Joshua Hoffine was born in Emporia, Kansas in 1973. He graduated from Kansas State University in 1995 with a degree in English Literature. Following graduation, he moved to Kansas City where he became a freelance photographer. He is known for his work dealing with horror often taking the form of children’s nightmares.
There are many different forms of horror work’s such as films, books, cosplay (costume play) and photography. Horror can be explained as something that brings an extreme sensation of fear, disgust, or terror. In general, people find it terribly frightening because it can be caused by something unpleasant, corrupt, or displeasing. It often causes a strong dislike or loathing feeling towards it. The most common horror genres
…show more content…
In 2003, he landed a big project called Monsters, Mayhem & Murder. This project helped him launch his career and gave viewers a real window into what he expressed as the psychology of fear.
In 2008, he exploded on the internet releasing horrifying images relating to childhood fears. To make such fearful images come to life, he buys and creates his props such as mannequins, taxidermy, and costumes from your local Halloween store. He often uses his daughter in his photos and incorporates the use of different make-up effects to capture his images.
With Hoffine’s interest in the psychology of fear, the majority of his work is geared toward childhood horror. The amazing images he creates highlights many childhood fears by setting up scenes like movies with sets. He does this to show the abstract and forgotten fear the mind loses as it matures. Using children (12 and under) helps symbolize fear because they are seen as innocent and fragile human beings, which helps the viewers empathize with the child. The viewer can either share their point of view or feel vulnerable as
…show more content…
All Hoffine’s photographs are acted out live so the viewer to feel their sense of vulnerability. The actors and crew he uses for his pictures are his friends and family members, even using his own daughters. In one of his pictures called, “The Babysitter,” he works with a friend named Bob Barber. He explains with Bobs face it's easy to transform him into something frightening and monstrous using make-up and menacing lighting. To Joshua however, he finds this strangely beautiful. In an article, Hoffine was asked how he developed his images and he explained:
“I try to remain sensitive to the potential subtext of an image. In Wolf, for instance, the wolf is a stand-in for a sexual predator. I emphasize this by giving the wolf a man's hand as he reaches toward a partially undressed girl. Or in the photograph Lady Bathory, she is wearing a green mud mask and cucumbers on her eyes. By emphasizing the 'spa treatment' aspect of her murders, the image becomes less about Lady Bathory, and more about the shameless pursuit of youth and beauty.”
I enjoy Hoffine’s work because it reminds me of Tim Burton’s old art styles such as
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish, and Edward Scissorhands are all flooded with the magical elements of camera angles, lighting, and non-diegetic sound to create various moods, allowing the audience to enter life in the eyes of Tim Burton. The films would not be able to achieve the desired effect on the audience without Burton’s delivery of these powerful techniques. Burton’s mastery in the art of storytelling through film definitely rewards him the the title, “Burton the Wonder Wizard of
...e his ideas a fresh breathe of air, but they have a deeper meaning and are a breeding ground for thought and consideration. His reoccurring theme of individuality, which is supported by symbolism in his works, makes for relatable characters and situations. The ability to make a man with scissors for hands or a skeleton into a character that is relevant to one’s current life is special; not many people could pull it off. Burton gracefully blended his influences of Edgar Allan Poe-like characters and Dr. Seuss inspired scenery to create cinematic works that affected people of all ages. He may have been an outcast as a child, but what once was a flaw now makes him stand out from other directors. Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare before Christmas are only a portion of the films in which he wove a deep threaded theme promoting individuality and being true to oneself.
Tim Burton's style compared to others is quite unique. His many films do not give off the same mood and feeling that audiences are used to with child films. With some of his role models being Edgar Allen Poe and Ronald Dahl, it's no surprise that his films mix children ideas with a sense of darkness, and even at times creepiness. Tim Burton combines these feelings of child movies and darkness through the way he uses lighting, shots and framing, and to spread his message.
On August 25, 1958, Timothy Walter Burton was born (“Biography”). Burton had a painful childhood in which the relationship with his parents and brother was nonexistent (Morgenstern). Through his intense feeling of isolation, his visual talent began to develop. The comfort found in hobbies such as writing and drawing led him to attend the California Institute of the Arts which led him to his first job in any artistic field at the Disney Animation Studios (“Biography”). Burton has since been referred to as one of the most visually gifted writers, artists, and filmmakers that America has seen (Hanke). His short stories, poems, and film scripts are centered on an inner darkness which he has been slowly acquiring since his childhood. He throws himself into everything he writes and makes even the simplest characters have a deep, complex meaning. His famous darkness and symbolism is shown in his book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. The book contains a collection of his short stories, poems, and illustrations about a variety of fictional characters that can be compared to Burton and his life. Tim Burton’s home life and previous hardships have made a significant impact on his work. In my paper, I will draw parallels to his life and work as well as prove that there is reasoning and beauty in the way he is.
Jesse Moncell Bethel was born in New York City, New York on July 8, 1922. He was born to Jesse M. Bethel and Ethel Williams. His father left the home when he was only six months old and his mother died when he was only three and a half years old. Being an orphan now, he was raised by his grandmother in Arkansas. He then moved to Oklahoma where his family sharecropped cotton and cornfields. Bethel attended elementary school while in Oklahoma and later graduated from Booker Washington High School there too. Bethel attended Tillotson College in Austin, Texas. He graduated there with a Bachelors of Science degree in chemistry. He later attended graduate school in 1944 at the University of California Berkley.
