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Tim Burton Born
Tim Burton was born in Burback, California on August 25th, 1958. Burbank is a suburban town where many a movie and television studios can be found. Tim was a very contemplative boy and very quiet, yet he did have a passion for movies. He adored monster movies and was never afraid of them. -
Super 8 Movies
As a preteen, Tim Burton began to experiment with his imagination as a young boy making Super 8 Movies. Burton would make short films in his backyard on Evergreen Street using crude stop motion animation techniques or shoot them on 8 mm film without sound. The Island of Doctor Agor being the earliest known is an adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells story "The Island of Doctor Moreau" called The Island Of Doctor Agor that he made when he was 13 years old. -
School
Burton studied at Burbank High School, but he was not a particularly good student. He was a very introspective person, and found his pleasure in painting, drawing and watching films. He was heavily influenced by the works of such childhood heroes as Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl, as well as Edgar Allan Poe and the horror and science fiction films he watched, such as Godzilla, and films made by Hammer Film Productions, the works of Ray Harryhausen and Vincent Price. -
California Institute of Arts
Whilst he was a student at the California Institute of Arts, Burton made the short films Stalk of the Celery Monster and King and Octopus. -
Walt Disney Productions
Stalk Of The Celery MonsterIn 1979, Burton graduated and the success of his short film Stalk of the Celery Monster attracted the attention of Walt Disney Productions’ animation studio, who offered Burton an animator’s apprenticeship at their studio. He worked as an animator, storyboard artist and concept artist on films such as The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron and Tron. -
First Short - Vincent
Short Film - VincentWhile at Disney in 1982, Burton made his first short, a six minute black-and-white stop motion film based on a poem written by the filmmaker, and is about a young boy who fantasises that he is his hero Vincent Price, with Price himself providing narration. This was followed by Burton’s first live-action production Hansel and Gretel, a Japanese-themed adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale for the Disney Channel. -
Frankenweenie
In 1984, Burton created a unique version of the Frankenstein story with the live-action 25 minute short Frankenweenie. Which has recently been made into a feature length film coming out in October 2012. However after Frankenweenie was completed, Disney fired Burton, under the pretext of him spending the company’s resources on doing a film that would be too dark and scary for children to see. -
Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens however was impressed with Frankenweenie and commissioned Burton to direct the wildly inventive comedy Pee-wee’s Big Adventure in 1985. The success of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure brought about other opportunities, including the 1988 ghost story Beetlejuice. Often considered the prototypical Burton film, -
Progress
After researching into Tim Burton I can see his clear progress from starting as a animator and story board creator through to creating his own full feature length films. Some of his earlier movies you can see his experimentation and how this was developed into his feature films, for example his first short, Vincent, the main character is very similar to Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas and the ideas in the film were used in the film as well. -
Edward Scissorhands
Edward Scissorhands was the first time Burton had full creative control over a feature film, having written the story and also produced the movie. This film is probably one of my favourite Tim Burton films and was a hit with moviegoers and critics. This film also marked the beginning of Burton being taken seriously as an artist. -
Many More Films
Tim Burton then went onto to create many more feature lengths films including his dream film The Nightmare Before Christmas and others such as Sleepy Hollow. Burton has directed 16 films and produced 12, as of 2012. His latest films are an adaptation of the soap opera Dark Shadows, released in May 2012.
