Auteur's Theory

The French word, auteur, when directly translated to English is author. It is basically a way of reading and appraising films through the imprint of the author, which is the director.

It started with Francois Truffaut when he wrote an essay entitled A Certain Tendency in the French Cinema. It was in this essay that he claimed a film is an amazing medium for a director to express their personal ideas. And he made the suggestions that this is the reason why directors should be regarded as an author.

The main idea of auteur theory gained momentum in America around the 1960s through Andrew Sarris. He is the one who actually started the notion of auteur theory by using it to tell the history of American filmmaking by classifying individuals into their respective talents.

Auteur theory basically suggest that a director has the privilege to utilize film-making just the way a writer uses a pen or when a painter uses paint and paintbrushes. Just as Francois Truffaut put it, movies become a medium for personal expression of the director. So, the film will actually take on the maker's signature styles.

For an example, in Tim Burton's movies, more often than not are made of darkly lit scenes. Also, Tim Burton's movies often isolates the main character from the rest of the characters in the movie. This could be the possibility that Tim Burton is making his movies based on his personal experience.

Auteur Theory suggests that the best films will bear their maker’s ‘signature’. Which may manifest itself as the stamp of his or her individual personality or perhaps even focus on recurring themes within the body of work. Alfred Hitchcock plays this idea up in most of his movies where he makes sure that he appears on screen in a brief cameo spot. This became a game that viewers would engage in, waiting to find out when he would appear.

However, the downside of auteur theory is that other roles in movie tend to be diminished. Of course, this is also because of the fact that auteur directors highly focus on their main character as the whole movie revolves around that character.

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

The setting of the movie is in a small secluded town, with forest and woods nearby. It is shabby and dark, solemn and reeks of despair, much like most Tim Burton movies. The characters are Victor Van Dort, Corpse Bride, Victoria and Barkis Bittern as the main characters. Their makeup is tired looking, with purple shadows under their eyes, with Victorian-era fashion.

The movie is a stop-motion animation, and most of the scenes are at night, and very dark colours are used in this movie. Tim Burton has used many varieties of shots, and because of the small characters like the worm and the spider, there were a lot of big close-ups. There weren’t many shots imitating dollying up or real camera shot techniques as well. However, they were a lot of zoom ins to signify the shocking factor, like when Barkis Bittern swallowed the laced drink and was dead.

They were mostly shot to shot, straight cuts. There was a lot of backlighting involved as well. The black and white contrast is very high, and ala Tim Burton he used many stripes on his character’s costumes. The camera angles that were mostly used in this movie was also from low angle. The transitions are commonly the continuity shots. This movie is also a sort of musical, because there were several songs played, and the songs composed were very much fitting, as it was haunting, while some are a bit cheeky and contain some dark humour. As usual, his main voice actors are Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

There is also montage shots to signify that the character is very laden down with the stress from his parents and his peers. As the scenes are beautiful, there were a lot of establishing shots or long shots that show the character and its surroundings.

Overall, the movie gives a very gothic feel, the stop-motion was flawless, the colour schemes albeit dark goes very well with each other, and paired with the music altogether forms a perfect jigsaw piece of a great movie.

The storyline is where Victor has to be wed with Victoria, who is the only daughter of Lord and Lady Everglot, who decides to marry beneath their status because they are close to being in poverty. Overall the plot is going around one of the seven sins: Greed. Victor, who was nervous about his vows one day before his marriage, practiced on what he thought was a branch, but ended up being the bony finger of a corpse, whom then takes him underground. The corpse bride, Emily was killed before uniting with her lover, who turned out to be Lord Barkiss, who was a greedy and cold man. He stepped in before Victor could take Victoria’s hand in marriage just because he assumed that the Everglotts, being Lords are rich and powerful, but that was not the case.

After marriage, when Lord Barkiss found out that Victoria was not filthy rich, he threw a big tantrum and swore to get something out of the marriage, but then was interrupted by the underground residents, who came up to celebrate the wedding of Victor and Emily, whom Victor has decided to marry because Victoria was already married to Lord Barkiss.

From there we can deduce that Victor has given up hope that he would find anyone like Victoria, and would rather live without his life, and at least make someone happy rather than no one.

In the scene where the underground residents came above the ground, when they approached the people, at first the people were scared. However, it showed a boy, who due to his innocence, can ignore other elements and recognize his grandfather despite the bones and haggardness, and it is thanks to this this boy that the others began to look at the underground residents properly and recognize their loved ones, re-united once again.

