English 4 Style Analysis Magazine

The Movie H und
Tim Burton
Special
“One person’s crazyness is another
person’s reality.” - Tim Burton

CONTENTS
2-3
Signs of a Tim
Burton movie
1

Signsyou’rewatchinga
TimBurtonMovie
Article written by Ashley Krause May 1, 2014
The Movie H und
Alice from Alice in
Wonderland courtesy
of parentpreviews.com
Sparky from
Frankenweenie
courtesy of comicbook.com
Jack Skellington from
Nightmare Before
Christmas courtesy of
Kingdom Hearts wikia
Welcome boys and girls of all ages to the wonderful,
yet dark, mind of the one and only Tim Burton. His
mind, more importantly the movies and characters
that have come from it, are famous for it’s creepy
and dark nature. Burton fueled by his originality and
dark demeanour have created some pretty amazing
movies. In fact, his movies have prompted a new
genre to be created called Burtonesque, which is
any person/place/thing that resembles the style
his films use. Please join me as I go deeper into his
mind and tell you what you are most likely to see in
a Burton movie.
Flashbacks
These flashbacks are an occurring event in Burton
movies and are used to help explain a character’s
past. For instance, in Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory, he uses this technique to help explain Willy
Wonka’s troubled past with his father and how he
came to be a chocolatier.
Same Cast
Mr. Burton is also quite the fan of using the same
actors over and over again. This can be seen in
almost every single movie with Johnny Depp and
Helena Bonham Carter. These two can often be
seen as the love interest of one another like in
Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, and Dark Shadows.
No one knows the truth as to why he likes to cast
the same actors but most people can agree that it’s
either due to friendship or great charisma on the
actors’ part.
Creepiness
Almost anyone who has seen a movie of Burton’s will
definitely agree that they are creepy. Take his film Edward
Scissorhands for instance, the main character has scissors
for hands and the dark castle on top of the hill just scream
creepy. Or what about his versions of the Batman mov-
ies? Those most definitely have a creep factor to them. I
mean have you seen Penguin in Batman Returns? What
a total downright creepy character! Who would ever think
of something like this except for the master of it all Mr.
Burton himself.
Dark and Bright Colors
Darkness and bold shadows are another specialty found
in almost all of his movies. Used to create a suspenseful,
dark, or dreary mood he skillfully uses this to his advan-
tage. Seen quite often in many of his movies like 9, Night-
mare Before Christmas, and Dark Shadows. On the other
hand he is also quite the fan of using bright colors in his
movies like Alice in Wonderland and Corpse Bride. In fact,
in Corpse Bride he actually uses dark colors to represent
the land of the living and bright, cheery colors to represent
the land of the dead. By doing this he shows how dreary
and boring the living can be and then how much fun the
dead are.
Gothic Architecture
The architecture in most of his films can be deemed as
gothic as well as the tone of the whole movie. Gothic in
2

Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Tim Burton out together courtesy of aforanything.com
Emily from Corpse Bride courtesy of
littlegothichorrors.blogspot.com
nature, his films show the dark side of life without
holding anything back. The buildings in many films,
like Sweeny Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet
Street and Edward Scissorhands, are in a style
seen back in the seventeenth-eighteenth century.
Characterised by it’s pointed arches, large win-
dows, towers, spires, and pinnacles this gothic
style has influenced many of Burton’s movies.
Deep Hidden Meanings
Burton’s movies are also very deep and usually
have a meaning hidden amongst the complexi-
ty of the plot. In Edward Scissorhands it could
be interpreted as Edward (the main character)
having a disability (his scissor hands) and how
he overcomes this disability and is a part of the
community at first (cutting hair and bushes). There
are quite a few deep meanings in his claymation
film Corpse Bride, for example there is the color
difference between life (dull grey tones) and death
(bright cheery colors) showing that people have
more fun when they’re dead and don’t have to
care about anything. Also in that movie there is a
butterfly that can be seen throughout the film, the
same butterfly that Emily turns into. Butterflies
can mean a number of things like rebirth or love
or transition but in this movie it means that Emily
is finally free. That she let
go of the pain she held and
transformed into something
beautiful and free.
Mystery in Shadows
There is definitely a mystery
effect to quite a lot of his
films. He uses harsh lighting
to create bold shadows in
order to create a feeling
of suspense. This feeling make the view-
er wonder what will happen next, hence
creating mystery. This can be seen in pretty
much every single one of his movies.
Twisted Humor
This is another thing Mr. Burton is quite
the fan of and uses it in quite a few of his
movies. In his film Beetlejuice, he changed
the face of horror comedy. His “cheap” effects made the
twisted world of Beetlejuice something to laugh at instead
of focusing on how strange of an idea it truly is.
The Outcast
Another favorite of Mr. Burton that can be seen quite often
in his movies. The skittish outcast that is either the main
character or sidekick to the main character. I mean just
take a look at Edward from Edward Scissorhands, Willy
Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Barnabas
Collins from Dark Shadows, and many, many more. They
are all skittish outcasts that are fan favorites. They tend to
keep to themselves, do not know how to socialize, or just
seem downright strange.
Monsters
Things that go bump in the night. Creepy crawlers, skel-
etons, ghosts, you name it and you’ve got it. Mr. Burton
is notorious for his monsters of the night such as Oogie
Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Head-
less Horseman from Sleepy Hollow, the Jabberwocky from
Alice in Wonderland, and the Sand Worm from Beetlejuice.
Mr. Burton does love his monsters and you can bet you will
see them in his movies.
3

1
TIM BURTON
Tim Burton is an author
because of his constant use of
the same actors, producers and
crew member as well as the
similar themes in his movies.
Tim Burton is known for being the director
of movies such as Batman(1989), Corpse
Bride(2005), Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory(2005), Alice in Wonderland(2010)
and Edward Scissorhands(1990). In his
movies Tim Burton is usually illustrating
the good and the evil in his plot. In his
movies the characters that are trustworthy
turned to become corrupted, Tim Burton
talks about a lot about corruption as for
instance in Batman where the President of
Gotham city Max Shreck becomes a corrupt
person as well as for the police officer Max
Eckhardt. This characteristic is also seen in
Edward Scissorhands whereas Edward is seeing
as a monster by the society but all he demands is
love and acceptance from them, however the
society is stereotyping him and rejecting him. At
the end the people from the town that were
stereotyping him and calling him a monster
turned out to become the monsters.
Tim Burton uses a lot of stereotypes and
generalizations of people and characters in his
movies as for instance, in the movie Edward
Scissorhands, Tim Burton stereotypes typical
1950’s american women as housewives and
domestic workers. He also generalize women
as gossips in his movie, these women are
hungry for news and are constantly on the
phone as well as buying and selling beauty
products. In also Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory for instance Tim Burton stereotypes
the characters.
“One person's craziness is another person's reality.”

Alexandre Liapis May 9th 2014
2
As for example to illustrate
the winners that found the
tickets to go the chocolate
factory, Tim Burton
stereotypes the spoil English
girl with a posh and rich
father. He illustrates the
American boy as a kid
obsessed of video games
and electronics. The reason
why Tim Burton is
recognized as an author is
because of his general dark
gothic theme found in his
movies. Something that
makes Tim Burton unique is
the fact that in most of his
movies, the villain isn’t
always the strange guy or
the “freak” as in most
common movies that we can
watch in our society where
the leading character is a big
brave hero accompanied of
his cheerleaders. In Tim
Burton’s films he is usually
using dark characters or
characters that could be seen
as “freaks” for the leading
role as for instance Edward,
in the movie Edward
Scissorhands.
“I always liked strange
characters.”
Another technique that is constantly seen in
Tim Burton’s movies are flashbacks that
conflict with the presents. We can see these
flashbacks, in Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory where Wily Wonka has flashbacks
about his childhood and his father. These
flashbacks are also seen in Alice in
Wonderland, Batman and Edward
Scissorhands. All these movies have the
similarity to have their leading character
having flashbacks throughout the movie
which helps the viewer understand better the
choices made by the leading character.“Keep it real for yourself”

3
Settings in most of Tim Burton’s movies are
unrealistic by giving a look of “farytale” as
seen in Alice in Wonderland or the castle in
which Edward lived in Edward Scissorhands.
In pretty much all of Tim Burton’s movies
we can see many similarities that make the
movie noticed as a Tim Burton movie. In his
movies we can usually see or feel death,
violence, machinery, dark colors and blood.
Tim Burton uses a very gothic style.
Most of his movies also have near death
experiences as for instance in Edward
Scissorhands, Jim tried to murder Edward. In
Corpse Pride, Victor was close to remain in
the world of the death. In Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory all the winners of the
golden ticket except for Charlie had a near
death experience. Furthermore another
similarity seen in Tim Burton’s work is his
use of storytelling.
Other than the techniques used in Tim
Burton movies that make him an author,
there are other factors such as the constant
use of the same actors in his movies. Actors
such as Johnny Deep, Helena Bonham Carter
and Christopher all appeared in height, seven
and six of Tim Burton’s movies. The film
composer Danny Elfman, is a composer that
worked in all of Tim Burton’s film for the
exception of Sweeney Todd: The Demon
Barber of Feet Street(2007) and Ed Wood
(1994). These factors portray Tim Burton as
an author.
To understand Tim Burton’s choices in his
movies we sometimes have to understand
him and who he is.
As for instance his style is seen by the
audience as sometimes to dark or violent for
the kids. Tim Burton’s inspiration for this
particular style started as a child, when he
went to the movie theatre he watched a lot of
different types of movies, as cited here from
one of his interviews “A lot of things you see
as a child remain with you... you spend a lot
of your life trying to recapture the
experience” as well as “Anybody with
artistic ambitions is always trying to
reconnect with the way they saw things as a
child”.
We can also sometimes link his relationship
with his parents as a kid to his movies. As for
instance we know that Tim Burton was shy
and reserved as a kid and that his father used
to be slightly neglected on Burton which
affected a lot his relationship with him. We
can connect that relationship to the one
between Willie Wonka and his father in
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, who is
careless and always trying to control
everything in Willie Wonka’s life.
By watching Tim Burton movies we can
notice that he likes to portrait our society
with dark colors and to portray the world of
the dead with colorful colors. This technique
can be clearly seen in the movie Corpse
Bride where the world of the living is in grey
and black while the world of the dead is
colorful. Tim Burton also uses the costumes
to illustrate these emotions. For instance in
Edward Scissorhands, Edward is wearing an
all-black outfit which portrays him as evil
and has his face is very white which
emphasize death.

