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Essay - Big Fish

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Essay - Big Fish
Big Fish
M Krause
02/27/13

Production: Columbia Pictures, 2003
Producer: Bruce Cohen/Dan Jinks
Director: Tim Burton
Screenplay: Daniel Wallace (novel), John August (screenplay)
Cinematography: Philippe Rousselot
Editing: Chris Lebenzon
Music: Danny Elfman

Principal Characters:
Ewan McGregor Ed Bloom (Young)
Albert Finney Ed Bloom (Senior)
Billy Crudup Will Bloom
Jessica Lange Sandra Bloom (Senior)
Helena Bonham Carter Jenny (Young)/Jenny (Senior)/The Witch
Alison Lohman Sandra Bloom (Young)
Robert Guillaume Dr. Bennett (Senior)
Marion Cotillard Josephine Bloom
Matthew McGregory Karl the Giant
David Denman Don Price (Age 18-22)
Missi Pyle Mildred
Loudon Wainwright III Beaman
Typical of Tim Burton films, Big Fish is full of interesting elements of fantasy, exaggerated reality, and other time periods or worlds. Most interesting is how Tim Burton seems to always use such separate elements and weave them into films with great continuity, the same is true for Big Fish. Through creative use of narrative advancement, period costuming, and two complete casts of characters (one playing the younger versions and one playing the older versions of people) Burton is able to tell the story of Ed Bloom and his crazy life which is chock full of tall tales and interesting people he met along the way. While there was no shortage of bright colors and oddball characters typical of Burton-esque mise en scene (Danny Devito as a werewolf for example), there was more of a story to Big Fish than found in other films by this director. In an article from 2004 critiquing what was at the time the newest in the Tim Burton library of films, author Beth Deters stated “With Big Fish, curiously enough, the opposite holds true — story prevails over images. The narrative proves far richer than the visual style that depicts it.” (Beth Deters, Worldpress). Honestly, viewing the film twice might not be enough to understand every


Cited: Big Fish. Tim Burton. Columbia Pictures. 2003. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Fish http://jordanfogerson.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/tim-burton-narrative-structure/ http://yaledailynews.com/weekend/2004/01/16/tim-burton-doesnt-quite-reel-in-a-big-fish/ http://www.bookrags.com/films/bigfish2003/styleandcinematography.html http://www.timburtoncollective.com/bigfish.html http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319061/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 [->0] - http://www.bookrags.com
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