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Tim Burton is an auteur because he is generally known for having one of the world's most distinct style in film directing his films such as Alice in Wonderland (2010), Beetle juice (1988), Edward scissor hands (1990), corpse bride (2005) and Big Fish (2003) are all very successful, critically acclaimed movies making him one of the most successful directors in Hollywood. Due to the success of Batman(1989), Tim is now classified as an A-list director. After watching Tim Burton's films it is clear that he has a certain style.
A high percentage of all Tim Burton's films have the effect of shadows, harsh contrasts, black and white, and drawn elements, Tim is inspired by Gothic art.
This is evident in the movie Big Fish (2003)with a witch with a glass eye that pictures an image of how those who look into it will perish or with Edward scissor hands (1990) is practically a Gothic story of a combination of Frankenstein and Beauty and the Beast, since he is an unfinished isolated creation who was brought into 1950's middle-class America, who happens to fall in love with a teenage girl.
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The theme that Burton acknowledged were the main themes of both films were isolation and self-discovery.
Tim uses inventive and tight camera angles to show the main concepts of isolation and self-discovery. Edward was found living alone in the attic of a Gothic castle, after the man who made and took care of Edward died before he could give him proper hands. when Edward had been discovered Edward is presented to the audience in a long-shot which hastily changes to a close shot of his scarred, pale face, with all black clothing and scissors for hands are viewed fully and to the audience immediately thinks he is a monster.
After the taken from his comfort zone and put in a busy and noisy neighborhood he discovered he cannot fit in with the others in a scary environment as he is an outcast to the average people in the suburb.
Likewise in Big Fish Edward is confronted by a wolf living (who is just Amos, a circus ring leader in werewolf form). Tim would expect an average person to try to hurt or defend themselves from the wolf but instead throws it a stick for it to catch, in this part, he narrates "It was that night I discovered that most things you consider evil or wicked are simply lonely, and lacking in the social niceties." this shows the good-hearted nature of Edward and belief in everyone's goodness. Edward expresses to help others you must try to help them suppress their loneliness by showing them acceptance. as you can see from both examples Burton's Film style is replicated through both films
Similarly, both movies have protagonists, antagonists, and love. in Edward Scissorhands, there is a certain attraction between him and Kim. In Big Fish Amos (the circus ringmaster) tells Edward of Sandra Templeton, Edward stalks her for many days, even going to a very high level by planting millions of daffodils outside her dorm room. in Edward Scissor hands the main antagonist of the film is Jim, a thuggish jock and bully as well as Kim's boyfriend. Jim is jealous of the attention Kim is getting so he decides to make him break him into his owns parents' home, setting off the burglar alarm.
Everyone escapes leaving Edward alone, leading him to his arrest. In another scene whilst Edward is sculpting an ice statue he accidentally cuts Kim's hand, Jim claims that it was intentional and tries to attack Edward. Edward runs away in a rage, leading to Kim breaking up with Jim on the spot. The situation gets a lot worse when Kevin (the little brother of Kim) is almost run over by Jim's drunken friend, Edward pushes him at the last moment where he cuts Kevin's face causing the people to think it was an attack, when Edward hears police sirens he runs back to his mansion, Kim follows and reunites with Edward but shortly after Jim appears and brutally attacks Edward. Edward stands until Jim slaps and pushes Kim away, Edward then stabs him in the stomach pushing him out a window where he falls to his death. Burton claims that this scene was a "high school fantasy." and it was an act of revenge against jocks he encountered as a teenager in suburban Burbank, CA. but big fish's antagonist is the son's side of the story to Edwards, wherein BigFish he doesn't believe what Edward is telling him and tries to extract the truth from his father via his storytelling.
Will investigates the truth behind his father's tales and travels to the old town of spectre, there he meets an older jenny, who explains to will that his father saved spectre from bankruptcy by buying it and refurbishing it with help from friends from Calloway circus. will suggest that they had an affair bu He finds out that his father was always loyal to Sandra. through this, we can see the similarities through both films and Burton's technique.
A common and distinctive style that contributes to Tim Burton's Cinematic style is the use of flashbacks, flashbacks are necessary for the audience to understand the plot. for Example In the film Edward Scissorhands, we can see that he is with an old man(presumed father) where he was going to replace Edwards Scissorhands with prosthetic human hands. This creates sympathy for Edward as he could have been a normal civilian, amongst the crowd but sadly his father passes away before he could properly finish him. Similarly, Tim uses flashbacks all through Big FIsh to show the stories Edward has told his son about his life. The flashbacks run chronologically and are always on a time line. The flashbacks start from when Edward is young and create the story of his life. Tim uses different lighting to show that is a flashback for example in normal time the scene has natural light and looks normal, and with flashbacks, the lighting looks almost staged, unrealistic and exaggerated. Likewise, when we see the present day the setting looks natural and real, but when we look at flashbacks some parts of the set look almost unrealistic.
Tim Burton as a Famous Person in Filmmaking. (2019, Nov 17). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/tim-burton-as-a-famous-person-in-filmmaking-essay
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