2. Tim Burton – an AUTEUR
Auteur – a French word for “author”
An auteur is a director’s film reflects the director's personal
creative vision. In spite of—and sometimes even because of—the
production of the film as part of an industrial process, the auteur's
creative voice is distinct enough to shine through all kinds of
studio interference and through the collective process.
4. What has Burton’s his work?
• German Expressionism (particularly 1920s Horror films)
• Gothicism
• Vincent Price
• Edgar Allen Poe
• Dr Seuss
• Life in Suburban Burbank
• Aspects of the Human Condition
• Adult Versus Childhood perspective
6. Discussion points – after you’ve
watched Tim Burton’s interview
(see WIKI) at MOMA exhibition in
New York
1. Burton describes his working process as
organic. What might he mean by this?
2. What does homage mean? Can you think of
an example of homage? Discuss.
3. Why do you think horror films have remained
globally popular across literature and
cinema?
4. Do you have a favourite horror film? Discuss.
7. Vincent (1982) is a homage to classical
depictions of the gothic world, both in cinema
and literature.
Gothic Horror
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is
fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is
fear of the unknown.--H.P. Lovecraft
GENRE OF VINCENT (1982)
9. Gothic Horror
A horror story is a story in which the focus is on creating a
feeling of fear.
Horror stories can feature supernatural elements such as
ghosts, witches, or vampires, or they can address more
realistic psychological fears.
In Western literature the literary cultivation of fear and
curiosity for its own sake began to emerge in the 18th-century
pre-Romantic era with the Gothic novel.
The genre was invented by Horace Walpole, whose Castle of
Otranto (1765) may be said to have founded the horror story
as a legitimate literary form. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
introduced pseudoscience into the genre in her famous novel
Frankenstein (1818), about the creation of a monster that
ultimately destroys its creator.
10. Gothic Horror
Many of the most oft-studied works of literature fall into the horror genre. In
fact, you cannot study Romance-era literature without the horror novel--
Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, etc.
In the realm of American literature, there are few writers who are as
universally praised as Edgar Allen Poe. As anyone who has read The Raven,
The Pit and the Pendulum or any other selection from his vast store of
macabre will attest, Poe firmly is rooted in the horror genre.
These stories are reread, dissected and analyzed in a continuous cycle in
classrooms across the world. They are upheld by teachers as exemplars of
mood, suspense, style and language.
11. Gothic Horror
Features of Gothicism include:
The use of gothic motifs
The use of mood and atmosphere
Elicits fear and curiosity from audiences
Can feature supernatural elements such as
ghosts, witches, or vampires, or they can
address more realistic psychological fears.
17. As a class, re-watch the film
Vincent, and note how many
references are made to Gothicism
(visual and non-visual references)
…here’s the first one I can see:
Black Cat
18. Mise-en-scene and German
Expressionism
Formal elements of German Expressionist films
According to Nancy West from the University of Missouri,
Columbia, the formal elements of German Expressionist film
include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Chiaroscuro lighting: lighting that employs extreme
contrasts of light and dark, thus creating dramatic shadows
• a preoccupation with mirrors, glass, and other reflective
surfaces
• the use of anthropomorphism, which is the attribution of a
human form, human characteristics, or human behaviour to
non-human things
• an interest in abstractionism, which is a style of art that
privileges internal form over pictorial representation
19. Lighting in expressionist films
Expressionist films use simple lighting from
the front and sides, illuminating the scene
flatly and evenly to stress the links
between the figures and the décor. In some
notable cases, shadows are used to create
additional distortion (see chiaroscuro
lighting). ---Bordwell and Thompson
20. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Chiaroscuro lighting
lighting that employs
extreme contrasts of
light and dark, thus
creating dramatic
shadows
21. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Chiaroscuro lightinglighting that employs
extreme contrasts of light
and dark, thus creating
dramatic shadows
22. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Chiaroscuro lighting
lighting that employs extreme
contrasts of light and dark, thus
creating dramatic shadows
23. A preoccupation
with mirrors, glass,
and other reflective
surfaces
Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Preoccupation with
reflective surfaces
24. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Preoccupation with reflective
surfaces
25. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Preoccupation with reflective
surfaces
A preoccupation with
mirrors, glass, and
other reflective
surfaces
26. The use of
anthropomorphism
anthropomorphism
is the attribution of a
human form, human
characteristics, or
human behaviour to
non-human things
Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Anthropomorphism
27. The use of
anthropomorphism
anthropomorphism
is the attribution of a
human form, human
characteristics, or
human behaviour to
non-human things
Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Anthropomorphism
28. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Anthropomorphism
The use of
anthropomorphism
anthropomorphism
is the attribution of a
human form, human
characteristics, or
human behaviour to
non-human things
29. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Anthropomorphism
The use of
anthropomorphism
anthropomorphism
is the attribution of a
human form, human
characteristics, or
human behaviour to
non-human things
30. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Abstractionism
Abstractionism is a style of art that privileges
internal form over pictorial representation.
