Essay: Do Tim Burton Movies follow
the same pattern and has Tim Burton as an auteur perhaps created his own hybrid
genre?
Some say that Burton produces an
escape for his audience in his world. We are led to explore with our own
assumption which is very clever, producing an escape into why Burton did this.
The secret to this lies in the narrative but not through what is said, rather
–un-said. Tim Burton almost never shares to us when or even where the films are
set. We through iconography alone guess the setting [5] to be London, like in Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory where we guess just through the scenery. However pounds are
not used but dollars are, generating the theory of enigma. We cannot make the
assumption as to when the movie was set either, leaving a puzzling sense of
mystery. There seems to be a clash between Charlie’s simply ‘old fashioned’
life and that of the other ticket winners and the postmodern esc look of the
chocolate factory. It might be that Burton leaves these details out so viewers
get lost in his films, rather than get blasted by details. [6]
Whenever the spectator is plunged
into his mad world, they are also introduced to even ‘madder’ characters. In
regards to Mise en scene, Burton’s characters are made up colourfully and
creatively which appear to us as eccentric, weird and some may say grotesque.
If we consider some examples of his work we can ponder Willy Wonka perhaps.
With female characters, Anne Hathaway who plays the ‘White Queen’ wears a snow
white dress, has white hair but wears black make-up making her appear beautiful
in a creepy Burton way. Tim Burton uses the binary opposition’s theory along
with the theory of semiotics in synergy when we consider mise en scene. The
White Queen (the good) and Helena Bonham-Carter’s character ‘The Red Queen’
(the bad) are both sworn enemies. We use semiotics and also Roland Barthes
character codes to consider why the two sisters seem to contrast each other. We
know the white connotes purity denoting the White queen is the better behaved
‘Hero’ whereas the red connotes danger denoting a villain. [10]
Firstly Tim Burton has a vital piece
of iconography when his audience distinguish the cast involved. [7] When we notice
Helena Bonham-Carter, Johnny Depp or Christopher Lee, we can’t help but guess
this could be a Burton Film. Together most iconically Tim Burton uses Helena
Bonham-Carter and Johnny Depp as main protagonists in five of his movies. In
regards to the binary opposition’s theory their characters appear to contrast
one way or another. For example Helena plays ‘The Red Queen’ and Johnny Depp
plays ‘The Mad Hatter’. They in the narrative represent good and evil. The same
can be said for ‘The Corpse Bride’ where Helena plays the ‘Bride’ who is dead
and Johnny, the alive. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ‘Willy Wonka
‘played by Johnny Depp represents the rich figure and ‘Mrs Bucket’- played by
Helena represents the poor working life.
You'll see the same handful of characters, plot devices, and even facial
expressions over and over again, throughout Tim Burton's films. With the media
language if we consider how narrative and mise
en scene combine in Burton’s masterpieces, one iconic view on some of his
characters in his movies is they always feature something overly
dis-proportioned. In fact maybe not the most obvious character is that
unconfutable ‘chubby Weasel’ [3]-like character like Tweedle-dum and Dee
(Alice in Wonderland), Augustus Gloop (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Finis
Everglot- (The Corpse Bride) to name just
a couple recurring themes in which the audience love to pick out for
themselves. This links to the uses and gratifications theory as the audience
can make their own judgements on how they like to view on how Burton’s hybrid
view on Propp’s character codes theory for themselves. If we have a look at the
gender representation in a Burton film we see the female lead roles in Alice in
Wonderland with ‘The White Queen’ and ‘Alice’ we notice a sense of the female
gaze as we follow the woman or girl through the narrative rather than always
the man in the Burton code of ‘The punkie rebellious young lady’. Examples from
other movies are ‘Carolyn Stoddard’ – (Dark Shadows) and also ‘Ari’ – (Planet of the
Apes). Another example of recurring
characters is ‘The Skittish Outcast’. This character is very eccentric and
usually a main protagonist, such as ‘Willy Wonka’ (Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory), ‘Edward Scissorhands’ and also ‘The Mad Hatter’ (Alice in
Wonderland). All of these characters have the sense of adding to the eerie mise
en scene due to their bizarre appearances. Burton uses a strange persona which
is combined with an eccentric hair styles. Examples of similarity here are in
Burton’s more recent Alice in Wonderland with ‘The Mad Hatter’ and his wacky
hair style. His hair has high contrast with the usual gloomy background with
his bright red hair. The bright red hair could be symbolic of the great fire [4] we see in ‘The Mad hatter’s’ flashback. This is also the
case for Edward Scissorhands because he not only has very distinct features but
his hair style is also very whacky and contrasts the saturated town colour
symbolising ‘The Outsider’. Tim Burton focusses on hairstyles with Willy Wonka
but he actually seems to have perfect looking soft brown hair, signifying
chocolate to add to the factory setting.
