Annotated Catalogue (Presentation Script)

Speaker: Good morning everyone. Today I will be talking about

Presentation Slide 1: Statement on screen

Speaker: “How have events in Tim Burtons life provided evidence that it’s reflected in his films?”

Slide 2: picture of Burbank, California on a map

Slide 3: quote from burton on burton book (ITEM 1)

Speaker: Tim Burton was born in 1958 in the city of Burbank, California. He used his hometown as a location in Edward Scissorhands. He is using elements of his life to portray himself into the film and making Edward Scissorhands character to represent most elements of his life.

Slide 2: Trailer of Edward Scissorhands

Speaker: The first item we will look at is my main film, Edward Scissorhands, directed by Tim Burton in 1990. The film focuses around the main protagonist, Edward Scissorhands, and how he is an outcast to society. This is reflected as when Tim Burton was a child he dressed differently from other children and struggled to make friends. Edward Scissorhands is an example of how Tim Burton wants to go against the hegemonic ideal. (ITEM 3)

Slide 3: Image of Tim Burton and Edward Scissorhands (ITEM 16)

Speaker: Tim Burton frequently characterizes the main protagonists of his films to portray an image of him. This is further represented in Edward Scissorhands as Johnny Depp’s character, Edward, shares many of the same physical attributes that Tim Burton has. This could emphasise the point that Tim Burton has an obsession with himself, and uses it as an advantage in his films.

Slide 4: Play Vincent (short, d. Tim Burton, 1982) – 6mins

Slide 5: picture of Vincent Molloy (ITEM 6)

Speaker: You can clearly see that Vincent Molloy from the short film has many resemblances to Tim Burton, as they both have dark, scruffy hair, slim face and dark clothing. This suggests that Tim Burton clearly had an obsession with himself and chooses to reflect his ego into his films. Burton’s favourite actor when he was younger was Vincent Price, and he gained a slight obsession. As a result this led to his first short film based on a young boy called Vincent who imagined he was Vincent Price. This suggests to the audience that the short is based on how Burton felt when he was younger. (ITEM 5 and 6)

Slide 6: quote on slide from burton on burton book           

Speaker: This quote confirms how Tim Burton felt on Vincent’s character, and how he used him as his first attempts to represent himself onscreen. It suggests how he his reminiscent of his childhood and the connections he had with Vincent Price. (ITEM 7)

Slide 7: quote from burton on burton book

Speaker: this quote also confirms the point of how Tim Burton was different from other children when he was a child, as it is not typically normal for young boys to enjoy watching horror films without getting scared. And therefore some of the most popular films that Tim Burton has made have been focused around fictional monsters, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Frankenweenie reflect the stylistic choices he made, because horror has always been his favourite genre. (ITEM 2)

Slide 8: trailer for Frankenweenie 1984

Speaker: Another way that the audience can suggest that Tim Burton had an interest in fictional monsters is because in 1984 Burton made a short film called Frankenweenie while he was working for Disney, but they deemed it unsuitable for Disney’s target audiences. Tim Burton discussed how he didn’t feel like he could fit in with Disney’s animation team and they did not like the drawings he produced. This obsession with monsters and dead dogs continued after it was reflected in his short film, Vincent, when he tries to turn his pet dog into a zombie, and later on in 2012 when he was able to make Frankenweenie as a full length film.

Slide 9: trailer for Frankenweenie 2012

Slide 10: Disney logo and music

Speaker: in 1980, Burton attracted Walt Disney Production’s animation department and they offered him an animators apprenticeship at the studio. He worked as an animator, storyboard artist and concept artist for Disney, but his ideas never made it into the finished films. In 1984, after Burton released his live-action short of Frankenweenie, Disney fired him as they thought he spent the companies resources on creating a film that was too dark and scary for children.

Slide 11: quote from burton on burton book (ITEM 11)

Speaker: this is evidence of how Tim Burton felt while he was working for Disney and his audience could suggest that this is what then encouraged Burton to make his own films with his own style, and now this is why his films are so distinctive compared to other directors and auters.

Annotated Catalogue (Presentation)

https://prezi.com/srunxc7o5qsv/have-events-in-tim-burtons-life-provided-evidence-that-it-i/

Annotated Catalogue (final)

How have events in Tim Burton’s life provided evidence that it’s reflected in his films?

Item 1
BURTON, T. (1995) Burton on Burton
“Burbank is an archetypal working-class American suburb. It was an environment, however, from which Tim Burton felt alienated at an early age, one that he would later portray in Edward Scissorhands. Indeed, it’s easy to see the young, introverted Tim Burton in Edward’s stranger-in-a-strange-land, removed from his hilltop castle home to a pastel-coloured version of suburbia. As a child, Burton was, by his own admission, moderately destructive. He would rip the heads off his toy soldiers and terrorize the kid next door by convincing him that aliens had landed. He would seek refuge from his surroundings in the movie theatre or sit in front of the television watching horror movies.” Tim Burton used his hometown of Burbank, California as a location in Edward Scissorhands. He is using elements of his life to portray himself into the film, and making Edward Scissorhands’ character to represent most elements of his life.

Item 2
BURTON, T. (1995) Burton on Burton
“I’ve always loved monsters and monster movies. I was never terrified of them, I just loved them from as early as I can remember. My parents said I was never scared, I’d just watch anything. And that kind of stuff has stuck with me.” Reflected in films such as The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Frankenweenie (2012), as the films central focus are fictional monsters.