This movie symbolizes that love can go beyond the grave, and that karma will come to those who deserves it. It also shows that love is not about status and money, and that true love will find its own way to shine. Although it is quite the typical love concept, Tim Burton put the element of dark fantasy in it that we are blinded to the fact that it is yet another love story.

The clay-like stop animation is very smooth and very symmetrical. The lightings are very “concert”-like, as it shows spot lights of various colours come from all directions; top, bottom left and right, which can be clearly seen in the scene where the bartenders are explaining about Emily’s death to Victor when he was just brought down to the underground. However, this kind of lighting can be seen in various parts of the movie, and it actually used quite often.

Alice in Wonderland

Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) is the daughter of Charles Kingsleigh (Marton Csokas), a wealthy man who planned to find profitable shipping routes through the world in the 19th century. When she tells him of her adventures in Wonderland (later to be revealed as 'Underland'), he declares her mad, but that all the best people are. However, many years afterward, Charles has passed away, and Alice misses his playful attitude.

Now feeling trapped in a world of proper etiquette for one such as herself, Alice is taken to a garden party, where it is hoped that she will accept a marriage proposal from Hamish (Leo Bill), the son of one of her father's business partners. However, Alice soon grows distracted seeing a rabbit with a waistcoat nearby, and rushes after the strange creature.

Following it, she finds her way to the trunk of an old tree some ways off, and falls down a hole. The hole leads her to a strange room, of which she finds a key, as well as a drink that makes her smaller, and a cake that increases her size. After getting the key and shrinking down to use a small door, she soon finds herself in an enormous garden area.

Soon after, she comes across the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), as well as the Dormouse (Barbara Windsor), a Dodo bird (Michael Gough), and the Tweedles (Matt Lucas). The White Rabbit explains that is sure he has found the right Alice this time, while the Dormouse believes he is mistaken. Alice explains that her name is Alice, but feels they are looking for another "Alice." They take her to Abosolom the Caterpillar (Alan Rickman), who consults a scroll, which contains details regarding the history of Wonderland, from its birth onward. The scroll claims that on the Frabjous Day, Alice will return to slay the Jabberwocky. Alice sees this, and adamants that she is not the person in the scroll, when a commotion breaks out, and the Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover) appear, along with some red-carded soldiers and a creature called a Bandersnatch. Everyone scatters, as the Knave takes the scroll, and captures the Dodo bird. Alice, when confronted with the Bandersnatch, stands her ground, convinced that it is just a dream. However, the creature scratches her, and Alice takes off running, but not before the Dormouse plucks out one of the creature's eyes.

Some ways off, Alice encounters the Tweedles again, who attempt to help her, but are soon captured by a giant bird that takes them to the Red Queen's castle. At the castle, the Knave of Hearts informs the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) about the scroll, and the prophecy of Alice killing the Jabberwocky (of which she possesses). The Red Queen orders Alice to be found, and the Knave utilizes a bloodhound named Bayard (Timothy Spall) to track her down, promising freedom for Bayard's wife and pups (a lie, meant as a way to get the dog to help the Red Queen).

Meanwhile, Alice encounters the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), who leads her to the Mad Hatter's place, where she encounters the Dormouse again, as well as the March Hare (Paul Whitehouse). The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) is pleased to see Alice, and is in rapture over the coming Frabjous day in which she will slay the Jabberwocky. Alice again insists she is not 'that Alice,' when the Knave of Hearts and Bayard close in. The Hatter stuffs Alice into a teapot, to hide her from the Knave. In secret, the Dormouse scolds the dog for bringing the Knave there, but Bayard explains why he came. He then attempts to lead the Knave off in a different direction.

After they have left, the Hatter walks Alice through the nearby woods, where they come across the burned ruins of a small village. The Hatter then explains to Alice about how in the time she was gone, the Red Queen has taken over Wonderland, banishing the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) to her own domain, and taking her vorpal sword.

As they talk, the Knave again approaches, and the Hatter places Alice on his hat, and flings it across a river, giving himself up to the Knave, who takes him to the Red Queen. Later on, Bayard finds the hat and Alice. Alice manages to convince Bayard to take her to the Red Queen's castle, to rescue the Hatter. Along with the hat, they find their way there, where Alice encounters the White Rabbit assisting with a game of croquet with the Red Queen. Alice requests to be made larger (she is still the size of a gerbil), and the rabbit gives her a cake. However, she eats too much and ends up almost 10 feet tall, disrupting the croquet game. The Queen does not recognize Alice, who says she is 'Um' from Umbridge, and wishes to help the Queen. The Queen, impressed by the size of Alice's head, declares her to be made part of her royal court.

