Movies - Tim Burton

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	Movies - Tim Burton

Timothy William Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American film director, poet and designer known for his off-beat and quirky style. Especially in his stop-motion animated films, he is known for the exaggerated style of his characters, which still retain their serious, humanlike characteristics. His films often portray a highly stylized world visually reminiscent of cartoons which could be the result of his beginnings as a Disney animator. He reached movie stardom directing the first Warner Brothers Batman film.

In 2006, Burton was nominated for an Academy Award for the film Corpse Bride
.

Early Life

Born in Burbank, California, the first of two sons to Bill and Jean Burton. Burton described his childhood self as quirky, self-absorbed and highly imaginative. He found home life and school difficult and he escaped the reality of everyday life by watching horror and low budget films, to which he will later pay tribute in his biography of Edward D. Wood, Jr. Another film figure of importance in Burton's childhood is Vincent Price, whose filmography would deeply influence the upcoming director's career.

Following high school, he won a Disney scholarship to attend the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. He studied animation for three years and was then hired by the Walt Disney Studios as an animator apprentice. The first film he worked on was Ralph Bakshi's adaptation of The Lord of the Rings
, for which he is uncredited. Later, Burton's job was to draw for "The Fox and the Hound", which wasn't exactly the direction he had wanted to go at the time. He later commented on the refusal of Disney to use his design for "Fox and the Hound" on the fact that contrary to the general cute look of the movie characters, his designs made them "look like roadkills". Burton was not happy during his Disney period, yet it was during this period that he wrote and drew the poem and illustrations that would be the basis for his celebrated Nightmare Before Christmas.

Early Career

In 1982, Burton made his first short film, Vincent
, a six-minute film about a young boy who flashes from reality into a fantasy where he is Vincent Price, with Price himself providing narration. This was followed by the live-action short Frankenweenie
, starring a young Barret Oliver (as well as Sofia Coppola in a minor part). The film, shot in black and white, was a reenactment of the frankenstein myth where the mad scientist was replaced by a young Victor (Oliver) reanimated his dead dog after he was killed in a road accident. The film was deemed unsuitable for children due to its "gruesome" concept and was quickly shelved.

Despite being unknown to the public, Burton's projects attracted the attention of the film industry, and after seeing Frankenweenie, TV-host/Actor Paul Reubens (better known as Pee-Wee Herman), hired Burton to direct the movie rendition of his tv show. The movie, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985), was made on a budget of $7 million and grossed more than $40 million at the box office. Burton was a lifelong fan of art-rock band Oingo Boingo and asked member Danny Elfman to provide the music for the film. Since then Elfman has provided the score for all but one Burton film, Ed Wood, which was scored by Howard Shore.

After "Pee-Wee", Burton participated in the TV series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", directing the episode "The Jar". He then went on to direct his second movie, Beetlejuice
(1988) starring Michael Keaton in the title role. The dark-humour comedy was another hit for Burton, grossing $80 million and bagging an Academy Award for best makeup.

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Movies - Tim Burton

Early Life

Early Career

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