Tim Burton Film Google Images Search

I have searched some of Tim Burton's films on google images and found screenshots of scenes in his movies. This will help me get a good understanding about how he uses cinematography and mise en scene in his shots even before I actually watch the movies. Things I will be looking out for are colour, angles, focus/depth of shot, busy-ness of shot. Of course, because these are images, I cannot comment on the ratio of the shot or quality because that is dependant on whoever shared the screenshot, not on Tim Burton's producing.

James and the Giant Peach (1996)

Colour: Bland, Neutral, lots of brown, plain
Angle: Straight on but slightly low angle
Lighting:
Focus/Depth of Shot: Characters quite close to camera, and background is far away and really out of focus, and mostly unidentifiable (although it is obviously the sky)
Matter: 3 characters; grasshopper, james, caterpillar, looking shocked at something on the floor
Notes: Rule of thirds, Mid Shot

Colour: Bland, Dark juxtaposed with dark; contrast
Angle: Straight on but slightly high angle
Lighting:
Focus/Depth of Shot: Main focus is medium-close to the camera, halfway between the background and the camera, background is out of focus and unidentifiable
Matter: James and spider, James looks up to the spider because he is vulnerable and slightly scared as the spider tries to act as sort of a 'mother figure' for him (I haven't seen this movies for about 10 years (wow I feel old) so my narrative understanding is probably off)
Notes: Rule of thirds, the golden rule, the colours of the characters are really symbolic to their personalities, and to how innocent they are.


Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Colour: Edward Scissorhands is coloured in black and white juxtaposed to the other characters and the set, saying a lot about his character, however, all of the other colours are still undersaturated and plain/bland
Angle: Straight on, slightly high angle
Lighting:
Focus/Depth of Shot: Everything in the shot is in focus because the background is close to the foreground
Matter: Edward with 4 other people at a restaurant table, they're all looking at him
Notes: Edward is very isolated in this shot, no matter how close or how included he looks to these other people, because they are all looking at him, he is wearing clothes of colours in a different pallet, and he is on the edge of the shot.

Colour: A lot of Burton's films lack a lot of colour, however, he does use it in a clever way; to juxtapose characters and moods, just like in this shot, bright colours are rare for him to use but even then, the colours are still undersaturated and seem unbright
Angle: Straight on, slightly low, to reveal the bush statue and the "power" of these women
Lighting:
Focus/Depth of Shot: The background is far away however the bush is not out of focus, the far far background though is out of focus.
Matter: five women standing and talking to each other, they look very high-maintenance
Notes: There are 2 main focuses in the shot, the bush sculpture and the women at the front, if I knew what the dialogue was I could analyse the action more and find a meaning and purpose for why Burton has placed these 2 focuses here.


Batman (1989)

Colour: White and off-white, as well as dark purples, brown and green accent, though there are considerable bright colours, they vibe is still quite dull because of the undersaturation of the colours
Angle: Straight on, lens looks slightly fish-eyed (I could be wrong)
Lighting:
Depth of Shot: Quite close, the focus is the joker who is standing relatively close to the wall, not causing much depth in the shot
Matter: Joker, mask on a table, corner of a room, shadows cover a lot of the jokers body, revealing only his extremely white face
Notes: Lighting is to a minimum but is used in a clever way, shadow of the mask

Colour: Batman is costumed in a dark black suit, the joker in purple and green colours; juxtaposition, also irony because batman is the good guy and the joker the bad.
Angle: Straight on, Mid Shot
Lighting: Joker's face is well lit, however batman is less 'in the light'
Depth of Shot: The characters are at a good length from the camera however the background is quite a distance away and re well out of focus, but not to the point of being unidentifiable
Matter: Joker grabbing Batman,
Notes: The power in the shot is given to Joker because he is more well lit and is the one grabbing batman by the arms

Colour:  Lots of black, hints of white and accent of yellow on his chest logo
Angle: Low angle looking up at Batman (power symbol)
Lighting: Minimum, light reveals more of the background and the smoke rather than Batman himself
Depth of Shot: Batman relatively close to the camera and the background is well out of focus, smoke helps with taking focus away from background
Matter: Batman in focus, lots of foggy smoke behind him, creating a powerful mysterious vibe
Notes: even though batman is the good guy, he is always shown in dark lighting, which is quite ironic but very suitable for his character (bats only come out at night)