Tim Burton: An Ingenious Director

Do you enjoy watching heartrending fantasies? Tim Burton has directed countless films that have dramatic and depressing moods. In Edward Scissorhands a teenage outsider tries to fit in despite his unique deformity while in Big Fish a son tries to learn more about his dying father by piecing together the stories he has told over the years. This dismal mood is created through the use of close-up camera shots, low-pitched background music and full camera shots. Tim Burton uses a close- up shot in order to show the audience the character’s emotions and reactions after the occurrence of a certain event. For example, when Sandra tells Edward that she’s already engaged to Don Price, Tim uses a close up to show Edward’s reaction to Sandra’s revelation. The close up on Edward’s face allows the audience to feel sad and somewhat sorry for Edward giving this scene a heartrending mood. Another example using this cinematic technique can be found in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when Willy Wonka’s father throws all of his Halloween candy into the burning furnace. The close up on Willy Wonka’s face shows us the sadness in Wonka’s eyes and his longing to eat a piece of chocolate without his father going to extreme measures. This demonstrates how Tim Burton can use a simple cinematic technique to create a heartrending mood throughout the scene. Tim Burton uses dramatic and depressing background music constantly throughout all of his films in order to bring the audience into the character’s emotion. For example, in the movie Edward Scissorhands, when the Inventor dies while giving Edward his Christmas present, Tim Burton uses dismal and emotional music in order to get the audience to feel the same emotion Edward is feeling. Another example using this cinematic technique is found in the movie Big Fish when Edward is finally dying and Will picks him up and carries him to the river, Tim uses low-pitched background music for the sake of bringing the audience into the scene and allowing them to feel heartbroken because of Edward’s death. The background music is important because it helps create a certain atmosphere that will allow the character to feel a similar emotion to what the character is feeling. In the movie Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton uses a full shot in order to set the character’s environment and to provide further information about the character. For example, when Jim started pushing Edward around because he unintentionally cut Kim, Tim Burton uses a full shot in order to show the audience what was happening to Edward at that time. The full shot in this scene is important because it shows the audience the physical and emotional pain Edward was going through. Another example using this cinematic technique is found in Edward’s flashback when he accidentally destroys his prosthetic arms after the death of the Inventor, Tim Burton uses a full shot in order to show the audience what Edward had done to his present. This allows the audience to feel somewhat sorry for Edward, giving this scene a heartrending mood. Tim Burton uses unique cinematic styles that combine heartrending and grim scenes to portray the dramatic and depressing side of human nature. Tim Burton uses close-up shots to amplify the character’s reactions, low-pitched background music to establish a connection between the audience and the characters and full camera shots to determine the character’s physical reactions and overall environment. This unprecedented use of simple cinematic elements makes Tim Burton one of the most ingenious directors of our time.