Low LightingTechniques:

Youngblood’s English Magazine13

In many of Tim Burton’s movies, he uses the technique of low key lighting to empha-size the mysteriousness and to add sus-pense to the movie and scenes.

ighting is an important part in a film, as without it, you would not be able to see the characters, set, or anything happening; The film would just be a dark screen with voices and sound effects. The way that Tim Burton uses lighting is for a totally different reason; Tim Burton uses lighting to add suspense and to create a mysterious vibe to his films. For instance, have you ever seen Corpse Bride? In that film, he uses lighting, specifically low key lighting to add suspense towards what is going to happen when Victor, the main character, is being dragged under-ground by vines when lost in the forest. And it definite-ly does the trick! It allows you to wonder what is happening, why it is happening and especially makes you wonder what will happen next. Personally, I thought, ‘What’s happening?! Why is it happening?! Why are the vines grabbing him?! The suspense is killing me!’.

L This happens in almost all of Tim Burton’s movies. The low lighting is used in Alice in Wonderland, Nightmare Before Christmas, Sweeney Todd, and Edward Scissorhands. In each one of them, you can find elements that are leading to suspense, and make you wonder, allowing for you to question what might happen next. Low lighting is used to keep you on the edge of your seat, keep you interested and wondering during the movie. It allows for you to connect with how the charac-ter on screen is feeling, gives you, who can see and sense more than the character, a slight insight into the won-dering, mysterious, confused mindset of the character. It connects you two, and it lets you feel what the character is feeling. Tim Burton’s goal is to attract your attention, and he definitely succeeds with his dark, seemingly insane main characters, making your mind work as you watch his films. The lighting used in Edward Scissor-hands, in the scene where Peg enters the upstairs room of Edward’s mansion and sees Edward for the first time, is low key lighting. It is used to add mystery as to why he has scissors and blades for hands, and what is going to happen to Peg since she discovered him. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, or at least, Tim Burton hopes it will keep you on the edge of your seat. By using this technique of lighting, Tim Burton hopes that he will keep your attention, make you wonder what is going on, and make you question Edward, attracting even more of your attention than some bad situational comedy on television.

In this scene from Alice in Wonderland low key lighting is used to add mystery as to where Alice is, and suspense through wondering what is going to

Nightmare Before Christmas shows low lighting in this scene, where Sally is preparing something, and you wonder what she is preparing and why. Photo: Nightmare Before Christmas

Youngblood’s English Magazine 14

“I think a lot of kids feel alone and slightly isolated in their own world.” -Tim Burton

In Nightmare Before Christmas, Sally is seen making a mixture, cooking something. You’re not sure what it is when you first see it, as she could be making anything, but from the low lighting used, you can tell that it’s something sinister, and it makes you wonder what that something sinister will be, and what will happen when the concoction is complete. It creates the suspense for his film, in just that single scene. The lighting adds mystery, and keeps you wondering. For example, in Alice in Wonderland, when Alice first falls down the rabbit hole and rediscovers Wonder-land, she looks around, in the low light of the Wonderland forest, with crazy colors, plants, and creatures. She looks lost, and the way that Tim Burton portrays the feeling of being lost is not only through actress Mia Wasikowska’s facial emotion, but through the lighting used as well. The low light that the forest gives off, mixed with the sun bursts coming through the trees, creates an element of mystery and suspense. It makes you wonder why Alice has found this place, and what this place is, and it lets you understand why it is called Won-derland. It makes your mind wonder why, what, and basically allows you to create your own suspense in your head as you wonder and try to figure out what is going on. It’s as if you’re a small child who has just discov-ered the attic of their house. You’re mesmerized by this new-to-you ‘world’ and you’re curious as to what lies in the darkest shadows. You’re scared, but yet something- some element of curiosity- is pulling your interest into discover-ing it all. Your mind is wandering, creating short stories for things as all kids do, and the mystery of this new place is overwhelming. You don’t know what this place is, why it is here, or what will happen if you go exploring in the darkest corner, but yet, you’re bouncing with anticipation of what you will find.

That’s the feeling that Tim Burton portrays with the low lighting in his films. It’s the feeling of being isolated in a world all to yourself, being alone, and yet instead of being scared, being intrigued by the mystery that this ‘world’ has to offer. This can also relate to a quote by Tim Burton, where he says, “I think a lot of kids feel alone and slightly isolated in their own world.”* Since you can connect to how the character is feeling, it can also connect you to memories of your past, where you might now have known what was happening, or what was going to happen next, or why certain things happened at a certain time. It let’s you see into those feelings, connecting you further. That’s why the quote, which is a vision of what Tim Burton thinks some kids are like, can relate you to his movies through the lighting that causes suspense. But it’s not only in Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland, and Corpse Bride that Tim Burton uses low key lighting to portray mystery, emotion, and add suspense. He uses it in a majority of his films, from Batman, to Sweeney Todd, to Nightmare Before Christmas. If you’ve seen these movies, you can probably tell that most of the movie is dark, filmed with barely enough light to see what is happening. The low lighting adds suspense and mystery, and allows YOU to create an answer to ‘Why is this happening?’ and ‘What will happen next?’.

A scene from Edward Scissorhands portraying low lighting. Photo: Edward Scissorhands

Low lighting shown in Corpse Bride. Photo: Corpse Bride

*Quote from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/timburton454896.html