Common Techniques:
- Monochromatic colours
- Flashbacks – full vibrant colour
- Red Blood – very standout
- Music – contrast what we are seeing with that the character is feeling
- Makeup – pale faces, dark eyes
- Lighting – light/dark contrast
- Settings – slightly distorted/unrealistic
- Close up shots
Cinematography Techniques:
- Lighting
- Camera Angles
- Props/Setting
- Costume
- Camera Shots
- Dialogue
| Gothic Conventions | Film Techniques |
| Foreshadowing Gothic Protagonist/Antagonist Tone/Mood – Negative, uneasy, dark Elements of the supernatural Setting | Music Lighting Hair, makeup, costume Camera Angles The setting, props (Mise en Scene) Camera shots Sound Colour Symbolism |
Tim Burton tends to use Protagonists and calls them “heroic loners”…this is different from the classic ‘underdog’ hero. These characters tend to be nerds/goths/super crime fighters that are 100% happy with their lonely existence. Burton’s heroic characters are troubled loners, isolated from the rest of the world.
Burtons cinematic style: dark, demented, and nightmarish, but they also have a strange innocence and element of childlike wonder, too. He creates a dichotomy between the gothic and idyllic—the dark and the light—but since it’s Burton, the darks and lights are warped by the funhouse mirror of his creativity. He uses ‘nightmarish’ settings, surreal humour,
Essay Structure
Introduction – Outline the 2 films (Sweeney Todd + (summary, director, etc) + chosen techniuqes
Paragraph 1: First film + technique
Paragraph 2: second/third technique
Paragraph 3: second film + technique
Paragraph 4: second/third technique
Paragraph 5: links between both films…
Conclusion: Summary of it all