4
Edward isn’t evil and
neither the bad guy in movie
but in most common movies
the bad guy would be
illustrated that way.
While Edward is dressed
with dark colors, the “nice”
people of the town are
wearing only colorful colors
and live in colorful houses.
In this contrast, we can
understand that Tim Burton
tried to emphasize the nice
person as the evil and the
evil as the nice people.
“I think a lot of kids feel
alone and slightly
isolated and in their own
world.”

Low Lighting
Techniques:
Youngblood’s English Magazine13
In many of Tim Burton’s movies, he uses
the technique of low key lighting to empha-
size the mysteriousness and to add sus-
pense to the movie and scenes.
ighting is an important part in a film, as without it,
you would not be able to see the characters, set, or
anything happening; The film would just be a dark
screen with voices and sound effects.
The way that Tim Burton uses lighting is for a
totally different reason; Tim Burton uses lighting to add
suspense and to create a mysterious vibe to his films.
For instance, have you ever seen Corpse Bride? In that
film, he uses lighting, specifically low key lighting to
add suspense towards what is going to happen when
Victor, the main character, is being dragged under-
ground by vines when lost in the forest. And it definite-
ly does the trick! It allows you to wonder what is
happening, why it is happening and especially makes
you wonder what will happen next. Personally, I
thought, ‘What’s happening?! Why is it happening?!
Why are the vines grabbing him?! The suspense is
killing me!’.
L This happens in almost all of Tim Burton’s
movies. The low lighting is used in Alice in Wonderland,
Nightmare Before Christmas, Sweeney Todd, and Edward
Scissorhands. In each one of them, you can find elements
that are leading to suspense, and make you wonder,
allowing for you to question what might happen next.
Low lighting is used to keep you on the edge of your
seat, keep you interested and wondering during the
movie. It allows for you to connect with how the charac-
ter on screen is feeling, gives you, who can see and sense
more than the character, a slight insight into the won-
dering, mysterious, confused mindset of the character. It
connects you two, and it lets you feel what the character
is feeling.
Tim Burton’s goal is to attract your attention,
and he definitely succeeds with his dark, seemingly
insane main characters, making your mind work as you
watch his films. The lighting used in Edward Scissor-
hands, in the scene where Peg enters the upstairs room
of Edward’s mansion and sees Edward for the first time,
is low key lighting. It is used to add mystery as to why he
has scissors and blades for hands, and what is going to
happen to Peg since she discovered him. It keeps you on
the edge of your seat, or at least, Tim Burton hopes it
will keep you on the edge of your seat. By using this
technique of lighting, Tim Burton hopes that he will
keep your attention, make you wonder what is going on,
and make you question Edward, attracting even more of
your attention than some bad situational comedy on
television.
In this scene from Alice in Wonderland
low key lighting is used to add mystery
as to where Alice is, and suspense
through wondering what is going to
Nightmare Before Christmas shows low lighting in this scene,
where Sally is preparing something, and you wonder what
she is preparing and why. Photo: Nightmare Before Christmas

Youngblood’s English Magazine 14
“I think a lot of kids
feel alone and slightly
isolated in their own
world.” -Tim Burton
In Nightmare Before Christmas, Sally is seen making
a mixture, cooking something. You’re not sure what it is
when you first see it, as she could be making anything, but
from the low lighting used, you can tell that it’s something
sinister, and it makes you wonder what that something
sinister will be, and what will happen when the concoction
is complete. It creates the suspense for his film, in just that
single scene. The lighting adds mystery, and keeps you
wondering.
For example, in Alice in Wonderland, when Alice
first falls down the rabbit hole and rediscovers Wonder-
land, she looks around, in the low light of the
Wonderland forest, with crazy colors, plants,
and creatures. She looks lost, and the way
that Tim Burton portrays the feeling of being
lost is not only through actress Mia
Wasikowska’s facial emotion, but through
the lighting used as well. The low light that the forest gives
off, mixed with the sun bursts coming through the trees,
creates an element of mystery and suspense. It makes you
wonder why Alice has found this place, and what this
place is, and it lets you understand why it is called Won-
derland. It makes your mind wonder why, what, and
basically allows you to create your own suspense in your
head as you wonder and try to figure out what is going on.
It’s as if you’re a small child who has just discov-
ered the attic of their house. You’re mesmerized by this
new-to-you ‘world’ and you’re curious as to what lies in the
darkest shadows. You’re scared, but yet something- some
element of curiosity- is pulling your interest into discover-
ing it all. Your mind is wandering, creating short stories for
things as all kids do, and the mystery of this new place is
overwhelming. You don’t know what this place is, why it is
here, or what will happen if you go exploring in the
darkest corner, but yet, you’re bouncing with anticipation
of what you will find.
That’s the feeling that Tim Burton portrays with
the low lighting in his films. It’s the feeling of being
isolated in a world all to yourself, being alone, and
yet instead of being scared, being intrigued by the
mystery that this ‘world’ has to offer.
This can also relate to a quote by Tim
Burton, where he says, “I think a lot of kids feel
alone and slightly isolated in their own world.”*
Since you can connect to how the character is
feeling, it can also connect you to memories of your
past, where you might now have known what was
happening, or what was going to
happen next, or why certain things
happened at a certain time. It let’s
you see into those feelings,
connecting you further. That’s why
the quote, which is a vision of
what Tim Burton thinks some kids are like, can
relate you to his movies through the lighting that
causes suspense.
But it’s not only in Edward Scissorhands,
Alice in Wonderland, and Corpse Bride that Tim
Burton uses low key lighting to portray mystery,
emotion, and add suspense. He uses it in a majority
of his films, from Batman, to Sweeney Todd, to
Nightmare Before Christmas. If you’ve seen these
movies, you can probably tell that most of the
movie is dark, filmed with barely enough light to
see what is happening. The low lighting adds
suspense and mystery, and allows YOU to create an
answer to ‘Why is this happening?’ and ‘What will
happen next?’.
A scene from Edward Scissorhands
portraying low lighting. Photo:
Edward Scissorhands
Low lighting shown in Corpse Bride.
Photo: Corpse Bride
*Quote from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/timburton454896.html

Movies 101 May 11, 2014
Darkness or Simply Just Unique?
Tim Burton has established himself as a sensational filmmaker in
the industry. The mind behind the creations of such gothic,
unique, and creative scenarios is known for his consistent
cinematic styles. His most renowned works include Edward
Scissorhands, Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland and
Corpse Brides. These are only a small component of the true
creation behind this Academy Award nominees director. When
you watch a movie you can immediately notice his style, which
include, gothic mystery, flashbacks, color contrasting, a character
that doesn’t belong, and someone that always looks down upon
the other characters. !
His Styles!
When witnessing a Tim Burton movie, the audience immediately
notices how the scenes are flooded with mystery, whether it being
brought by a character, mood, or just simply the setting. He is an
expert in creating a sense of secure darkness and this can be
shown in all 16 films he directed and the 12 he produced. !
1Movies 101
Framing
Apart from his unique styles, Tim Burton
carefully uses certain techniques to follow
through with his ideal scenes. He uses an
abundance of close ups to show focus on
something important. He uses this to
show movement and emotions. In
Edward Scissorhands, for example, close
ups are mainly used to show the intensity
of Edwards eyes as he is very quiet and
doesn’t express himself vocally. !
Lighting
Tim Burton also uses a contrast of low
key lighting, being full of shadows and
creating suspense, verses high key
lighting, a lot of light giving the feeling of
happiness and joy. This effect gives the
audience a feeling of variation, and of
powerful effect. Giving this contrast, Tim
Burton’s color contrast style is easily
produced. !
Angles
Lastly, Tim Burton uses high angle and
low angle to accentuate the “looking
down upon” relationships. High angle,
making the character look week and low
angle making the character look powerful
are both present in Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory. !
These techniques have made Tim
Burton style pop in giving it his
own personal touch, additionally
they have been able to give him a
greater effect which brought him
fans from all over the globe.$
WHY TIM BURTON
Putting characters in a habit they don’t belong, Tim Burton is now known for the most unique movies, but
why? A glimpse behind the inspiration that led Tim Burton to become the greatest director and producer yet.

