(Short Film analysis)
‘Vincent’ by Tim Burton and Rick Heinrichs.
Vincent is a short film by Tim Burton and Rick Heinrichs. It is based on a poem/Short story
that Tim Burton wrote, about the imagination of a young seven year old boy obsessed with
the genre of horror.
The film opens with the credits, which is an unusual convention now as most credits are at
the end of a movie.
The credits let the viewers see who distributed the film and who directed the film. From
these credits shown we can see that Buena Vista was the distributing company and that Tim
Burton and Rick Heinrichs were the joint Directors. The style in which the credits are
presented, also show the audience that this could be a horror genre movie as it is black and
white and very convention of a black and white silent movie, as the words seem to hover
much like the way words and sequences would flicker in a silent movie. The is no sound or
music for the credits, building anticipation in the audience, as music can be very leading in a
movie and so by challenging the convention of having music from the very start, the directors
have successfully created tension in the audience as they wait for the movie to start. (A
common convention of horror genre)
The film begins with an establishing shot of a blank wall, the diagetic sounds of birds
whistling in the tree even though we don’t see any birds. Along with the music of a pan pipe
being played, which to the viewers, at that moment could appear to be: - non diagetic;
atmospheric music, to create tension furthermore in the audience. The clip shows a cat
emerging from behind the tree, making its way to the bottom of the wall, as the title of the
movie, ‘Vincent’, fades in on to the wall.
The clip changes from an establishing shot to a tracking shot, as the title fades out and the cat
pounces on to the wall, walking along it, captivating the viewers and making them wonder
where it will bring them. The shot also zooms in on the cat as it reaches its destination, the
window of a bedroom. From the outside this room appears to be nice and pretty, with its
floral designed curtains, creating perhaps an oxymoron to the audience, as the sinister music
is contrasted with the lovely, quaint bedroom window. The music of the pan pipe reminds of
the famous children’s story, the pan piper, who lured children and animals with his pipe
music, making the audience feel as though there is something sinister or mythical about this
music and that fact that the cat appears to be following its sound.
The clip changes, as the cat is readying itself to perch on the window sill. We see a small, ill
looking boy with messy dark hair, playing the pan pipes, and the cat in the background
mesmerized by the sounds. The room is very empty and the use of shadows shows the theme
of expressionism, sometime commonly associated with the horror genre for its use of
asymmetrical angles and use of contrasting light and dark: which we see in this clip, through
the use of the light from the window (being the only source of light) and the strange angles of
the cat’s figure.
The sequence then begins to pan around the boy and zoom in, as the cat makes its way to the
Boy’s feet. As this sequence ends, a narration begins. ‘Vincent Molloy is seven years old, he’s
always polite and does as he’s told…’ as we hear the voice, we see Vincent stop playing and
gently left up the black cat. The narration is leading the audience into believing that this boy
is nice, and is showing us this, through the use of editing to a close-up shot, to show his
apparent kindness towards this cat.
The narration continues, ‘for a boy his age, he’s considerate and nice, but he wants to be just
like Vincent Price’. The narration is poetry, and the rhyming scheme reminds us of the
children fairytales that we were told as kids, that always comprised of horrible witches and
ghouls. I feel that Tim Burton purposely use this to add to the horror atmosphere of the film
as well as creating slight comedy, as he speaks of Vincent Price. Vincent Price, was an
American actor, famous for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror
movie. The image of the boy transforming into Vincent Price, connotes his aspiration to be
Vincent Price in his imagination.
Tim Burton sticks with the conventional sounds and styles of a horror film, as the cat
screeches at the sudden change of the nice little boy Vincent Molloy, into this horror figure,
Vincent Price. The camera tracks Vincent as he walks towards the bedroom door and reaches
for the handle. The sudden change of instrument in the music adds to the atmosphere as
Vincent Price’s movies often had harpsichord style music in the background.