The Hatter is brought before the Queen and Alice, and is at first intended to be beheaded. However, the Hatter manages to stall for time, by requesting that he make the Queen a hat for her enormous head. Flattered by the attention, she gives into this request. Alice soon finds out that the vorpal sword is on the grounds of the castle, but is locked away in a chest in the quarters of the Bandersnatch. After procuring the plucked eye from the Dormouse (who has broken into the castle to free the Hatter), Alice manages to return the eye to the creature. This allows her to gain access to the sword. Alice goes to the Hatter's room, and finds the Dormouse there. However, the Knave of Hearts shows up shortly, and when the Dormouse lets slip Alice's true name, he attempts to kill her. Alice manages to escape into the courtyard, where the Bandersnatch helps her escape from the castle. Bayard also accompanies her, as they head for the White Queen's castle.

The Red Queen then orders that the Hatter and the Dormouse be executed the next day. However, the Cheshire Cat uses his trickery to take on the guise of the Hatter, and allows the Hatter, Dormouse, the White Rabbit, the Tweedles, and Bayard's family to escape. They all soon meet up at the White Queen's castle, where the Queen has used her potions knowledge to shrink Alice to normal size.

The next day then dawns...the Frabjous day. Almost everyone is willing to take up arms for the White Queen. However, she hopes that Alice will fulfill the prophecy, but Alice rushes off to the Queen's garden, still upset over everyone pushing her into this task. It is there she encounters Absolom, cocooning himself. It is here that Absolom explains to Alice how she had been to Wonderland before, and suddenly, it all comes back to her, that what she thought originally was a dream was real. After her revelation, Alice dons the armor prepared for her by the White Queen, and takes up the vorpal sword.

Both the White Queen and the Red Queen meet on a checkerboard field. Both Queens meet first, with the White Queen asking her sister to not do battle, but the Red Queen refuses to give into the pacification of her sister's plea. The White Queen brings forth Alice as their 'champion,' as the Red Queen' summons the Jabberwocky. As Alice faces off with the creature, the rest of the armies go to war. Alice plays a mind-game with herself, talking of 6 impossible things, as it is claimed her father would do before breakfast. In her mind-game, she manages to find the strength to slay the Jabberwocky. The Red Queen demands that her subjects kill Alice, but as the White Queen's champion has slayed that of the Red Queen, the Red Queen's subjects will no longer follow her commands.

The White Queen orders the Red Queen banished to the Outlands, for the crimes that she has committed (due to the White Queen's vow not to harm a living creature, she will not kill her sister), with no one to offer her sympathy. The Knave of Hearts is also chained to her, as punishment as well. However, the thought of being alone with the Queen causes him to try to kill her, before his dagger is taken from him by the Hatter.

After the Red Queen and the Knave are taken away, the White Queen's army rejoices, with the Hatter doing a Fudderwupping dance, much to the delight of everyone. The White Queen then collects some of the Jabberwocky's blood, and gives it to Alice. The blood of the Jabberwocky allows Alice to return to her world, and she returns to the Garden Party.

Alice then explains to Hamish that she cannot accept his proposal, as well as speaks her mind to a number of different relatives and acquaintances. Her forthright attitude catches the eye of Hamish's father, and soon, the two discuss plans to expand the shipping routes to China, a land that has not yet been opened to the west.

Alice is then made an apprentice to the company, and sets off with a crew to open the shipping route to China, aboard a ship titled "Wonder". The last thing shown is a bright blue butterfly, none other than Abosolom.



Cinematography

This project’s schedule, budget, ambitious visual effects, unique design and stereoscopic-exhibition requirements, when combined, were not conducive to a traditional cinematography process — nor to adopting a native stereo-capture method. Burton and his collaborators decided that the imagery they had in mind could best be constructed through a continually evolving, communal effort in which boundaries between the camera and visual-effects departments were often blurred. Wolski and his crew captured actor performances on a series of greenscreen stages at Culver Studios in Culver City, and then senior visual-effects supervisor Ken Ralston and a team at Sony Pictures Imageworks set about blending that material with all-CG environments and characters, in some instances digitally altering the actors’ faces and bodies in the process. Key collaborators were the virtual art department, led by production designer Robert Stromberg; Sony Pictures Imageworks stereographer Corey Turner and visual-effects supervisors Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips; and the digital-intermediate team at Company 3, led by colorist Stefan Sonnenfeld. The movie was shot digitally on a greenscreen stage, applying dimensionalization process — transforming the 2-D images into 3-D in post.


