Tim Burton is an extraordinary film director of playful yet frightening movies that revolve around a character that is different from the rest. In a Burton movie, the audience will find most characters wearing bright colors with an almost perfect life. However, the character that experiences a significant and prominent adventure is often the protagonist who is different than the other characters, based on their dark and eerie past. Burton is able to smoothly transition from a joyous mood, to a suspicious and creepy mood. For example, Edward Scissorhands is a story about a man named Edward, who has scissors for hands and is brought into the “real world” for the first time in his life. Big Fish focuses on the unbelievable and incredible stories …show more content…
Burton manipulates shots/framing, editing, and music/sound to enhance the perspective of the audience and give them a meaningful and relevant story.
Tim Burton utilizes editing to connect and amplify his story plot and present a significant and important moment with the characters. Burton accomplishes this with flashbacks. Burton uses a flashback smoothly in Edward Scissorhands. When Edward hesitates to hug Kim, but finally has the courage to do so, a flashback intrudes the scene to signal the audience the reason as to why Edward is so shy. The flashback sets a sorrowful and heartbroken mood after Edward’s father, The Inventor, dies suddenly. The audience experiences the grief Edward has, through a dark flashback and conveys Edward’s connection and affection to Kim. During the flashback, Burton also uses eye-line match when Edward looks at the broken hands on the floor after The Inventor dies. The broken hands demonstrate the damage that Edward has received. Edward’s reaction to his ruined present reveals his innocence to the tragedy. Because Edward could not comprehend what has taken place, the audience feels sympathy for Edward’s
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The use of music/sound annotate the mood and help create the feeling that Burton is trying to deliver to the audience. Burton adds tranquility to his films with non-diegetic sound in Edward Scissorhands. When Peg enters through the gates of a dark, sinister looking mansion, she unexpectedly finds herself in a beautiful garden with bushes that have creative and incredible designs. After Peg notices the decorative garden she is standing in, nice calming music plays in the background. The sound of the angelic and harmonious chorus relates to the peaceful and serene garden. The music notifies the audience that although the mansion looks terrifying, the beautiful garden indicates the contrast between the two. This gives the audience a sense of tranquility as Peg reaches the door. However, once Peg enters the mansion, Burton returns to the eerie and creepy non-diegetic sounds. The chorus begins to get louder while repeating the same beat to add tension and anticipation on what will happen to Peg. With the help of the piano, Burton establishes the new frightening mood after creating a cheerful mood. Peg’s adventure to the mansion is much more exciting for the audience, with the use of non-diegetic sound. Burton utilizes music/sound in Big Fish as well. When Edward takes a shortcut to Spectre through an odd looking path in the woods, Edward suddenly finds trouble along the way. Burton
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
Burton also uses sound such as diegetic and non-diegetic music and sound in order to advance the mood, feelings, and emotions of the audience. One particularly exceptional example of Burton’s use of sound is in the film Edward Scissorhands. Burton uses non-diegetic music in order to signify the relationship between Edward and Kim. He uses music that sounds almost like an angel singing in heaven while Edward is carving an ice angel. While Edward is at work, Kim spots the beautiful, white snow created by the beautiful sculpting of the angel and starts spinning and twirling in it, as if she’s never seen snow as dazzling as Edwards before. This symbolizes the relationship between Edward and Kim and the forbidden romance that will take place later on in the film as their feelings for each other grow deeper and deeper. This persuades the audience to root and cheer on Edward and Kim’s forbidden romance even though they know the love they both have for each other is pointless and will never work out because of their differences. Burton also uses diegetic sound in the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He uses diegetic sound in order to urge the audience to feel mournful and enhance their mood to feel sorrow toward the former Wonka factory workers. In the film, he uses diegetic sound as the massive gates close to Wonka’s incredible factory. He does this to show the
Burton often uses low-key lighting to show isolation, and the idea that characters are isolated because of the fear that others have. Edward Scissorhands is an isolated character who has spent his whole life hiding because he is different. Burton uses
In my essay I am going to reference two films, Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Vincent (1982), directed by Tim Burton. Edward Scissorhands, is Tim Burton’s take on the Frankenstein story. We can clearly see the influences that have appealed to Tim Burton in the classic Frankenstein (1931) was not the character’s monstrousness appeal but the sense of sad sorrow that audiences sympathized to in Boris Karloff’s performance. Whereas in Tim Burton’s vision, we see a “Special” character as the Frankenstein Monster, in the similar way that we call people with disabilities Special. And then we have Vincent, a short stop-motion animation. The short film itself is an entertaining aspect of a suburban boy named Vincent who recites Edgar Ellen Poe and categorizes with Horror film star, Vincent Price. With similarities to Edward Scissorhands, the main character is a chance for Tim Burton to represent himself on the screen as a tortured boy, outsider and artist. I am going to discuss how cultural and psychological concerns are represented through characterization, art direction, cinematography, and sound. I will support my discussion by analyzing a reflection on both the similarities and differences between the two films, and whether a distinctive “Burton” signature (aesthetics, cultural and psychological concerns) is evident.
