Tim Burton is known for his stop motion animated films. In most of these stop motion films he uses many of the same techniques to produce his conflicts and resolutions. In two of his films, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, they each have a different plot, but they share a common theme of death and another world. There are many similarities in The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride including the use of dark and bright colors, the way music is used, using the dead and the living to thicken the plot, and supporting characters to show the main character’s proper course of action. The differences between the movies include the celebrations that occur, the means of transportation between two worlds, and how the dead and …show more content…
living interact. Both movies are about a celebrations, however in The Nightmare Before Christmas, the celebration is about a holiday, fulfilling that holiday, and preparing for the next. The Corpse Bride is celebrating a wedding and marriage, but they both are about changing what celebration is to come. The idea of marriage and the holidays mean a lot to the main characters in both films and want the true meaning of each celebration in their life. In The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack wants more meaning to his life. After discovering the holiday of Christmas he wishes to have that joy in his life as well. Victoria and Victor, in Corpse Bride, want a wedding and marriage to be about love and happiness. Both wish to be in love and marrying the love of their life, but going into an arranged marriage to save one families funds is not how Victor or Victoria imagined being married. Both movies wish for greater amounts of happiness in their upcoming celebrations and want the most they can get out of it. However, they do not realize their happiness is right in front of them with the planned celebration; in the Corpse Bride the wedding and in The Nightmare Before Christmas halloween. Tim Burton is very particular about the use of nonliving and living in his stop-motion animations. Both of the films use the dead or nonliving as a big part of the movie allowing them to do more than what is humanly possible. Also, the nonliving provide the main characters with a greater insight into what is going on and allows a deeper understanding to their problems. The nonliving in Halloween Town of The Nightmare Before Christmas, is Sally, a creature created by the evil scientist, she has no pre-apprehension of what the world is supposed to be. Everyone in Halloween Town has been exposed and lived the life of scaring and mischievous pranks that go on during Halloween and only know the ways of halloween. Jack, trying to persuade everyone to be more like Christmas, also has a bias as to what Christmas is supposed to be. Sally can see that if Jack takes over Christmas it will end horrifically. Trying to talk Jack out of it, Sally follows closely until Jack see’s he cannot be both the Skeleton King and Santa Clause. The dead in Corpse Bride, have more knowledge and understanding because they have lived their lives and have died. They are aware that it is bad to transition between worlds, but the living, Victor, convinces them otherwise. The dead or nonliving are more knowledgeable and guides in both movies and placed in to be able to do things that are not possible, or cannot be seen by humans. The use of color is very important in both films. In both The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride the colors used are very dark and grey. Not a lot of color are used unless it is a darker shades. In The Nightmare Before Christmas Halloween Town is dressed in these dark colors and in Corpse Bride the “land of the living” uses the dark shades and colors. This is a very important representation especially because the “land of the dead” in Corpse Bride is filled with a different arrangement of bright colors along with Christmas Town in The Nightmare Before Christmas. The bright colors represent where the life and happiness is. In The Nightmare Before Christmas the happiness is in Christmas Town because Christmas is more of a joyful and happier time than Halloween. However in Corpse Bride the “land of the dead” is filled with color, which goes against common thought. This is because living is more painful than death. Everyone is concerned with status and wealth and doing things to achieve the highest of rank and class. When dead, the corpses can live freely and do as they please. If they die in peace the characters are welcomed into the “land of the dead” and given their colors. The dark tones in both movies show the lifelessness and where the death and sorrow is really located. Although one can be okay with living, they are really living an unfulfilled colorless life. Music is relied on in both movies as a way of seeing the past or what is going on in the characters life. Most often we see a character pondering their life and breaking out into song so, the audience, has more of a backstory or more information to connect what is going on in the movie. Both movies start off in song with no background information to what is happening, the songs supply the conflict of the story in a fun creative way. Throughout both of the movies, music is used to help resolve and show the conflicts. This is seen better in the Corpse Bride when the conflict of Emily is shown with the black widows. They sing together about how Victor is in love with someone who has a pulse and not Emily who could provide more for him if both were dead. This conflict is resolved with music when Emily and Victor play the piano together. In The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack is amazed and sings “What’s This”, which is the conflict. He wants to be happy like the people in Christmas Town and tries to take it to Halloween Town and sings “Town Meeting Song” to the town. However, this makes the conflict even worse when the characters do not understand and Jack gives them what they want. The music goes on throughout both movies showing the conflicts and resolutions of the situations at hand. This is an important tool that Tim Burton manipulates to help produce his stories. The supporting characters are just as important as the main characters in Tim Burton movies and tend to know more about what is going on than the main characters.