Camera Techniques

1. Focus Shot. It is a shot that focuses on one prop or person in the scene, while the scene goes out of focus. Using the scene in Alice in Wonderland as example, when Alice is kneeled down in front of the mouse hole and she noticed there is a drink on the table. The focus changed from her to the drink with the scene goes out of focus.



2. Eye Level Shot. It is a shot that shows you the world through the character’s eyes.
Using again the scene in Alice in Wonderland as example, when Alice is falling down in the rabbit hole, the objects at the surrounding are shown through the character’s eyes.

3. Close up. Close up is a shot that shows you a closer look of character or prop in the scene. For instance, taking from the scene in Alice in Wonderland, there is a close up on the Cheshire Cat’s head when it is appearing from the thin air.

4. Medium Shot. This is a shot that shows you a character from above the waist. For example, in Alice in Wonderland, there is a scene when the Mad Hatter is talking to Alice showing just from the head to the waist.

5. Wide Angel Shot. This shot shows you more of what is happening in the scene. This shot can be found in the scene of Alice in Wonderland, where at the moment that Alice walked out from the mouse hole and walked down the staircase,

6. Ariel Shot. It is usually done with a crane or with a camera attached to a special helicopter to view large landscape. For instance, they used Ariel shot when Alice climbed out from the rabbit hole and walked away back to the party.



Lighting

There are several lighting techniques that can be found in Alice in Wonderland movie.

1. Background Lighting. The background of a scene is lid to separate the object from the background. For example, in the figure below it is shown that the background was lid with two different colors to separate the object out from the scene. The two colors used were actually meant that each thing has two sides, the bright and the dark side.

2. Mood Lighting. Mood lighting is used to create a specific mood in a scene. For example, looking at the figure below, the lighting used shows a mood of fantasy as Alice dropping down in the rabbit hole and enter the “Underland”.

3. High Key Lighting. Lid one thing and leave the surrounding in shadow. For example, Alice face is lid bright and the surround is in shadow.

4. Fill Lighting. A fill light is often to be used as a tool to reduce the contrast of the scene and provide some illumination for the areas of the image that is in shadow. For example, they used fill light in the scene when Alice looked down into the rabbit hole to reduce the hard light come directly from the sun.

5. Key Lighting. Key Lighting is first and most important lighting, its purpose is to highlight the form and the dimension of a subject. Key light is used in most of the scenes and for instance, like the one below:



Director’s Signature

1. Gothic. Tim burton’s used of Gothic on his character apply also in this movie. We can find that Jonny Depp or the Mad Hatter in the movie, carries a very Gothic sense with heavy make ups on his face.

2. Jonny Depp. In all Tim Burton’s movie, he will always use Jonny Depp as his actor. He once said that “In Depp, I has found a peculiar alter ego and muse to match my dark visions.”

3. Animation. Tim Burton loves to use animation in most of his movie like Corpse Bride, Vincent and not to leave out, Alice in Wonderland. Alan Rickman said that, “the movie is a mixture of live action, animation and stop motion”

Corpse Bride Vincent

4. Colors. Color is a large part of Burton's camera mastery. He shoots subjects in oversaturated and undersaturated color, often in order to use the color of the scene to help add to the Gothic mystery or surreal and dreamlike states that his stories frequently find themselves in. Movie like Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are shot with colorful scenes.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Alice in Wonderland
5. Point of View shot. Also known as the POV shot, that shows what a character is looking at represented through the camera. For example, when Alice is falling down in the rabbit hole, she looked up to the entrance and we see that from her point of view.

