Cinematic Techniques In Edward Scissorhands

From Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to Big Fish, director Tim Burton has been proving his amazing capability to weave extraordinary, almost dreamlike worlds. Although many directors use cinematic techniques to show or prove something, Burton clearly has a special gift. Burton’s use of cinematic techniques is very unique compared to other directors. Burton uses lighting, characterization, and music to show the mood of the scene.
To begin, Burton uses lighting to create an eerie and suspenseful mood. One way that Burton does this is through low key and side lighting, for example, in Edward Scissorhands when Edward is walking through the front door towards the police, there is light coming from the side that appears on one side of his face, which gets the audience to think “what will happen next.” later, when the audience sees Edward save Kevin from being hit by Jim’s van there is low key lighting, which causes the townspeople to believe that instead of Edward saving Kevin, they believe that he is trying to kill him. This example of low key lighting is helping to create a suspenseful mood, seeing as though
Burton has an amazing way of knowing exactly when to incorporate music into a scene. For example, in Edward Scissorhands Burton starts the movie off with a story, giving the audience a view of the town where everything will take place, and in the background, the music sounds almost angelic. While the music over the town sounds angelic, one the audience views the mansion, the music turns dark and causes a sense of creepiness. Not only do you see examples of this in Edward Scissorhands, but also in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. One example of this is in the beginning of the movie when Charlie finds the last golden ticket. At first there is no music at all, but once he sees the ticket the music starts and is very upbeat and exciting, showing a mood of