Tim Burton's Methods of Filmmaking Research Assignment (Essay Sample)

Name
Instructor
Course
Date
Tim Burton’s Methods of Filmmaking
Ever since the discovery of the moving image, people all over the world have been entertained, bewildered and delighted greatly by television and motion pictures. Looking at its history, there have been lots of transformation to ensure the best of experiences is achieved basing on the current prolific state. Motion pictures can be inspired by events that are comical, horrifying and even inspirational to eventually end up with material that will keep the intended audience entertained.
Filmmakers are at the center of this process where they employ images, sound, and editing to tell stories, therefore keeping people watching. The American film director, producer, artist, and writer Timothy Walter "Tim" Burton takes up this role brilliantly and combines various elements to share them on our screens. An analysis of his work and the process he uses as a filmmaker will be given to delve into his artistic process that helps viewers understand memory and its relation to personal identity.
Tim Burrton has been very influential and memorable in carrying the audience off, deep into the astuteness of his imagination. His movies are filled with contradiction that often give a feeling and perception that contains both frightening but again welcoming in themes of light and darkness. Monsters and weird characters have been employed in his works to portray bravery and generosity which tends to fill the audience with wonder and fascination at the same time. His unique style often defies imitation and has over the years grown in popularity among viewers all over the world. In as much as many people are aware of his work, the origin and trigger for his creativity are not as common. The inspiration of his work and the style he uses can be drown from his background. His historical experiences have lots of significance towards shaping his attitudes, ideas and beliefs to the starting point of his career in the filming industry.
Tim was born on August 25th in 1955 and grew in Burbank, California, near Hollywood. He attended Burbank High school before pursuing studies at the California Institute of Arts. He broke out to pursue his vision after working as an apprenticed animator at Walt Disney for a couple of years (Bernstein et al. 2). Throughout his tender ages, he drew fascination from popular culture with a love for horror movies and literary fantasy involving the imagined impact of science on society. The late horror actor Vincent Price is attributed to have been of special influence and inspiration to his work (Stranieri 8).
His childhood experience is thought to have shaped his character development and narrative. Often, he tends to feature outsider relations, being that of loneliness and rejection. During his childhood, he mostly used to spend his time lonely and in alienation. The mentioned issue resulted in spending a lot of time at the Cornell Theater in Burbank in addition to watching lots of television, drawing and playing in the cemetery nearby (Bernstein et al. 3).
Tim Burton has a unique visual style that tends to converge the 19th and 20th-century sentimental art. This style is usually considered in bad taste basing on the European art aesthetics (Conterio). His narratives often have a brand of focusing on monsters and loners that connect with viewers all over the world. Most of the used costume in his films will tend to favor the 19th-century Victorian flavor. It is seen even if the setting is of modern times. A gothic atmosphere is mostly unraveled and merged in strange worlds.
Lead characters in Tim Burton’s 1990 films; Scissorhands, Batman, and Beetlejuice usually personify an unusual character. In these movies, there is a conflict between good and evil, light and darkness that comes forth of relating to or characteristic of suburbs accordance. Much of the filmmaker’s work revolves around the theme of isolation and disconnection from the real world by the lead characters, hence a search for their own identity in the process.
The form of expression in his work takes the influence of German Expressionist art that is visible in most of the films. The mentioned artistic movement seeks to establish a form for psychological states through visuals that are highly conventionalized. Most of Tim’s work is not limited to the monochrome picture made by using several different shades of the same color lighting effects, but also in the design of the production and the greatly exaggerated degree of sets and décor. The style omnipresent in his work is of contemptuous laughter together with poetry fused in the theme of death. Therefore, this creates an inspiring horror that is poetic in a sense.
Most of Tim Burton’s inspiration is derived from the belief that there lies an important link between horror and humor. It is an assertion he seems to have borrowed from his fascination of freakish movies. He bases his style to dark and funny storylines and characters. Monsters such as Frankenstein are easily identified to him even in as much as other people have great fear and reject them.
He has managed to grow his creativity being open to complexities that might unfold in rebellion against the normal. Tim tends to base his style in simplicity, clarity, celerity and economic considerations. Through his artistic work, his vision of the world is represented and always ensures he derives inspiration from people around him.
Tim’s filmmaking abilities have the potential to take his audience on a ride through a world of light and darkness where freakish people ooze of generous acts and kindness. Through artistic techniques of employing camera angles and lighting, characters in his movies have been able to display their differences. High angle shots, for instance, depict drama in making the subject seem vulnerable when the mood is applied correctly. Therefore, the audience will aid to understanding the character better in the movie.
Camera movements are also given much importance in the film making process. Camera movement techniques such as pan, zoom and tracking are also deployed in his films. They are specifically effective in showing character movement. Acts such as foreshadowing are also common in addition to showing the mood and theme for a particular movie to the audience. The camera movements are used in an expressive manner, and they tend to create an effect that reflects a command of the craft of filmmaking. Cameras are often attached to dollies, cranes, weather balloons and even helicopters. A signature camera style used by Tim is the high angled roaming shot that shows the opening credits.
With the mysterious characters in play, lighting will tend to take utmost importance in most of his films. It is used together with flashback techniques to aid in creating the required tone of a particular scene. The audience can travel across a happy moment to a dark and scary one just by the lighting used. It is highly expected in any movie that involves monsters. Scary scenes are often accompanied by a lack of or insufficient lighting. This tends to influence much of the audience’s mood thus effects are great. The aspect of flashback portrayed through lighting is particularly significant to the audience such that it helps in the development of awareness of the characters in the film.
It is worthy of note that music is of much significance in Tim Burton's films and has been used efficaciously. It is employed to accompany the mood of a particular scene. For most of the fig...