Movies 101 May 11, 2014
A second element of style present in Tim Burton’s movies are
flashbacks. Tim Burton uses flashbacks to show an important
connection to the characters past. In Edward Scissorhands, we see
Edward thinking back to when he was created and how his
creator was about to insert real hands when he suddenly died.
This left Edward with Scissorhands, his hands complicated the
plot of the movie especially after his flashback as his attitude
switched to furious anger. Instead in Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory we see that it is indeed Willy Wonka who remembers
when he was a kid and his father, a dentist, would burn Willy’s
halloween candy. This results in a big impact on the relationship
between Willy Wonka and Charlie. As Charlie, who is really close
to his family helps Willy fix the long lost relationship with his Mr
Wonka, his father.!
In three of his most famous works, Edward Scissorhands, Corpse
Brides and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton decides to
use color contrast. Tim Burton purposely decides for this
dramatic comparison of setting to show contrast and belongings
of the characters. Tim Burton creates the setting of the dark !
2Movies 101
Why does Tim Burton
tend to use these
elements/techniques
most often?
What is Tim Burton
trying to get his viewers
to do/feel/believe/think?
According to, The Hollywood
Reporter Tim Burton explained in
his interview that "It's important
to feel like you live or
understand the character." The
character he feels most attached
to is Victor from Frankenweenie.
Similar to Victor, Burton grew
up to the same circumstances
Victor did. The author includes
that, “Over the course of a long
career that is going as strong
today as ever, Burton has learned
that you can't please all of the
people all of the time -- and he
doesn't seem terribly interested
in trying to do that. Moreover,
he is now embraced by the
animation community that once
shunned him”. This has shown
he does things out of his
comfort zone. According to The
New York Times, his style “is
strongly visual, darkly comic and
morbidly fixated, but it is rooted
just as much in his affection for
monsters and misfits (which in
his movies often turn out to be
the same thing).”!
Overall, Tim Burton tries to
connect his characters to his
audience, making them feel as
much love and Burton felt when
creating the movies.!

Movies 101 May 11, 2014
 
castle as dark and mysterious with the central
color being black, but just outside this
“dangerous” castle lies the happy suburbs all
playing around vibrant neon colors, think around
70s mentality. This shows extreme diﬀerence
before the storyline even begins. On the other
hand, Tim Burton decides to create Corpse Brides
in a diﬀerent manner. In Corpes Brides the contrast
is between the living and the dead, he
accomplishes this by showing the living in this
sad, gloomy setting while the underground in
these lively colors. In Corpes Brides, Burton sends
out the message of the underground enjoying
“life” more then the one alive themselves, this not
only shows color contrast but sends out a
sincerely important message that we don’t pay
enough attention to the important things
therefore we live in sorrow. Lastly, Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory compares the outside world to
inside Willy Wonka’s Factory, similar to Edward
Scissorhands. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the
outside world is the part that is gray and cold
while inside the factory we see luscious colors and
unimaginable goods. Overall this shows a similar
concept to Corpes Brides because inside the factory
is where the magic begins and where Wonka’s
happiness lies, while outside the characters
especially Charlie are trying to make it to next
month! We can say Tim Burton has truly become
a specialist when it comes to contrasting colors
and settings, doing something not everyone has
seen before and that lets him succeed every time.!
Another important element of Tim Burton
Cinematic Style, is having a character that doesn’t
belong in the scenario become the main focus of
the movie. In Edward Scissorhands, Edward was the
odd one out and became the central focus of the
story. First, everyone wanted to meet him, second
the community used him, thirdly they started
rebelling after him, and so forth, leading Edward
to agree he didn’t belong and had him run back to
his castle. A similar story line is in Corpes Brides
when Victor, one of our main characters, is
brought to the land of the dead, but he's alive! He
knows he doesn’t belong in the underground and
tries every possible idea to get back to the living,
but does he really want to leave the pleasant
underground? In Alice in Wonderland, Alice is the
character that doesn’t belong in Wonderland, and
3Movies 101

Movies 101 May 11, 2014
in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory well, the kids in
the factory. The recurring theme of having one
character that doesn’t belong, prompts Tim
Burton to have an exciting storyline as he tries to
either have the character fit in, or have them exit
the scene. This keeps his movies entertaining and
full of fresh new interactions.!
Lastly, a noticeable Tim Burton style is the fact
that one character is always looked down upon.
Adding to the fact that one character doesn’t
belong, Burton also includes a figure of authority
or of higher power looking down upon the more
fragile characters. In Frankenweenie, we see both
Victors neighbor, and teachers looking down upon
him, and his parents look at him as if he’s
“different”. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,
Willy Wonka is looked down upon from the
parents of the children, because he seems
“strange”, and Willy looks down upon the children
because they are “strange” to him. This exhibits
itself various times in his different movies, it feels
as if one or more characters are viewed as lesser or
have some type of different mentality as the rest
of the group.  
4Movies 101
Resources
!
Feinberg, Scott. "Tim Burton on His Life
and Movies Coming Full Circle with
'Frankenweenie' (Video)." The Hollywood
Reporter. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
!
Itzkoff, Dave. "Tim Burton, at Home in His
Own Head." The New York Times.
The New York Times, 22 Sept. 2012.
Web. 12 May 2014.

Donahue Sauer
Today’s Close up
A close up look at Tim Burton close ups
5/13/14
Tim Burton close ups
In Edward Scissorhands Tim Burton uses many close ups. The
way he uses them most in the movie is to show Edward’s emotions.
Being that this movie was about a man who was invented and was
suddenly fully emerged into the outside world, a lot of the movie
focused on his behavior and how Edward felt about what happened
around him.
The film technique Close ups were used frequently
throughout the film Edward Scissorhands. Tim Burton uses it at any
small climax or when a character learns something new. One
example of who Tim Burton used a close up is when the mother first
discovers Edward in the mansion. She is frightened and also
confused. Tim Burton used a close up in this situation to show the
audience how frightening and also confusing Edward was at first
appearance.
Tim Burton used close ups in Edward Scissorhands to capture
the emotion of his characters. Edward Scissorhands was about a
young man invented by a scientist and had scissors for hands. He is
new to a social setting and at first is very liked by the entire town.
Because of how he was new to the town and also brand new to
Tim Burton
One person's craziness is
another person's reality.

lorem ipsum dolor issue, date
2
Alice in Wonderland
conversing with people he is
confused for much of the movie.
Tim Burton uses the close up to
capture all these confused
moments to help understand
Edward. Close up was a very
important film technique to
complete this film. Close up was
the best technique to us for the
scene when Peg discovers
Edward in the castle because
other shots wouldn’t have been
able to capture the same
emotion as the close up
achieved.
Tim Burton, in his film
Alice in Wonderland uses close up
by capturing the emotion of the
characters by having that
character be the only one in the
shot. I believe that the use of the
close ups on Alice helps you the
viewer attracted to her. Since
she is confused about
Wonderland and doesn’t know
where she is, whenever there is a
close up on her you realize that
she’s just as confused as you.
This makes you attached to
Alice and makes you want her
to be the hero to save the day.
Tim Burton uses this
technique most to capture
Alice’s emotion. He uses it
many times during the film,
such as when she first falls down
the rabbit hole with the different
doors in them. She is confused
at this part of the film and Tim
Burton keeps the shot on her to
capture every bit of her
confusion. She runs around
trying to find an unlocked door,
when she discovers they are all
locked she finds a much smaller
door. This is when she is most
confused because how is she
supposed to fit through such a
small door? She must drink the
shrinking juice and she finds her
way through.
Alice’s emotion is
captured most because she is
completely confused when she is
in Wonderland. The other
characters claim she is the right
Alice and that she has been in
Wonderland before when she in
fact doesn’t ever remember
being in Wonderland at all. Tim
uses the fact that she doesn’t
remember ever being in
Wonderland to capture her
emotion many times during the
film.
In the film The Corpse
Bride, Tim Burton most uses the
film technique by capturing
Victor’s fear and confusion
during the film. Since he was a
Frankenweenie close up

lorem ipsum dolor issue, date
3
newly dead and was confused
about where he is, close ups are
used to help you feel bad for
Victor and for also the viewer to
come up with an opinion about
where it would be better for him
to live.
An example of when
Tim Burton uses a close up
during the film Corpse Bride is
when Victor has just awoken
Emily and she is chasing after
him. This is practically an entire
scene of close ups. Since Victor
isn’t used to people chasing him
in the woods during the middle
of the night, he is very scared.
Tim Burton keeps a close up on
his face for much of the chase.
The best example is when Emily
finally catches Victor and he
falls on the floor. He looks up
frightened and the camera is
glued to him. This is a prime
example of a close up because it
captures how scared Victor is
and also how he is confused
about what he is going to see
when he looks up.
Tim Burton uses close
ups many times in Corpse Bride,
this is because he wishes to
capture emotion, but I believe
he also uses many close ups
because he wants to show off his
characters. A close up was the
most effective shot for this
specific scene because no other
shot would have been able to
really focus on Victor’s emotion.
Tim Burton, in his film
Frankenweenie, uses the film
technique close up to capture the
emotion of the character. The
emotion of a character is very
important for the viewers to see.
An example is a close up
on Victor’s face after witnessing
his own dog’s death. This was a
very tragic moment. I shed
many tears. Burton used close
ups frequently in the film to
show the characters emotions.
Burton uses the close up
to show the emotions of the
characters in his film. Such as
when Victor’s parents find
Sparky after Victor brought him
back to life. The parents were
scared and also confused.
Burton uses a close up for this
specific part of the scene because
it’s able to show the specific
emotions of the characters. A
close up works better than the
other shots because along with
the dialogue from the character
the close up shows all parts of
emotion. You can see just their
face rather than the rest of the
body, which isn’t really
important when a viewer wants
to know how a character feels
about something. Also
characters legs aren’t important
when it comes to a scene like
this.
Courtesy of:
http://taraharing.wordpress.co
m
http://www.imdb.com
http://disney.wikia.com
https://www.blastr.com
http://www.stopmotionworks.c
om
http://www.imdb.com
http://www.imdb.com

