{creative history}: tim burton

sorry for the late posting today, but better late than never, because today's {creative history} is a fun one-- tim burton!

i've always been a big fan of tim burton's movies, but i've never actually learned anything about him. i am so drawn to his quirky, kind-of dark, and intensely creative films-- the curling, spiraling, hills, the pale skin and dark ratty hair look, the lonely outcast feeling of his characters..... i think he must live in a different world than the rest of us. and he is engaged to helena bonham carter, and what's not to love about her?

tim burton grew up in burbank, california, which seems SO the opposite of his films (dark, twisted, quirky vs. hollywood glitz and glamour!), but i guess living near hollywood gave him a sense early on that he would like to make films later on in life.

and, where have i been, did you know that tim burton directed pee wee's big adventure??? one of my favorite childhood movies! it all makes perfect sense now.... the morbid scenes where francis has pee wee's bike, the bizarre film sets when pee wee steals his bike back from the faux nun.... ahhhh, childhood memories. :)


anyway, back to tim burton. pee wee's big adventure was one of his first big projects, in 1985.
the next big film he made was beetlejuice, in 1989, starring winona ryder and michael keaton. (oh, how i love this movie!) and then his first big budget film was batman, in 1989, also starring michael keaton.



(interesting fact: before he started making films, after college tim burton worked for disney as an animator apprentice! his job was to draw 'the fox and the hound,' but he didn't like the artistic direction of the movie. he made several short films intended for children that were not quite what disney had in mind when they hired him, and had very limited releases, as disney did not know what to do with them. ) (cited from wikipedia)

in 1990, burton made edward scissorhands, which was one of his first well-received films. "elements of gothic horror were introduced into a contemporary suburban milieu... which suggest... that the evils of suburban living were far more terrifying than anything a mere mad scientist could cook up." (cited from senses of cinema)


in 1993 came the nightmare before christmas, which tim burton did not actually direct (he was filming batman returns at the time.) henry selick, whom burton knew from disney, directed the film. it is the first full-legth stop-motion film ever produced by disney.


more recent films include: ed wood (1994), mars attacks! (1999), big fish (2003), charlie and the chocolate factory (2005), and sweeney tood (2007), among others.


and if you would like to watch a couple of burton's earliest stop motion animations, here ya go! first is "frankenweenie," and second is "vincent."