Artist Research – Tim Burton

Tim Burton is one of my favourite directors as i love his dark, whimsical gothic style. During this project i have found out that he has been influenced by german expressionism. i can see close connections to The cabinet of Dr Caligari. Such as Penguin from tim burtons adaptation of Batman is very similar to the creepy Dr Caligari. And Edward Scissorhands is very similar to Cesare the ‘monster’ of the film, Both are gentle characters who are turned into monsters the also both have dark sunken eyes. A lot of Burtons drawings are similarto the sets from Dr Caligari.

Penguin

Dr Caligari

Edward Scissorhands

Cesare

Tim Burton Drawing

Set from Dr Caligari

Artist Research – The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 1920

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is a film directed by Robert Wiene in 1920. It is said to be the first ‘real’ horror movie. I really enjoyed watching this film and the ending leaves you wondering what really happened. I enjoyed the mixture of sets and the style in which they have been drawn. I also like the dark story line and characters. I like the fact that they have used different filters over the film to signify different aspects to the film for example there is an orange filter to show day time, a blue filter for night time and a pink filter when we are in the woman’s house.

Artist Research – L’age D’or 1931

L’age D’or is the second collaborative film between Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel made in 1931 after filming Un chein Andalou in 1929. This film in very different to Un Chein Andalou as it has an easier to follow plot line and even title cards to explain the story. As the story was in french i struggled to understand what was being said, however i spent a lot of time translating the title cards using a translator to give myself a little understanding of what was going on in the film.
This somewhat helped me however i could sort of get the gist of what was happening without the translations. I found myself actually enjoying watching this film as i wouldn’t normally have chosen to watch it.
With this film there is a lot of dream-like scenes where things don’t make much sense to the rest of the film. It has a lot of fetichism within this film showing a lot of lust between characters.

Artist Research – Voyage Dans La Lune 1902

Voyage Dans La Lune is a film by Georges Mèliès in 1902. This film is a very theatrical piece where there is a lot of over acting which adds humour to the piece. The film uses sets to create a whole other world. This film has been inspiration to modern day films and sci-fi content. I really enjoyed this piece however i don’t think i will take any of these techniques further into my own film as it doesn’t fit with my ideas for my piece.

Artist Research – Ballet Mecanique 1924

Ballet Mecanique is a film by Fernand Leger from 1924. The music in this piece makes the piece extremely hectic even if the visuals aren’t too hectic. this made me realise that the music can greatly change a piece of film and i need to carefully consider what music i will choose to accompany my film.

Artist Research – Entr’acte 1924

Entr’acte is a french film directed by Rene Clair in 1924. Upon researching the film i found out that ‘Entr’acte’ is french for ‘Between the acts’. Entr’acte is a very experimental piece of cinema. it plays with many different techniques. it plays with Stop motion, Slow motion, and sped up scenes. I found this piece of film a bit boring as some of the scenes went on for a bit too long and struggled to hold my attention. I will take this information forward within my project to make sure that my scenes do not drag on for too long to make sure i do not lose my views interest.

Artist Research – Un Chein Andalou 1929

Un Chein Analou is a colaborative film by director Luis Bunuel and artist Salvador Dali from 1929. I really enjoy the creepy nature of this film especially the scene with the eye as it makes most people feel uncomfortable and make them look away. I also enjoy that there is a very disjointed story line to the film that makes you want to understand what is going on.

For another post i made about Un Chein Andalou click on the Art Inspiration tab.