research

1. FACTUAL
PROJECT
Hope smith

2. Ideas
Tim Burton
Films, inspiration,
how they’re made
How he
started/beginning of
his career
awards
Who he commonly
works with (Johnny
Depp)

3. RESEARCH

4. Conventions of documentaries
◦ Real people
◦ Jiggly camera
◦ Voice-over narration
◦ Re-enactments
◦ Archival footage/photographs
◦ Talking heads
◦ Interviews
A documentary is a film television or radio program that is a non-
fictional report on a particular subject.

5. Frequent collaborators
◦ People he often works with: Caroline Thompson – screenplay, 3 movies
Danny Elfman – composer, 18 movies
John August – screenplay, 5 movies
Richard Zanuck – producer, 6 movies
Denise Di Novi – producer, 6 movies
Colleen Atwood – costume designer, 12

6. The movies that made us S2: E1 “Back to the
Future”
◦ Production context: The episode first aired on July 23rd, 2021 and is 49 minuets long. The series ‘The movies that made us’ was directed by
Brian Volk-Weiss he has also been involved in other Netflix documentaries such as ‘Down to Earth With Zach Efron’, ‘Kevin Hearts Guide
to Black History’ and ‘The Toys That Made us’. This episode of the documentary was aimed at fans of the franchise back to the future and
people with an interest of how movies came to be.
◦ Analysis of elements: they used an appropriate soundtrack that fit the theme and age of the movie they were talking about. A title sequence
that is fitting with the theme/topic of the documentary. They used clips from Back to the Future to finish the sentences of the narrator.
They would use some of the big and most memorable effects from the movie as transitions to the interviews as they were talking about
those specific scenes. Name tags with peoples job/role and name would come up on screen when it would change to a different person
being interviewed, they made the tags look like they were written on crumpled up paper as this was fitting for the film having been set in a
school. The words the narrator uses at the end of the documentary mixed with the soft music makes the film sound magical.
◦ I really liked how they used the movies effects as transitions to the interviews and used movie clips to finish sentences. These are definitely
two things I want to incorporate into my documentary because I thought they were quite unique a good way to keep the audience engaged
and add a bit of movie magic into the documentary.

7. A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman
◦ A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman is a one off episode documentary that aired on the 26th December 2015 directed by
Richard Mears and Merlin Crossingham. Mears has also had roles working on the tv shows first dates and EastEnders,
Crossingham works for Aardman studios as a director and in the animation department he has worked on projects like Morph,
Wallace and Gromit and Chicken run. This documentary was made to be watched by the whole family to give an insight to how
some of the most iconic animated movies and tv shows were made and how Aardman changed the film industry with their
animations.
◦ Analysis of elements: The documentary starts with a scene of Wallace and Gromit sitting down to watch a show and it keeps
cutting to scenes of them watching throughout the documentary so it’s like they are watching along with you. They had name tags
on screen with the name and job/role of the person being interviewed. The voice and tone of the narrator is very fitting with the
mood and topic of the documentary. The documentary would switch between using clips/scenes and behind the scenes images of
all Aardman productions. The wording the narrator uses at the end of the documentary makes the Whole Aardman world sound
magical.
◦ I really liked how they made the documentary look like Wallace and Gromit were sat down to watch it with you I thought that was
unique but a very fitting thing for those two characters to do.

8. Tim Burton's Directed movies
Year Title
1985 Pee-wee's Big Adventure
1988 Beetlejuice
1989 Batman
1990 Edward Scissorhands
1992 Batman Returns
1993 The Nightmare Before Christmas
1994 Ed Wood
1996 Mars Attacks!
1999 Sleepy Hollow
2001 Planet of the Apes
2003 Big Fish
2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Corpse Bride
2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
2010 Alice in Wonderland
2012
Dark Shadows
Frankenweenie
2014 Big Eyes
2016 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
2019 Dumbo
I want to put a timeline
graphic at the beginning of
the documentary of all
Burtons movies, so I found
a list of all his movies and
the year they were released

9. Tim Burtons Produced movies/other credits
Year Title Director
1994 Cabin Boy Adam Resnick
1995 Batman Forever Joel Schumacher
1996
James and the Giant
Peach
Henry Selick
2009 9 Shane Acker
2012
Abraham Lincoln:
Vampire Hunter
Timur
Bekmambetov
2016
Alice Through the
Looking Glass
James Bobin
Year Title Role
1978 The Lord of the Rings Artist
1981 The Fox and the Hound
Animator
1982 Tron
1985 The Black Cauldron Artist
1992 Stay Tuned Design consultant
1996 Mary Reilly
Participant
2004 Catwoman
2009 Waking Sleeping Beauty

10. Awards
◦ Emmy Awards (daytime): 1990, Beetlejuice, outstanding children's animated program.
◦ Golden Globe Awards: 2008, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Best motion Picture-musical or comedy.
◦ Saturn Awards: 1990, Edward Scissorhands, Best Fantasy film. 1994, A Nightmare Before Christmas, Best fantasy film. 2006,
Corpse Bride, Best Animated Film. 2013, frankenweenie, Best Animated Film.
◦ National Board of Review Awards: 2008, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Best Dire
◦ Scream Awards: 2008, Scream Immortal Award for his unique interpretation of horror and fantasy.
◦ Producers Guild of America Awards: 2009, 9, Best Producer.
◦ Golden lion: 2007, lifetime Achievement.
◦ Lacanian Psychoanalysis Prize: 2010, Alice in Wonderland.

