David Brunner's E-Portfolio
Visual Scene Analysis of Edward Scissorhands
I looked at a few scenes of Tim Burton’s 1990 film, Edward Scissorhands (Depp), and located some flashback scenes that are related to the basis of the film. . Lighting and all of the various camera angles combine with color and costume and music to create an atmosphere that is compelling to the viewers and convey the history of a created man. The scenes I selected on YouTube begin as he lies in Kim’s bed in town and dissolve as he remembers how life was in his early past. You see his inventor deciding to build a man, you see him teaching Edward, you see his final gift to Edward before dying and leaving him alone, and you see Edward with Kim. The time involved is 6.10 minutes. Throughout the film there is use of lighting and mise en scene to build the audience reaction to what they see.
Cinematic techniques help make a movie more entertaining therefore everyone uses them. Different elements can create different moods. Directors all have unique styles of making movies. Tim Burton uses lighting, differing camera angles and music to contrast fantasy with reality and show the strength of the characters. Burton uses lighting to show fantasy and reality in all of his movies.
In the film high key lighting represents regular humans. The lighting in town such as in Kim’s room has vibrant colors and uses high key lighting. The color is used to show the contrast of humanity and normality of the town, even though true emotion is faked by some. It is also used to convey closeness between Edward and Kim.
The scenes I chose are mainly filmed using low key lighting and they were those of Edward and his inventor. In the castle, where Edward lived, it was always dark among the machines with few colors and those appear washed out. Low key lighting was also used in the flashbacks Edward frequently has such as those when he lays on Kim’s bed in town. This lighting and washed out color causes the audience to interpret that Edward’s past is melancholy. The lighting also assists in conveying the theme that a person is more than what the eye sees. Edward seems fine, but the dim-lighted flashbacks of his past at home show that he lived alone after his inventor died. All in all, the lighting helps show how a certain person feels and allows the audience to identify the theme of Edward’s depression in being different and his loneliness
This pattern continues throughout Edward Scissorhands (Depp). The town that Edward is welcomed into is in high lighting to signify that it is the life that he never had. He wants to be accepted and loved and this is the place that his wish comes true. Unfortunately, we know that his fantasy is unrealistic and there is no way he can live normally. His sad life is lived inside an empty mansion which is shot in low lighting signifying the lonely reality of his home. Lighting gives you an idea of what is real and what is only a fantasy.
Burton uses angles to show the level of power of characters. In Edward Scissorhands during the scene where Edward is making an ice sculpture Kim is shot in a high angle. This signifies that she is truly happy and on top of the world. . At the moment she feels nothing can bring her down. Burton uses angle shots to show Edward’s feeling of distance from the people in town.
Another technique frequently used by Tim Burton is the close up. The use of a close up helps show the audience what exactly the character feels and creates a certain mood of satisfaction and excitement. It also shows a closeness and intimacy between characters. As the inventor reads to Edward he jokes and enjoys Edward’s smile. You see a man with his child. You can see the close up used in Kim’s room with Edward as he holds her while they talk. They share their feelings and you are drawn by the softening of the lighting while they maintain the color.
One other of the elements that contribute to Tim Burton’s cinematic style is flashbacks. A flashback is when a scene is being cut or dissolved to action that happened in the past. For example, there is a scene where Edward has flashbacks of his inventor. In the flashback the audience learns that Edward’s creator used to read him books, and his last memory is when he was going to get his pair of plastic hands but the Inventor dies before finishing his work. In this scene, the director uses flashback in order to show why Edward has scissors instead of hands or why he was up all alone in the house.
Another element that contributes to Tim Burton’s cinematic style is eye level. Eye level means a shot is taken from a normal height, and that is the characters eye level. Eye-level angle shot helps audience to feel close to the characters in the movie. It stresses that Edward is similar to all of us. Even though he has scissors rather than hands and so many scars on his face, he is an equal and he should have what anyone else has. The scars are a symbol of bitterness in Edward’s life. Therefore, the director uses long shots and slow stock to emphasize on the high quality of the image, in other words, Edward’s face, giving audiences intense expression. In the film Edward is looking at the Inventor as he reads and jokes. He smiles and they have a connection. In the scene where the Inventor dies, the director uses the eye level in order to show the scene from Edward’s perspective. He is happy for the gift and fascinated, but it rapidly changes to confusion and sadness as his friend and mentor dies and leaves him alone in the gloomy mansion that is his home.
