Directed by Tim Burton
(2003)
About the film
● Considered a fantasy drama film.
● Based on a 1998 novel by Daniel Wallace called
Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions. John
August adapted Wallace’s manuscript into the
screenplay.
● Shot in Alabama in order to give it a Southern
Gothic feel.
About the film
● The film’s primary theme is
about the reconciliation
● Organized in a series of
between father and son and
fairytale vignettes (short
how storytelling can be used
scenes that focus on one
as a way to avoid facing
moment and give us a
truths about ourselves.
clear impression of that
character, setting, idea, or
object).
● The film received award
nominations in multiple
categories.
About the director
● Steven Spielberg was
supposed to direct Big Fish,
but backed out in order to
focus on Catch Me If You
Can. Tim Burton took over
as director after this.
● Tim Burton is a director,
producer, artist, writer,
and animator.
● He was born in Burbank,
California, and as a child
he often made stopanimation short films in
his backyard.
● He was not a particularly good student in high school, but he loved
painting, drawing, and watching movies.
Burton attended the
California Institute of the
Arts to study character
animation. He soon received
an apprenticeship with Walt
Disney Productions’
animation department, who
noticed Burton’s short film,
Stalk of the Celery Monster.
Today, Tim Burton is known for his dark
and quirky style. Some of his other films
include BeetleJuice, Batman, Edward
Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before
Christmas, Sleepy Hollow, and Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory.
Big Fish is said to be significant to Burton
because both his father and his mother
died in the year leading up to the film.
Film Techniques
● Burton often employs the dutch angle
in his films--much more frequently
than other directors. This tilted shot
creates a sense of tension.
● Point-of-view shots are a favorite of
Burton’s. In his films, the audience is
often forced to see things from one
character’s perspective.
Notice the play with color in
Burton films. He uses
oversaturated and
undersaturated color to create
surreal atmospheres in almost
all of his movies. In Big Fish he
used color-grading techniques,
although he tried to limit the
amount of digital effects in the
movie.
Things to consider
While you
How does Burton create dreamlike scenes in Big Fish?
watch, pay
What affect does this surrealism have on us as an
attention to the
film techniques
listed in the
previous slide!
audience?
What tone does it create?
● How is the quest motif embedded in this movie?
● What thematic patterns do you notice?
● What is being searched for throughout the film, and
why?
How are extravagant myths and
● How do we, along with the
mythological characters used
characters, explore ideas of truth,
in this movie?
reality, memory, and identity in this
movie?
What are we, as an audience,
most curious about?
How does the vignette form make
the story stand out?
●
Is fiction ever truer than reality?
● Does hyperbole offer insight
beyond what is literal?