11. Burtonesque
◦ The most common trope in Burton films is the "Heroic Loner" which is very different from most films loner protagonist who
craves for acceptance. Burtons main characters tend to be nerdy and gothic who are quite happy to be lonely and secluded from
others.
◦ His cinematic stye especially in his earlier work like Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands is very dark, demented and nightmare
Ish with a strange innocence to it. Burton is known for creating a dichotomy between gothic and idyllic, the dark and the light like
the contrast between the Deetz family and recently deceased Adam and Barbara. His style has become less edge and dark over the
years with him making more commercial films, but he still includes some details that make a movie a Burton film.
◦ Burtons character design is one of the most notable aspects of any Tim Burton film, they often have similar
features like; grey/blue Ish skin tones, large and baggy eyes, long frizzled hair they are defined by their over-the-top exaggerated
features which hides their innate human side.

12. Burtonesque visuals

13. His inspiration
◦ As a kid burton would often spend his time in cemeteries and wax museums, he also had a love for horror and sci-fi films he would
channel his love for the peculiar into his art. He grew up very isolated and viewed as an outcast by other kids this inspired him to
start drawing his own characters to give him different worlds to get lost in. As a child Burton would empathises with characters like
Frankenstein's monster and connect with them as he felt like he was misunderstood and attacked for being different much like
these characters from the films.
◦ Burton is heavily inspired by German expressionism; German expressionism is a movement created during world war 1 and draws
on psychoanalysis. German expressionist films explore themes of insanity, chaos, death and fear which is what the
German people suffered from as a reaction to the war. Expressionism explores these themes through dreamlike realities with
unrealistic exaggerated set design, lighting and characters this shows the inner psychology of the character and triggers
psychological tension in the viewer.

14. Interview practice
I enjoyed being able to learn more about someone else's interest/hobby and the reasons they like their
chosen subject. Something that went well was he was able to elaborate on his answers to the questions.
Something that didn’t go as well was that i struggled to think of good questions to ask related to his topic
of premiere pro. Another thing that went well was I was able to think of a couple other questions as I was
talking to him during the interview. Another thing that didn't go well is I didn't talk loud enough during the
interview, so I am very quiet throughout. I think for my interview in my documentary I will get the person
I'm interviewing to answer in a way that they repeat the question, so my voice won't be heard in the
documentary. I will also plan my questions better to have more questions that are easier to elaborate, making
the interview better and longer.

15. After Effects graphic experiment
◦ https://youtu.be/QaEfruWMj44

16. Transition experiment
◦ https://youtu.be/WWtuyt2yYmw

17. AUDIENCE
RESEARCH

18. Observation: 93% of people
know who Tim Burton is
What this says about my
audience: most people will
know what my documentary is
about

19. Observation: the majority of
the people who took the
servey like Tim Burton's
movies.
What this says about my
audience: Tim Burton's style
is appealing to most people
who watch his films
How will my product appeal
to my audience: I will use
similar conventions that Buton
uses in his films in my
documentary.

20. Observation: most people are
drawn to the creepynes, characters
and the art style.
What this says about my
audience: most Tim Burton fans
like the creepy artistic aspects of his
movies.
How will my product appeal to
my audience: I will try and reflect
his art style into the documentary.

21. Observation: Burton's
animated movies are better and
more loved than live action
What this says about my
audience: 69% of people
prefer Tim Burtons's animated
films over the live action ones.
How will my product appeal
to my audience: I will
incorporate more clips of the
animated movies than the live
action ones.

22. Observation: the fan favorite
movie is The nightmare Before
Christmas and the second favorite
is Corpse Bride.
What this says about my
audience: this again proves
Burtons animated movies are the
most loved amongst fans
How will my product appeal to
my audience: I will make sure to
incorporat scenes from The
nightmare Before Christmas,
Corpse Bride and Edward
Scissorhands the most.

23. Observation: most people's favorite thing
is the characters/graphics.
What this says about my audience: this
shows it is Burtons unique film and art style
that make people want to watch his movies.
How will my product appeal to
my audience: I will try and make the
documentary match the aesthetic of burton
movie's so it is mor appealing to his fans