Edward Scissorhands Cinematic Techniques Analysis

(insert really good hook) Colors clashing like thunderclaps, extreme close-ups, . These are all keynotes of any of Burton's movies. He uses cinematic techniques to display emotions of his characters and set the mood for the scene by playing with colors and lighting. By using both of these techniques Burton gives off a simple message, be curious, not judgemental.

When Burton uses lighting he often when introducing the “outcast” will make the subject appear ungodly or scary. A few prime examples would be in Corpse Bride when Emily first appeared, she arose from the ground and her face initially wasn’t shown to add suspense to the scene. When she began chasing him and she walked over the hill Burton specifically put backlighting on her to give

The backlighting gave Emily the appearance of being “ungodly” or like a monster. When there was light on Emily, Burton gave specific focus to the eyes in order to display that Emily is harmless, because it’s said that the eyes are the window to the soul, not the outer appearance. Similarly, in Edward Scissorhands when Pam first met Edward he had lighting that was very dark and completely hid his face. All that could be seen was his scissor hands which made him seem all the more scarier. By using this type of lighting, he was able to give the audience a scare because Pam is this friendly-sunshine woman and out of the shadows comes a mysterious man with weapons as hands. It wasn’t until Burton showed Edward’s face that both Pam and the audience realized that the mysterious man with weapons for hands was, in fact, a scared boy and nothing more. There's an obvious pattern in his films. When he introduces a character he often uses backlighting and low key lighting so they seem scary when you first see them.

A prime example would be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where there weren’t a lot of “happy colors”, it was much more of the colder colors used. In the movie, there was a lot of dark colors, and if it wasn't dark it was very pale. For example, in the scene where everyone is walking up to the chocolate factory, there’s a lot of bright harsh lighting making the factory seem intimidating. This intimidation gives the audience a bit of fear, fear for the children and their parents going into this factory that no one but Wonka has been in for years. Another example of his brilliant use of color would be the colors in Edward Scissorhands. In this movie, it’s very easy to pick up on who the outsider is exactly. Everyone is dressed in bright colored clothes and their bright colored houses riding in their bright colored cars, then there is Edward in his black and white outfit. Burton chose those colors specifically because black is a signature “bad boy” color which initially made the audience believe that Edward would be evil and wreak havoc. Contrastingly though, Edward’s personality does not match his looks, instead, it’s discovered that Edward is a very sweet person and is just misunderstood and scared. Similarly, in