In both movies the strong supporting character is Victor’s and Jack’s dog. Although they are both dead they show Victor and Jack the path that they should take. In Jack’s case, his dog Zero, shows him the picture of Jack being the Pumpkin King because that is who he is and is not meant to be Santa Clause. With Victor, his dog Scraps, leads him to a form of happiness with Emily, the corpse bride. Although Victor is not meant to be with Emily, Victor is seemed to be stuck in the “land of the dead” so Scraps tries to help him out and show him the happiness of those around him. Both of the dogs are important in each film in helping and guiding the main character to a greater forms of …show more content…
happiness. Not just dogs are used in both movies, but animals and insects are used as well as supporting characters or what a character becomes.
Although in The Nightmare Before Christmas the animals are darker being bats, rats, bugs, and skeleton reindeer, and in Corpse Bride they are butterflies, crows, black widows, and bugs they are used as symbols in each movie. Tim Burton uses the bugs to create characters or add help to characters. In the Nightmare Before Christmas the Boogy Man was created out of bugs and in Corpse Bride a head is maneuvered by beetles. The crows used in the Corpse Bride and bats used The Nightmare Before Christmas both represent the death. We see the crows in the forest and crowed around where Emily lays. They are also shown more when the dead enter the land of the living and follow them around. Bats are used to represent death because they are more connected to halloween. Being the scary creatures that they are, they are often connected to death which is shown in The Nightmare Before Christmas. The black widows in Corpse Bride are characters that help Emily get through tough situations. At the beginning of the movie we are shown a butterfly that Victor draws. In several different scenes the butterfly is shown and at the end Emily is able to die in peace and becomes many butterflies. The butterfly is a symbol of life and peace that is waiting beyond the grave and was placed in the film, along with the rest of the animals, as an important
symbols. Tim Burton is a brilliant writer who uses his skills to create a greater meaning to not only the film, but real life. His techniques provide a greater plot that allow one not only to enjoy, but to think more in depth about what is being said. Without the use of color, animals, the living and dead, and celebrations he could not get his point across. In both movies, the main character realize that they do not need to change their life or situation at hand in order to be happy. The eternal award of what they will receive is greater than trying to improve their happiness with another persons joy. This is a deep concept and without the techniques Tim Burton utilizes, he would not be able to be portrayed in a simple films like these ones.
It was a cold night in the forest and here was a man practicing his vows to the woman he loves. While he was practicing his vows, there was a hand sticking out of the ground and grabbed him by the leg. When the man got loose, he started to run for his life, and while he was running he kept on hitting branches with his head and tripping over small items on the floor. When he finally got away on the bridge, he looked behind him and finds the ghost girl that was chasing him, standing behind him. All of this came from Tim Burton's movie called the Corpse Bride. Tim Burton's movies can be twisted and unique style is best conveyed through his use of music, low-key lighting and close-ups.
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 establish tone mood, and imagery in the films.
Halloween is originated from Ireland, and Day of the Dead was started in Mexico. During Halloween, people usually have various types of candies. Kinds of candies include chocolate, caramels, sugar candies, gummy candies, and much more. On Day of the Dead, Calaveras and pan de los muertos is served, along with many other candies in shapes of coffins, skulls, and skeletons. The symbol for Halloween is the classic jack o’ lantern. Back in the Middle Ages, ritual harvest festival in Welsh, Irish and Gaelic cultures. They were used to guide trick or treaters through the night and keep way evil spirits. Not all the jack o’ lanterns were pumpkins. Some were made out of radishes or squash. The symbol Day of the Dead is the classic skull or skeleton. If you went to a Day of the Dead celebration, you would see happy skeletons on display practically everywhere across city streets. Another important symbol of the Day of the dead is the marigold flower. It is said that the flower draws back to souls of the dead and leads item to the homes of their families. Believe it or not, Halloween is a holiday that is nearly 1300 years old, and it originates from Welsh and Gaelic cultures. It was a holiday evolved from the Samhain, an ancient Celtic holiday. This was a time where the harvests were collected for the winter, and it was believed that since winter was approaching, it would allow the souls of the dead to breach tohe world of the living.
Using the production elements of symbolism; especially hands themselves, and the use of allusion to elements from other genres; particularly those from fairytale and gothic romance/horror films, Tim Burton has directed the film in such a manner to illustrate, emphasise and ridicule the materialism and lack of imagination of society. The film however, is prominently a satire which has certain elements from fairytale, comedy and horror genres. Through the choices made by the director, the audience is invited to become aware of the inhumanity present in the way society functions, especially in its prejudiced treatment towards people who do not conform. The use of allusion in Edward Scissorhands is one of the most important choices in production that has been made by director Tim Burton. In order to fully appreciate and understand the plot, the movie is dependant on the audience being able to recognise certain references and elements emulated from other films.
Symbolism is best used in the Popol Vuh to explain life and death. Every life in this world, whether it is human or not, has a role to serve. Houseflies are undoubtedly an annoying creature
roughout the whole film. The whole of the audience will know that pumpkins represent Halloween, which is about witches and ghosts. This reference also reminds the viewers that the genre is horror. The man inside the carriage is shown again, then an unnatural sound, the drawing and slashing of a sword, and the horses braying can be heard. The audience knows that it must be the Headless Horseman outside, but all that can actually be seen is the man inside the carriage that is starting to look very scared.
