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 6You 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
CalhounIn 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.
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
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