Running head: TIM BURTON 1

Tim Burton

Sarthak Behal, Dominic Davila, Taylor Gardner, Kelsie Mitchell, Ben Parr, Laura Parry,

Salt Lake Community College

Intro to Film FLM 1023/THEA 1023

Marty Nabhan
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Abstract

There are many different things that make a film successful. One of the main things that

can help determine the outcome of a film, is the director. The director dictates the full

outcome of the film, as they put their own personal style on it. Tim burton is a very well-

known director in the film industry. He is known for having a unique creative style in his

films, as well as a goth type theme. Tim Burton is great at making films different than

the standard films we are used to seeing, this in itself makes him a true auteur. He is

constantly pushing artistic boundaries in the film industry.

Keywords: Film, Tim Burton, Director, Theme, Style, Batman, Alice in

Wonderland, Big Eyes

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Among many art forms there lies the most inclusive of art forms, film. Film

provides an inclusivity rarely experienced by many forms of art. Film is a combination of

photography, sound, music, poetry, writing, and often even drawing. A great film

combines all the best of art and provides an experience of the most engaging kind, a film

that engages all senses. At the heart of this lies the director with the ability to combine all

forms into an experience and draws the audience into the story. All directors are able to

tell a story and use the screen as a canvas, but the best does so in a way that is all theirs.

Among these directors the best are known as auteurs, which are those with the ability to

create a story, with such distinction and talent, that we know without a doubt it is their

film simply from pure structure, themes, color, actors, actresses, angles, and more. One of

the most recognizable auteurs, who brings a style of his own, is Tim Burton. He has been

able to provide audiences a complete film experience while having a distinct style of his

own in every film.

When watching a film where Tim Burton is the director, it is easy to tell that the

film you are watching is one of his. Tim Burton is well known for his great artistic skills

and wonderful imagination. Burton was born in Burbank, California in 1958, to Jean

Erickson (Burton) and Bill Burton. He went to Burbank High School and continued on to

the California Institute of arts, where he graduated in 1979. Burton began his career as an

apprentice animator at the Walt Disney studios, however Disney felt that his style was to

dark and scary at the time to continue at Disney. While working at Disney, Burton also

invested some time into his solo career, making a short film titled, Vincent. Vincent was

showcased at the Chicago Film Festival, it had a lot of positive reviews and also won him

an award. During his last year at Walt Disney Studios, Burton had two live-action
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productions, Hansel and Gretel, and Frankenweenie. These two short-films lead him to

direct a cinematic sequel to his popular character, Pee-Wee Herman, which was titled,

Pee-wees Big Adventure. Pee-wees Big Adventure was also the first time that Burton

collaborated with songwriter Danny Elfman. This collaboration has taken place many

times throughout Burtons career. This was all just the start of Tim Burtons very

successful career in the American film industry. In IMDb Tim Burton is credited for 24

Films and TV series as a producer, this includes Beetlejuice 2, which is currently in the

works. He is credited as a director in 38 TV series and movies, this also includes

Beetlejuice 2 and Dumbo that is also currently in the works. Also in IMDb Tim Burton is

noted to have won a total of 21 awards and has had 71 nominations; this includes his two

Academy Award nominations and his Golden Globe nomination. Among all these many

great accomplishes Burtons career continues to grow and amaze people.

There are many elements from Tim Burtons array of movies that prove he is an

Auteur. The first of many is the genre, Burton uses fantasy as his main genre, but

interestingly his version of fantasy is unique. When people view usual fantasy movies

they think of mythical creatures, fairytales, and princesses, but Burtons fantasy is dark,

quirky, and at times scary. He once said, One persons craziness is another persons

reality, this quote helps give an understanding to why Burtons style of fantasy is so

different. Is this his reality or is this his view of the world?

When watching a Tim Burton film, you will notice a lot of the same themes. The

main theme you may experience, is innocence vs. darkness. He tends to create a character

or characters that are innocent, or child-like, even if they are an adult. His main

characters also tend to be nervous and quirky, for example Victor Van Dort (Corpse
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Bride), Edward Scissorhands, Ichabod Crane (Sleepy Hollow), and many more. He also

tends to have a witch character, this characters job in the movie is to agitate other

characters and reveal information to the audience. Some of the witch characters are

Lady Van Tassel (Sleepy Hollow), and Angelique Burchard (Dark Shadows). Along with

similar characters Burton tends to use the same actors/actresses in his movies,

actors/actresses such as Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Catherine O'Hara, Michael

Keaton, and Winona Ryder. These are just a few of the many actors/actresses he casts in

his movies. Burton also uses the same composer, Danny Elfman, and same animator, Tim

Allen (not the actor). Burton works with the same people in most of his movies because it

allows him to reveal his vision and not have it be tampered with or lost by other minds.

