Father of monsters and burtonesque art; Tim Burton expresses ingenuity and individuality through his films. Throughout his childhood, Burton was found to be an intriguing artist with bizarre ideas. Burton’s films are also reflective of his time and memories as a child to young adulthood, establishing a clear preference and speciality in the field of horror. Tim’s uniqueness in style and perspective root from film techniques such as clear contrast between black and white, known as German expressionism and recurring themes & motifs in his many works. Characters with certain behaviours and attitudes continuously reappear in Tim’s films, with strange yet likeable main characters. Such features are clearly displayed in ‘edward Scissorhands’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland (2009)’ His unique form of film directing and ideas correlate Burtons individualistic perspective, in which is expressed through recurring themes and German expression.
As a well-known phrase, “memories define a person”, Tim Burton spent much of his time in his curtain-shut room and backyard nurturing his potential as a distinctive artist and film director. Due to the occupying careers his parents led, Burton was left to develop his style later known as burtonesque, aspired by his childhood heroes Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl. Tim’s peculiar past had defined him as a director of distinctive ideas. The interpretation of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ depicts such intriguing styles, as each characters features are uniquely unafraid of society’s views of ‘beauty’. All characters are fascinatingly aesthetic wise in a refreshing aspect. The white queen’s beauty is rather strange yet agreeable in an open-minded sense; defined eyebrows, crimson lipstick with snow pale skin. Burtons unique ideas reflect his individualistic perspective, in which is expressed through a refreshing form of aesthetic.
Tim Burton’s inspiration sources from German expressionism, edward Scissorhands being a clear cut example. Where the hurtful reality plays a major role in the film, with the effective use of camera angles and shots. Such as a scene where Edward is peering on the right of a wooden door, a direct middle upper shot with heavy shadowing. There is not much colour tone aside from black and blue, attempting to draw emotions of fear from the audience. Ed’s facial expression complements the lighting well, it creates a soft shade somewhat blending his scars with the light source. It is with clever thought of the use of German expression in which Burton is able to be widely renowned as a very different director of film directing.
Characters with similar traits and lessons for the main character reappear in Tim Burton’s films, in addition, Burton tends to keep the same producing team (?) and actors to create his films. This allows the familiarisation between Burton and the team, lessening the explanations and such of the layout, thoughts of the film he wants when in production. He does not need to re-explain over and over again the burtonesque features to a new crew each time. Johnny Depp is a frequent actor of Tim’s films, playing Edward in “edward Scissorhands”, ‘Charlie and the chocolate factory’ and many more films. His reuse of certain features in his films truly distinguishes his film styles from other directors, such as