Tim Burton
Artist of the Month
Information about Tim Burton
Tim Burton is one of the last people you'd imagine would become one of the most acclaimed directors in the world. He is an introverted, unassuming person. His career got underway at the most famous animation studio in Hollywood, he landed his first directing gig because of a bootleg tape of a short film that was never released, and (for a while, at least) he had a movie in the top-ten grossers of all time.
Info from here.
- Timothy William Burton was born August 25, 1958 in Burbank, California.
- Burbank may not ring as many bells as Hollywood, but it is the home to many film and television studios -- NBC, Warner Brothers, Disney, and others.
- Burbank was quintessential 1950s American suburbia, a world in which the shy, artistic Tim was not quite in step with the shiny happy people surrounding him.
- He was not particularly good in school, and was not a bookworm. Instead, he found his pleasure in painting, drawing, and movies.
- He loved monster movies: Godzilla, the Hammer horror films from Great Britain, the work of Ray Harryhausen. One of his heroes was actor Vincent Price.
- After high school in 1976, Burton attended the California Institute of the Arts. Cal Arts had been founded by Disney as a "breeding ground" for new animators, though they did offer other courses of study.
- Burton entered the Disney animation program in his second year, thinking it would be a good way to make a living. In 1979, he was drafted to join the Disney animation ranks.
- Burton did not enjoy being an animator, not one little bit.
- Imagine, if you will, what it's like to be an animator. Films are projected at 24 frames per second. For a 90-minute film, that's over 129,000 individual frames.
- Characters are drawn separately and then put together, and placed over painted backgrounds.
- The work requires talented artists, but they cannot deviate from the structured manner of drawing the characters. Burton had been brought in to work on The Fox And The Hound. It bored him silly.The studio recognized that Burton's talent was not being utilized. They made him a conceptual artist, the people who design the characters that appear in the films.
- Frankenweenie was awarded a PG rating, which precluded its release with their G-rated animated features. It was only released theatrically overseas, and had limited availability on VHS. However, it would be the film that landed him his first feature directing job.
- Following the surprise success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Burton didn't make another film for almost three years.
- It wasn't until he was offered the anarchic screenplay for Beetlejuice that he finally found another project suited to his unique vision. The film was an even bigger hit, and led to Warner Bros. offering Burton the job directing an eagerly awaited comic book adaptation that had been years in the planning.
- Batman was less a movie, more of an event. It sparked controversy with the casting of Michael Keaton as the Dark Knight, and generated a merchandising blitz that is now standard for blockbusters. It's box office gross of over $250 million is also one of the highest in the studio's history.
- Most his films tend to be either dark or colorful, and sometimes contain scenes of both.
- His characters are often friendly and optimistic despite their bleak surroundings
- Extremely dark Gothic atmosphere in buildings and set design
- Many of his films prominently feature castles, churches or other old buildings
Info from here.
Burton's Kids films include
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (as creator and producer) (1993)
- Corpse Bride (2005),
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
- James and the Gian Peach (1996)
- Frankenweenie (2012)
This is Halloween - The Nightmare before Christmas
Who is Jack Skellignton?
Jack Skellington is a fictional character and the protagonist of the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town and lives in a fantasy world based solely on the Halloween holiday.