Batman Returns

Tim Burton’s Batman Returns was portrait in a new style and was an exceptionally hard act to follow, the director Tim Burton wisely switched gears, re-inventing the mood and manner of Batman so fearlessly that he steps out of his own film's shadow.
Michael Keaton back on board as the Caped Crusader as Michelle Pfeiffer and Danny DeVito are even better in this one as Catwoman and the Penguin respectively. The film tells the tale of how the Penguin (DeVito), thrown into the sewer by parents after seeing their hideous baby and actually raised by penguins emerges as an unlikely mayor candidate for Gotham. Batman foils his plans to take over the city alongside wicked tycoon Max Shreck which eventually made Penguin retreat in the sewers to plot his revenge.
Meanwhile, Selina Kyle (Catwoman) starts going through a few life-changes, which leave her drinking lots of milk, catching small birds and that’s when she transformed herself into the cunning Catwoman.
Batman himself has certainly doesn’t seem to be Burton’s main focus as we get to see the origins of both Penguin and Catwoman, the background of the true identity Bruce Wayne is again left out of the movie. His dark side makes him in many ways a more interesting superhero than any others but it’s an aspect that Burton shows little time or attention to.

Cinematography (Gothicism)

In the films directed and produced by Tim Burton the most apparent characteristic is the visual style, the strange worlds and their stylized look have a design that is unique and recognizable. This style is most influenced by the German Expressionist films from the 1920’s, Tim Burton’s love for all things dark and bizarre has highly influenced the visual style of his films.
However the most interesting thing about these worlds created in Tim Burton’s films is that it’s not the bright cheerful land that is considered normal but the darker world that is normally associated with danger and horror that is used as the key with which to shift the audience view on the sunny and bright world as just a not real. In what is probably Burton’s darkest film Batman Returns there is almost no sunlight in the film and the brightest scene in the film is a scene with The Penguin. The film itself takes the traditional action hero film ingredients and mixes them with Burton’s dark and gothic visual style.
In Batman Returns for example, there is a scene in which the Penguin is introduced to his campaign managers. The brightly lit office interior filled with colourful balloons is from a different kind of reality than the stylized, gothic design of the rest of the movie.



Directors Signature (Split Personality)

The split world is one of Burton's regular themes, many of Burton's main characters have split personalities with one side living the normal world and the other half on the weird side but even in films with a static main character
Burton films are usually split into a normal world, which somehow never comes across as being either regular or attractive and a weird world, in which his characters feels more at home. This weird world is never understood by the normal side and the weird characters often long for acceptance by the other side but are always rejected and misunderstood in the end.
The most obvious examples of split personalities are to be found in the Batman Return is Batman and Catwoman are characters that create their own rules inside their own world by dressing up in costumes and thus displaying their alternative self. Rich, absent-minded playboy Bruce Wayne transforms himself into a grim, masked super-hero, secretary Selina Kyle turns into a latex wrapped avenger. Their only way to deal with reality is by changing their appearance and identity in order to play the game by their own rules and dress up in order to face the outside world.
None of the protagonists of Tim Burton films belongs in the normal world represented within the film, Burton's heroes create their own reality in which different rules apply. Characters like Batman and Catwoman are outsiders mostly because of their split personalities that are too complicated for anyone even themselves to understand.



Unnaturally Shaped Swirls

Another one of his visual signatures is the use of unnaturally shaped swirls which are probably most usually associated with Tim Burton, the most notable example of this has to be the curly hill in the graveyard in The Nightmare Before Christmas which unravels as Jack Skellington walks down it.
These on of a kind curls are seen a lot throughout the film in tree branches, fences and many other places, It is a recurring shape in many of his films especially in patterns on clothing and surfaces, like on the Martian’s costumes in Mars Attacks, and on the helmets worn by the warriors in Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes. This shape is used mainly to give a more eccentric feel to the scene and give it a bit more fantasy like impression.
Make up and Lighting
The makeup in his films is also unique to his style. The pale skin and the dark eyes and lips are seen in most of his films, It is used to add to the gloomy atmosphere and sometimes added to characterize different aspects of characters’ personalities. In Batman Returns the make up for the Penguin was in dark manner where the lips of Penguin was black and had a pale skin which was totally different then the cartoon character.
The Outsider
Even the repulsive Penguin in Batman Returns is characterized as a doomed tragic figure that somehow retains the sympathy as well as the horror of the audience, the real bad guy is the manipulative, cunning businessman Max Shreck who does have the respect of the community.