At a time when the stalker movie had been exploited to all ends and the image of mute, staggering, vicious killers had been etched into society’s consciousness to the point of exhaustion, a new kid entered the block. The year was 1984 and it was time for a new villain to enter into the horror genre. A villain that was agile, intelligent, almost inviolable yet viscous, and by all means deadly. A Nightmare on Elm Street introduced the distinctive presence of Fred Krueger to the horror industry and to the audience. Freddy Krueger took the center stage and with him a new era of horror films began. This horribly scarred man who wore a ragged slouch hat, dirty red-and-green striped sweater, and a glove outfitted with knives at the fingers reinvented the stalker genre like no other film had. Fred Krueger breathed new life into the dying horror genre of the early 1980’s.
Tim Burton has many style elements that almost always show up in his movies or artwork. His work can be easily recognized from the use of curlicues and stripes or the dark scenes. Maybe you recognize him by the distorted proportions of a character like the parents in The Corpse Bride. A lot of his characters also have crazy hairstyles and overshadowed eyes like Edward Scissorhands in the movie Edward Scissorhands. In Edward Scissorhands Edward has very crazy hair and also wears an all black leather suit. His mansion is extremely dark which is one of Tim Burton’s main styles. Out of these two movies Tim’s style can even be seen on the movies cover art.
People are addicted to the synthetic feeling of being terrified. Modern day horror films are very different from the first horror films which date back to the late nineteenth century, but the goal of shocking the audience is still the same. Over the course of its existence, the horror industry has had to innovate new ways to keep its viewers on the edge of their seats. Horror films are frightening films created solely to ignite anxiety and panic within the viewers. Dread and alarm summon deep fears by captivating the audience with a shocking, terrifying, and unpredictable finale that leaves the viewer stunned.
Tim Burton is a very talented and enthusiastic film director who fabricates many sinister yet vivid movies. What he is most known for are his films Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the very unusual story of Edward Scissorhands. Both of the famous films use many unique stylistic cinematic techniques, but what really makes his showings extraordinary and makes the audience stay engaged to the screen are his expert use of camera movements and lighting. Tim Burton uses camera angles, lighting, and framing to make his audience understand the characters emotions and feelings in his films.
What happens behind the scenes of movies is something that never occurs to the audience. Tim Burton is one of the most creative writers of our time. His stories portray a dark theme that shows the light of it and how dark stories can have some beauty behind it. His style is influenced by his love for fairy tales and children’s stories. Burton’s stories give us a look of a dark, melancholy feel and also teaches us lessons and morals of life. Tim Burton uses cinematic techniques of shots and frames, camera movement, and lighting to achieve various desired effects of the movies, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Edward Scissorhands.”
Tim Burton is a movie director famous for his films, more specifically, he is famous for his films Edward Scissorhands, Alice and Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton has a very specific style when it comes to what the characters look like, the colors and theme of the overall story, his characters are most if not all very pale, white. Tim Burton’s films usually have a lot of light blue tones in it along with more of an old feel to the film. Tim Burton shows a lot of cinematic techniques in the films, but the three that stand out the most in the three films Edward Scissorhands, Alice and Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would be lighting, camera angles and shots and framing.
Tim Burton said in an interview that when he was a kid he would watch all kind of monster movies. “My parents said I started watching those movies before I could even walk.”As a kid he loved horror movies and he liked drawing pictures. He said he did not care what people thought of his drawings and just drew them his own way. His drawings also show his love for horror because they are all unique and creepy looking. Some of his pictures are based on the movies he directed. He started directing at twenty years old. He was very interested in animation. One of his first films was Batman. Most of the films he directed have a gothic horror aspect. I believe since his childhood was all about horror movies, he gained an appreciation for those films and applied his passion in the films he directed. "Vincent Price, Edgar Allan Poe, those monster movies, those spoke to me. You see somebody going through that anguish and that torture –things you identify with –and it acts as a kind of therapy, a release. (Tim Burton 17).”Besides the fact that he watched horror movies, the place where he lived influenced him as well. The dark and light aspects of life have always fascinated Tim Burton, consistently arguing that one cannot exist without the other: ‘life is an incredible jumble of being funny and sad and dramatic and melodramatic and goofy and everything’. During his childhood in suburban Burbank, Burton found the
From films such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Big Fish to Edward Scissorhands, acclaimed director Tim Burton creates captivating and whimsical scenes that have and continue to entertain audiences across America. His approach in using techniques in order to convey emotion is widely admired by many directors who have seen his films. Tim Burton's use of cinematic techniques such as camera shots, lighting, and non-diegetic sound, allow him to disclose society's desperation to grasp the fantastical and exhilarating life instead of their current dreary ones.
Tim Burton’s Effects Using Cinematic Techniques Tim Burton uses Cinematic Techniques to his advantage as he takes you on several amazing adventures throughout his lovely, exciting films. The three different Cinematic Techniques that I chose to write about in Tim Burton’s films are Wide Angles, Music, and Close-Up Shots/Angles. Let’s talk about how Burton uses these techniques to lure you into his different worlds/dimensions of his wonderful and exhilarating, films. Burton uses Wide Set Angles to his advantage by showing his intricate working detail. Such as when there was a huge wide shot showing The lady walking up into the yard of the inventor of the human Edward Scissorhands, and showing all of his bush sculptures, and then she reaches his castle and steps inside, and it shows all of the inventors works that were left behind when he passed away.
For as long as humans have communicated, they’ve written and listened to horror stories. Whether it’s the old Mexican folktale of “La Llorona,” or even Stephen King’s “IT,” of the cosmos of any genre of tales, horrifying stories have been one of the most successful of all time. Why? The characters within these works often transform into better people by the end of the story, grasping the need for change in all those who watch it. Characters often face horror throughout their development in a narrative. These experiences often change the mentality of these characters, transforming them into “new” people. In works such as “The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Birds,” by Alfred Hitchcock, and “Why we crave horror movies,” by Stephen