Edward Scissorhands The film that I watched is 'Edward Scissorhands'. Tim Burton produced it in 1990. Johnny Depp plays the main character. Johnny Depp has starred in 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. The main genre of the films Depp has featured in is Neo-Gothic fantasy. In this essay I will be illustrating how Tim Burton, The director, creates sympathy towards Edward and why the community turns against him. The story of the film begins with an inventor who lived in a Gothic mansion on top of a hill. This inventor created an android. This Creature was called Edward Scissorhands because he had temporary hands made from scissors. Unfortunately, the inventor died before he was able to give his Christmas present
The film Edward Scissorhands is a contemporary archetype of the gothic genre exploring themes such as unrequited love, social rejection and human creation as defined by Tim Burton. Feature films explore different ideals that can be categorized into different genres that create expectations among audiences about characters, settings, plots and themes. Edward Scisscorhands directed by Tim Burton in the year 1990 is described as both a dark romantic fantasy and a gothic horror film. The film tells a story about Edward Scissorhands, the creation of an elderly inventor who dies before he can give Edward his normal hands in place of his scissor hands. Edward is taken from the mansion he lives in by a suburban family in an attempt to live a
Edward Scissorhands, written by Tim Burton, tells the tale of a young man who is lovable, childlike and sensitive, bewildered by the humanity around him, yet is terrifying- someone who has scissors, the deadly weaponry, for hands. Many viewers may read this film as a “Tim Burton” type of fairytale which includes both an alternative aspect and romance. However, through the presentation of mise-en-scene in this film, Burton drives in a much more serious subject of social criticism by establishing two different understandings of life in the movie.
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.
For example, in the nut sorting room, when Veruca’s shoes are clicking on the floor, which is a diegetic sound. This creates the effect that everything has suddenly gone very quiet and anticipation is growing. But, in Big Fish, Tim Burton uses sound to make people feel many different things. For example, in the town of Spectre, when the townspeople were dancing, the diegetic sounds were all of the happy dancing music. This creates the effect of happiness.
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.
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.
Tim Burton once said, “My parents suffered from that ideal of a perfect nuclear family. They found that a difficult pressure, I think”. Tim Burton is a famous filmmaker who sometimes incorporates his life into his films. Tim was an odd child in that he liked being alone and spending his time in a graveyard. In his childhood, he was the outsider in a “perfect” world. People can judge him on his odd and different childhood. That is what he tries to teach in his films. In both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands, Burton reveals that society wrongly judges those who do not fit in.
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.
The most appealing films are those that keep audiences guessing, surprise them at the most unexpected times and break conventional film boundaries. Edward Scissorhands (1990) directed by Tim Burton, is a feature film that does exactly that. It blends a fairy tale story with a gothic horror film, to engage the viewer right from beginning until the resolution. It tells the tale of Edward, who was the creation of an inventor who died before he could give Edward proper hands, and was left with scissors as hands. When he was taken from his gothic mansion, into a “normal” suburban community, he was at first welcomed, but then heartbreakingly rejected when things went wrong. The character of the “monster” is an
The film ‘Edward Scissorhands’ by Tim Burton is a story about a lonely boy with a unique disability: scissor hands, it follows Edward as he experiences life outside of his isolated home and through his hardships of dealing with prejudice and people treating him differently. It also follows him when he makes judgments of others wrongly and shows the consequences to both parties from those decisions made on them.