The clip changes, as Vincent moves across his room to open the door. The way the character
now walks confidently like a child acting its hero, is comedic and relieves the audience of the
previous tension. As the boy opens the door, he changes back into his seven year old self and
the narrator continues. ‘He doesn’t mind living with his sister, dog and cats’, The long shot
shows the boy looking at his sister who appears to be a baby, and the dog and cat who are in
the hall. This narration and clip lead the audience to believe this boy is innocent and the
rhyming creates a pleasant naïve atmosphere.
The Close Up of Vincent as the narrator says ‘ Though he’d rather live with spiders and bats’,
creates dramatic impact, as the scene cross cuts from the innocent seven year old, back to a
scary Vincent Price figure. The narration stops, and the sounds of a non diegetic organ being
played creates the sense of tension and unease in the audience, while we watch Vincent walk
across the hall. The tracking shot makes the audience feel as though they are an extra
character in the scene, spying on Vincent, as we see black, asymmetrical shapes crossing over
Vincent as he walks. As he finishes walking a monster shaped mouth opens and reveals the
boy again. This clip, reminds us almost of the ‘Little shop of Horrors’ a famous,
comedy/horror musical about a carnivorous plant. The shape that opens looks like the outline
of this plant and makes us think that Vincent could be pretending to be an evil scientist now.
The narration then confirms what the audience could have been thinking. ‘There he could
reflect on the horrors he’s invented’, making the audience think of the horror movies
Frankenstein, as it tells the story of a scientist invent a monstrous being. As the narrator
speaks, the boy is winding a jack in the box. The things surrounding him are asymmetrical,
conventional of expression and the lighting is almost like a spotlight, contrasting the dark
montster figures, to Vincent the innocent boy. The spotlight effect also makes the audience
feel as though this is some sort of performance by the boy, making it more humorous as wells
as spooky as the images we see are surrealist.
‘And wander dark hallways, alone and tormented’, the boy is lit from behind, casting an
elongated shadow across the frame, as the boy dramatically holds his hand to his forehead,
dragging his feet along the floor. The use of shadow is convention of expressionism, and
horror as the shadow is pointed and asymmetrical almost, making the audience feel as
though he is the monster, as well as humor since the boy is being overly dramatic, common in
a seven year olds behaviour, making the short film feel realistic. The boy swings his head back
and forth, as though he is a tormented soul, or an inventor that has fail in some way, this use
of exaggerated drama is humorous and the heavy organ chords being played as background
music adds to the sense of comedic horror, as everything in this clip is over dramatic.
‘Vincent is nice when his aunt comes to see him’, the conventional, horror organ stops
playing and silence remains as here the clip changes again to Vincent Molloy the innocent
seven year old boy. The lighting is bright and makes the audience feel at ease. While the
narration creates tension and suspense in the audience as they know now that the boy is
always thinking of horror and ghouls, and that he obviously feels something else towards his
aunt. We feel admiration to Vincent as he can act good and nice, even though he has these
thoughts, and we feel humour as it is conventional of young boys to be horrid, as children,
and to love horror.
‘But imagines dipping her in wax, for his wax museum’, as the clip changes to a close-up of
the evil, Vincent Price, the organs begins to play again, making the audience feels tense, as
they know something bad is going to happen, as Vincent’s appearance changes again to his
mad scientist look. The long shot shows Vincent pulling his aunt in to the air, and moving her
to hover over a boiling pot of wax, making the audience cringe as they know he is going to
drop her. The close up of his delighted face as he drops her in the pot, and the sounds of her
splashing even though we don’t see her fall, creates a dramatic impact in the audience as we
don’t have to see the horror scene to feel scared, and the comedy of the delighted seven year
old’s face as he hears the splashes, makes the audience laugh at the imagination of such a
young boy.
The long shot, pan, between Vincent and his dog, shows the horrid contraption that Vincent
has made, along with a scary, diabolical looking helmet on the dog’s head, making the
audience feel terrified for the dog. The scene is humourous also, as the boy’s imagination
comes from other famous horror movies and stories, here we see the boy trying to create a
zombie from his dog, and the scene is almost exact to a zombie movie. As we see the close up
of his insane smile, the back lighting, creates asymmetrical shadows on his face, making his
appear angled and jagged, almost not healthy.
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