The imaginative Nightmare Before Christmas is considered one of the most imaginative films in some of the most recent decades. This film masterpiece from the creative and revolutionary mind of Tim Burton has been one of my favorite movies from the time that I first saw it when I was a small child, to now. The beautiful textures and colors perfect capture both holidays of Halloween and Christmas in the film. Along with the textures comes a masterfully soundtrack that so perfectly adds mood and depth to this story. The even the beautiful textures are enough for this film to land itself in someone’s favorite list.
The road movie embodies the human desire for travel and progression. The vehicle of journey is a contemporary metaphor of personal transformation that oftentimes mirrors socio-cultural desires and fears. Thomas Schatz believes that one “cannot consider either the filmmaking process or films themselves in isolation from their economic, technological, and industrial context.” This statement is especially applicable to the independent American films of the late sixties, a time of great political and social debate. Easy Rider (1969) was considered a new voice in film that was pitched against the mainstream. In the 1960s, there was a shift to highlight the outsiders or the anti-heros in film. This counter-cultural radicalism seems to have also influenced the 1991 film, Thelma & Louise. The characters of both films act as figures of anti-heroism by rebelling against the conventional and unintentionally discovering themselves at the same time. Despite their different backgrounds, the protagonists of Eas...
Helen Keller stated, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” This quote speaks to Batman`s (Bruce Wayne`s) drive and ambition to get justice for his parents death. Batman becomes what people consider a vigilante because his parents were killed. In the Batman films, Christopher Nolan’s 2008 The Dark Knight and Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, the audience can observe the similarities and differences in each film. In the films Batman is played by two different actors, Burton`s Batman is played by Michael Keaton and Nolan`s Batman is played by Christian Bale. Burton`s Batman and Nolan`s Batman go through similar obstacles and struggles, but they use different resources and, have
Halloween is the time of the year when people dress up and have fun scaring people. Christmas is the time of the year full of joy and happiness. All though these two holidays are quite the opposite, some people find it hard to determine what type of movie The Nightmare Before Christmas is. There are two different sides, the people who think it’s a Halloween movie and the people who think it's a Christmas movie. I personally feel and believe that The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Christmas movie. I feel this way because after watching the movie multiple times, I’ve come up with many valid reasons that can make your mind change to stand with me on the side of people who also believe it’s a Christmas movie.Those reasons include the movie’s
Victor is on the pursuit to find his creature. On the other hand, Willy is trying to live out the American Dream through wrongs means of doing so. They both have a key relationship in the story: Frankenstein is to the creature as Willy is to Biff. Willy and Frankenstein both are classified as tragic heroes because they both possess a tragic flaw. Willy covets the wrong dream, as opposed to Victor who is over-reaching to create life.
Jack Skellington or the Pumpkin King is the protagonist in Burton’s Nightmare before Christmas. He lives in Halloween Town where he is the star, the local celebrity. This town is a world that is purely dark in emotion with a murky color palette. (Chambers 18) It is an environment where monstrosities, cruelty, and fear are celebrated. This is evident in the introduction song This is Halloween where we are introduced to some of Halloween land’s terrifying inhabitants,“ I am the one hiding under your bed. Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red/I am the one hiding under your stairs. Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair”. (Thompson) Jack has played the role of the pumpkin king for what seems like forever and he has grown bored at his lack of progress, with living the same way for all of eternity. This stagnation pushes Jack into a state of despair. The colors of his clothes and environment symbolize the emotional struggle of the pumpkin king. When he faces the vivid color schemes they motivate him to take action and take back his life, because to Jack vibrant colors represent warmth and contentment. (McMahon
Another Tyler Perry comedy movie with our favorite character, none other than Madea. Who wouldn’t love another Tyler Perry movie? If you’re planning on seeing this movie, I must say - DO NOT watch the trailer unless you're the kind of person that loves knowing every detail in the movie before you even watch it. The trailer kind of ruined the comedic flow of the entire movie because I knew everything that was going to happen.
Modern society funnels people into a mold of who they should be, but those who differ from this mold tend to be just as or even more successful as those who fit society’s mold. In Tim Burton films a variety of cinematic techniques are used to isolate a specific character; while everyone else will appear to be similar. The film Edward Scissorhands misfit was Edward and in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the outcast was Willy Wonka. Both characters did not fit in with the rest of their peers but, they we’re still unique people in their own rights. Burton uses these outcast characters to suggest that even if you are different you still have the potential for great achievement.
Tim Burton is an American film director; widely regarded for his dark, quirky and gothic films. Burton has created numerous amounts of children movies such as, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) to Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Corpse Bride (2005). These films gained worldwide success, garnering up to an astonishing amount of $1 billion.1 Burton was able to grab the attentions of many viewers by his unique style; leaving them wanting more. Although he didn’t always start out that way. As a child, Tim Burton was considered very introverted and unassuming.