Color In Tim Burton's Films

Tim Burton, a director of many classical movies, is also a man that was always preoccupied with death and monsters. In his movies, his use of color and low angles invoke an unusual contrast between fear and excitement. This is important because the movies show that appearances and the things the we believe in can be deceiving.
In many of his films, Burton uses color in order to achieve the contrasting effects between fear and excitement. For example in Corpse Bride, the World of the Living is barren and gray. Burton rarely uses any saturated colors. Instead, he used shades of gray and blacks to show how dull and boring life was. In the rare instances of color, they were very unsaturated. For example, Victoria’s dress is a very unsaturated …show more content…
We believe that the Land of the Dead is much more cold and barren, but in this movie, Burton expresses the Land of the Dead as much more exciting and comforting compared to the Land of the Living. The usage of color to contrast the two polar worlds express his message that appearances and what we believe in as true can be deceitful. Another example of Burton using color to give a message would be in Edward Scissorhands. Tim Burton’s use of colors demonstrates how people’s appearances can be deceiving. At the beginning, Edward emerges from the dark and abandoned castle in all black. The shadows and gray color palette on the Edward and the towering castle creates a feeling of fear and suspense. But in contrast to Edward’s appearance, he is very loyal and kind. For instance, he assisted in helping Jim by breaking into his house even though he knew that Kim and Jim were lying to him. Edward was very kind and innocent. He is found and welcomed into the town, where the houses were bright and colorful. The colors create a feeling of comfort and …show more content…
The amount of low angles in a particular scene in the movie create a contrast between fear and comfort. For example, in Corpse Bride, there was an abundance of low angles on Victoria’s parents, Finis and Maudeline. The low angles of the parents generates a feeling of fear because it shows how imposing and superior the parents are to Victor and Victoria. This is in comparison to the rarity of the low angles in the Land of the Dead. There were little to no low angles on the skeletons and monsters in the Land of the Dead in comparison to in the Land of the Living. This means that to the audience, the dancing skeletons were not as imposing and feared compared to the living. This creates a contrast in feelings of fear toward the living and comfort towards the Land of the Dead. This irony between the living and the dead demonstrates Burton’s message that appearances can be very deceiving. Another example would be Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. The low angle on the chocolate factory shows how imposing it is in Charlie’s perspective. The towers and mechanisms protruding from the factory are all shown using low angles. This produce a feeling of worry or uneasiness as we see the factory from Charlie’s perspective. But as the children enter the factory, the uneasiness melts away due to the change in angles. As they enter, there were little to no low angles,