Director Analysis- Tim Burton (Corpse Bride)

For my first research into film directors I have decided to look into the director Tim Burton. My reasons for doing this are because as an audience member myself I really enjoy consuming his films, and also because the gothic quality which is often present in his productions is something that, if possible, I would like to try and include a little bit of within my main task. I plan to start this research off with an analysis of Corpse Bride. My reasons for selecting this film is because it doesn't have an exact age limit on it's target market; sure, it's mainly aimed at children, however, the film itself has that gothic quality to it which attracts a target audience of any age that is interested in a gothic nature.

The setting of the movie is in a small secluded town, with a forest and woods nearby. This in itself highlights the gothic nature of the film and could possibly connote the dark secrets that the woods know that an audience has yet to find out. In addition to this, the dark setting of the mise-en-scene could possibly represent the despair that the characters within the film have yet to face. The characters are Victor Van Dort, Corpse Bride, Victoria and Barkis Bittern. They, like  several other Tim Burton characters which can be found in his other films, are very skinny and gaunt looking, dress in a victorian-era style, have purple, sunken in eyes and ghastly pale skin. This gives them a quality which fits in the idea of 'the walking dead', or at the very least somebody which is close to death. This is a very dark connotation, juxtaposing the child-like animation of the film, and the films target audience. 

The movie is a stop-motion animation, and Tim Burton has used many varieties of shot types and editing skills in order to create an intriguing, yet shocking product that can be ensured to keep a younger audience engaged. Several close ups have been used when shooting with smaller characters-like the worm and the spider-, and this could have been done in order to give them a bigger significance, and a higher sense of importance to these two characters. In addition to this, spiders and insects are a common fear among not only children, but the entirety of society as a whole. Furthermore, by using close ups in order to make a spider and a worm seem a lot bigger than they actually are, Tim Burton is adding that horror/gothic based quality to his film that he's so well known for. Finally, another effect which Tim Burton used when making the film Corpse Bride in order to keep an audience engaged were the use of zoom ins to signify the shock in some scenes, for example when Barkis Bittern swallowed the laced drink and suddenly died as an aftermath. 

When looking at the editing of Corpse bride, you can see that the different scenes that have been used are mainly edited shot to shot or scene to scene. Tim Burton could have done this as, if more complicated editing had been used, the films target audience- a younger generation- is more likely to get confused at the film, causing them to be un able to follow the plot of the story correctly and, furthermore, causing them to lose interest. Another part of the mise-en-scene/behind the scenes technology that Tim Burton has used in order to bring this film to life is backlighting. The effect of this is that it helps to give an almost psy-fy quality to the characters within the film, and, in a more literal way, backlighting is interesting to look at, and this in itself will help grab a younger audience interest and keep their interest peaked. 

Lighting is used within the film in order to create an almost concert-like effect and he clay-like stop animation used is very smooth and very symmetrical. The reasons that you could say the lighting used is "concert like" is because it shows spot lights of various colours, coming from all different directions. This will furthermore provide an overall better aesthetic and exciting experience for a viewer-specifically a younger viewer- and help keep them interested, in addition to providing a more-over better interactive experience for an audience.