Camera Techniques

Colour
Colour is large part of Burtons camera style, he shoots subjects in a oversaturated and low saturated colour often in order to use the colour of the scene to help add to the Gothic mystery or dreamlike states that most of his stories like. This scene can be seen in the Batman Returns intro of the batman himself, where Gotham is shown in a dark tone and there will be a short scene where the penguin walking in the sewer.
Point of View
Burton enjoys employing point of view shots quite often in his movie and Batman was no difference, one in particular noticeable is when the Penguin addresses the his legion of penguins to attack Gotham city where the camera is clearly seeing something from the point of view of a character rather than serving as an outside eye. In this shoot audience is will have the view from the penguin’s perspective looking at the Penguin and some scenes audiences will have the view driving the bat mobile.
Dutch angle
The shot involves tilting the camera when shooting a frame in order to create a sense of tension, the result will show the shot will be on an angle rather than on a horizontal line. He uses the technique in both his movie and stop motion work. This particular shot can be seen thru out the Batman movie and one of the scenes is where Penguin will reveal his plan to kidnap the entire 1st born child in Gotham city.

The reason why choose this particular movie of Tim Burton is because of the darker version of Gotham and the characters involving throughout the movie, its not often in a superhero movie that much importance is given to a villain character.
Tim Burton made the audience feel sympathy for the Penguin as he was made into who he is know and the mysterious character of Bruce Wayne is always intriguing to see. The cinematography in this movie is simply amazing in the Gotham city is being shown in the screen, which eventually makes people think that we are living in a dangerous world.
In my personal opinion, this is a far more accomplished piece of work than Batman for many reasons, the music is used to greater effect, the plot is stronger and the subject matter is funnier in an extremely dark sort of way. Batman Returns is also the defining films of Burton’s trademark Gothicism and established his recognizable visual style which was later used in his film The Nightmare before Christmas.

Sleepy Hollow

In a genre that is comprised of very different types of films, Horror seems to please the average movie-goer with its ability to both make you laugh and make you scream. Whether it’s watching a good B-horror film like The Evil Dead, or watching a Hollywood bone-chiller like The Haunting, Horror doesn’t seem to be losing its popularity in today’s culture. People love ghost stories, and probably always will. It seems that anyone may have soft spot for any film that reminds the viewer of those windy fall evenings with the tumbling leaves and wind running through the skeletal looking trees. Director Tim Burton, more than any Hollywood director, understands this atmosphere well. From such classics as Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Frankenweenie, Burton knows how to use classic gothic imagery to get his viewer’s to ‘feel’ the atmosphere. His best effort seems to be his recent retelling of the famous Washington Irving story, Sleepy Hollow. Irving’s version tells the story of a timid and unusual schoolteacher who comes to face to face with a Headless Horseman on Halloween night. Burton’s version on the other-hand greatly elaborates on this ghostly tale. The

Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow is a very dark movie, not just in much of its content and story, but in the pictures and shots themselves. Grays and dark colors dominate the screen, in everything from the clothes the characters wear, the fur color of the horses they ride, to the environment as a whole. There are a few exceptions to this plainness of color, however. When Ichabod dreams of his mother, especially when she and him are together in happy times, the bright colors make an appearance on the screen. Also, at the end of the movie, after the headless horseman has been sent back down to Hell, the color of the entire movie brightens. There is also a third patch of brightness that stands out. When Christina Ricci's character, Katrina Van Tassel, comes to the Western Woods to help Ichabod Crane, she and her horse are shown in a bright white, which contrasts significantly with the darkness of the rest of the screen. I believe this shows that Katrina will ultimately prove to not only be a good and noble character, even though doubt is later placed on her, but also the love of Ichabod's life.

As Ichabod and young Masbath ride their horses through the dark Western Woods in search of the Headless Horseman's resting spot, Ichabod hears movement. He investigates and sees the bright white blur of a galloping horse through the trees. When he gets closer, he finds a figure dressed in a white cloak sitting atop the horse. The rider and horse are brighter than almost anything we've yet seen in the movie. When the rider removes the hood of the cloak, we find she is Katrina Van Tassel. In addition to the bright white of the cloak that cuts through the movie's gloom, she also wears a yellow dress, much different from the drab blues and blacks of most of the character's clothes. Katrina seems to glow she is so much brighter than anything else in the scene. To Ichabod, she really does glow, as she is the object of his affection at that point in the film. She is glowing in his heart as well as on the screen. This proves that Burton cinematographic is more onto artistry than usual.