The Reviewer
THE UNIQUE TIM BURTON
May 2014
The Tim Burton Unique Style is
known as the “Unorthodox
Technique”
! Tim Burton a World renowned director, uses
his techniques to create his outlandish films. The
one and only, world renowned Tim Burton is known
for making the most bizarre films. Tim Burton was
brought up in California drawing cartoons and
watching old films. His inspirations were born when
he was young. Tim Burton has produced many well
known films such as Alice in Wonderland, Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd, and many
more. He has made a name for himself known for his
outlandish films. Read on to get the inside scoop on
Tim Burton’s and his mad directing techniques such
as lighting, characters, angles, and much more...
Lighting
! Due to Burton’s particular style of
movies (dark and gothic films) he uses low-key
lighting to enforce his message of the dark and
ominous films. The purpose of the low-key
lighting is to create suspense and tension. The
low-key lighting signifies the dark mysterious
nature of his films. An example of low-key
lighting in Edward Scissorhands occurs when
Pam first sets eyes on Edward scissorhands.
Not only is she terrified and scared but the
lighting enhanced the mystery and tension in
the film. Low-key lighting is very useful when
filming a horror or gothic film. The lighting in
Burton’s films enhances the style and mystery in
the movie.
By: Ellie Porter
The Reviewer
“ O n e p e r s o n ’s
crazyness is another
person’s reality.”
-Tim Burton

THE REVIEWER! PAGE 2
The Reviewer
Angles
A variety of angles are used in
many of Tim Burton’s films but the one
most relevant is the low angle shot. He uses
this shot in all of his films. The low angle is
to signify the dominance and strength a
particular character has over another. The
similarity with the low angles is that the
“bad guy” in all films is apart or involved in
the shot. This signifies that they’re on a
pedestal or is very important, and
prominent in Tim Burton Films. In terms
of his films he uses this technique in the
movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
multiple times. The purpose of the Low-
angle shot is to show the characters power
and dominance over another character. In
particular, Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory a low- angle was used to show that
Charlie’s father (the dentist) had control
over the amount of candy he ate. His father
wanted to show that he had control over his
son, who in this case was charlie. This is
just another example of a low- angle shot.
Cast
! Tim Burton consistently chooses
Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.
There is a reason for his selection as they
play the perfect characters in his films.
They portray a dark and sinister feel. For
instance in Sweeney Todd, a horror movie,
the gloomy, dark and insidious feeling is
portrayed mainly in the characters They
both portray the exact feeling that Tim
Burton directs. Maybe choosing Helena
Bonham Carter has something to do with
the fact that Carter and Burton are
married. These two actors show relevance
to his films because they create the dark
atmosphere that linger in Tim Burton’s
directing technique. A part of his dramatic
directing skills are the characters he picks
to play the most important roles in his
films.
Resources
Itzkoff, Dave. "Tim
Burton, at Home in His
Own Head." The New
York Times. The New
York Times, 22 Sept.
2012. Web. 12 May
2014.
"Tim Burton Quotes."
BrainyQuote. Xplore,
n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.

THE COLLECTOR! PAGE 3
The Reviewer
Type of characters
! Within Burton’s particularly
bizarre films not only is it the film that
creates the feeling, but the characters.
Not necessarily the actors but the
characters in each of Tim Burton’s film
create and the plot and sense of the
theme of the movie. The characters
build to the plot and make the movie
more interesting to the viewer. Tim
Burton has not failed to impress the
viewers as each of his movies are vastly
different compared to realistic
ordinary movies.
Similar Themes
! An ongoing and occurring
theme in the Tim Burton’s movies and
directing is the insidious and dark
aura. Tim Burton has a different take
on his directing style and the type of
movies he produces. Not only does he
use very unique and unorthodox
techniques, he portrays these
techniques in his films. The similar
theme carried on throughout his films
is the mysterious, unorthodox, and
unpredictable mood. These are the
three key adjectives that make him
“Tim Burton”. He far exceeds other
producers in his techniques and quirky
ideas. These give him a famous name
to live by.
Tim Burton
! “I've always been
misrepresented. You know, I could
dress in a clown costume and laugh
with the happy people but they'd still
say I'm a dark personality.” -Tim
Burton. Tim Burton has been
preserved as the dark and sinister
characters in his movies. When in
reality he is a genuine kind man. There
is a disconnect from Tim Burton and
his directing style.
The New York Times writer and
interviewer describes Dave Itzkoff
interviewed Tim Burton at his home in
London. Itzoff described it as
“Modern Nonconformist”. There is
memorabilia of his movies laid around
the house such as “Ultraman toys and
models of skeletal warriors.” He truly
is a very eccentric man but thats what
makes him the world renowned
director Tim Burton. He was brought
up with a father who was a professional
baseball player. He accepted more of
the artistic gene. He was not exactly
cut out for sports as he had more
animated dreams in mind.
At the age f 54 Burton has produced
16 featured films over a thirty years.
“He may be the most widely embraced
loner in contemporary cinema.”
describes Burton to a tee. Burton, one
of the most well-known directors in
the world has created a different era
for directing movies. He has changed
the ordinary everyday directing style to
a new unorthodox style.

1
Tim Burton Sneak Peak
Tim Burton is considered to be one of the greatest film
writers of all time. Burton has won and been nominated
many awards for his films. Some of Tim Burtons most
famous recent films are Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory and Corpse bride. Over the many years that Burton has been producing and
creating one of a kind films he has made a very specific style for his movies. Tim burton continues to
use the same main characters, puts a social outcast in each movie and uses the same main ideas to
get his point across to the viewer.
Common elements of a
Tim Burton Movie
REOCCURRING CHARACTERS
In tim burtons film he tends to cast the same cast for each film,if
its an animation he will use
them for the voice of a
character. Tim Burtons main cast is usually his wife Helena
Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp, Christopher Lee and Jeffery Jones. The reasoning behind Burton
using the same cast is because he has created a close relationship with each one of them and he
TIM BURTONWritten by: Lexi Jones | May 13,2014 |
“It's great to find people like that
you can communicate with on an
almost subconscious level.” -Tim
Burton

2
believes if it worked well for him once, it will work well for him again. While using the same cast is
important to Tim Burton he also tends to use the same musician Danny Elfman to make scores for
him. While this is Burtons most reoccurring cast he has many more people that will continue to be
shown in more films than one.
SOCIAL OUTCAST
In each one of Tim burtons films theres always a very different
main character, they are
portrayed different than normal
which makes them an outcast.
For example in Edward Scissor Hands, Edward Scissor hands is
born with scissors as hands but is put into a typical everyday
environment. Edward is singled out and has to figure out how to
deal with day to day life as an outcast. Burton says the reason
for always having a social misfit is because growing up he felt that was him, he didn't think he fit in
with everyone else and had to deal with the pressures from the outside world.
Flashbacks
Many of Burtons main films such as Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the chocolate factory have
flash backs that answer many questions that the viewer could be asking themselves while watching
the movie. In Charlie and the chocolate factory, Wonka has flashbacks to when he was a child and
his dad was a dentist that didn't allow him to eat candy. Burton says these flashbacks are important
to him because he feels that it pulls the whole plot together, so in each movie you will notice
sometimes more than one flashback. (Picture to the right is a flashback to when Wonka was a just a child not allowed
to eat sweets.)
“I was never interested in
what everybody else was
interested in. I was very
interiorized. I always felt kind
of sad.” - Tim Burton

3
Dark Themed Movies
Usually when people go to see a Tim Burton film they probably have made a pretty good assumption
that the movie is going to have a dark, gothic and quirky horror theme to it. Tim Burton would not call
any of his movies scary because he says he doesn't believe that any of them are. Tim Burton
believes that his films have some dark humor in them but also deal with emotions and about the real
life reality of losing people and having to deal with problems that lead to emotional stress. Tim Burton
makes these movies to show that eventually you will make it out ok, even in the
darkest of times.
Dark Lighting
In Many of Tim Burtons Stop action creations he tends to use grey, black and any
dark colors to portray the mood. For example in Corpse Bride the main colors that
were used were dark colors until the very end when you saw a couple brighter
colors but the majority were dark colors. Tim Burton uses this technique to draw the viewers in, and
set the mood for the creepy movie that is taking place. While the colors are dark not always are the
characters supposed to come off.
Surreal Humor
Surreal humor is used in many of Tim burtons movies. Surreal humor is when main
actors in the movie are making decisions that are clearly
irrational and not what the average person would do. For
example in Beatle Juice two recently descent human ghosts
hire a free lance bio exorcist ghost to scare away the new
inhabitants of their old home.ironically the ghost hire another
“I have a problem when
people say something's
real or not real, or normal
or abnormal. The meaning
of those words for me is
very personal and
subjective”. - Tim Burton

4
ghost to scare the new people away, when really all ghost have the same scare
factor effect on humans. Tim Burton uses this kind of humor because its what makes
him laugh and Burton in many interviews has sad he doesn’t do things to please
others.If Burton laughs and believes its a well written piece then he will make it into a
movie despite what others say to him.
Overall Tim burton has mad it very
obvious to the viewers that these are
the cinematic techniques he likes to
use over and over again and doesn't
plan on changing or switching up the
routine anytime soon. By now you can
see that Tim Burton has grown up not as the popular kid or the smartest kid he was always
an introvert. Tim Burton has never wanted any of his viewers to believe something is real or
unreal, when someone says that he says “ who are you tell make that decision”. Making
movies for Tim Burton is more than just a job and a money maker its making his dreams
come true and finally getting to show the world whats going on in his head.
Resources

Tim Burton’s Life
One Person’s craziness is another person’s
reality.”
“It’s good as an artist to always remember to see
things in a new weird way.”
-Tim Burton 5/13/14
Why is He so Unique?
A Tim Burton film is always unique and shows qualities of it being one
of his productions. Whether it’s the same group of actors (Johnny Depp, Helena
Bonham-Carter, Christopher Lee or Jeffrey Jones) facial expressions, dark and
mysterious plots that show different perspectives in how Burton sees. Tim
Burton is a very interesting man and has been through many up and downs
during his lifetime but he has changed the movie industry forever. Burton is able
to use flashbacks, witch figures, types of creepy and strange settings as well as
very odd character to really put a twist on it. What really makes Tim Burton so
different is that he’s a very honest person with gothic interests. He doesn’t seem
to do it for the money or even to make a profit, he does it because its something
he loves to do. Burton doesn’t have to promote his work like other producers
and directors because his name is already so large in the movie making industry.
In all of Tim Burton’s movies he uses similar types of framing, shots and
lighting. He’s a mysterious man and has dawning interest in many different
“I always liked strange Characters”
-Tim Burton
Tim Burton
pg. 3