Abstraction is different to a lot of more
traditional styles of art because it is more
focused on the use of imagination or ideas
expressed through emotion.
31. What is German Expressionism?
Abstractionism is a style of art that
privileges internal form over pictorial
representation.
Abstraction is different to a lot of more
traditional styles of art because it is
more focused on the use of
imagination or ideas expressed through
emotion.
Formal Elements of German Expressionist
Film
Abstractionism
32. Glossary of terms
mise-en-scene
French word meaning “placing on stage” or “put in
the scene”
When applied to the cinema, mise-en-scène refers to everything that
appears before the camera and its arrangement—composition, sets,
props, actors, costumes, sounds, and lighting.
The “mise-en-scène”, along with the editing of a film, influence the
realness of a film in the eyes of its viewers
Click here to return
to Learning
Objective Slide
Click here to return to Key
Aspects of Mise-en-scene
Slide
33. Glossary of terms
MOTIF
In narrative, a motif is any recurring element
that has symbolic significance in a story.
Through its repetition, a motif can help produce
other narrative (or literary) aspects such as
theme or mood.
Click here to
return to
‘Gothic-Horror
Slide’
34. Glossary of terms
Characterisation
Characterisation : information that is given
about a character
This information can be given explicitly (told
directly) or implicitly (told indirectly).
Click here to
return to
‘Characterisation
slide’
35. Glossary of terms
Multimodal
More than one
Way of Communicating
information
Therefore, a multimodal text is a text that uses more than one system of
communication. Multimodal texts often employ systems of visual, audial and
textual communications, because they (when working together) increase
audiences level of engagement and interest.
Click here to return
to Outline of
Assessment Slide
Click here to
return to Learning
Objectives Slide
36. German Expressionism
• This artistic movement was in many ways a reaction to the conservative social values that
continued at the turn of the 20th century. Expressionist Artists rejected the stale traditions of
the state-sponsored art academies and turned to boldly simplified or distorted forms and
exaggerated, sometimes clashing colours.
• Directness, frankness, and a desire to startle the viewer characterise Expressionism in its
various branches and arrangements.
• Many of the German Expressionism artists had served in the military during World War I. Two
well-known German Expression artists, August Macke and Franz Marc, were killed and those
who survived returned from the experience disillusioned, depressed, sometimes maimed and
often shell-shocked. The Germany to which they returned was a country overwhelmed with
major economic, social, and political problems. Parties from both the extreme left and
extreme right were bitter political enemies that shared one common goal; to overthrow the
current government. The final blow to an already shaky economy was the signing of the
Versailles Treaty in 1919 which cost Germany not only some of its land (new states of Poland
and Czechoslovakia were created) but massive amounts in reparation for the costs of the war.
37. Significant Themes
(German Expressionsm)
As Expressionism evolved from just after the turn of the century through
the early 1920s, a number of crucial themes and genres came into focus,
many of which reflect deeply humanistic concerns and an ambivalent
attitude toward modernity.
