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Analysis on Tim Burton's cinematic style
Tim burton cinematic technique essay
Tim Burton cinematic techniques
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In the movie Edward Scissorhands, the dark and shadowy castle looks like something out of a horror movie. This is one of Tim Burton’s lighting techniques to make everything look grotesque and ominous. When Charlie’s house was being shown in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the house looked dark and hopeless. Charlie’s family doesn’t look sad at all though, in fact they are happy because even though they live in the worst house in the town, they have a home and a meal every night and they are one big happy
In the movie Edward Scissorhands, a lot of different cinematic techniques are used. This movie mostly focuses on lighting, usually using darker low-key lighting throughout most of the film to create a darker, creepy tone. Low-key lighting is used mostly in scenes with Edward scissorhands in them, not as much with the girl. A good example of these low-key lighting scenes are the beginning ones, when the girl first enters Edward’s castle. The atmosphere inside is dark and creepy, adding to the already mysterious and dark tone of the movie. Another example of a scene with low-key lighting is the very beginning of the credits screen. The words are displayed in white with the rest of the background as a dark and evil setting. This already gives
Would you let a man with scissors for hands in your, that you found in a dark evil-looking castle? I know I wouldn’t, but a mom named Peg would. Peg, who is very empathetic, decides to go sell Avon to the evil mansion across the street, but then finds a boy with scissors for hands and decides to take him home. Edward seems to be doing fine in the community, but is soon seen as a monster because he is framed by a bully name Jim. The movie is Edward, the protagonist, trying to recuperate his innocence and he won’t stop until he does. Throughout the movie, director Tim Burton used the stylistic elements of juxtaposition and symbolism to show the character’s personalities and to show how some places in the story are opposites.
Not a single individual is able to watch a Burton film without noticing the lighting effects and how it significantly contributes to the tone and mood of the entire film. In the movie Edward Scissorhands, one might be overwhelmed with the burst of extravagant colors in the scenery. Indeed this cinematic technique, high key, wholly influences the viewers perception and impression of the town. One can conclude that even though flamboyancy pervades the town, iniquity lurks in all directions and hypocrisy governs the minds of its inhabitants. Irony is harnessed in this film. How can an effulgent town harbor wickedness and Edward with a chilling and gothic complexion radiate innocence and righteousness? Burton uses these opposing conceptions brought about by the contrast of lighting to convey the message that materialism has been ingrained in the mentality of society (at least in the neighborhood in which Burton lived in the past), thus yearning for th...
The setting gives the reader a sense that terror awaits. This story shows this by talking about the lighting
It can be argued that the theme of light VS darkness is used to good
In Alice in Wonderland, high key lighting is used at the White Queens castle. This is supposed to show that the White Queen is pure and good. In contrast, the Red Queen’s castle has a lot of shadows and darkness, causing the audience to think that she is evil and dangerous. This dramatic change helps us know which one is good and which one is evil. The scene when Alice goes to the White Queen’s castle for help, the audience can infer that Alice and the White Queen want to get rid of the Red Queen. This scene shows that Alice can’t kill the jabberwocky and destroy the Red Queen without the support and comfort from her new friends. In comparison, in Charlie in the Chocolate Factory Burton uses high key lighting when Wonka tells Charlie that he is the new owner of the world-famous Wonka Factory. Though there is a catch, his family cannot come with him to live in the factory. As much as Charlie would love to live in a chocolate wonderland, his family is more important than chocolate. This shows that Charlie is loves and respects
“I recall being one of those kids where every day was a science fair… It's like well, 'here, let's mix this up and see if it blows up'.” Tim Burton was always quirky as a child, but he was okay with his differences and embraced them through his art. Influenced by the “B” horror films from his childhood, Tim Burton brought the iconic dark mood into his movies, giving a modern twist to the idea of monsters and obscurity. The characters portrayed in his films had the obscure qualities that he saw in himself. In the films Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare before Christmas, Tim Burton utilized the cinematic element of symbolism to convey the reoccurring theme of individuality.
However, they have also put him in an artistic cage according to his viewers. They hear his name and they immediately associate his work with only the Gothic, only the creepy and dark. They see his twisted figures, his gloomy color schemes, his emphasis on death and then label him as an artist only able of applying the Gothic. In a way they are correct; he does employ dark and creepy details, however, he is a multifaceted artist capable of much more than the macabre. As he stresses the Gothic characteristics, he likewise applies modernistic techniques and an array of vivid colors. All of which contrasts sharply with features of the Gothic genre. Burton’s iconic dark palettes and color schemes allow him to give color meaning. In the Nightmare before Christmas he does this by creating a juxtaposition between the kaleidoscope colors of Christmas land and the Grayscale Halloween land. Both holiday realms, containing a leader and their own niche, embrace their own color palette. These contrasting hues coincide with the beliefs and tone of the holiday. Bright reds and greens highlight the joy of gift giving and being around those you love. In contrast murky blacks, cold dark colors, and the occasional orange emphasize the rapturous glee of fear and
sensation. It was voted one of the films of the year by the New York
The use of imagery or personification increases the suspense in the story, ‘Shadows cower’ is a very descriptive way of showing how frightening the mansion is. It sounds as if the shadows which are linked to darkness themselves are afraid of a greater evil. We wonder what this great evil could be that makes evil itself tremble. Another personification used is ‘candles writhing’. Candles are usually associated to gothic stories, as it is only small source of light within a vast darkness of the room.