[8] There could
be some ideology behind the hybrid Burton character codes when we look back to
his childhood. Burton was always the quiet yet quirky (hence the movie style)
boy. He told ‘The Hollywood Reporter’ he didn’t have the perfect childhood but
told the reporter that he noticed that his classmates along with him were
“Categorised”. Thus he maybe took elements from his classroom experiences with
the chubby boy or the crazy outsider to name just a couple. He also mentioned
that he was a big monster fan growing up which could explain ‘The Monster’
character with ‘The Jabberwocky’ - Alice in Wonderland, Sand Worm – Beetlejuice
and ‘The Headless Horseman’ - Sleepy Hollow. When we watch Burton’s first
stop-start animation ‘Vincent’ (1982) we first notice how similar Vincent and
young Tim seem. The short movie narrative foreshadows the Burton franchise
which would become very successful. For example Burton was seen as different to
the other children because he seemed more quirky and contrast to our first
encounter with him. ‘Vincent’ wants to be just like Vincent Price- Burton’s
other persona. Adding to this “He likes to experiment on his dog, Abercrombie,
in the hopes of creating, a horrible zombie.” This is a crucial part of
Burton’s ideology and auteur style because not only is this short film shown in
black and white but mirrors his Frankenweenie (2012) which features his dog
being brought back to life as a zombie. Bringing his career some would say,
full circle thirty years later generating the sense of Todorov’s equilibrium
theory. This constructs our foreboding effect. Vincent also discovers he had
buried his wife alive- could be the adaption that led to ‘The Corpse Bride’.
Also Vincent draws art work which is symblolistic of how all Tim Burton movies
are based on art work that he creates himself to bring his movie proposals to
life.
Tim Burton’s cinematography
techniques show similarity in his movies also. At the beginning of Edward
Scissorhands, the camera moves through a snowy setting and into a house. [1] The camera shot is a POV so it seems as though we are
there in shot and thus experiencing the experience ourselves as the character.
The POV shot is somewhat not uncommon among the cameramen as it is used in both
Charlie and the Chocolate factory and also Alice in Wonderland. In Charlie and
the Chocolate factory the opening credits involved a POV shot as we as the
audience travelled ourselves through the chocolate factory as we followed a
specific product, the chocolate [1]. We watch the journey of the chocolate as it is processed
there in the factory. The point of view shot in Alice in Wonderland is featured
as we travel as Alice, to chase the white rabbit. We travel through the garden
to the ‘White Rabbits’ hole, where we experience the famous dramatic Alice fall
in the surreal hole. He also uses the close-up camera shot in his work to
denote the characters emotional response. In Edward Scissorhands when innocent
Edward’s sees Kim talk to another man the music becomes very emotive and
connotes to us that they have fallen in love and Edward does in fact have a
heart. [12]
In combination with narrative
techniques, iconography of London, England seems to pop up in some Burton films
such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and also Alice in Wonderland. As I
mentioned we aren’t told whether it is London [5] or not but we are able to make up our
own assumptions in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the industrial look
of the town and the accents. We actually have full iconography in the opening
Alice in Wonderland opening sequence as we notice Big ben towering over the
clouds. One film we are sure about is Sweeney Todd because we are notified from
the start with diegetic‘No Place like London’ opening song and the opening up
of London Bridge. We are also told non-diegetically in Vincent where the Voice
of God tells us about the’ London Fog’.
