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Tim Burton's Fairy Tales

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Tim Burton is an animator, screenwriter, director, and illustrator, best known for the dark, twisted, cinematic flair that his films contain, along with a smooth blend of horror and fantasy. Inspired by animator Walt Disney, and writers Roald Dahl and Edgar Allan Poe, it’s no surprise that many of Burton’s films focus on fairy tales. But, unlike many fairy tales, Burton’s fairy tales contain dark tones and moods that many fairy tales lack. Burton emphasizes these dark tones by manipulating lighting to emphasize the dark aspects of fairy tales that many adaptations simply glance over. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, and Alice in Wonderland, Burton uses high key lighting, low key lighting, and back lighting to emphasize …show more content…

For example, as Peg Boggs discovers Edward’s castle for the first time, a dark shadow casts on the top floor of Edward’s home. As Edward slowly emerges from the shadows, backlighting focuses on Edward’s face, and most specifically his scars, self inflicted by his own disability. With backlighting, most would believe that this effect was intended to emphasize the evilness of Edward. In many fairy tales, backlighting is used to achieve this effect. However, this is not the case. In this scene, Tim Burton uses backlighting to expose the innocence of Edward, and the cruelty of his life that was spent in a dark castle, alone. After slowly coming out of the shadows, Peg Boggs, is deeply saddened by the loneliness Edward has to suffer from day after day, and decides to take Edward into her own home. On the drive home, the audience and characters are astounded by Peg’s neighborhood. Bright, high key lighting floods her neighborhood, saturating the pastel colored houses, as if to make these colors even brighter. Like many fairy tales, in this scene Edward is being taken from a drabby life to a whole new happier life. However, Burton directs high key lighting differently. Tim Burton utilizes this to contrast the darkness of Edward’s life to the brightness of everyone else’s life. After settling into Pegg’s home, in a typical …show more content…

Time and time again, fairy tales often depict the “good” character receiving the happy ending. Whether it be getting married, being set free, or defeating the enemy, fairy tales always end on a happy note for this “good character.” In Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton exposes this truth using high key lighting. When Alice presents the Vorpal Sword to the White Queen, her purity is the first thing she notices. Along with her graceful movements and gentle voice, the White Queen’s purity is supported by strong, pale, high key lighting which accentuates the pale tone of the White Queen’s face. The representation of the Queen’s purity represents her pure goodness and how tragically her kingdom was ripped from her. Tim Burton takes advantage of this lighting to show that although the White Queen is undeniably righteous and graceful, her happy ending did not remain for long after Alice had left as a child. In addition, in Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton uses low key lighting to emphasize the innocence of a character. As soon as Alice arrives in Wonderland, conflict occurs. Citizens of Wonderland begin to argue and bicker about the “real Alice.” Alice soon insists that she is not the “correct Alice,” due to her not wanting to slay a dragon. Because of this, Alice, along with several citizens of Wonderland, begin to

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1150 Words | 5 Pages

Tim Burton used color’s saturation and brightness to compare something to its surroundings. For example, in Edward Scissorhands, the last scene, we see what Edward is sculpting ice in the shape of Kim. The ice is extremely bright in contrast to the darkness of the castle. This illustrates the bright effect Kim had on Edward’s life. This compares to the other movie; in Sweeney Todd, the blood is overly saturated to an almost comical point, showing the ultimate bloodlust that Sweeney Todd feels.

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526 Words | 3 Pages

The scene fades out and transitions to the main story where the family sits together at a table, the fading technique gives off a good backstory for the main event, to explain all of the childhood bedtime stories that Edward told to Will when he was a child. Towards the end of the story, Edward and Will are at the hospital, Edward is slowly dying and insists this (Edward in the hospital) isn’t the way he

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1118 Words | 5 Pages

Lenny Abrahamson’s drama film Room follows Joy and her five-year-old son Jack and their experiences of living in a tiny room with only so much space. Throughout the film, both aspects of low-key lighting and high-key lighting are filmed in various scenes. These lighting styles indicate both the rough and unstable atmosphere of living in just one small room as well as the freedom of escaping the small room and starting a new chapter in their lives. In addition, both lighting styles also play an important role in the film’s plot and set the mood for the plot by either adding suspense or relief. Room narrates the story of Joy and her son Jack’s lives as they are trapped in a very small shelter that they refer to as Room.

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299 Words | 2 Pages

The contrasting elements in his films exaggerate the difference between the settings and characters. In Edward Scissorhands, the castle appears in dark colors along with low lighting. Towering over the neighborhood, it looks menacing and evil. Lightning flashes and eerie music is played when the castle

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1114 Words | 5 Pages

For example, when the boys are young, sepia toned lighting is used. This produces a slightly hazy, vintage feel. As the boys grow older, and the memories become clearer, the lighting becomes brighter and crisper. High-key lighting and low-key lighting are also alternated depending on the mood. When out on the river, high-key lighting is used the majority of the time.

