Nathalie Lauwereyns

13/03/2014

THE NARRATIVE ASPECT OF THE OPENINGS SCENES OF TIM BURTON

We all know the feeling: when something disgusts us but all we want to do is take a better look at it. t is that feeling that !im "urton has mastered and knows #erfe$tly well how to turn it into good mo%ies. Like the gothi$ no%els that ins#ire him greatly& he su$$eeds again and again in making things that would frighten or re#el us at first sight& seem fun and interesting. 'fter he graduated from the (alifornia nstitute of the 'rts his talent was )ui$kly re$ognised by none other than the Walt *isney +rodu$tions, animation studio. -owe%er& after only a few .obs he was fired be$ause the $hara$ters and stories he $reated were too dark and s$ary for little $hildren. !hen he tried hard to find a way to make his own full/length mo%ie. When he finally got the $han$e to dire$t 0+ee Wee,s "ig 'd%enture, his $areer was offi$ially laun$hed. -e be$ame an e%en more e$$entri$ dire$tor whose style you re$ognise from miles away. 1%en without knowing beforehand who the dire$tor is& from the moment the o#enings s$ene starts rolling& you know you will be taken on a tri# into "urton,s endless imagination. t is e2a$tly these o#enings s$enes that ha%e attra$ted my attention. wonder what makes them so authenti$ and more im#ortantly want to in%estigate in what their im#ortan$e is in relation to the rest of the mo%ie. !o sum u#& am interested in what the narrati%e as#e$t of !im "urton,s o#enings s$enes is& if there is one. will handle two different a##roa$hes to this theme to $ome to a $on$lusion that is as $om#ete and as $ohesi%e as #ossible. 3n the one hand will look at the style of the o#enings s$enes will take some of and how they look in $om#arison with the work of other dire$tors. Little has been written about this to#i$ so will take the task of in%estigating this u#on myself. "urton,s mo%ies from different stages of his $areer and from different genres and $om#are them to the o#enings s$enes made by other dire$tors that $reated a mo%ie in the same genre around the same time. !his should re%eal the uni)ue style that !im "urton handles. t will also enable me to see the returning themes and te$hni)ues he uses. !his automati$ally brings us to the ne2t a##roa$h. will again take some of his films& #referably others than before& and look at the te$hni)ues that are used& the #oint of %iew that he $hose& the soundtra$k&4 !his way $an see how they are linked to the narration of the film. 5ortunally this is a to#i$ on whi$h a $ou#le of film$riti$s& like for instan$e "ordwell& ha%e #ublished some works. 5inally we will see e2a$tly what relation these o#enings s$enes ha%e with the rest of the mo%ie. /1/

ho#e that this resear$h will gi%e us a $lear %iew on what the fun$tions of these o#enings s$enes or introdu$tions are nowadays. belie%e we $an $om#are them to the little %aude%ille a$ts that were #erformed before the film in the early days of $inema. !hey were meant to entertain the #eo#le and to bring them in the mood for the narration of the film that followed. ntrodu$tions more or less ha%e the same fun$tions: while showing some of the $redits& they gi%e us a taste of what the mo%ie will be like. !hey make the #eo#le interested and $urious for the rest of the mo%ie. am )uite #roud to say that this will be one of the first theses on this #e$uliar little #ie$e of film.

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