How Does Tim Burton Use Cinematic Techniques

The short film “Vincent” by Tim Burton is about a young boy by the name of Vincent who has a very dark personality. On the outside he appears to be an innocent, seven year old boy. But on the inside his thoughts and actions are much darker. The film itself is very dull and dreary with an edgy and dark setting. For this film I plan to write about the two main cinematic techniques used in this film, low-key lighting and eye level shots. The creator uses these cinematic techniques to establish a dark and mysterious theme and to match the boy’s grey personality. The first example of cinematic technique is the first scene when Vincent is shown in bright lighting. This represents his innocence before he became dull. As the film goes on, the
scene changes (using the fade editing technique) and from then it is dark with low-key lighting. To make the film more mysterious, it is almost always shot at eye-level so you could never see the face of his mother or his aunt, only his. The film uses both of these techniques well and establishes an environment of darkness and mystery. I liked the film and I thought the cinematic techniques used made it very unique and helped to establish a mood that fit the story.