2
Famous Producer/Director
things that wouldn’t be considered to
be the norm. Burton’s personality
reflects on more than just the movies
he works on but what he buys and
where he lives. Many people buy a
property that reflects their interests
and what they like. If Tim Burton
were to buy a house it would a
mysterious and dark looking house.
From his movies, Alice and
Wonderland you can see how he
interprets the world. He is able to use
a lot of low-key lighting to show the
shadows and really create a lot of
"I had never really done something that was more of a horror film, and it's funny, because
those are the kind of movies that I like probably more than any other genre. The script
had images in it that I liked." –Tim Burton
suspense in this movie. When Alice
first gets to Wonderland and is
traveling through the forest you can
tell right away that this would be a
Tim Burton movie. In Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory Burton gives off
the creepy unusual feeling when
entering Charlie’s house and also the
man that is trying to steal the
gobstopper recipe. Close up is usually
used to capture emotion and show
what the characters are really feeling.
In Alice and Wonderland, Mad
Hatters face was zoomed in on to
capture how scared and frightened he
was when making the hats for the red
queen near the middle of the film.
Low-key lighting is also one of many
cinematic techniques used by Burton
to show the suspenseful and creepy
aspects of his life. In Alice and
wonderland low key was used a lot to
show how cruel and rude she is. Alice
was in a low-key lighting area in the
forest to show how mysterious that
forest is very creepy. In
Frankenweenie when the dog died
low-key lighting was used the most
because they were really trying to
show how upsetting and depressing it
was to have lost his dog. Dramatic
expressions occur a lot more in a low
key lighting area. Two-Shot is a well-
known cinematic feature to capture
the relationship between the two
characters. Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory used a two shot at the
beginning of Willie Wonka and
Charlie to possibly foreshadow what
was to come in the future. Also a
two-shot was taken of Charlie and his
grandpa to give off the feeling of
companionship and that he would
refuse to leave his family.
Life Of Tim Burton Cont…
References
Pictures credited from imdb.com
Quotes credited from
brainyquote.com

1
Tim Burton uses lighting
techniques of high key and low
key lighting to contrast two
entirely different worlds that the
main character experiences in
each of his stories. He also
uses these lighting techniques
in ironic ways to add depth to
these worlds and characters.
High key lighting is a technique
that uses bright light and colors
to show bright upbeat situations
or emotions and low key lighting
is a technique where low
lighting is used to create
contrast or a dim situation in
order to create drama and
suspense or to show low
moods, sadness, and dark
themes. It is usually used in
scary places, during sinister
scenes and to highlight spooky
things, during a dramatic or
intense scene, or to show that
something is dull and
uninteresting.
However, Tim Burton
does not use these lighting
techniques in a typical way to
get his point across. For
example, in his stop motion film
The Corpse Bride he uses low
2
key lighting and dull colors in
the world of the living to show
how dead the living really are,
and he uses high key lighting
and exciting vibrant colors in the
world of the dead to show that
the dead are actually more alive
than the living.
In Alice In Wonderland,
he uses high key lighting and
pastel colors in the real world
because it seems to be the
perfect place but in reality it is
quite boring there and the
people are unimaginative and
stuck in the conventions of
society. However, in wonderland
the use of low key lighting and
darker colors would suggest a
strange, almost frightening
place but once you look past the
strangeness, it is a wonderful
place filled with beauty,
adventure and whimsy.
In Edward Scissorhands,
Burton uses High key lighting
and cheerful pastel colors in the
town that Peg lives in, making it
seem perfect and welcoming but
the town is actually full of people
that are quick to judge and
3
spiteful. And though both the
lighting in the mansion where
Edward was created and his
attire are dark and
monochromatic, he is actually a
very nice guy and the place he
was created holds sentimental
memories of the only father
figure he’s ever had.
In Charlie and the
chocolate factory, low key
lighting and dark colors used on
the Buckets’ little house make it
seem like a dull shack from the
outside but on the inside it
actually is filled with so much
love and care and is a nurturing
and supportive environment
filled with family and love for
Charlie and holds many good
memories and traditions. High
key lighting and bright, vibrant
colors in the chocolate world
might be misleading because for
Willy Wonka it is actually
somewhat of a prison. He is
alone and has no family except
for traumatic memories of his
father.
Tim burton’s intent is to use the
lighting in his films so that the
A brief look into the brilliant lighting techniques used by
director Tim Burton in his films
Tim Burton’s
Lighting
Techniques
Exposed Tim Burton
Director

Tim Burton
4
viewer will make assumptions
about characters and places
that the viewer then learns are
wrong, to encourage his
viewers to be more open
minded.
Burton’s childhood influenced
his style greatly. From a young
age he would watch horror
movies and he didn’t really
have a very good relationship
with his parents. He says
"When I was younger, I had
these two windows in my
room, nice windows that
looked out onto the lawn, and
for some reason my parents
walled them up and gave me
this little slit-window that I
had to climb up on a desk to
see out of. I never did ask
them why. But my parents are
dead now, so I guess the
answer will remain
unanswered as to why they
sealed me in a room. I guess
they just didn't want me to
escape."
Tim Burton’s fascination with
horror movies might have
contributed to his use of low
key lighting in his own films. As
a child, he always identified
more with and felt more
empathy towards the monsters
in the monster movies he
watched, than he did with the
5
adults in his real life, which
might have influenced his
decisions about what types of
lighting to use in his films. For
example, his use of high key
lighting and bright colors in the
land of the dead in corpse bride
shows that he viewed a place
where the monsters lived as
more exciting and friendly than
the real world, where he used
dull colors to portray the
boringness. It also might
contribute to why in Edward
Scissorhands, he made
Edward, the “monster” of the
movie, such a nice, innocent,
and non-scary guy. "I don't
know why but I always related
to characters like
Frankenstein. I think a lot of
kids do; its easier to relate to
the monster in the sense of
he's alone. Growing up, you
could feel those feelings and
the way you felt about your
neighbours is like they're the
angry villagers.” He says of his
affinity towards monster
movies.
"I was never scared of monster
movies. I could happily watch
a monster movie but if I had
one of my relatives come over,
you'd be terrified.”
RESOURCES
Alice picture courtesy of
josemiguelvasquez.com
Tim Burton picture courtesy of
hollywoodreporter.com
Alice In Wonderland
Alice before the final battle for wonderland

Lorem Ipsum Dolor Issue #, Date
ee
No.
1
TimBurtonFilms
About Tim 1
Tim Burtons previous
film information.
Burtons Style2
About Burtons style and
how he uses the
techniques he uses.
People 3
Talks about Burtons
relationships with Depp.
Tim Burton is a well-known
director with a unique twisted
and original style. The movies
he directs usually fall between
the genres of gothic horror films
and quirky comedies. What
makes a Tim Burton film; a Tim
Burton film
is his style.
In other
words he
sprinkles
his personality within his
movies. Some could say that he
is the unknown offspring Ozzy
Osborne, the Prince of
Darkness, and Vincent Price,
the horror film prodigy. Tim
Burton’s gothic, dark, and
mysterious personality would
most likely make people
perceive his enjoyment for the
darker side of life. Nevertheless
he is the man behind the
masterpiece that is Beetle Juice
and the ghoulish The Corpse
Bride. Burton has also
composed several quirky
comedies such as Mars Attacks!
and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
which are perfect examples of
the type of comedy you won’t
find in other films.
Tim Burton’s Film Background

2
Beetlejuice for those
the five people in this
work that have not
watched it is about a
dead couple
attempting to scare a
modern family out of
there house with the
help of a “bio-
exorcist”. This dark
supernatural wild film
features Michael Keaton as
Beetlejuice with crazy hair and a
ridiculous outfit. In this movie,
Tim used lighting to create the
mood and emotions he wanted
the viewers to feel. When the
couple was in the graveyard,
unburying Beetlejuice, he
sprung out with grey and
ghoulish blue tint lighting. Tim
also used the same color
throughout the same scene with
a pitch-black background.
From gothic horror to quirky
comedies, Tim Burton does it
all. In his outrageously comedy
Mars Attacks, Martians come to
earth and learned the ways of
the humans to pose as them in
order to successfully attack and
take over the White House.
Although this film is a comedy,
the genius Burton managed to
yet again use his aptitude on
lighting to make another one-of-
a-kind Tim Burton film. The film
also shows the uniqueness of
his style. In what other parallel
universe would a director use
aliens coming down to destroy
Earth as a comedy? Tim Burton!
Tim wears a pair
pinstripe socks as
a lucky charm at
every premiere
and special
occasion.
Beetlejuice,
Beetlejuice,
Beetlejuice!
ALIENS ATTACK
In Burton’s
Edward
Scissorhands,
the protagonist is
a ghoulish
“monstrosity”
with scissors for
hands. This film, like many other Burton films, is
also dark and eerie. The lighting is set up in a way
that makes the viewer feel the same emotions the
other characters experience through out the film.
In this film Burton was able to successfully create
a comedy out of a horror film by making his
protagonist a friendly monster with good intentions
but having the secondary characters revolt
towards his presence. In my opinion, this film was
an excellent twist to the classic Frankenstein film.
SCISSOR
HANDS!
Fun Fact:

3
Tim Burton usually has
the same two people
starring his movies:
Johnny Depp and
Helena Bohnam Carter.
Burton met Depp while
filming Edward Scissor
Hands. When they met
Burton knew there was
something about Depp that he
liked. Johnny Depp and Tim
Burton share that dark, comical,
unorthodox disposition that
makes them so similar and
close. The reason for all their
projects together is because
they both have such mutual
respect for one another.
Tim Burton, I believe, is the modern day horror guru.
He has tried his hands on stop-motion film, quirky
comedies, and timeless classic
with a twist to the horror that is
Sweeney Todd the musical. Using
his usual techniques, the movie
was filmed with a grayish dark
lighting overshadowing the look.
Like Burton’s usual rated R
movies, the film was explicitly gory
with a musical twist. This movie is
about a demon barber with a thirst
for blood and vengeance. As
usual the main character, Depp,
played Sweeney Todd with a
strange hairstyle. But this is not
the only movie Depp had a weird
hairstyle, Burton followed also
gave Depp strange looks in
movies like Edward Scissorhands,
Alice in Wonderland, Willy Wonka
and the Chocolate Factory.
The Odd
Gothic Horror Film
On the other hand, Alice in Wonderland was a more “colorful”
film filled with outrageous characters and scenes. This film
used various types of unique lighting to make every scene
look as if the characters where in a dreamscape. Every
character does not look like a normal human being, especially
Depp and Carter, who look rather human but look like they
are from completely different worlds. Burton applied his
twisted creativity onto their costumes and successfully
morphed his “duo couple” into something out of a dream, by
using bright colors and non-human psychical qualities. Thus,
brilliantly making letting his viewers think they are
hallucinating.
Image by: Brian T.

the art of
151
Sweeney Todd
Burtonesque. According to The New York Times it’s a “part of the cul-
tural lexicon…[Tim Burton] has developed a singular if not easily pinned-down
sensibility…His style is strongly visual, darkly comic and morbidly fixated, but
it is rooted just as much in his affection for monsters and misfits.” Some of his
common techniques include: the witch, flashbacks, the skittish outcast, and usage
of the same actors. Tim Burton commonly uses the character of ‘the witch’. As
blogger Meredith Woerner said, “Burton loves to throw in a sassy witch to stir
the pot.” The persona of ‘the witch’ has appeared in Sweeney Todd’s Mrs. Lovett
and in Alice in Wonderland’s the Red Queen. A common plot device Burton uses
is flashbacks – he uses them to explain the usually morbid background stories of
his characters. Some examples would be The Corpse Bride when Emily is sing-
ing about getting murdered and Sweeney Todd, when Mr. Todd has flashbacks
about his days as Benjamin Barker. One common character role Burton uses
is “The Skittish Outcast.” The Mad Hatter, Sweeney Todd, and Edward Scis-
sorhands are the most known of this type of character. And finally Tim Burton
is known best for his usage of the same actors.
Tim Burton often works with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter.
When asked about his relationship with Depp, Burton responded: “he’s
great… he’s always into a challenge…that’s the joy of working with him.
He’s kind of up for anything.” Burton is also known for casting his partner
Helena Bonham-Carter. When asked about this, Burton said, “I wouldn’t just
cast her to cast her the same way I wouldn’t cast Johnny or anybody that I love
working with just to have them in the movie. You always want it to be the right
thing, the right role…Most of the people I work with understand that.”
When Depp was asked why he continuously works with Burton he said,
“Working with Tim…is really like going home for me.” Depp even remarked
that, “For me, I see myself as just a very, very lucky boy who’s been drafted to
come along for the ride…it’s just that we’re good friends and we understand each
other.” Johnny Depp even told Cal Fussman with Esquire that, “My life is my life
because of Tim.” When Dave Itzoff from The New York Times asked Burton
about his relationship with Depp he said, “He’s always been able to decipher
my ramblings.” When asked about his relationship with Burton, Depp
responds, “It’s always been, with Tim and I…that you get these
sort of mysterious phone calls out of nowhere after sometimes months,
sometimes years…I mean, there’s no subject. There’s no project.
There’s nothing. It’s just like, ‘Okay. I’m going to go see Tim in a
week.’ It’s always been like that.”
When Helena Bonham-Carter was asked whether she
liked to work with the same directors she said, “I definitely like
working with the same person… particularly if they’re Tim, because
he’s pretty good.” Carter remarked on her working-relationship
with Burton when she said, “I hope I don’t just [get cast] because
I sleep with a guy…But you know what? Actually it’s quite the
opposite. Because I sleep with him he asked me to audition, you
know? So it obviously doesn’t work for me.” When Burton talked
about his relationship with Carter he remarked, “I think maybe, be-
cause I am with her, I probably was a bit harder on her. Nobody else had
to audition, that’s true (laughing).”
But as Tim Burton would and did say, “There’s something quite exciting
when you have a history with someone and you see them do new and
different things.”
150SweeneyTodd
FILMANALYSIS
The common techniques, moods, plot lines, and characters that make up
the coined term “Butonesque.” Story by: Jaclyn Ryan
Burtonesque
Lighting - Low Key
Shot - Long Shot
Angle - High Angle
Sound/Music - “Ephiphany“
Explanation - In this scene Tim Burton uses the film
technique “High Angle“ to show the subject (Sweeney
Todd) from above to make the subject appear small,
weak, inferior, and to show the characters location.
By using this technique it shows how Mr. Todd’s de-
sire is too much for him to handle. This is foreshad-
owing of Mr. Todd’s ultimate death and failure.
Lighting - High Key
Shot - Two Shot
Angle - Low Angle (slight)
Sound/Music - “By the Sea“
Explanation - Tim Burton uses the “High Key“ lighting
technique to show lots of lighting with the daylight scene.
Tim Burton uses this technique to create a feeling of hap-
piness and/or excitement. This is especially important
because it shows Mrs. Lovett’s fantasy of a “happy” family
with “Mr. T” once he kills fulfills his mission.

Lighting - Side Lighting
Shot - Two Shot
Angle - Eye Level
Sound/Music - “Final Scene“
Explanation - Tim Burton uses the technique “Two Shot“ to
show the relationship between Sweeney Todd (AKA Benjamin
Barker) and the street rat (AKA his wife Lucy). In this scene Swee-
ney Todd wanted to avenge his wife Lucy by killing Judge Turpin.
But, he lost control and unknowingly killed his beloved Lucy. His
throat was slit shortly after he realized what he had done.
1
2
3
1
2
3
Sweeney Toddthe demon barber of fleet street
Story Sources:
Fussman, Cal. “What I’ve Learned: Johnny Depp.” Esquirecom Article. N.p., 17
Dec. 2007. Web. 13 May 2014.
Itzkoff, Dave. “Tim Burton, at Home in His Own Head.” The New York Times. The
New York Times, 22 Sept. 2012. Web. 12 May 2014.
Murray, Rebecca. “Helena Bonham Carter Interview-Corpse Bride, Tim Burton,
and Finding Her Character.” About.com Hollywood Movies. N.p., n.d. Web. 13
May 2014.
Murray, Rebecca. “Johnny Depp Interview - Corpse Bride, Tim Burton, and
Voicing Victor.” About.com Hollywood Movies. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
Murray, Rebecca. “Tim Burton Interview on Corpse Bride, Johnny Depp.” About.
com Hollywood Movies. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
“Tim Burton Quotes.” BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
Woerner, Meredith. “10 Things You’ll See in Almost Every Tim Burton Movie.” Io9.
N.p., 10 May 2012. Web. 12 May 2014.
Left Page Sources:
Design by: Zoe Klumph; Barber Knife: Google Images; 1) Google Images; 2)
Google Images; 3) Google Images
Right Page Sources:
Top: IMDB; Middle: Google Images; Bottom: IMDB

Distinction
Tim Burton is a complex and strange man. He uses many techniques
of framing, lighting, and angles to demonstrate his unique and dra-
matic style. As an American film director Tim Burton produced and
directed many films such as: Beetlejuice Edward Scissorhands, Night-
mare before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpses Bride,
Sweeney Todd, Dark Shadows, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory and Frankenweenie. Burton has directed 16
films and produced 12 as of 2012 his latest film Bigeyes a biographical
drama film about Walter Keenan his wife Margaret will be released on
Christmas Day 2015 in the United States. The elusive Tim Burton is a
man of vast perpetual mystery and the master of the darkness through
animation. Burton is the wolf howling at the moon, and the forbidden
love beneath the ebony smoke of a starlit tragedy. You can tell you are
watching a Tim Burton directed film by these categories below.
The eloquence of a joke well told by such a menacing character, used to bring a
ray of sunlight that is actually no version of warmth, but a sliver of soul devour-
ing chills of a laugh hanging on the cliff of a taste bud, begs the moral questioning
of if a laugh should echo the edges of lips at all. But it is this deviltry of humor in
itself that signifies the pure genius of Burton in his entirety: the ability to make the
audience shake with fright and laugh with cruel delight within seconds. As a well
known director he can now use his twisted mind to his full potential, where as
before he was closed into a normal rule following society.
Dark Sense of Humor
“When I worked at Disney as an animator, I
used to hide in the closet for most of the
day.” - Burton
Frequent Collaborators
Monsters
The complexity of each personality he instills in the
souls of his characters, or lack thereof, is a truly awe
inspiring feat to watch dance across the screen in a
midnight waltz of the night. His uncanny onyx power
to formulate plots of such depths touches the caverns
of each soul, and dares to question the sanity of the
minds of humanity. The “monsters” of his movies are
not always the antagonists. Edward is shy and more
afraid of the people around him than they are of him.
Emily in the Corpse Bride is only in search for love and
does not seek to hurt her beloved Victor.
Tim Burton uses two shot camera angle technique to show his two frequent actor
collaborators Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Many times Burton puts
them in the same frame on purpose to show dramatic effect and the long history
the actors have in working together. In Alice in Wonderland Helena plays the red
queen and Johnny plays the Mad Hatter he throws them in a two shot right before
the Red Queen summons the guards to “take off his head”. Although Burton and
his domestic partner live in separate houses burden uses Helena Bonham Carter
and many films including Allison Wonderland, Charlie and The Chocolate Facto-
ry and many others. Burton’s long-lasting friendship with Johnny Depp has taken
them to collaborate and eight films together. Burton is known for using recurring
collaborators on his works; among them are Johnny Depp, who has become a close
friend of Burton since their first film together; musician Danny Elfman, who has
composed scores for all but two of the films Burton has directed; and actress - do-
mestic partner Helena Bonham Carter who stars as a main character in many of
his movies. “For his part, Victor (Charlie Tahan) is an exemplary Burton protago-
nist, or possibly an alter ego. Wide-eyed and hollow-cheeked in a way that recalls
Johnny Depp in Edward Scissor Hands”(Scott 2012)

