Tim Burton's Influence On Edward Scissorhands

Born in 1958, Tim Burton directed over 35 films including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, and Alice in Wonderland. He is known for his quirky horror and his grotesque but child like style. He has always been inspired by Edgar Allen Poe and his dark way of writing which appeals to emotions and has a dramatic effect on the story. In many of his live action films, Burton is able to create different moods through his use of lighting.

In Burton’s movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was released in 2005 had low and high key lighting which was used to give certain settings different moods. In the movie, Charlie lives in a run down house which always seemed to have low key lighting. The lighting makes the house

seem broken and old portraying Charlie’s parents as poor. While the house doesn't look like a good place to live, the lighting still gives it a sense of coziness and serenity. The low light emphasizes that even though the house is not the fanciest, Charlie is still happy to live there as a result of the peaceful mood the low light gives. Another scene in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that represents Burton’s use of lighting was when all the kids and their parents entered the room which was completely made out of candy. When the door was opened and the room was unveiled, the setting had high key lighting which gave the audience a majestic, bright, and a jubilant feeling towards the setting. The audience could feel the amazingness and lively feeling of the Chocolate Factory. Another example of lighting is the flashback to when Willy Wonka traveled to Oompa loompa land, the low lighting made the jungle seem creepy. The audience could feel the eeriness, suspense, and presentiment of the jungle. When the story builds up suspense and the audience feels the scary creature is supposed to attack, a small little Oompa Loompa jumps out of the jungle leaves. Ultimately, Tim Burton used a combination of low key and high key lighting in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to convey different moods throughout the story.
In 1990, another film directed by Tim Burton was released called Edward Scissorhand which again the audience can identify different types of lighting.

In the beginning of the movie, Peg, an Avon representative walked to a dark, creepy mansion. When she walked in, most of the scenery had low key lighting. This created a suspenseful mood and foreshadowed a bad event. When she got up to the attic, Edward Scissorhands approached her, the somber lighting made him seem ominous and frightening. The audience knew something bad was going to happen but after he took another step forward, the lighting changed to high key lighting revealing his innocent character. In addition to the mansion scene, high key lighting was found in the neighborhood. This made the neighborhood seem a bit plain, traditional, and flawless. When Edward would walk around the bright colorful neighborhood in his dark colored eerie clothes, the audience can get a sense of awkwardness and could feel how odd Edward was compared to the bright, happy neighborhood. Another example of lighting in Edward Scissorhand, in this case to show the odd one out, is how compared to the cheerful neighborhood, Edward’s mansion is really scary. The mansion is always shown with low key lighting giving the audience an uneasy feeling. The mansion looks sinister combined with the low key lighting giving the audience a sense that the antagonist lives there. The neighborhood is so perfect, the high key lighting makes the neighborhood

seem as the protagonist lives there. Compared to the neighborhood, Edward’s house looks like the evil one because of the low key lighting and the dark appearance. The different types of lighting in Edward Scissorhand help to convey the person vs world conflict.
In addition to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland has different lighting to change the mood.

In the beginning of the movie after Alice falls down rabbit hole and opens the door to Wonderland, Wonderland is shown with high key lighting to give the the audience a feeling of astonishment. The setting feels unbelievable and almost alluring. The high key lighting gives the audience a hint that this was a happy place where the good characters are compared to the Queen of Hearts castle which is shown with dimmer lighting. Later in the movie, Alice and the Hatter were walking through the dimly lit forest. The low key lighting made the ominous forest foreshadow a bad event. The audience could feel a bad event approaching and the forest was not a safe place to be. Lastly, when the Queen of Hearts ordered to bring out the Jabberwocky, the egg was shown with low key lighting to hint to the audience; this was the antagonist. The low lighting gave the Jabberwocky a scary, powerful image and gave the audience a daunting feeling towards Alice. On a whole, Burton used both high and low key in Alice in Wonderland to foreshadow event and create a certain mood so the audience can feel happy, excited, or scared throughout the

movie.
In the movies Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, and Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton, the director of these films, used different lighting to change the mood of the scenes. In all these movies, the setting and characters seem very odd. Tim Burton can teach us to be ourselves and in the end everything will turn out alright. No matter how odd some people are, they are good people and good things will come to them when they are being themselves.