Notes: The World of Tim Burton's

For the first time I have got a chance to have an insight of how Tim Burton’s world was formed through his drawings and sketches exhibited in Shanghai. In this exhibition a large amount of his sketches on napkins, drawings and college works in his early life time, script notes, storyboards related to his film creations,

stop motion animations, which has taken in the likes of Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice in Wonderland, Beetlejuice, Batman, Mars Attacks! and more, were shown. A pity was that even facsimile as well were not permitted in this exhibition, though I didn’t know why. So most of my learning, drawings and reflections are based on memory. But this gives me the space to develop my own understandings and inspirations based on the learning through visiting this exhibition (though to some extend memories may be distorted).

In the first section of the exhibition the sketches of some of his very primary inspirations and unique reflections on surroundings drawn on napkins accumulated through his lifetime in his own language were shown. The figures like monsters, distorted bodies, skeletons and many unrecognizable creatures appeared many times. His drawings were quite sketchy, stylized and well communicated. Some of those have already shown the great abilities and potentials of authorship of this master filmmaker. In one interview he once admitted,

he used to storyboard his entire movies, shot by shot, but now really uses them more for himself: "They help me think more than anything else. They calm me down and, also, they're a way for me to think subconsciously. I prefer to act out of my subconscious - I find if I think too much, I start to confuse myself again." 

Most of the figures could be seen as his emotions and characteristics depicted in humorous and freaky ways through distorted spaces, sewed skeletons, harmed blooding bodies, dark monsters swallowing up cities in weird gestures. I guess those all can be considered the distorted camouflages of the personal parts of the artist. This reminded me of the little monster of the author project I did expressing my own needs in the first year. But I supposed Burton’s creations in this part were more intuitive.

Edward Scissorhands, for example, the story of a man-made boy with scissors for fingers who is adopted by a suburban family, "was based on a feeling of touching and communication.
Costume illustration for "Edward Scissorhands" (Johnny Depp) 'Edward Scissorhands' 1990. Design by Colleen Atwood.

Through the “Influence” section we could see how huge an impact Allen Poe and Romanism had on Burton. He took a lot of notes about his reflections combined with his own imaginative world and that had a big influence on the form of the gothic aesthetics. But all were expressed with his own visual language consisted of skeletons and monsters. Otherwise the distortions of human bodies and caricatures were based on very sophisticated drawing skills.

Sketches of scenes of holidays, a major motif in the form of sincere appreciation  and a satirical wink

Sketches of adapted scenes of classic novels, upper Little Red Riding hood, lower Romeo and Juliet

Those accumulated drawings were developed into great ideas in his later career periods. One motif recurring in almost all his films, “the misunderstood outcast”, was an outcome. In this exhibition many of the developed characters illustrated with sketches and large installations were shown.

A very unique section in this exhibition was the luminous area. This area incorporates imagery from Burton’s films and artworks. This was a quite uniquely curated dark environment that blurred the boundaries of the senses of real world and fantasies for visitors. Fluorescence was widely used in the installations.

Two filmed Burton participated in or made in his early years were shown. One was the very famous genius stop motion animation “Vincent”. The other one was something I saw for the first time. It was a project run by Disney adapting the Grimm Brother’s fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. The project featured four Asian actors and actress. The shots were consisted of smooth transitions between real set shots and cartoons to depict the background environment and situation. The background sets were all simply installed with large painted canvas, wooden frames and large candies so that audiences can be more concentrated on the acting. The acting of the two villains, the stepmother and the widow, were quite stereotypical and exaggerated to distance bad from good. I think this fit the banal way of thinking of children. What impressed me the most was the use of the light in children’s bedroom. It did not only incorporate the emotions of horror and scarce of the children, but also emphasize the hope.