Gothic Cinematic Techniques In Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

Timothy Walter Burton more commonly known as Tim Burton is a Painter,
Screenwriter, Illustrator, Author, Director, and Producer. Born in 1958, in the city of
Burbank, California, to parents Jean and Bill Burton. Burton had a painful childhood in which the relationship with his parents and brother was nonexistent. Through his perception of being isolated, he began to develop his visual talents. The content Burton found in hobbies such as writing and drawing led him to attend the California Institute of the Arts which contributed to Burton attaining his first job, in the artistic field at the Disney Animation
Studios. Burton’s unprecedented style is heavily forged by the works of his childhood heroes, Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl.Tim Burton
Lighting is pivotal when striving to reveal the mood of a movie. High-key lighting displays a mood of cheer and happiness. On the contrary, Burton presents sinister and spooky images with low-key lighting. Burton’s lighting techniques are completely of his own. In
“Corpse Bride” he blends the lighting. The Victorian-era village that Victor Van Dort lives in is dull, boring, and filled with low key lighting. In comparison to the land of the dead which is vibrant and full of color Victor’s village is the exact opposite. The background morphs into high key lighting when Victor first encounters the land of the dead. Not only does the lighting change but the very feel of the movie changes with it being cheerful looking and full of vivid pastels. Burton demonstrates his uncommon style once again in “Big Fish”. In Big
Fish, we see that a difference in color and lighting is used to portray reality and fantasy when
Edward Bloom tells his stories to his son William Bloom. When Edward tells his stories the lighting is high key suggesting an upbeat mood. Everything in Ed’s stories are colorful
Another key element of Tim Burton’s work is his use of camera angles. Throughout
“Big Fish” he uses many different techniques. In “Big Fish” when Edward first meets the giant man, there was a high angle shot that made the viewer realize that Edward is microscopic when compared to the giant man. Burton’s use of this high angle shot gives the sense that Edward is experiencing loneliness and fear. A perk when using a high angle shot is that it makes the giant man look larger and more powerful than he really appears to be.
During the opening credits sequence of both “Beetlejuice” and “Ed Wood” Burton deploys a high angle shot. The high-angle shot makes the character appear vulnerable and powerless.
This type of shot also makes the mood more suspenseful. In “Alice in Wonderland” Burton deploys an eye level shot when Alice is falling down the rabbit hole, and you see all of the items surrounding her. This fairly neutral shot gets the viewer comfortable with Alice and makes the viewer experience some of her emotions as she is falling. An additional effect