Tim Burton Tribute by Keefer B.
Monday, October 27th, 2014
Halloween is just around the corner. It’s the time for candy, costumes and everything spooky. It’s also the time to watch some of the best Halloween movies and television specials. When it comes to that, I always turn to one of my favorite directors of all time, Tim Burton. Burton is known for his dark, brooding and down-right weird film making. I was first introduced to Burton when I was a toddler and watched Nightmare Before Christmas.
When I saw the opening number, “This is Halloween” for the first time, my little toddler eyes grew wide with wonder. Sadly, my mom hid my only copy of the film from me because she thought it would give me nightmares. Which it did not!
The point I am trying to make is I love Tim Burton because he looks at the strange and unusual side of filmmaking. Films like Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorshands start out in a surprisingly normal atmosphere. We see people in a quiet, suburban area living their normal lives. As the film develops, the characters encounter abnormal characters like Beetlejuice and Edward and the real fun begins.
Burton takes something as simple as a hand and makes it a little bit off. He adds more or less fingers, makes them skinny or fat. His color pallet ranges from bright to toned down or black. A perfect example of this is in Corpse Bride. 
When the main character is in the land of the living, it’s washed out and the characters are pale white. When he goes into the land of the dead, it’s bright and loud.
His visuals and storytelling are only matched with his characters. Edward Scissorhands is a perfect example of a defining Burton character. You fall in love with him because he’s strange and different. That creates tragedy therefore empathy. He shows the psychology of why they are like they are and it’s genuine.
Give him any story and he makes it his own with his Burton vision. That is what makes Tim Burton who he is. He looks at everything askew and seeing how he puts them on the big screen is captivating.
With that said, after I’m done trick-or-treating with my friends on Halloween, I’m going to be counting my endless supply of tooth decaying loot while watching one of Tim Burton’s movies. Although the fun does not stop there because I’m anticipating this Christmas when his new film Big Eyes comes out. I can’t wait!