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432 Words | 2 Pages

In Burton’s films, lighting is used to show happiness or sadness. For instance, in the movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, it is shown how dark and gloomy the town is while the factory is disconnected from society compared to when Charlie's grandfather was younger, working in an upbeat and colorful environment. Nevertheless, the lighting in his movies are manufactured for you to think a certain way of something when it could actually mean something else. With the accompany of lighting, Burton’s films

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1071 Words | 5 Pages

Tim Burton’s distinct style became evident in his very first films and stayed clear in his later film, while the plot of Burton’s films vary greatly his style stays pronounced. This can be seen across his many movies from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, “Vincent”, and “Frankenweenie”. In all of these films his distinct style is developed through the use of a strong contrast of high and low key lighting to show contrast between characters and circumstances, a recurring motif of mobs antagonizing the antagonist, and the frequent use of shot reverse shots to show the development of the relationship between the outsider and the people on the inside. With the use of a contrast between high and low-key lighting, a recurring mob motif, and the use of shot-reverse-shots Tim Burton develops his hopelessly bleak style. One of the most evident cinematic techniques that Tim Burton uses to develop his hopelessly bleak style is the use of a strong contrast of high and low-key lighting or colors.

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836 Words | 4 Pages

As a child grows up and is exposed to the world for what it truly is, the innocence they once had is lost and can never be regained. Reality sets in and children are forced into maturity as they enter the world of experience through adolescence. A satirical/ironic story type portrays the world of experience with the use of explicit realism and creates a dystopia to which we question what seems to be real. Disney’s Alice in Wonderland uses archetypes such as the shadow and trickster characters, the dark and grim setting, and chaotic/dystopic imagery effectively through a satire/irony story to demonstrate the theme of entering the world of experience as Alice begins to lose the innocence she once had and is entering a new stage in her life.

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1208 Words | 5 Pages

The colors and lighting are very unchanging much like the town Endora. The only exception is when there are strong emotions within the film. There is a warm glow of lighting by the sunlight or fire whenever there is a time of love, be it brotherly or in a romantic way. During the melancholy times of the story, the lighting is either dim when it relates to death, but when a character is feels lost in their emotions the director

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2132 Words | 9 Pages

The dark and dreary appearance of the forest gives a hopelessness to the inhabitants, who wear tattered and faded clothing, which once represented a happier life. The dark forest is further contrasted by everything else from the clean pastel of Alice’s world, the vibrant colors of the Red Castle, to the purity of the White Castle. The audience pities the inhabitants because they know the forest can be prosperous from prior knowledge, but can’t be due to the Red Queen. Even for those who have no knowledge of Alice in Wonderland, the Disney movie stereotypes have two notions of forests: either dark and unforgiving or warm and friendly, based on the inhabitants. While the forest of Wonderland is dark and appears unforgiving, unlike Disney’s other predecessors, the forest is associated with quirky characters like the Mad Hatter, who doesn’t act mad.

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606 Words | 3 Pages

When compared to the all-animated 1951 original movie (which was very much beyond its time), Tim Burton’s version breathes a new life into the film, by enhancing the plot and providing an all-round brilliant viewing experience to the 21st Century. Additionally, Alice in Wonderland is different to the clear majority of Disney movies, especially those based upon classics, due the leading female role. We all know the drill when it came to many of the original Disney films: the beautiful princess is a damsel in distress, getting rescued by the handsome prince and living happily ever after. However, this isn’t the case in this movie. Alice faces many struggles throughout the movie and with the help of her friends, realizes her own resolutions to problems as well as being relied on as a hero, which is uncommon for a female character in a Disney

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688 Words | 3 Pages

Tim Burton contributes to the world of animation in the film industry and redefined stop motion . Lighting is an important cinematic technique directors can use to set the mood for a particular scene. For instance, high-key lighting is used to flood a scene with light, often making the set and characters appear happy and safe. In contrast, low-key lighting casts deep shadows across the set and characters creating a sense of danger. Burton makes good use of lighting techniques in many of his films.

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793 Words | 4 Pages

Burton uses lighting to show fantasy and reality in his movies. In the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory high key lighting represents fantasy. The lighting is used in Willy Wonka’s factory showing that it is every kid’s dream to visit it. Although it is his fantasy, Charlie knows that a fantasy is all it ever will be.

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850 Words | 4 Pages

Tim Burton is a man praised for his cinematic style and contributions into the world of film. Tim Burton is influenced by his fascination with children’s stories and fairy tales. An article states, “Burton stories encourage escapism into worlds of fantasy and supernatural.” Some of his children’s movies are rather dark but delightful. Tim Burton was influenced by Roald Dahl along with other well-known authors such as Dr. Suess.

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823 Words | 4 Pages

When he walks in, there’s an overwhelming brightness in the church, symbolising his escape from the darkness and finding his light. Hundreds of lit candles surround Juliet, showing her innocence and bright spirit. When the scene closes, the candles come together as an overhead shot is used and makes them seem like stars around Romeo and Juliet. In the Great Gatsby the lights in the mansion are not all on, only a few are left on to signify the death of Gatsby and the light of his life diminishing. The ocean is brighter and has lighter cast on it than the mansion.

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