Tim Burton (Auteur Theory)

A lot of things you see as a child remain with you…you spend a lot of your life trying to recapture the experience.

– Tim Burton

Biography

Timothy William Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American film director, writer and designer known for his off-beat and quirky style. Especially in his stop-motion animated films, he is known for the exaggerated style of his characters, which still retain their serious, humanlike characteristics. He first came to note directing the Warner Brothers film Beetlejuice, which was followed by the blockbuster success of Batman in 1989. Following which he continued to make blockbusters as well as smaller dramas that continue to study loneliness in a style influenced by Gothic fairy tales.

Visual Style, cinematography, editing technique, mise-en-scene, use of sound

Before long young Burton was making horror films with a Super 8 camera, but he felt more like an artist than a filmmaker. He began drawing at an early age, but, it wasn't until he has spent some time at California Institute of the Arts, that he was given an opportunity that would change his life. Disney, after seeing Burton's artwork, hired him immediately. Amazingly, they didn't even have a job that specifically fit what he could do.

Themes and issues that are recurrent and identifiable in their works.

Burton uses special effects and visual tricks to create sights that have never been seen before. The movie takes place in an entirely artificial world, where a haunting gothic castle crouches on a mountain-top high above a storybook suburb, a goofy sitcom neighbourhood where all of the houses are shades of pastels and all of the inhabitants seem to be emotional clones of the Jetsons.

Their level of input into the work

Filmography as: Director, Producer, Writer, Miscellaneous Crew, Actor, Art Department, Production Designer

Trademarks

A few of his trademarks:

Frequently uses the name Edward

Visual style and themes heavily influenced by Gothic horror films of the twenties and thirties, especially those of James Whale and F.W. Murnau, along with the films of German Expressionism.

The illustrations of Edward Gorey are another major influence.

Frequently works with actor Johnny Depp. The two collaborated in the films Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Corpse Bride. Tim wanted to cast Johnny in his movie Mars Attacks (he wanted cast him in the role that eventually went to Michael J Fox .

Frequently shows dead dogs, clowns, sheep, twisted trees, jack-o'-lanterns, scarecrows, butterflies, and redheads in his films.

His films frequently have dinner table scenes.

His films often have gothic subtexts

Personalizes the production logo in the beginning of his films.

Opening credits usually utilize a tracking shot. They also tend to go either on, through, or into something.

His long standing collaboration with Danny Elfman, who scored all his films since Pee-wee's Big

Adventure, except Ed Wood, which featured the noted composer Howard Shore.

He often uses an uplifting ending theme for his theatrical trailers by Danny Elfman but is never used for the films.

His artwork, and lots of his films are notoriously influenced by the artist Edward Gorey, and his pen and ink drawings.

Often uses shadows for a scary, ominous effect.

His main characters tend to be outsiders, and are usually shy, with a pale complexion and unruly black hair, similar to his own.