Edward Scissorhands Cinematic Style Analysis

“Things like 'mad as a hatter' or 'grinning like a Cheshire cat', are so powerful that music and songs incorporate the imagery. Writers, artists, illustrators, a lot of them have incorporated that.” This quote by Tim Burton perfectly sums up his own Cinematic style in one quote. He uses many cinematic elements to make his movies, especially music, lighting and color, and camera angles, all to tell us more than the dialogue does. Burton made his first movie in 1985 and has made upwards of 40 films since then. He has won around 80 awards for his movies, spanning from Daytime Emmys to Bafta awards. In his movies, he uses many recurring cinematic techniques. Tim Burton is able to effectively capture the attention of his audience and convey his

In Edward Scissorhands, the whole entire neighborhood is seen as colorful and bright in contrast to Edward and his home which are both black and dark as if to ostracize Edward from society. Near the end of the movie, Kim is dressed in white, as if to show her breaking away from her society and becoming the yang to Edward’s yin. This can be seen during the scene at Edward’s Castle and during the scene where Kim is dancing in the snow. In Sweeney Todd, the lighting is generally dark and the colors are almost always bleak and dark. This helps with the theme of how mankind is evil and dark and allows Tim Burton to easily highlight important things in the plot by making them a different and more vibrant color. This can be seen in the beach sequence, which one of the only (if not the only) scene where elaborate and vibrant colors are used. This tells us, the audience, that there could be a bright future for Sweeney todd if he would just let go of his past. In conclusion, Tim Burton uses lighting and color to reinforce themes and develop ideas in the viewer’s

This is done in both stories by closing in on the character’s face to capture their expression. In Edward Scissorhands this can be seen during the scene where Edward discovers Kim for the first time. A close up shot of his face is shown and we see his eyes widen with happiness and show how he has fallen in love at first sight with her. In Sweeney Todd there is a particular scene in the beginning when he receives his long lost blades and holds it up high to a camera so we can see it and his facial expression. In Conclusion, Tim Burton uses Camera Angles and techniques to help tell the story and get the character’s emotions across, especially close ups and