Tim Burton Style Analysis

Leah seifert

Lantz

English 9 P.5

20 January 2015

Style Through Burtons Eyes

Tim Burton uses cinematic techniques to show mood and tone through his movies. Some of his most known movies include Edward Scissor Hands and Charlie and the chocolate factory.He uses these techniques to create a gloomy mood.Tim burton uses a variety of Cinematic techniques including camera movement, lighting and sound to create this mood.

Tim Burton uses Sound to create a mysterious and creepy mood.He transitions between diegetic and non-diegetic sound use to add suspense. In the film Edward Scissor hands he sets the scene during the opening credits when he plays creepy suspenseful music to add and build nerves. In the movie Charlie and the Chocolate factory when the oompa loompas sing whenever one of

the rude children is taken away. This is a less creepy way to show that their is something wrong. Sound is a critical use of Tim Burtons style.
Lighting is also used constantly throughout the story.

Lighting is used to show the mood and tone of the movie. High key lighting is when a style of lighting that is bright, even, and produces little contrast between light and dark areas of the scene. This is used to create joy and happiness. In contrast Burton uses low key lighting this means a low or reduced light creating eerie images. Burton lighting help create his own style and ideas.In Edward Scissorhands he changed the lighting. In the main town where peg lives the lighting is bright making it seem cheerful when in reality, the town is hateful and rude where all the women gossip and are disrespectful. on the other hand Edward is dark and private shutting himself off from others and coming across as shut off and dreadful but his internal personality is sweet and gentle. Once again in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Charlies house looks practically rundown and looks almost uninhabitable when in truth the kindest most unselfish family lives there where they are all loving and supportive. The chocolate factory is also dark and strange when inside its very colorful and bright. Burtons use of reverse lighting adds to the mood and

tone.
The final technique is Camera movement. The most dramatic/most used technique was zoom. In the movie Edward Scissorhands he used zoom to show expressions and feelings. When Edward was cutting the bushes it showed that Edward was talented and used it to his advantage by helping out his community. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory he used zoom, when Willy Wonka opens the door to the edible room the camera zooms in. This increases the excitement and anticipation. As he zooms in towards the door, it swings open and he switches over to a boom/crane view of the room. doing this the audience gets to see the whole room including the chocolate waterfall and much more in the factory. Burton uses is high angles to minimize how characters appear making the mood more suspenseful. In the movie Edward Scissorhands, when Edwards gets trapped in Jim’s house there is a high angle when he cant escape and starts to panic.. High angles also makes him seem more isolated. In Charlie and the Chocolate factory, Burton uses a high angle when Charlie goes to bed. This shows Charlie is small and alone. Tim Burton uses high angle shots in his films to show isolation and when characters are misunderstood. Burton uses camera movements to his advantage.
In conclusion Tim Burton uses lighting, sound, and camera movements to show exciting cinematic experiences that adds to the suspense of his movies. Tim Burton has a great cinematic style that suits his taste in films quite well. I wonder what great production is next on the list.