Stop Motion
“There is an energy with stop-motion that you can’t even de-
scribe. It’s got to do with giving things life, and I guess that’s why
I wanted to get into animation originally. To give life to some-
thing that doesn’t have it is cool, and even more so in three di-
mensions, because, at least for me, it feels even more real. With
the large Marge thing or the dinosaur – any time we could throw
in some stop-motion, the better. We could have had a lot more if
they’d let us.” (Burton 2014) Burton uses stop motion in movies
such as Nightmare before Christmas, Frakenweenie and Corpse
Bride. He likes to spend hours and hours just on filming one
or two seconds, Burton feels the magic come alive by being so
tedious and precise.
Creepiness
Throughout his filmmaking, he exudes a magnificent sort of power over his characters,
captivating his audience with the undeniable urge to creep to the edge of their seats, want-
ing more but almost frightened to keep their eyelids blinking. In his movies like Sweeney
Todd the Demon Barber, he uses the musical style to show such a dark and horrific man
who kills so many people. Edward Scissor Hands uses his long, nasty and sharp mechanical
hands to cut into everyday chores and try to blend in with society.
Techniques
Many times Burton uses Low Light and Back Light in his
scenes. His filming style is dark and both of these cinemat-
ic techniques held show a gloomy and dark ambiance in
his films. Many times he will show close up camera angles
on monsters, gross cuts, gory parts and gruesome pieces to
give the viewers an experience you can only receive with his
films. Many viewers are drawn to his movies because of his
creepy and mind twisting power to raise your neck hairs and
give butterflies to your stomach. In Frakenweenie close up
is used to show the invisible fish and the lesson of how you
cannot trust what you cannot see.
Resources:
Scott, A. O. “It’s Aliiiive! And Wagging Its Tail.” The New York Times.
The New York Times, 04 Oct. 2012. Web. 12 May 2014.
“Tim Burton Talking About Animation.” Tim Burton Dream Site -. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.

W
Whenever there is a new released Tim Burton film, without
watching the trailer or the movie itself, you can pretty much
always bet that Johnny Depp is the leading male actor and it also
somehow features Helena Bonham Carter. The collaboration of
the trio is a reoccurring theme in Tim Burton’s movies, which are
generally marked by their sinister and dark style.
During Tim Burton’s teenage years, he was influenced by classic
horror movies directed by Roger Corman, which usually cast
Vincent Price, a critically acclaimed actor who typically performs
villainous and sinister roles and had great relationships with Tim
Burton later on in his career; his last movie performance was in
Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990). Despite the fact that
Tim Burton started his career as an animator for Disney, he had
never gave up his passion of gothic themes; after Disney’s disap-
proval of his individual projects, Vincent and Frankenweenie, he
left the company and started his individual career and subse-
quently released his individual projects during Disney in 1982
and 1984, respectively. He then received mainstream success and
gain reputation from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985), Beetlejuice
(1988), and especially Batman (1989). Despite the mainstream
success of Batman, Burton still wanted to pursue his own per-
sonal passion; therefore, he co-wrote and directed a film named
Edward Scissorhands (1990), starring Winona Ryder, leading ac-
tress in Beetlejuice and Johnny Depp. Due to the popular TV se-
ries that is 21 Jump Street in the 1980s, Johnny became a teenage
idol, a title that he didn’t want to be associated with. Tim Burton
offered Johnny Depp an unordinary role, in which he performed
an incomplete human with scissorhands. It was the first time
that Johnny Depp and Tim Burton collaborated and showed the
world their quirky perceptions; it is also the beginning of their 8
Tim Burton and His Crew
collaborations – Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994),
Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005),
Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd (2007), Alice in Wonderland
(2010), and Dark Shadows (2012). Tim Burton has developed a
habit of working with a group of same actors over the years, that
being said, Johnny Depp isn’t the only actor that Tim Burton
prefers to work with.
Entering the new millennium, Tim Burton directed the com-
mercial success film, Planets of the Ape (2001), where he met
his current long-term partner, Helena Bonham Carter. She later
featured in seven Tim Burton schools including Big Fish (2003),
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd,
Alice in Wonderland, and Dark Shadows. Both Johnny Depp
and Helena Bonham Carter mastered the elements, which make a
typical Tim Burton movie: (1) a gothic and quirky of perception
of the real world and a colorful imagination of the underground
world (2) a sense of madness and wickedness (3) featuring an
outcast of the norm. Johnny Depp in most of Tim Burton’s
movie, performs an outcast that doesn’t fit in to the society; in
Edward Scissorshands, Edward lived in a dark and gloomy castle
for most of his life; in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy
Wonka isolated himself in the Chocolate factory before allowing
5 children to visit; in Sweeney Todd, he was exiled from London
for 15 years and returned to be a serial killer; and last but not
least, in Alice in Wonderland, he performed the role of Mad Hat-
ter, an insane and wicked character. It is the mastery of madness
and wicked characteristic possessed only by Johnny Depp that
make him Tim Burton’s long term trusty leading male actor; it
allows Tim Burton to use his favorite close up framing technique
to capture the subtle emotions of Johnny Depp. Similarly, in Tim
Burton’s films, there is usually a shrewish and witch-like charac-
ter; it turned out that his partner, Helena Bonham Carter is the
perfect choice for this character. Just like Johnny Depp, Helena
Bonham Carter’s interpretation of craziness, shrewishness is also
top-notch. This is evident from her performance as Mrs. Lovett
in Sweeney Todd, where she became the crazy business partner of
Sweeney Todd and sell meat pies made out of human corpse; her
performance as Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, she exempli-
fies the unreasonable and villainous tyrant of the underground
world. You can safely argue that there are no other actors, actress,
or director who can do “weird” better the trio of Tim Burton,
Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter. The common taste and
passion of the director and two actors helped build the magical
bond and chemistry that created the quirky imaginary world for
audiences to wonder.
Off the set, Tim Burton still maintains close relationships with
the two actors. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton have become
closed friends since their collaboration in Edward Scissorhands;
the two men comes along together as they not only have similar
visions toward their creative work but also enjoy having abstract
conversations in general. Tim Burton once commented on his
relationship with Johnny Depp in an interview with MTV, “It’s
very nice to have someone that you can have a completely ab-
stract conversation with and leave the room, feel like everything’s
fine, and then realize that if you pick it apart, you have absolutely
no idea what either of you said” (Ditzian). In their personal lives,
Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter are long-term partners;
despite not being married to each other, they have been living in
two joint apartments in London since 2006; the couple remains
this domestic relationships and have two children, son Billy
Raymond Burton and daughter Nell Burton, and Johnny Depp is
the godfather of both children. The three have not only formed a
formidable bond in their work environment, but also established
a family like relationship in real life, which further enhanced
their close collaboration on sets.
In the foreseeable future, it is likely that the trio would continue
to strive for what they do best, which is taking the audience on
an adventure, filled with quirky madness and twisted visions, to
explore and wonder through their gothic perception of the real
world and vibrant imagination of the unknown world.
Ditzian, Eric. “Tim Burton Explains His ‘Abstract’ Relationship With Johnny Depp.” News. Viacom Media
Networks, 01 Sept. 2009. Web. 12 May 2014.
Woerner, Meridith. “10 Things You’ll See in Almost Every Tim Burton Movie.” Io9.
Gawker Media, 12 May 2012. Web. 12 May 2014.
Written by Masahiro Hayashi
2013/05/13
Johnny Depp (left),
Helena Bonham
Carter (middle), and
Tim Burton (right)
attending their
movie premier.
online source:
deppcarterburton.
tumblr.com/page/3
A scene of Johnny
Depp (left) and Hel-
ena Bonham Carter
(middle) in Sweeney
Todd.
Source: http://
popcultureplaypen.
files.wordpress.
com/2011/01/stodd.
jpg
Tim Burton on Set.
Source: :http://
emc.elte.
hu/~FAMRACB/
blog/images/tb02.
jpg
Johnny Depp as
Willy Wonka in
Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory.
Source: http://
img2.timeinc.net/
people/i/2013/
gallery/johnny-

