essay

1. How is the Auter theory relevant when analysing the
work of Tim Burton
I am researching Tim Burton and I plan to discover how Tim burton's vision for
his films is achieved and how the Auter theory applies to his work and how he
makes them and if the influence on the films is only his and if the whole vision
comes from his mind. The main components of the auteur theory are
“technical competence, distinguishablepersonality and interior meaning,”-
master class and I will try to show these key features through his work. I plan
to do this by looking at his career and in his films and try to notice patterns and
similarities in the films, which is his artistic style and look throughoutfilms, as
well as looking at his past, and how he learnt his skills as well as his childhood,
popular films, and later work.
I am also researching the Auter theory and have been seeing if the theory
works with Tim burton's work. TheAuter films origins are in France in the
1940s which was used by an American film critic Andrew Sarris and became a
popular film theory. The main beliefs in the film are that the auteur of the film
or the director the way the film looks and is done is completely from their
artistic vision and no one else has any influence on their film. The criticism of
the theory is that it is surely impossiblefor films to be completely from one
person's vision sincethere is a whole crew that help makethe film and they all
should have at least a minor effect on the film, since the wholeproduction
cannot be achieved and creator by one solo person and needs influence from
other people to work. This theory has been heavily debated on and whether it
is an appliable or unpliable theory to work "Earlier versions of the auteur
theory made the assumption that because there was meaning in a work
someone musthave deliberately put it there, and that someonemust be the
auteur."- theories of auteurism this shoein the early days of the theory people
though that the auteur deliberately put something in as a meaning from there
real life or to make a messagethat they believed in. There is also evidence
against the auteur theory and how applicable it is it films since there is some
many people involved in a big film and that will all have at least a minor impact
on the vision and look of the film, the quote "I always argued againstthe
auteur theory; film is a collaborative artform. I have had somefanatically good
people help me make movies"- Sir Alan Parker this quote argues against the
auteur theory since films are all about collaboration and bring lots of different
people's ideas together to make a production work. During Tim burton's

2. beginning of his career in the early 70s the idea of the auteur theory was very
popular "In spite of its ideological and conceptual flaws, the idea of the film's
auteur had a strong impact on film discourseand practices throughoutthe
1960s and 1970s and also informed a specific niche of film production and
distribution circulating within arthouse or specialized circuits of theatrical film
exhibition, film archives, and film clubs. "- Beyond Auteurism this means that
there would havebeen a dying trend going around when Tim burton started
working and an animators apprentice which could of effected his work.
Tim burtons has a long history in the media industry with him beginning in
1971 making his firstfilm which was a shortanimation called the island of
doctor Agor spanning over the decades to 2019 with the dumbo, Tim burton is
known to take already established films and re style them in his own way
showing his personality through the film and makes sensewith this quote “one
man writes a novel. one man writes a symphony. Itis essential that a man
creates a film.”-Stanley Kubrick, the quote “one man” implies that one solo
person creates the film (the auteur) this shows thathe believes that one man
makes the film directly and it all comes from their vision and interpretation of
the film. Products that Tim Burton has made in the past is nightmare before
Christmas, Edward scissor hands, sweeny Todd and corpsebridehis most
popular film, nightmare before Christmas, was so loved by a lot of people in
the late 90s early 2000s and is still beloved by a lot of kids that grew up and
watching the film. Tim burton started out as an animator's apprentice at Walt
Disney but later left to create his own films and projects but his experience
early on at Disney gave him the skills and drive to create his own projects with
him later returning to Disney but as a director. All of his films have an artistic
signaturefrom Tim burton with them being very abstractworlds with them
being gothic and overexaggerated structures and character designs, a film is
very obvious if it is Tim burton's work from the way he styles the world even in
his live action films he still manages to make the film look cartoony this is
achieved through heavy special effects and practical effects, an example of this
is Alice in wonderland which the whole film relies on special effects to make
the world look the way it does. Tim Burton's work is widely liked by a lot of
people but criticism that he has faced beforewere on the film Frankenweenie
with people saying, “it lacked the stylistic look of a Tim burton film, and it was
missed potential.” A film of Tim burton’s is Edward Scissorhands this film is a
staple Tim burton film which depicts a young johnny Depp playing Edward. The
production process of Edward scissor hands itlasted 3 years to makes the