All the people listed above think like Burton, which allows him to express his ideas fully.

There are different marks that Tim Burton includes into his movies. One of those

marks would be flashbacks, he uses flashbacks to show an important moment in a

characters life. For example; when Alice remembers the first time she came to

Wonderland, or when Edward recalls the moments he spent with his creator. Another

trade mark of Burtons films is, he reuses different symbols in his movies. A few of these

symbols are; bats, dogs, spiders, graveyards, black and white stripes, skeletons, topiaries,

and model towns. In all, these are a few of the many elements that make Tim Burton an

Auteur.

One of the top grossing films that Tim Burton has directed is Alice in

Wonderland. When watching this movie, you can tell that it is a Tim Burton movie. It has

a lot of the good vs evil theme, or innocence vs darkness. For example; the Red Queen vs

the White Queen. The way that the two main characters are portrayed, you can tell, it is
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most certainly a Tim Burton approach. Alice, the first main character, is beautiful and

blonde. Burton usually likes to have the main positive female lead be a blonde in a lot of

his movies. Alice is also a kind, nurturing kind of person. Which is another characteristic

of the blonde characters in Tim Burtons movies. Then, there is the Mad Hatter, who was

also played by Johnny Depp, which as noted earlier, is one of the actors Burton likes to

work with regularly in most of his movies. Johnny Depp is someone that has starred in a

lot of Tim Burton movies, which makes sense, because Johnny Depp is excellent at

playing a character who is different, and kind of crazy, which the Mad Hatter definitely

is. As well as many of the other characters from various Tim Burton movies. Depp and

Burton have worked together so often that they have developed a close friendship, Depp

is even the godfather to Tims son. Both these characters, Alice and the Mad Hatter, are

misfits which is a signature character trait in many of Tim Burtons films.

Alice in Wonderland, is a film that was re-created from the original film done in

1951 which was more of a cartoon kind of film. Tims version of the film is less fantasy

like and more towards the realistic side, minus all the floating cats and potion making.

Tim has more of a twisted way of portraying his emotions into film. He says that,

making a film is a form of expensive therapy for himself, although he doesn't consider

himself a dark person even if most of his films are on the darker side. With Alice in

Wonderland it was already a dark and twisted film, once Tim Burton got ahold of the

screen write he managed to add a new kind of dark and twisted side to it. For example, in

the movie there are two twin boys, Burton did not change who the characters are in his

film vs their original cartoon version. All Burton simply did, was change their

appearance. He dressed them in black and white stripes, instead of the bright colors that
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they had in the original cartoon version. Burton also got rid of their silly hats and made

their skin paler. Pale skin and black and white stripes is yet another signature

characteristic that Burton uses in his films. For example; in his famous film Beetle Juice,

the main character is wearing a black and white striped suit and has pale skin.

Tim Burtons style of directing is unique and recognizable because he uses

numerous distinguishable key features that separate his movies from others including

stop motion filming, gothic visuals, eccentric characters, and plot lines consisting of

good versus evil. Serval of these key features can be seen in Batman, a Tim Burton

movie from 1989. For example, Tim Burton uses strong light and dark gothic visuals to

parallel and reinforce the good versus evil plot line. This is depicted in Bruces

relationship with his alter identity of Batman. Specifically, Bruce is the good

philanthropist and Batman is born from evil.

Another example of Tim Burtons directing style, as discussed before, is his use

of eccentric characters. Specifically, in Batman the roles of the Joker, Batman, and Two-

Face depict eccentric characters where (1) the Joker dresses like a clown and is

motivated to watch the world burn, (2) Batman is stoic, has an alter identity, and is

secretive, and (3) Two-Face used be the district attorney, half of his face is burned, and

he uses a flip of a coin to make decisions. Each of these characters have extreme aspects

of personality making the movie Batman a classic example of Tim Burtons directing

style. The last example of Tim Burtons directing style is his use of flashbacks to tell a

story and inform of viewer of historical information regarding the main characters.

