Edward Scissorhands Cinematic Style Analysis

Tim Burton directed many of the famous movie like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” or “Edward Scissorhands” as a director. He uses many of the cinematic techniques to establish moods and tones. The moods and tones of his movies are dark and sometimes interesting because of his experience and influence from Walt Disney and Dr.Seuss. Tim Burton uses lighting, sound and zoom to establish his own unique gothic style.

Lighting is one of the most important cinematic technique Burton use to create different types of mood. He uses couple types of lighting such as high key lighting, low key lighting and also the side lighting in order to create positive emotion, negative emotion and contrast between brightness and darkness. For example in “Edward Scissorhands” he uses high key lighting in town where everyone lives to emphasize happiness or positive atmosphere. In contrast, Edward’s house where he used to

live were filled with low key lighting to represent mystery or fear. In addition, he uses side lighting toward Edward to make him appear dangerous. In “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Burton demonstrated more of positive feelings like wonder by inserting high key lighting in the scene. Inside Willy Wonka’s factory were filled with light and described wealth and enjoyment. Also chocolate factory where everything is made out of chocolate were filled with light and let audience explore world of imagination and dream. On the other hand, in “Corpse Bride” Burton demonstrated more of negative feelings like fear by adding low key lighting in the scene. In world of both dead and alive, it was filled with darkness and established mood of mystery, suspense and fear. Tim Burton’s effective use of lighting make his gothic style more powerful and impactful.
Sound plays important role in any types of movie, especially in Burton’s movie. Imagine how boring it is to watch movies without sound. Audience can’t see the sound but they can enjoy sound by hearing and feeling it. Sound is an assistant to support entire movie. For example in “Edward Scissorhands” Burton used non-diegetic sound in ice angel scene where Edward and Kim is enjoying but Jim appears with anger from shadow. At first it is sound of happiness and emphasize happiness of Kim but when Jim appears, it has translated to suspenseful music which represent his anger. In “Corpse Bride” Burton also used non-diegetic sound to create moods in each scene. In this case, he changed the music every time characters emotion or situation changes in order to explore each character’s emotion. Sometimes it assists fear of Victor with suspenseful music and it sometimes assists sadness of Emily with plaintive music. Burton also utilizes diegetic sound to create mood that is different from non-diegetic sound. In “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Oompa Loompas sing every time each child is eliminated from the group. Usually, the scenes where characters being eliminated is not fun at all, but the sound turns everything down. Burton established tricky and funny feelings with the sound. Tim Burton using sound like his partner and producing many movies with variety of moods and tones.
Another key cinematic technique Burton use was zoom.

Zoom will create impact in the scenes by either zooming in to an object or zooming out from an object. In “Edward Scissorhands” when Edward is alone and the surroundings were dark and silent, he used zoom out from Edward to the sky and made him appear small. He insert feeling of isolation and sadness of Edward by separating him from the surroundings. In “Corpse Bride” when Victor lied to Emily to meet with Victoria and Emily notice his lie and take him back to afterlife, Burton used zoom out from Victoria in order to separate Victor and Victoria. He demonstrated a frustration of Victor that he can see Victoria but can’t reach her and created imaginary wall between them. In “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Burton used zoom in when Willy Wonka opened the first door that lead to chocolate factory. He brought audience close to the factory to expand feeling of wonder and impacted audience by increasing the mood. Tim Burton produced impact and moods of the scene by zooming in and out from an object or the

characters.
In conclusion, Tim Burton uses lighting, sound and zoom to establish his enjoyable gothic style. He uses low key lighting technique in “Edward Scissorhands” and “Corpse Bride” to fill scene with darkness and create suspenseful moods. He uses diegetic and non-diegetic sound to add extra moods and tones to each scenes. Also he uses zoom to represent isolation as well as suspense or wonder. Tim Burton uses cinematic techniques that best applies to his gothic movies.