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You can instantly spot a Wes Anderson dramedy.
Or a Guillermo Del Toro fantasy.
Their worlds are highly detailed
where every square inch of the frame
flaunts their personality.
"- It's showtime."
Tim Burton is no different.
In this series on mise-en-scene,
we're looking at the various elements
that constitute every shot in a movie.
From the lighting.
Costumes.
Color.
And more.
"- What do you think of this?"
Today we consider settings
and how Tim Burton conjures entire worlds on screen.
Transporting the audience directly into his macabre and jubilant minds.
This is "Burton and Backdrops".
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"- You get a free demon possession with every exorcism."
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Let's begin by distinguishing settings from sets.
A setting is the general time and place of the story.
And a set is a specific location within that setting.
"- Do be careful, my dear children.
Don't lose your heads."
In Burton's, "Batman" movies --
"- I'm Batman."
-- Gotham City would be the setting
while the Axis Chemicals Plant
or The Bat Cave are sets.
"- Cold."
So how does one approach set design?
It all starts with a script breakdown.
Consider this scene from "Edward Scissorhands".
"- There you can go in Kim's room and put these on and I'll be right with you."
The script identifies specific elements in the set.
The photographs.
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The waterbed.
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The stuffed animals.
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From its description,
it is an utterly normal bedroom
but this is where the design in set design comes in.
Burton and his production designer Bo Welch
depict Edward as a fish out of water.
"- May I help you with this?"
Edward and Kim are worlds apart.
And we know this simply from the design of their bedrooms.
This is how set design and world-building is done.
One element at a time.
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"- Nice f*cking model!"
As we covered in our introductory video,
there are two distinct modes of mise-en-scene.
Naturalistic.
And theatrical.
Most of Tim Burton's work
wholly embodies theatrical mise-en-scene
which scholars Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White describe as
"...Fantastical environments that display and even exult
in their artificial and constructed nature
that bend the laws of nature and society..."
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His penchant for bending those laws
has been in his work since day one.
Whether it's his nightmarish retelling of "Hansel and Gretel".
"- Oh, come on in, come in.
We don't want you standing outside the cold doorstep now, do we?"
Or his love letter to Vincent Price.
"- For a boy his age he's considered it a nice
but he wants to be just like Vincent Price."
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We probably know what Burtonesque means.
But where did it come from?
"- Call a town meeting and I'll tell everyone all about it!"
German expressionism.
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Monster movies.
"- She's alive!
Alive!"
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Science fiction.
Ray Harryhausen.
All genres and styles that bend the laws of nature.
But even his normal worlds are exaggerated.
It's clear to anyone who knows Burton's work
is that his style is bursting through the frame.
But is it style for style's sake?
Or do his stories and themes support such expressive design?
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
"- I wish we'd been taping that. I'd give my left nut to see that again."
As we survey the landscapes of Burton's worlds,
consider the environments around these characters
and their overall storytelling value.
Let's begin our tour of the Burton universe
in what we'll call hyperreal suburbia.
"- Now, on with the tour."
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Burton has been fixated on suburbia
based on his own childhood.
"- I grew up in Burbank
and in Burbank California, there's no seasons.
It's kind of like growing up on an empty canvas.
You're forced to create your own world."
Burton's normal world is defined by conformity.
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Plainness.
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Simplicity.
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And obedience.
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We call this hyperreal because it's more than real.
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It's exaggerated.
Typically, to provide greater contrast with the fantasy world.
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The other main mode of Tim Burton's settings and sets is pure fantasy.
What we'll call the .
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In stark contrast to Burton's bright and orderly normal world
the other world is dark.
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With random and jagged lines.
Mechanical and industrial.
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Surreal, yet playful.
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Where the laws of physics are more like suggestions.
Equal parts macabre and whimsical.
These are places of uninhibited imagination.
"- Furthermore, his work indicate that he's a highly imaginative...
character.
It seems clear that his awareness of what we call reality is radically underdeveloped."
"- When people brand you as a freak of some sort,
it allows you to kind of act freakish
without people really getting on your case."
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Few filmmakers have a style as unique and recognizable as Tim Burton.
Even with pre-existing properties like "Alice in Wonderland"
and "Planet of the Apes" --
"- Bow your heads."
-- we can see his signature touch.
And if you doubt the singularity of Burton's vision,
consider this bit of trivia.
He has made his films with many different production designers
and cinematographers over the years.
The only constant is Burton himself.
Even films he concepted
but never directed
are clearly sprung from the same vision.
As you prepare your next project,
take the time to consider your settings and sets.
Don't copy Burton's style.
"- We would shop the same store."
Copy his holistic approach to world building.
Remember, the environments around your characters
have massive storytelling value.
Even if they don't look like this.
Set design doesn't require a huge budget.
Just a clear vision.
"- Can I have a paintbrush too?"
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In your scripts, describe the sets in detail.
StudioBinder was built to help you bring that vision to life.
For more on production design and Tim Burton,
visit the StudioBinder blog
linked in the description.
As you approach set design in your next project,
don't be afraid to blow your audience away.
See you in the next one.