These include:
• a fascination with the enticing yet often wretched experiences of
modern urban life;
• the enduring solace associated with nature and religion;
• the naked body and its potential to signify primal emotion;
• emotionally charged portraiture;
• and, most pivotally, the need to confront the devastating
experience of World War I and its aftermath.
38. Significant Themes
(German Expressionism)
As a result of an intensely rapid period of
industrialization in the 19th century, German cities
experienced an explosion in size and population density
between German unification, in 1871, and 1910. The
Expressionists approached the modern city with
ambivalence. On the one hand, they recognized the
dehumanizing and alienating effects of an urban
lifestyle. Yet at the same time, they celebrated the
excitement and vitality of its bustling pace and many
and attractions.
41. German Expressionist Films
At the onset of World War I, the German film industry
was dominated by imported films on German screens.
To combat this competition the German government
began to support the film industry so that t could
create its own propaganda films and also to ensure a
German film industry. The industry benefited greatly
from this support, securing financing for state of the art
equipment and studios even in the face of global
resistance as a consequence of the First World War. A
number of prominent German filmmakers left Germany
to work and make films in Hollywood in turn
influencing the look and feel of horror in Hollywood.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
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58. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Chiaroscuro lighting: lighting that employs extreme
contrasts of light and dark, thus creating dramatic shadows
62. The use of anthropomorphism, which is the attribution of a human
form, human characteristics, or human behaviour to nonhuman
things
Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
63. An interest in abstractionism, which is a style of art that privileges internal
form over pictorial representation.
Abstraction is different to a lot of more traditional styles of art
because it is more focused on the use of imagination or ideas
expressed through emotion.
Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
He is a master auteur whose illustrious cinematic career has spanned diverse genres and forms. He is also an artist, who is incessantly painting, photographing, drawing and doodling, exploring his wildly unique imagination and forming its content into wondrous cinematic worlds and characters.An outsider growing up in Burbank, California, Burton went on to work as an apprenticedanimator at Disney, where he began his filmmaking career with the short film Vincent.Throughout his career, Burton has always challenged the Hollywood formula and model todevelop and further his own voice, his own vision.
Use this image at the beginning of the Romeo and Julietunit.
Production Elements are the elements of film that make-up HOW the story is told. It is through these features (e.g. Lighting, Camera Placement etc.) that a director conveys meaning. These devices often provide more information about characters and the world within the film.
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
In order to understand German Expressionism, it is necessary to understand something of the postwar years in Germany and the effect that period had on the artists and the society in which they worked.
E.g. The Mona Lisa Painting (Da Vinci used this technique to create a n effect of ambivalence and ambiguity – was she smiling or smirking?)
A GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST SCIENCE FICTION BY FRITZ LANG (1927)
While alone and insane encased in his tombVincent's mother burst suddenly into the roomShe said: "If you want to, you can go out and playIt's sunny outside, and a beautiful day"Vincent tried to talk, but he just couldn't speakThe years of isolation had made him quite weakSo he took out some paper and scrawled with a pen:"I am possessed by this house, and can never leave it again"His mother said: "You're not possessed, and you're not almost deadThese games that you play are all in your headYou're not Vincent Price, you're Vincent MalloyYou're not tormented or insane, you're just a young boyYou're seven years old and you are my sonI want you to get outside and have some real fun."Her anger now spent, she walked out through the hallAnd while Vincent backed slowly against the wallThe room started to swell, to shiver and creakHis horrid insanity had reached its peakHe saw Abercrombie, his zombie slaveAnd heard his wife call from beyond the graveShe spoke from her coffin and made ghoulish demandsWhile, through cracking walls, reached skeleton handsEvery horror in his life that had crept through his dreamsSwept his mad laughter to terrified screams!To escape the madness, he reached for the doorBut fell limp and lifeless down on the floorHis voice was soft and very slowAs he quoted The Raven from Edgar Allen Poe:"and my soul from out that shadowthat lies floating on the floorshall be lifted?Nevermore..."