Item 3
Edward Scissorhands (d. Tim Burton, 1990). As a child Tim Burton was an outcast. He dressed differently from other children and struggled to make friends. Edward Scissorhands character is an example of how Tim Burton wants to go against the hegemonic ideal. This suggests to the audience that Tim Burton has used Edward Scissorhands’ character to reflect and image of himself to the audience. (Also shown in item 14)

Item 4
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (d. Tim Burton, 2005). Throughout Tim Burton's childhood, his parents had a turbulent relationship, which in effect, ended badly. This is reflected in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Willie Wonka and his father, as they did not get on and went many years without speaking to each other. This proves that Tim Burton has used his personal experiences of his childhood in a way that he can relate to Willie Wonka’s character and so it suggests these themes to the audience.

Item 5
Vincent (short, d. Tim Burton, 1982). Tim Burton's favourite actor when he was a child was Vincent Price, and he gained a slight obsession. As a result, the first short film Tim Burton made was based on a young boy called Vincent who imagined he was Vincent Price. This suggests that the young boy, Vincent, in the short is based on Tim Burton when he was a child, as they also share many of the same physical features.

Item 6
You can clearly see that Vincent Molloy from the short film has many resemblances to Tim Burton, as they both have dark scruffy hair, slim face and dark clothing. This suggests that Tim Burton has an obsession with himself and chooses to reflect his ego into his films.


Item 7
BURTON, T. (1995) Burton on Burton
“Vincent Price, Edgar Allan Poe, those monster movies, those spoke to me. You see somebody going through that anguish and that torture-things you identify with-and it acts as a kind of therapy, a release. You make a connection with it. That’s what the Vincent thing really was for me.” This quote from Tim Burton’s book gives his opinion on how he felt about Vincent’s character, and how he used him to first represent himself through a character onscreen. It shows how he is reminiscent of his childhood and the connections he had with Vincent Price.

Item 8
The Nightmare Before Christmas (d. Henry Selick, 1993). Tim Burton describes his former fiancée, Lisa Marie Smith, as his muse. She appears in Mars Attacks! (d. Tim Burton 1996) film and was the inspiration behind the character, Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas.




Item 9
Tim Burton also took inspiration from his wife, Helena Bonham Carter, as from the time they were married (2001-2014) and his best friend Johnny Depp, and they have appeared in six of his films, including: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Dark Shadows (2012) and Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016).





Item 10
Frankenweenie (d. Tim Burton, 2012). Tim Burton had an obsession with dead dogs when he was a child. He made a short film of Frankenweenie in 1984, which was deemed unsuitable for Disney's young target audiences. Tim Burton talks about how he didn’t feel like he could fit in with Disney’s animation team and they did not like the drawings he produced. His obsession with dead dogs is also reflected in his Vincent short film as Vincent tries to turn his pet dog into a zombie.

Item 11
BURTON, T. (1995) Burton on Burton
“Disney and I were a bad mix. For a year I was probably more depressed than I have ever been in my life. I worked for a great animator, Glenn Kean. He was nice, he was good to me, he’s a really strong animator and he helped me. But he also kind of tortured me because I got all the cute fox scenes to draw, and I couldn’t draw those four-legged Disney foxes. I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t even fake the Disney style.” This shows how Tim Burton really felt when he was working for Disney, and you could imply that this is what encouraged him to make his own films with his own style, and why now his films are so distinctive to other directors.

Item 12
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/tim-burton-his-life-movies-422036

Item 13
http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/tim-burton/ Written by Danny Elfman (published 22.01.10)


This extract from the interview between Danny Elfman and Tim Burton suggests where Burton may have found his inspiration for the themes in his films. As most of them center on death, Burton was exposed to this at a young age; instead of playing in parks he was playing in a graveyard.



In another extract from the interview, Tim Burton tells Danny Elfman how he took inspiration from Dr. Seuss throughout his childhood, and therefore reflected his style in his films. So in Vincent and The Nightmare Before Christmas, both films use rhyming qualities in the soundtrack that give the audience a sense of familiarity as they sound similar to Dr. Seuss’ work.

Item 14
http://www.timeout.com/london/film/tim-burton-interview-1 Written by Dave Calhoun
In this extract of the article, Dave Calhoun describes how he thinks that Tim Burton’s house could be in the settings of one of his films. This suggests that Tim Burton’s gothic style and themes are not just within his films, but in his home life too, as he describes his house to have ‘a gothic feel’. This could be where Tim Burton gains some of his inspiration for films ideas, as his environment reflects the general mood of all of his films.



In this extract of the article, Dave Calhoun is able to witness how much Frankenweenie meant to Tim Burton, as he begins to get emotional. This supports the point that he really does put all of his childhood memories into his work, and as a result it provides successful films that some people can relate to.

 Item 15                                                                                   

Tim Burton frequently characterizes the main protagonists of his films to portray an image of him. This is represented in Edward Scissorhands, as Johnny Depp’s character, Edward, shares many of the same physical attributions that Tim Burton has. This could further suggest that Tim Burton has an obsession with himself.

REJECTED ITEMS

Item 15

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/oct/07/tim-burton-frankenweenie-interview