Examples of this would be the scenes where Joy, Sadness and Bing Bong were in the Subconscious the lighting being very low with a greenish tent and caused a horror feeling for the audience. Another Example of this would be when Joy and Bing Bong were trapped in the Memory Dump. The lighting here is shadowy and has a grayish tone causing a sense of hopelessness for the audience. This is further changed into sadness when Bing Bong's character design began to change from its original form to a form with less and less visible parts to the point where Bing Bong is gone and
This is clear through the various mid-shots of the children hiding in furniture having the audience understand on a larger scale the fear that they would have felt which is loosely similar to characters hiding from a serial killer in many horror films. A striking example of this scene is the fact that there is a close-up shot of a cupboard with a child squashed inside, the use of the prop of a cupboard is rather ironic as in concentration camps they would make the Jews make furniture, but the cupboard is essentially somewhat symbolic because it represents escapism, a chance to block out the world and retreat especially within this context. As well as that scene, the close ups of children’s faces with different shades of lighting highlights a split between what they are forced to do (be kept in the dark) versus what they want to do (be free). The use of dark colours is instantly an example of horror iconography as this colour alludes to something sinister or evil. Nevertheless, most horror films nowadays focus on a lot of violence and Schindler’s List is an example of this through the Liquidation of the Ghetto scene. The powerful diegetic sound of a baby crying adds to the eerie sensation by manipulating the audience into feeling quite uncomfortable but also sympathetic at the prospect of an innocent man dead. Yet again, it is the sound that is very powerful because the diegetic sound of a woman wailing layered with a child screaming is distressing and alarming for the spectator as they are just as vulnerable as the characters on
Seen in the contrasted blacks and white in both the scenery and characters, it plays as an intensifier of emotions; the extremes of shade play on the extremes of morality, of good and evil, the known and unknown. The dark shadows serve as foreboding spaces, voids of unfamiliarity, of moral ambiguity, of uncertainty that the less appealing aspects of society live in. The light only brings out the darkness. Poe-like make-up is applied to Caligari’s actors—the heavy eyeliner, dark eye shadows, and stark-white complexions--, which exaggerated the emotions of the characters. It made the hypnotizing eyes of Cesare, the somnambulist, all the more enrapturing; the wrinkles on Dr. Caligari’s forehead became more menacing when defined. Later, Expressionist films achieved this effect through lighting techniques, but a low budget (or eccentric artistry) meant that these shadows were painted onto the architecture. This gave a severe, sharp distinction that added to the surreal atmosphere of Caligari’s tale. In the more realistic Kammerspielfilm -Expressionistic properties of The Last Laugh, elements of chiaroscuro are seen in the atmospheric lighting and framing devices; also, the use of flashlights to command attention in the darkness of to draw focus to the faces of characters occurs several times; and, i.e., as seen above, when the doorman (Emil Jannings) is told he is being replaced due to a
The night sets used in the film are important to setting the mysterious atmosphere and sense of danger that the movie thrives in. The filmmakers utilized lighting fixtures of the time to amplify the sets. As Lincoln’s mother dies in his wooden cabin, the single light from a candle flickers illuminating the horrid scene. The light amplifies the sense of unease that a lone cabin sitting in the woods generates within modern people. Next, lanterns are used to illuminate key parts of the set during Lincoln’s first fight with a vampire. Only fixtures such as slave shackles, dark boat moorings, and a slowly breaking wooden dock are shown. The light cast drives the viewers focus onto objects that would cause a sense of dread and fear and make the fight much more powerful. Objects that would be considered frightening and strange today but common during the Civil War period are also used to generate an aura of danger and horror. During a fight, Lincoln stumbles into a basement filled with rope, porcelain bowls, and a straight razor. At the time these all would be common household objects, but immediately after it is revealed that this was the scene of multiple murders. Each of those objects symbolizes death in popular culture and generate a dark atmosphere that foreshadows the horror Lincoln was about to stumble upon. The combination of accurate lighting to focus the viewer on certain objects on the set and the symbolism that these objects represent generates much of the atmosphere the film
Darkness is meant to conceal, light is meant to expose, and there is power intrinsically imbued in both of these. Murderers hide in the dark, waiting for their victims, and the atrocities of different countries are hidden in history and official memos and propaganda. At the same time, light exerts power because it illuminates, it discovers, it creates vulnerability on all it touches. These powers, however, do not simply exist; they are forged within every aspect of life, even the very structures that people live in. Low-income tenement apartments are built so that they are not seen, colored in a drab shade of gray or brick, build alongside one another so that they blend into the background. They have small lawns and even smaller windows so that people walking by cannot get a glimpse of the life inside; darkness is used to hide their sad reality. Victorian mansions, however, do not need to shroud themselves in darkness. Their almost treeless lawns, small front gardens, and large picture windows are meant to illuminate their wealth, showing it off for the entire world to see.