Tim BurtonTim Burton reveals the secrets
that leaded his movies to success
and what makes them so unique.
In this article that we are offering you, we have interviewed the
celebrity movie director Tim Burton and the main question that we
asked him was: “ what makes your film unique, your own?” Tim
burton than started saying the different elements, aspects and styles
that he like to work with and this is what we came out with: Flash-
backs, a figure that resembles ingenuity, a rebellious figure, work
with the same actors, stop-motion, dutch angle, points of view and
colors.
Tim Burton explains how he loves to express emotion, like pain in
most of his movies, of a character by using flashbacks and we can
actually see this in pretty much most of his movies: Emily sings
about her nasty death (The Corpse Bride), Ichabod Crane dreams
of his busty mother’s death (Sleepy Hollow).
If you are a big fun of Tim Burton surely you must have notice that
in every single one of his movies never misses a blonde figure. This
aspect occurs because Tim Burton thinks that there is not a better
figure than that one to resemble the concept of ingenuity and gives
the perfect bleached from all sins look. If you have noticed this
here the proof: Sandra Bloom (Big Fish), Katrina Van Tessel (Sleepy
Hollow), Kim (Edward Scissorhands), Johanna (Sweeney Todd),
Vicki Vale (Batman), Daena (Planet of the Apes) and The White
Queen (Alice In Wonderlan).
If u pay attention to his movies you surely figured
out that it never misses a young lady that is mis-
understood by everybody and she thinks she is
trapped by the expectation of the others. These
rebels are often the voice of reason in Burton’s
mad, mad world. Examples of these idea are: Lydia
Deetz (Beetlejuice), Ari (Planets of the Apes),
Carolyn Stoddart (Dark Shadow), Alice (Alice in
Wonderland), Sally (The Nightmare Before Christ-
mas) and Emily (Corpse Bride).
Tim Burton explained us why he loves to coop-
erate, work, with the same actors and the mainly
reason is because he already built up with them a
relationship and he knows that from them he can
have what he requires for his movie since they
already know how he likes to work. The actors that
have the privilege to work with him are Johnny
Deep, Helena Bonham-Carter, Christopher Lee
and Jeffrey Jones.
Even if it hasn’t been used in a lot of his mov-
ies, surely one of his signature techniques is the
stop-motion animation. This technique really got
associated to Tim Burton after the production of
“The Nightmare Before Christmas”, which was a
success, and also with the production of “Corpse
Bride”. The stop-motion technique involves the
use of physical sets and puppets and shooting each
subsequent frame of the film as the puppets are
moved through the motion you end up seeing on
the movie. Another technique that pups out really
often in Tim Burton’s movies is the Dutch angle,
also known as the Dutch tilt. Even if this isn’t one
of his signature techniques, Tim Burton told us
that he uses it more often than a conventional
moviemaker.
Tim Burton also explained us what is a Dutch
angle by saying that the shot involves tilting
the camera when shooting a frame in order
to create a skewed sense of tension and he
also added that at the end the result would be
of an angle rather than horizontal. Another
technique that Tim Burton told us he likes to
play with point-of-view shots quite often in
his films. This technique is demonstrated most
clearly in one of his breakout early successes,
“Edward Scissorhands” where Tim Burton
uses different shots in order to see
something from a point of view
of a character. He prefers using
this technique better than make
see something from an outside
eye looking in. Last but not least,
the technique that Tim Burton
masters better is the one about
colors. He uses color in a way that
no one uses. In most of his mov-
ies Tim Burton shoots subjects in
oversaturated and under saturated
colors with the purpose to add some
more Gothic mystery or unreal (dream-
like) states to the stories he wrote. He also
uses digital color in order to assist him to
achieve vibrant and specific colors for his
picture. A clear example of this can be founded
in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” where
is clear how the real world is colored with boring and off
colors (such as grey) and, instead, when the characters enter
in the chocolate factory there is an explosion of bright and
strong colors giving the sensation to live in a magical but real
world.
As we already know Tim Burton uses this techniques in order
to achieve effects that he need to express and make reach
certain feelings to the viewer. For exaples he use the color
technique in order to separate the true wolrd from the idealy
and dreamly one.
Tim Burton always said that he never wanted to make a
“scary/horror movie” and he asserts that even if he tries to
make a horror movie he can’t cause it’s not on his style. Tim
Burton does not consider even movies like Beetle juice,
Corpse Bride and the recent Dark Shadows, horror movies.
He also told that isn’t something
new make watch
scary movies to
children cause,
for example,
he told how he
grew up with
Disney movies
were most of
the times there
was a scary
character
involved.

1/Renan Passador’s Cut
Tim Burton’s portrait under front lighting
An examination on his lighting technique used in several of his films
that explains how, when, and why he uses it, mainting focus
on how he uses lighting to define his own particular style
and to communicate with his audience.
CINEMATIC TECHNIQUES
burton on
lighting

Tim Burton’s style aids building certain atmospheres and
shows representations for the audience to better compre-
hend his message and motivation behind the film. Artistic
strategies help the audience realize what theme each mov-
ie touches on. Being mindful of specific styles and tech-
niques helps those watching the film on comprehending
the meaning of motion pictures. Tim Burton’s utilization of
lighting alongside other elements causes the audience to
be attentive to finding meaning behind his choices.
Tim Burton is an American director born in 1958 in Califor-
nia. He grew up viewing horror films and drawing on his leisure
time. He was first renowned for being an animator and in
the long run climbed to a finer position as director. He
is currently acclaimed for making motion pictures,
for example, Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride
and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It seems
like he turned into a director on the grounds
that he needed to make films like the movies he
watched as a child due to his choices.
Generally, Tim Burton’s artistic deci-
sions are exceptional and accommodating to the
sentiments of the audience. One of the compo-
nents that help Tim Burton’s unusual style is lighting.
Tim Burton utilizes different types of lighting to under-
line a certain atmosphere. The change of lighting can change
the feelings behind a certain scene. Tim Burton has a tendency to uti-
lize a ton of lighting technique playing with shadows and chiaroscuro
to make a suspenseful and scary atmosphere as well as to compare the
characters’ reality with the world they are introduced to.
edward scissorhands
In the film Edward Scissorhands there are a great deal of
scenes where he utilizes this method. Burton stirs up high and low-key
lighting to add profundity to his characters. Burton utilizes the high
key lighting strategy in the town that Peg resides, depicting
it as splendid and lively looking. In the town, the houses are
portrayed as colorful with a ton of light, which contrasts to the
atmosphere of Edward’s castle up in the hill, showing different
worlds. In the castle, where Edward existed, Burton
utilizes low-key lighting having it dull with
few shades providing for it a troubling
feel. This made the audience realize
the castle was a strange place segre-
gated from the city. Edward himself
looks unpleasant, yet he is a deli-
cate man. Burton utilizes lighting
to set the atmosphere, as well as
to add depth his characters. Lo-key
lighting was additionally utilized
within the flashbacks Edward every
now and again had. Based on that, the
audience was able to see how melanchol-
ic his past was. Edward appeared to be fine
on the outside, yet the low-lit flashbacks and castle
indicated that he carried on with a discouraging life, so the
lighting aides passing on the theme that an individual is more
than simply what the eye can see, permitting the audience to
distinguish the depression Edward felt. An specific example is
seen in the scene in which Peg drives to Edward’s castle and
enters to offer Avon; low-key lighting is utilized to conceal Ed-
ward’s face from being seen. Peg is only able to see Edward
resembling a monster in the dark. Burton uses this type of
“It may be perceived that
way, but I have to personalize
everything” - Burton
lighting to make the house as dim and dull as he could for Edward to
look terrifying and for the audience to imagine Edward is going to do
something terrible to Peg.
charlie and the chocolate factory
In the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Burton utilizes
low-key lightning when Wonka and the chosen kids open the door
to finally see what’s inside the factory. The low-key lighting makes
the scene look frightening in spite of the fact that factory is expected
to be a fun place, yet it seems dim and suspicious. Tim Burton again
exhibits his remarkable style with low-key lighting at Charlie’s house,
which would appear like an unpleasant looking shack. The audience
expects that no nice individuals could conceivably live there. Charlie
resides there with his mother, father, and grandparents in an ador-
ing atmosphere. Burton gets the audience to make suspicions about
the characters based off of the lighting, yet then astonishes with the
complete inverse.
corpse bride
Lighting is likewise used to create mood in Burton’s Corpse
Bride. For instance, when Victor lands in the place where there is
the dead and the atmosphere of the film changes. At the point
when Victor was in the place where there were the living people
his surroundings were dim with minimal color and low-key lighting.
When we see Victor’s parents going into Victoria’s house there is no
side or from below. This makes a difference between two sepa-
rate characters and their distinctive state of psyche. This further
stresses the topic of appearances vs. actuality. The film is made
in a comparative style to 1920s German Expressionist movies
and this is clear through its stark dark and white appearance and
chiaroscuro lighting, which contrasts light and darkness to evoke
a scary and suspenseful feeling in the audience.
Tim Burton utilizes lighting to portray unique situations
in his works as director. Tim Burton has a unusual style that suits
his gothic movies well. Not just does he utilize lighting for visual
impacts inside his settings, however uses lighting as characteriza-
tion to add profundity to each character by portraying them as
outcasts, away from the norm. His utilization of lighting causes
the audience to be attentive to finding the reason why it was
made the way Burton chose, making lighting set the atmosphere
of his suspenseful vs. cheerful worlds.
light inside with the exception of the light
coming from outside that beams through
the door. However, in the place where there
is the dead, Burton utilizes high key light-
ing that creates a joyful environment and
brings all to life. It is more vibrant and lights
up the entire mood of the film making the
place where there is the dead have a merry
atmosphere contrasted with the place that is
known for the living.
vincent
Despite the fact that Vincent is a short anima-
tion, Burton was still capable of fusing various types of lighting
with shadows. Burton successfully contrasts bright or high key
lighting scenes for Vincent’s typical adolescence with dull or
low-key lighting scenes for his envisioned torments. At the point
when the ordinary Vincent is introduced, the lighting is high-key,
but when the storyteller depicts his tormented state of mind, the
lighting is low-key with Vincent Malloy being lit either from the
2/Renan Passador’s Cut
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/7300000/Tim-Burton-Comic-Con-2009-Portrait-tim-burton-7315666-281-400.jpg

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