messages to the audience. Some themes of the film include; conformity, appearances versus reality and individuality.

‘Edward Scissorhands’ is a film directed by Tim Burton. It is a modern-day fairy tale focused on Edward, a person with scissors instead of hands, who is brought to live with a family after spending years in seclusion. Although the film is made for entertainment, it is not the sole purpose of it. There are many messages and themes rooted throughout the film, which are directed towards the audience. These give the film a deeper meaning. Some of the messages include that looks can be deceiving, the significance of individuality, as well as isolation.

Moreover, Burton uses satire to emphasize Edward’s innocence; all characters represented a different flaw in society. For example, all of the housewives were nosy. One of them was particularly religious and judgmental. Burton portrays Joyce as a flirtatious liar. Kim’s boyfriend, on the other hand, was controlling and impulsive. In contrast, Edward had none of these faults. The town that they live in is made out to look perfect and neat, while Edward’s home is scary and intimidating. In reality, the castle is more of a humane place than the town. The real monsters are the “regular” people. To sum up, Burton gives a negative connotation towards society, verse praise towards uniqueness using satire.

In Burton’s films, the use of contrasting settings helps compare the protagonist’s home to the “normal” homes in society. For example, in Edward Scissorhands, Edward lives in a dark mansion. Burton uses an establishing shot and a zoom (in) to establish the darkness of the mansion, which reveals the mansion as a lonely place on top of a hill. The darkness of the mansion creates a sense of isolation for Edward. Beforehand, the audience saw another establishing shot, which was shot in high key lighting, of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is a bright community while Edward lives in the dark, alone. Those details help establish the difference between Edward and the rest of society. The audience also knows that Edward is used to being isolated in the dark. This is normal for Edward and he does not know that “normal” standards of society. This is what makes him unique. In the film,