Contextual Studies: Auteurism (Tim Burton)

As part of my contextual studies unit we were asked to pick a film or television director that I consider to be an auteur. I chose the film Director Tim Burton. Their are a number of reasons i consider him to be an auteur which I will go in to by breaking down two of his films.

However first I will give my opinion on what an autuer is.

In my opinion an autuer can not just be someone that makes a number of successful films. They must have their own style and approach to film unlike any other director. They must use editing, camera shots, lighting etc. in a unique way to reflect the themes and emotions in their films, to create their own individual style that is present throughout their films. I also believe that they should create films and themes based on their own views and experiences; their films should reflect the director’s opinions and personality.

I believe that Tim Burton fits that definition perfectly, the evidence for this is present in a number of his films, I will look at three of them. 

The Nightmare Before Christmas

In many of his films Burton explores themes that can be quite dark, e.g. death and resurrection, but often have innocent intentions behind them. This is very present not only in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (TNBC), but across almost all of his films.***
This balance of dark themes and consequences with innocent intentions reflects Burton's opinion that everyone has two sides to their personality.
In this film Burton clearly puts his own experiences and feelings in to the storyline. In an interview he stated that when he was a child he would place Halloween decorations on his family Christmas tree. This gave him the idea for this film in which he mixes the lands/holidays of Christmas and Halloween.

   To be considered an auteur the director must present common themes throughout their films. One particular theme present in Burton’s films include the loss of childhood innocence. ***
   This is shown in (TNBC) when Jack attempts to give Santa a "Break" But ends up kidnapping and almost getting Santa killed. There are more examples which i will go in to later.
   However it's not just common character archetypes (the lost girl, the lone wolf etc.) that Burton uses. He is also considered an auteur for his use of "mise en scene".
 
Burton specifically utilises the props/ scenery and lighting to enhance the gothic theme, evidenced in the images below. On many occasions red/orange lighting is used to foreshadow danger, green for mystery, and blue for fear.


In many of his films we see big overcast shadows and isolated locations such as the house of Jack in (TNBC) and the castle in "Edward Scissor hands".

 
Being a musical this film has a very present soundtrack, but it's not as if he made one musical and left it there, he carried over similar use of soundtrack to match characters emotions in "Sweeny Todd", but made it far more obvious. ***

However soundtrack is a well used tool in Burton's non musical films. He picked "Lana Del Ray" to sing in "Big Eyes" because he felt her distant gentle vocals would help enhance the creepy soundtrack and help create the ominous feel that he loves.

Big Eyes

Big Eyes is one of Burton’s more modern films, and despite being different to his earlier films, it still caries on certain themes.
  
Like “TNBC” Burton uses lighting and colour in ‘Big Eyes’ to convey emotion, warnings (foreshadowing danger), and set the scene. Three particular scenes demonstrate this. The first being the red sofa that Margaret sits on which foreshadows the trouble she will soon be in. As mentioned before the colour blue is often used in Burton's films to represent fear and later in the film there is a shot where Margaret walks; overwhelmedwith emotion, through a corridor lit in blue waving light by the pool. This symbolises her feeling of drowning in what she has done.
   This is another a common theme in Burton’s films: having characters get wrapped up in trouble even though they started with innocent intent. Burton tries to make his characters relatable. Jack just wanted to bring joy and a fulfilling feeling to himself and others; Margaret just wanted to support herself and her child and be successful. This reflects Burton's life where when he was younger he was afraid to fight back against his bullies and faced criticism for his “creepy” work. This is reflected in the themes of “Big Eyes” where the main character Margaret faces both bullying from her husband and rejection and criticism of her work .


Having characters reflect personal beliefs and experiences is the mark of a good auteur.

Mise-en-scene in regards to the paintings in the film are quite creepy and use a variety of colours, yet they are not vibrant. His use of props scattered around the set enhance a feeling of discomfort. He also continues his notorious centre around the fantasy genre by implementing CGI scenes where the character looses their mind and hallucinates perhaps referencing Burton's vivid imagination. We saw this with (TNBC) where we had an elaborate concept, and we see it in many of his other earlier films such as "Edward Scissor Hands" where we have incredibly detailed characters and sets which paired with bland colouring and CGI enhancements build up this fantasy world.

Summary

In conclusion Burton presents common themes in his films that are very prominent and individual. Each of his films share certain themes but makes use of sound, lighting, and character development in  ways that all reflect Burton’s own opinions and experiences, demonstrating his auterism.