Use of costume and make-up in the mise en scene is also used to create a foundation for the story. The costume and make-up in Edward Scissorhands is used generate emotions in the audience. There are stark contrasts in how Edward looks and what he wears and how the humans look and what they wear. I think costumes are supposed to guide the audience in perceiving what kind of characters the people will turn out to be. I think we are supposed to judge the characters by their look, at first. The humans are dressed in a typical 1950s style, and this makes them look very simple on the outside. The women's clothes are very bright and colorful. They are styled to look very prim and proper. Most of the men are dressed for work or in casual wear, suggesting normalcy. I think the colors used are supposed to generate the view that the townspeople are all very normal, and everything appears to be alright. The make-up on the women accents and highlights their look. It is no coincidence that Diane Wiest's character is selling make-up, something used to cover up things. The industry she is involved in represents a very materialistic world and perhaps a fickle society. The houses are also very bright and false looking, almost like doll houses.
Edward, in contrast, is dressed in dark and dreary clothes. The make-up used on him makes his skin look very pale, and ghostly. He looks very gaunt, and it gives his facial features the appearance of a skull. His clothes are all black, and have buckles on them. This appears as a kind of armor, and is a very gothic in effect. It is supposed to create the idea that like his appearance, Edward himself is very scary and sinister. It makes the audience wary of him. The costume is to be seen as part of Edward himself. This is a prime example of judging a book by its cover. The differences in look are used to highlight the nature of humankind as a whole. The house Edward lives in is very gothic when compared to a stylized 1950s town covered in paints like cartoon colors.
Color use is symbolic. On the whole the scene is in a basic tone of black, grey and white, like Edward himself. The dark colors suggest the loneliness Edward has and his monotonous life. Color is brought into his life and can melt all of the sadness and loneliness. Edward, as the other character in focus in this scene, is the main and only subsidiary contrast. He stands in the darker shadow and his face stands out against the dark background. In this shot he is the object that the dominant figure, the Inventor, is focusing his attention on. He is the subsidiary contrast, but soon he will be the dominant as he stands over his mentor’s body and stares at the blood on his “hands.” We can figure out this through the different positions of the two: Edward shows a full-front, but the Inventor’s back is to the camera. There are little objects in the background, so the image is not so dense. This draws audiences’ attention more on Edward because his “armor” and hands are the most complicated objects in the picture. However when we really focus on his “armor,” we find him weird and out of normal fashion. The less-packed image says more about what Edward is really like.
The sense of equality and caring is the basic meaning of this single shot. All elements prove that. For example, binary structures of the scene will show parallelism and equality. Their standing also shows some vertical sense in this shot. The sort of deep-focus shot allows both to be in the focus at the same time, but also creates two planes at the same time. Inventor stands near the camera as the first plane, and Edward stands in the second one. On top of that, both Inventor and Edward are in the center of the frame. There is space between them, but the margins to the edge are almost the same, so that the frame of this shot is moderately loose. All these show the equality between the two. They share the same importance in this shot. The personal distance reveals the compassion and caring he has for Edward. He doesn’t treat him as a “strange creation”, but he regards him as his child. His image is a little bigger than Edward’s, when he is facing him directly. This somehow implies his decision to help Edward’s life to change to a happier direction, which might be the reason why director uses open form here. Restricted form makes people nervous, and open form opens people’s minds.
On the whole, this scene gives a lot of information about his life and how he fits in and deals with people throughout the later scenes of the story. Maybe there are thousands of scenes like this in a movie, but if we analyze any one of them in detail, we will realize every detail in a film has been paid a great deal of attention. Burton uses the music of Danny Elfman throughout his films to add to the tension and emotion of the moments. The use of lighting, camera angles, color, costume and music combine to make a truly remarkable film with hidden depths that are appealing to the audience and explain the emotions and history of Edward, the created man.
Works Cited
Edward Scissorhands. Dir. Tim Burton. Perf. Johnny Depp. 1990. film. 5 February 2015. <www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2efGqH14Bw>.