Tim Burton's Cinematic Choices | Teen Ink

Tim Burton's Cinematic Choices

February 12, 2019
By KenzWrites11 SILVER, Dallas, Texas
KenzWrites11 SILVER, Dallas, Texas
7 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Color, music, and shapes make people feel emotions and without them, it would be a boring world. Tim Burton is a movie director who uses all three and more, some of his movies are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Corpse Bride, and Edward Scissorhands. His movies tend to direct movies with an eerie or off-putting feeling that can show loneliness or uniqueness. Tim Burton uses close-ups, colors, and Non-Diegetic music, in order to achieve Despair to show that things will get better with time.

First, Burton uses close-ups to show the importance of certain objects or people and give the viewer a chance to fully view an important object. In the movie The Corpse Bride, at the beginning of the movie, there was a close up of a purple butterfly flying through the town. This shows the importance of the butterfly and how it links to Emily later in the movie. While the butterfly is fluttering around the town it is showing the quietness and how the town is preparing for the wedding which was a good time for the town before the wedding went downhill. But the butterfly is showing importance to the calm beginning and how the end will also be calm, like when Emily went back to the dead. Showing how later everything will be better. In the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, there is a close up to show the fancy chocolate bar packaging to show the importance of the chocolate and the big role it plays in the Movie.  The chocolate was important as it was what brought good and happy times to Charlie and his family. This is a clear example of how things got better for Charlie and his family and how the chocolate wrapping showed things getting better. Tim Burton uses close-ups on objects or people so that the audience can see details on their faces or on the object.

    In Addition, Tim Burton uses colors in order to show the importance of something. In the movie The Corpse Bride, the living world was very dull colored with mostly greys while in the dead world there are a lot more vibrant colors to show that death is not such a terrible thing and good things can await you. Giving the idea of things getting better with time. In the movie Edward Scissorhands, Edward’s castle/house is very dull and colorless while the town is very bright and vibrant. This shows how nothing bad happens in the town and it is a very good and happy place. Colors can show a lot of emotion but can also show the importance of something. If something is completely different and the colors stand out it is most likely an important part of the movie and the director is trying to make it very noticeable just as Tim Burton did.

   Furthermore, Music can show many emotions throughout the movie. In The Corpse Bride, a lot of non-diegetic music is used to create an effect on the audience whether its excitement like when the dead was first introduced in the movie or calm and sort of sad like when Emily went back into the dead at the very end of the movie. The music helps to show the emotion in the movie and give the audience a better idea of how to feel about a certain event. Such as when Emily went back to the dead, the music was softer and calmer to give the audience a feeling of completeness, like that everyone is now good. If Burton had chosen to use more dangerous and fast pace music it would give the audience the feeling that Emily would be back for revenge or that she was angry about not having the wedding. In the movie, Edward Scissorhands music was used a lot when Edward was cutting bushes or cutting hair and it was very fast and frantic to show the emotion of danger and excitement. This made the viewer almost nervous that he would mess up if Burton had chosen the more slow pace and peaceful music the audience most likely wouldn't have the same feeling.  Music can also show the importance of a certain action or scene and can create suspense or calmness.

As equally important, Tim Burton chooses to use some tracking camera movements to allow the audience to feel like part of the movie. In Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton chooses to use a tracking camera movement at the very beginning of the movie to show the factory using body part shaped machines. This allowed the viewer to get a good view of the machines which later helped us understand Edward’s Scissorhands. Without the tracking camera movement, the audience may not understand how or why Edwards “Creator” had his hands in making. Also in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory Tim Burton used the tracking camera movement in the scene where Willy Wonka and Charlie were in the magic elevator to show the magical movements of the elevator and give the viewer a full understanding of why the elevator is so special.  Without the tracking camera, the audience would not be able to view the trip on the elevator which would take away from the magical feeling that the elevator gives. Butron uses the tracking camera movement a lot in order to give the audience a full picture of any movement.

Also, Tim Burton chooses to use shapes in his movies to show uniqueness and showed the viewer that the places are different. In Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton choose to make Charlie's house and the factory very uniquely shaped in a very symmetrical town. This makes Wonka and Charlie similar to each other but different from the rest of the town. In Edward Scissorhands Burton choose to make the machines in Edward's house shaped like body parts which are very unique and unexpected also the neighborhood was very symmetrical. These things showed how different the neighborhood and town are. If something is differently shaped than everything else it shows uniqueness.  Butron uses shapes in order to show the differences between certain places or people.

Color, music, and shape have a big impact on how people perceive and feel about a movie. Tim Burton uses close-ups, color, and music in his movies to convey the theme that when something new comes, don't be afraid to take the chance. Close-ups can show how important an object or reaction from a character is. Color can show the major part of a movie by making it stand out in a very monotone world. Lastly, music shows the significance of a certain part of the movie, or portray a certain emotion to the viewer with different speed and volume. Tim Burton uses these three elements to make his movies draw the audience into the movie and makes the movie better to understand and enjoy.



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