This bright white color of Katrina shows two things. The first is that she is a good and noble character, who opposes the evil in the film. She is, in sense, a heroine in the story. White is typically a color used to show what is pure and good, at least in American culture, and it sets up here that Katrina will ultimately be a force of this anti-evil goodness in the story. This, of course, is not overtly stated in the narration of the film, but left to the audience's emotions. Colors tend to be a subconscious element in film. It's strongly emotional in its appeal, expressive and impressive rather than intellectual. Because of this, people tend to accept color passively, permitting it to suggest moods rather than objects. (Giannetti 25) This means the audience is meant to feel the gloom of everything in the scene, but see the shining brightness of Katrina and realize, subconsciously at least, how she fits into the movie. The second thing the brightness of Katrina Van Tassel does in this scene is show Ichabod's feelings towards her. She is angelically white, pure, and lovely, especially in his eyes. This is firmly backed up by the dialogue in the scene, as well as the acting by Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. After Ichabod realizes Katrina is there to help him because no one else would, he states, I am now twice the man. It is your white magic. (Burton).

A good contrast of this scene happens a bit later in the movie. Ichabod has found what he believes to be the evil eye under his bed, and he suspects that Katrina, if she does not control the Headless Horseman herself, at least has knowledge of who does. He still seems to hold a special place in his heart for her, but he does not trust her. The angelic quality she once held for him is now gone. He again travels out into the wilderness, but this time his destination is the old cottage where Katrina grew up. It is now but ruins, like his feelings for her. He finds her, and immediately the colors are nothing like they were in the Western Woods. Katrina is no longer so bright she glows. Instead, she wears a drab, dark blue dress, which does not command the attention of her bright white cloak and yellow dress. She had continued to wear the bright yellow dress in scenes prior to this, when Ichabod had no reason to suspect her. Now, however, her dress is dark. Even her horse, which is tied up over to the side of the ruined cottage, seems to have more of a gray tone to it. It is a far cry from the brilliant animal that commanded attention just a short time before. Their speech also turns the bright talk of their prior meeting into darker speech. Where Ichabod had described her magic as white before, he now calls them simply her magic spells. (Burton) Those words do not necessarily conjure up a color, be it light or dark, but it is most definitely not the bright description previously used. Katrina continues with this sort of speech when she tells Ichabod, I curse the day you came to Sleepy Hollow. (Burton) A curse is another magic term that is quite often thought of to be associated with black magic, a complete turnaround from the earlier meeting and conversation near the Tree of the Dead in the Western Woods. The portrayal of Western Wood and New York by Burton in this movie is beyond perfectionist. During 1990’s Burton is the only director that plays a very important role toward cinematography of art and the impact of the acceptance toward the great atmosphere is magnificent.

Burton also plays the lighting of the movie into contrast hence the difference of both place seems so realistic even back then it was in the 18th century, which reveal an uncompromised auteurist vision. Burton’s striking visuals and indelible characters make even his blockbuster studio films intimately personal. The darker conversation had taken place without the prior scene of light, we the audience might really doubt Katrina. The meeting in the Western Woods, however, happened first for a reason. Thanks to the brightness that surrounded Katrina and her horse, our emotions have already shown us that she is a heroine-type character, not a villain. This is proven true later in the film, as we learn Katrina's magic really is of the white variety. Her evil eye spell is not that at all, but instead a spell to keep loved ones safe from evil spirits. After Ichabod saves her from a beheading via the Headless Horseman, the love that was shown to blossom in the dark, gloomy Western Woods does come true. At this point in the movie, though, the gloom of Sleepy Hollow is gone thanks to the languishment of the evil, and the world, not just Katrina, is bright. It shows that purity has wins over the dark side in the movie.

