Characteristics Traits Of Burton's Films example essay topic

Presentation Script To look at a director as an Auteur, firstly you have to outline what Auteur meaning actually is which simplistically can be described as 'repetition of theme and style, making the films recognisable as his / her work, creative control with films containing recognisable traits of his own individuality'. The characteristics / traits of Burton's films according to The IMDb (item) consists of: o Often uses a misunderstood outcast as a main character o His films often have a gothic feel to them, including Christmas and / or Halloween o Films often include a variety of weird fantasied people and / or objects all drawn or pictured with a similar look to them o Frequently uses composer Danny Elfman, and Actors Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Johnny Depp, Paul Reubens o Films often have an opening sequence with the camera moving through or following something o Tendency to feature townspeople in the film whom misunderstand or distrust the central character From researching Tim Burton it appears that his films are all possessed by his childhood, and thus almost the central characters based on himself. Tim Burton did indeed begin his career working for Disney animating, and did make two short black and white films funded by Disney 'Vincent' (1982) and 'Frankenweenie' (1984). Which by no accounts were typical Disney films, but were highly personal films which were not released, but proving that he was capable of creating his own films was given the freedom to make 'Pee-Wees Big Adventure' (1985). The success of this at the box office eventually gave him the credibility to three years later hand pick Beetlejuice to be his next film to direct, his first encounter with Michel Keaton. Beetlejuice was the film to finalise his Auteur status before moving onto the major blockbuster of Batman.

Keaton did infact help work on the script of Beetlejuice and had a major hand in shaping his character. Burton would go over to Keaton's house and they would essentially 'create the character' which was new to Burton who had never experienced this before so initially they bonded well. Burton stated Keaton to be 'manic, a livewire, and he's got these great eyes'. It seems as if Burton related to Keaton, perhaps saw themselves as being a bit similar, which you will also see largely present with Johnny Depp. Beetlejuice features a number of visual references that surface continually in Burton's work: these include a model town, characters patterned in black and white stripes, and a graveyard setting. The graveyard setting was again something that Burton grew up with as child.

"There was a graveyard next to where we lived, and I used to ply there" it was a place where I felt peaceful, comfortable".