Sound is vital to the Burton movie in
regards to theme and to meaning. Films such as Charlie and the chocolate
Factory feature a slow introduction but change as time progresses. Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory features as most Burton sound tracks do an orchestral non
diegetic theme supplied by known partner Danny Elfman. [11] Danny Elfman also created all music for Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory as well as al music in Beetlejuice (1991) and also the
opening score for Pee-wee's
Big Adventure (1985) hence similarity in score. In
this opening sequence to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory we notice the use of
match on action where every time the action changes in shot the music changes
one way or another. As we travelled through this factory the sound became
discordant as if it sounds as though we are in a Burton dream when we have
entered this fantasy. Burton uses the slow discordant music in most opening
sequences to his films. Another example is in Alice and Wonderland (also composed
by Elfman). As the camera shows the distributer ‘Walt Disney’ the music begins
to become creepy yet seems as though it is building to a climax. The climax is
found as we then enter our Burton world as we are presented with the moonlight
in the next shot. As the moonlight appears a choir hymn like score then
presents itself with the discordant sound as it although exciting, remains slow
in its rhythm. We can relate this with ‘Vincent’- Tim Burton’s first attempt at
stop-start animation. The mise en scene is clear thus no music plays, however
the house and tree appear signifying the start to the sound whatever form it is
in. In Vincent Burton uses a clever technique where he merges the non-diegetic
sound with the diegetic. The recorder starts out of shot indicating the
non-diegetic however when Vincent appears we find it is in shot (diegetic).
Colour and
lighting are a large part of Burton's camera cinematography and mise en scene
mastery also [2]. He shoots subjects in oversaturated and
under saturated colour, often in order to use the colour of the scene to help
add to the Gothic mystery or surreal and dreamlike states that his stories
frequently find themselves in. He uses ellipsis with the under saturated colour
to denote the state of flashback and also uses his oversaturated colour to
denote ‘real time’. Although digital colour grading assists in the process of
achieving vibrant and specific colour in his pictures, such as in ‘Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory’, Burton is still known for using the camera to capture
colour. He uses bright colours in most movies to make the shot have high
contrast in colour with the usual dark gloomy skies to result with a gothic
setting. The result to this focusses the audience’s eyes on the brightly lit
characters.
Bibliography
This source is a
‘slide- share’ based presentation that explains key points about Tim Burton and
his style of camera shots and use of actor. It explains that at the beginning
of the movie with the opening credits, the camera always follows an object such
as the chocolate in Charlie and the chocolate factory or in point of view shot
to seem as though we are there in shot.
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Movie
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Link
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Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
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Alice In Wonderland
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This source
tells us that the similar techniques such as lighting are used to denote to us
the mood of the surrounding. If the lighting is unsaturated, the mood will be
gloomy in such films as Edward Scissorhands where the scenes appear very dark
and cloudy with to produce a gothic feel. In contrast when the scene has
saturated colour, we’d notice that the mise en scene is happy in tone. An
example could be the postmodern colourful chocolate factory.
This item shows the
different character types that Tim Burton uses each movie. For example ‘The
Pudgy Weasel’ -Augustus Gloop - Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory and Tweedle Dum and Dee from Alice in Wonderland. (Images of
an example about this character type on separate page)
4: These
images feature how contrasting or similar (Johnny Depp) the Mad Hatter, Edward
Scissorhands and Willy Wonka are to their settings. The mad Hatter symbolizes the great fire in
the background and how it means something to us as the movie progresses. Edward
Scissorhands gives us an insight to Burton’s outsider by contrasting the
setting with the actor. However like the Mad Hatter, Burton uses Wonka’s hair
to be significant of chocolate and how that affected his life.
5: below is a table of my sources that show
Burton using London as iconography. Image three is an example that it isn’t
clear where this movie is set due to the dollars being used and not pounds but
look like industrial London.
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Film
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Link/Image
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Alice in wonderland
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Sweenie Todd
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Charlie and the chocolate factory
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6: According to
the Oxford guide to film studies, "Authorship is by far the best-known
'theory' of cinema". This links to the cult following of the Tim Burton
followers and why they stay loyal fans. They stay following because they admire
the work through recurring themes as they draw the spectator away from reality,
creating us an escape.
7: Tim Burton being a
well-established auteur uses the same actors as well as the same camera shots.
He constantly uses Johnny Depp and Helena-Bonham Carter to assist the
spectator’s view on the film. Both
Protagonists are also method actors in their day-to-day lives’ to ensure the
fell in role while production happens.
8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxQcBKUPm8o Ideological- this source shows us that
Burton’s film crucially have come full circle. This was his first try at stop
animation and many films such as ‘The Corpse Bride’ and ‘Frankenweenie’
although uncreated show strong similarity. It also shows Vincent drawing as a
young boy- something Burton enjoys as he draws each movies artwork.
9:
10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0vqNwkAJKE –This YouTube
hyperlink shows us that the white and red queen is a perfect example into the
binary opposition’s theory.
11: Danny Elfman –movie themes
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Movie
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Link
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Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
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Beetlejuice
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Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
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Alice in Wonderland
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