Within Batman, a flashback scene is used to inform the viewer of the murder of Bruce

Waynes parents and ultimately Batmans motivation for existing. This flashback takes
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place from Bruces perspective as a child and ultimately informs the viewer that the Joker

murdered his parents. These examples of Tim Burtons directing style are each unique

and make his movies recognizable to the viewer.

Among Alice in Wonderland and Batman, Burton has a lot of popular movies he

has directed. Other examples would be; Edward Scissorhands and Corpse Bride. Burton

has also had many other great movies that he has directed, that werent as popular, such

as; Ed Wood, Big Fish, and Big Eyes. Big Eyes was released on December 25th, 2014. It

stars Amy Adams and Christopher Waltz. Big Eyes is a movie that is based on a true

story about Walter Keane, a famous artist in the 1960s and his wife Margaret Keane. In

the movie, Walter Keane, takes credit for paintings that his wife, Margaret, paints. These

paintings are usually of children who have large eyes, and these paintings soon become

really famous. Everyone, including Margarets daughter, believe that these are Walters

paintings, and do not know that Margaret is the true painter. Tim Burton has noted in

different interviews that he saw a lot of the real Big Eye paintings when he was growing

up. He said he always loved and was extremely fascinated by the Big Eye paintings.

Big Eyes is different from any other film that Tim Burton has directed, but you

can still see Tim Burtons mark throughout the entire movie. Burton has been known to

use characters with pale faces, as well as characters with blonde hair. The main character

Margaret in Big Eyes, has both blonde hair and pale skin. Tim Burton also likes to use

dark and very bland colors, which you can see throughout the movie. He uses a lot of

contrast between dark shadows and light as well. Tim Burton has stated before in an

interview that growing up he viewed these paintings as innocent and childlike, but when

he learned the true identity of the artist, these paintings lost their innocence. Throughout
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the movie you will notice that the paintings are usually ensconced in light, while the

people and surrounding area are in the shadows or not as light as the paintings. The

contrast of light and shadows in this movie can be seen as a reflection of how Burton

personally feels about these paintings, the innocence vs the darkness. Another example

tell that this is a Tim Burton movie is through camera shots. Burton will use point of view

shots and close up shots, he loves using close up shots, because he believes facial features

can tell a whole new level of emotion, completely by itself. You can see a lot of this in

the movie, when there are close up shots of Margaret you can usually see the sadness and

inner battle she has about telling the truth behind who the real painter of the paintings is.

Another favorite shot is, the point of view shot. This shot it is like you are viewing the

movie as a bystander, in the same room as the main characters. Or as if you are viewing it

through the eyes of the paintings themselves. This movie is a great movie and has a lot of

Burtons trademarks. Even though, this isnt one of Tim Burtons most famous movies,

or his usual type of genre, you can still see his mark throughout the movie.

Auteurs add special styles to films that enhance our viewing experiences and in

every sense Tim Burton falls under this category. From his dark gothic styles, his other

world color choices that are dark and quirky, to using an outcast or misunderstood main

character with a childs innocence. Burton goes out of his way to portray another world

that quickly we assimilate to as reality. How he does this is through the elements of his

films, from using recognizable symbols, common actors such as Johnny Depp and

Michael Keaton to his common sounds and music using Danny Elfman. It doesnt take

long for us to recognize we are watching a Tim Burton film. Never lacking imagination

and quality, these things are why we consider Tim Burton one of the best Auteurs.
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References

Alexander, S. (2015, September 03). Auteur: Tim Burton. Retrieved December 2, 2017,

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Hirschberg, L. (2016, December 15). Eyes Wide Open. Retrieved December 10, 2017,

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Perno, G. (2014, December 23). Directors' Trademarks: Tim Burton. Retrieved December

8, 2017, from http://www.cinelinx.com/movie-stuff/item/6889-director-s-

trademarks-tim-burton.html

Renee, V. (2016, October 28). 'Burtonesque': Breaking Down the Gothic Cinematic Style

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style-tim-burton

Rowe, P. (2013, January 17). Auteur Director Tim Burton. Retrieved December 2,

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TheFamousPeople.com (Ed.). (2016, November 29). Tim Burton Biography. Retrieved

December 10, 2017, from https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/tim-burton-

4168.php
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http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000318/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm