Luis Gonzalez
Feb 15, 2013
Ms.Tesch
Block:4
TIM BURTON’S CINEMATIC TECHNIQUES
Tim Burton has triumphed in the world of film making. Tim Burton became a director
because he was an outsider as a kid and felt like he could create films that represent his life. Tim
Burton felt like he could relate to characters such as Edward from his film “Edward
Scissorhands” since he grew up with his grandmother and didn’t really have anyone to
communicate with. “Edward Scissorhands” is a reflection of Tim’s life because he said that as a
kid he could relate to monsters, and edward is portrayed as a monster/outsider. Burton is famous
for films such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “Corpse Bride”, And “Edward
Scissorhands. Tim Burton’s style can best best be described as gothic. He uses low key, Johnny
Depp, and irony techniques to flood every scene with gothic mood.
One of the elements that contribute to Tim Burton’s gothic style is low key lighting. Low
key lighting is used to flood a scene with darkness and dark mood. That basically defines the
gothic style, which is the use of constant darkness and sinister scenes. For example, in the film
“Edward Scissorhands”, there’s a scene where Peg walks into Edwards house and the inside of
Edwards house is full of darkness as if it was abandoned. Mr.Burton continues directing the film
as his camera follows Peg through the staircases to a room at the top of the stairs filled with dark
lighting, where Edward hides. In this scene Mr.Burton uses low key lighting in order to portray
Edward in our first impression as evil so the audience will think edward will attack peg. This
makes the audience feel a sudden urge of fear. Similarly in the film "Corpse Bride", Burton uses
this same technique in the scene where Victor is about to marry Victoria. In this scene the
technique is used to make the hall feel dark and depressing in a way because of the excessive
dark lighting. This helps define Burton's gothic style because it shows how Mr.Burton's passion
and mastery of the gothic style make even the happiest scene in someones mind seem sad and at
times depressing.
Another of the elements that Mr.Burton uses to his advantage is his muse Johnny Depp.
Some people might ask themselves how can an actor contribute to a cinematic style, this is how.
Johnny depp has a devious side to him which helps Burton sa lot in movies like "Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory." For example in this film, there’s a scene where a spoiled girl by the name of
Veruca is being taken by the squirrels in the factory of Willy Wonka(played by Johnny Depp),
and Willy purposely takes a long time to find the key to the door that will allow Veruca’s dad to
rescue her. In this scene, Burton uses the actor Johnny Depp to his advantages, the reason i say
this is because even though the room is filled with light, Johnny Depp adds a really sinister and
menacing mood to the scene. Johnny Depp plays a character (Willy Wonka) who has planned the
elimination of the every rotten kid to find his true heir. Similarly in the film "Edward
Scissorhands" where Johnny plays as Edward, the actor plays his role to the perfection that
anyone would think that Edward is the villain in the movie, but in the end is portrayed as the
victim. For example back to the scene where Peg finds Edward, Johnny Depp plays once again
his role so perfect that it seems as if Edward might attack Peg, But actually Edward is the one
with more fear at the moment. This helps define Burton's gothic style because Johnny Depp adds
a devious mood to each scene in Burtons films.
Lastly, one of the elements that contribute to Tim Burton’s gothic style is irony. Many of
his films feature irony. Irony is the opposite of what is expected. For example, in the film
“Corpse Bride”, it is ironic that the live world is actually darker than the underworld. Believe it
or not this plays a huge part in Mr.Burton’s gothic ways, Tim adds a shadow of darkness to the
movie in every scene. Theres a scene where Victor (played by Johnny Depp) is going to marry
victoria, and the room’s only light is supported by only a few candles and windows. This scene
makes the audience feel a sense of darkness in the air when Tim Burton turns a wedding into a
dark scene. This ironic touch is part of Burton’s passion with gothic style . Another example of
Tim Burton’s use of irony is in the film "Edward Scissorhands.” In This film the irony is that
Edward is at first portrayed as a villain but in the end is known to be the victim. This adds to the
dark mood because in every scene Edward is shown as evil in mysterious especially because the
whole neighborhood is full of light and colors while Edward himself and his house are dark and
gloomy.
In conclusion Tim Burton's style is gothic and devious. He uses irony, low key lighting
and even Johnny Depp to his advantages to create a sinister mood in every scene. People who
watch his films are often amazed with the constant sinister and humorous tone in every scene.
Tim Burton is certainly an out of this world film-maker. So i recommend you go out and watch
one of his films.