White is a color that is often associated with goodness, purity, and nobility, and it is no different in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. The color white that surrounds Katrina Van Tassel in the Western Woods shows she is a good, noble character. It also shows her through the eyes of Ichabod Crane, and expresses his love for her to us, the audience. Even though guilt seems to be placed on her head in the course of the movie, we know that it will not be able to stick because of the visual color clue given to us in the Tree of the Dead scene in the Western Woods. It is a shining beacon of brightness in an otherwise grim and gloomily colored film. While Tim Burton is great artist and can masterfully paint a picture within a film, his films on a whole usually fall short of the mark, mostly because Burton tends to put ‘looks’ on a higher platform than story. He uses characters as visual props and visual superficiality. It seems that many of Burton’s so-called ‘horror’ films turn out to be not that horrific at all, and in turn tend to be less entertaining. What makes Sleepy Hollow an enjoyable horror movie is its appreciation of tragedy. Many of the classic horror movies use tragedy as a thematic element and to also relate the story to aspects of our own lives. Good horror monsters, if you can call them that, are usually victims, and their rampages come from common emotional fears. At first the viewer may think that Christopher Walken’s Headless Horseman is just some ‘spiffy’ special effect used for a good, cheap scare. But thankfully, this is not the case, and rather the Headless Horseman is only a terror to the town of Sleepy Hollow because he is suffering from injustice. The injustice being that his head is taken from its grave by Miranda Richardson’s character. The scenes with the Headless Horseman are shot and edited with such care. Unlike most horror films that use fast cuts and fast action, Burton shoots the Headless Horseman’s scenes in either Medium shots or wide angles. The adaptation of the wave horror is one of Burton specialties. He wants the viewer to get a full-on view of this frightening character, which makes the viewer identify the Headless Horseman as not just another ‘prop’ as some Hollywood creatures can be. The horseman is in fact one of the best horror figures to come out of this type of film. He’s the classic outlaw seeking justice. If it was to be compared to the culture of horror film now and Sleepy Hollow, there are a lot tribute that has to be focuses on but Sleepy Hollow by Tim Burton is one of ideal movie with perfect portrayal of the two contrasting world.

Edward Scissorhands

Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands is starred by Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder. It was this movie that truly unleashed Tim Burton’s imagination.

Locations :

If you really pay attention to the movie, you will realize that there are only two distinct locations in the film; Edward’s home in the mansion on the hill and the town that it overlooks. Both these locations are extremely different, but they are also similar in its exaggerated fashion. The mansion has a very gothic style to it; it is decorated with monstrous stone carvings and cavernous interior. Most of Tim Burton’s movies, especially Edward Scissorhands brings back the aura of the sets from German Expressionism.

Then we have the town, positioned at the foot of the hill, you can instantly see and feel how pretty, peaceful and traditionally oriented it is.

Colour and music:

Throughout the movie, a variety of colours and music were used to highlight the distinct differences between the two so-called ‘worlds’ in the movie. The first scene where colour is introduced is when the grandmother is starting to tell the story of Edward Scissorhands to the girl who is sat comfortably in her bed.

The light-hearted music which is highly associated with the suburbs quickly changes to become eerie when Peg Boggs visited the mansion for the first time. Especially in this scene, black and white are the predominate colours except for the character of Peg. In another scene, where Edward gets seduced by older women, a very ironic background music starts playing in the background – ‘With These Hands’. If you listen to the lyrics of the song, With These Hands translates well to Edward’s inability to cope.

The end scene of the movie shows Edward in a colourful garden surrounded by nature. Which basically means that finally, Edward has been fully accepted by the society.


Camera Techniques:

When Peg Boggs visits the mansion for the first time to sell Avon products, the camera changes its perception to view Peg’s view of the castle in a long shot emphasizing the feeling of unreality and illusion. As she reaches the castle, long and wide angled shots are used to convey the size of the character and also to show Peg’s vulnerability in the new but strange environment.

When Edward is first introduced in the movie, he comes into the first scene in a long shot that switches to a medium close-up to his pale and scarred face, black outfit and messy hair. But all this is juxtaposed with Edward’s gentle voice and the close –up of his sad eyes.

Character:

Main Character

Just like every Tim Burton movie, the main character in his movies are always portrayed as an outcast and only later on in the movie that they really do find their place in the community. But this movie, Edward Scissorhands, is somewhat a little different. Edward starts off by being accepted by the community even though he is an eccentric character. Edward immediately becomes a minor celebrity by appearing on television chat shows. He is constantly treated with kindness especially by the females. But this lasted only for so long. Because he’s so naïve, Edward soon finds himself unable to keep up with the corrupt society that he has ended up in. All of a sudden, the very thing which rendered his to be an unique and eccentric individual are used as evidence against him to prove that he is in fact a dangerous criminal and should not be living in a normal society.

Stereotypical Characters

Female stereotypes: Middle-aged woman who lusts after young men (Edward), the motherly and accepting Peg Boggs, the beautiful and young Kim who sees beyond Edward’s physical appearance and loves him for the good person he truly is.

Male stereotypes: Jim, the spoilt rich kid who goes out of his way to annoy his father and plays the part of Kim’s jealous boyfriend.

Overall Movie Theme

The overall theme of Edward Scissorhands is of course gothic and is in line with the Auteur Theory. It’s very rare that there are more bright scenes compared to dark scenes in