3. whole production and the studio that made it was Disney. Edward Scissor
hands is critically regarded as a good film and is a cult classic, the film criticism
that it gets are that the age limit is too low for the violence in the last scene
and people that it should be increased to fifteen, even though it is a noticeably
shortand violence is not a Marjory partof the film I do agree with this
criticism, and that the films that Tim burton is well known for arekid's films
and this low an age limit could mislead viewers expectations and shock them.
In Tim Burton's film Edward Scissorhands, itis given a grainy overload and the
exposer is extremely high this makes brightcolours pop out whilst other softer
colours fade into the background, thein the garden by Edwards houseatthe
beginning of the film shows this effect very clearly with the brightly coloured
plants really standing out and being very bold and loud, this effect was
achieved by the film being slightly more tolerant of low light so it would slightly
white wash the film and raisethe exposer. The grainy effect was doneto
emulate an older film and fits with the style and mood of the film of an 80s
suburban and nostalgic appears to it, the houseare also the same design and
are all one block colour like orange and green, this gives the effect that they
are like toys and is a representation of how Edward sees the world from a
child's point of view since he was isolated for so long and has been exposed to
enough to develop, this compared with trouble that he later finds himself in
later and how easily influence and innocent he is, this makes the audience
sympathisewith Edward for his childish interpretation of the world and how he
can end up situations for example the scene wherehe pokes the water bed
and it leaking, this is a very simple way of showing his lack of exposer to the
outside world and this is displayed him through childlike curiosity looking and
inspecting new things this was very clearly the intention of Tim burton since he
wanted to show the way the Edward viewed the world the quote "The usual
broadsides against 'auteur theory' are based on the simple idea that it posits the
collaborative nature of cinema and maintaining a romanticized vision of individual
genius around the director's role"-auteur theory and my son john this shows that
Tim burton's influence on the film to make it look that way and be styled that way
through his films to show a cartoony style which is very much his artistic signature
on the movie and other movies he makes. Another scene which very directly
shows Edwards'sinnocenceand childlike world view is when he is dragged into
the robbing of the house, this is because Edward like a child doesn’tknow right
from wrong and his moral compass hasn’tbeen developed, this leads to him
being used to break into the house by unlocking the door with his hands, but

4. he gets left behind and trapped in the room since he can’t twistthe
doorhandleto open the door to escape which leads to hm being arrested, this
shows thathe has a lack of morality not in an evil or maniacal way but in a
more naive way and it comes from a lack of understanding.
The auteur theory applies to Tim Burton because all his films havethis gothic
and overexaggerated look to the world this is displayed through the film this
come through in the architecture, costumedesign, character design, and the
environment. Example of this is in the nightmare before Christmas and the
scene wherejack Skellington is standing on the hill sing to the moon, the hill
curls and has a spiral, this is not explained but the audience does not need it to
be explained to makesense to them since this is expected from a Tim burton
film and the strangeworld design helps to reinforcenot to question the design
of different structures. Theauteur theory applies to Tim burton's work since all
his work shares a similar style and look to it and has obviously comeout of his
mind, Tim burton started out making animations and his films have all got a
cartoony side to them like rubber hose animation whereeverything is very
exaggerated and lively and all this fits together in the worlds and story Tim
burton creates. An example of this could be Alice in wonderland this look
cartoon because the entire world is insane with random things justmaking
senselike flamingos be used as bats, one of the mostconsistent weird
cartoons looks of this film is the design of the queen of hearts and her very
obscurecharacter design this look, and design is very coherent throughoutTim
burton's films making the auteur theory apply to him since all of his live action
films havethese crazy, gothic and distinctive styles which make them standout.
In his animated films all the human character are very slender and then and tis
is throughoutall his animated products this ties to the quote “earlier versions
of the auteur theory made assumptions in a work someone must have
deliberately put it there, and that makes someone the auteur.” this makes
sensein Tim burton's casesince throughouta lot of his animated work he uses
the thin long appearanceof humans examples of films with these deliberate
character designs are the corpsebride, Frankenweenie, and the nightmare
before Christmas, this deliberately Suttle way of character design helps the
viewer to know and recognisethe films as Tim burtons and also reenforces and
shows his gothic world with pale and gormless looking characters populating
the already gothic and medieval style worlds.
I will incorporate my study into my FMP project by taking my only vision onto
the projectand try my best to make that vision come true, I will also

5. incorporateby own editing style and filming stylewhich will be unique to me, I
have also learnt to think about a lot moreof an abstractidea since that will
attract more people to look at the project. I can use the animation element in
my video obviously not as heavily detailed as the film animations but elements
like that would work well with my FMP idea of creating a fashion advert, this
gives me a lot of freedom on how I can approach the filming of the advertand I
am planning on having very abstractin the way the video is presented and
displayed, this will give me a lot more creative freedom on how to style the
video, and other asset like the poster and promotionalimagery, from looking
at Tim Burton's work it has shown me that the weird stylistic ideas present
through film can work very well and can be made easy to consumeby a wider
audience and can expand beyond the target audience.
I have discovered frommy research into this theory that this theory is very
applicable to certain directors in the media industry like Tim burton and how
there is evidence in his work that this theory can also be seen in practice. The
auteur theory is truly relevant to Tim burton's work sincehe has a running
them throughout all his work and they are stylistically similar with very gothic
and weird layouts of the world as well as the styling of the characters is seen in
all his films especially in his animated films where all the humans are very thin
and looking like corpses or being very fat and overly round, these character
designs are seen in films like the nightmare before Christmas and corpsebride.