December 23, 2015

Film Analysis of Tim Burton's Beetlejuice






Description of style
Simple and straightforward is the best description of style. At first it is kind of tricky but as the movie goes you will find it easy to understand and you will already know what will be the ending. The problem is there’s no thrill in watching this movie but you’ll love it because it is a comedy fantasy film so there’ll be no dull moments while watching this. Another style is that this movie is light, comical and humorous. Light in a way that you will not feel the heavy drama even if the movie is about that couple who passed away in a car accident. Comical and humorous because it cause laughter especially by unexpected or unusual. There are scenes that will turn into laughter because Adam and Barbara will change their physical appearances into a monster in a funny way.

Subject matter
Beetlejuice is a horror comedy fantasy film. The story goes when a couple died in a car accident and found a 'Handbook for the recently deceased'. As we all know, Tim Burton's specialty is horror and fantasy kind of movies. This movie dealt with the couple on how are they going to protect their house since they are recently deceased. At first, the couple are not aware that they passed away. Soon after they discovered, things changed. The newly moved family in their house don't believe that the couple Adam and Barbara are just playing with them. The mission of the two is to scare them but they keep on failing and seems to be like a funny thing. Weird things happened when beetlejuice appeared. Beetlejuice, a freelance "bio-exorcist" ghost that appear when you said his name three times. When the family knew what is happening in the house they perform a spiritual action using the book to reincarnate the couple and to let them die again. Later on, the couple agreed to share their house to the newly moved family.

Cinematography
Since this movie was released on 1988, capturing the action of the actors, type of camera angle and lighting are in a process of enhancing. Objective camera was used in this movie. The only part when subjective camera was used is when the Beetlejuice narrate the story of his life. The arrangement of people is quite good. No one is blocking the camera and the other actor. Some arrangements of the objects are not parallel to each other and some of them doesn't fit on the frame. Talking about the type of camera angle, some scenes are inappropriate on the actions of the actors. There are scenes that the camera didn't capture the expressions of the actors. When it comes to lighting there are scenes that the light wasn't established. If you will give time to take a look at every scene you will find out that some scenes doesn’t have the proper lighting. Most of the time it’s too dark.



Treatment of setting, space and time
Tim Burton's Beetlejuice is best when it comes to the setting of the movie. The house is like the main setting then it will go in the world of the deceased, the mini replica of their place where beetlejuice is staying. Actually there are only three settings that the movie portray. The rest just appeared on the movie in at least two scenes. The twist in this movie is the difference in time when Adam and Barbara knew that they passed away hundred years ago. So the movie played in two different period.

Use of special visual techniques
When it comes to the use of visual techniques you will find this movie in a not so smooth and polished techniques. Since this movie used a lot of special effects especially in the part when the couple was brought into another world you may find it difficult to appreciate. Due to the process of enhancing the movies way back then is one of the reason why it failed to portray a high quality use of special visual techniques. Another one is the different physical appearances of the characters in the other world gave justice to this movie. It emphasizes the world of death, and weird reasons or cause of their death.

Editing styles
The movie has a good editing style though some scenes are not polished. But when you sum it up, it’s good to think that Tim Burton push it through to make this movie. Wide shot, long shot, medium shot and close up are established. Parallel cutting were used in most of the scenes. Some scenes made use of dialogue overlaps in which actors were still throwing lines even if there’s no more scenes that is flashing. Fade ins and fade outs were obviously established. Most of the scenes used this kind of transition which is usual in every movie.

Use of sound effects, dialogue and music
As the movie start, you'll notice that it was Tim Burton’s because of the background music that will make you feel frightened. Although it sounds funny in the same time but through the music you will feel the urge to watch the movie because first and foremost it is Tim Burton's movie. We are aware about his works. The movie itself is really good. What make it even better is the sound effects because it gives a trademark and highlights in every scene. Sound effect was overused in this movie that made it exaggerated in the viewers’ ears. The dialogues of the actors were quite good and they established and give justice to their characters.

Narrative structure
Multiple viewpoints were established in this movie. First is the viewpoint of Adam, then the viewpoint of Barbara and the viewpoint of the Beetlejuice. Although there are multiple viewpoints, the director didn't let us to have a hard time watching this movie. First and foremost because the flow of the movie is plain, simple and direct. One main reason also is that this movie is made for children so the plot of the movie is easy to understand.



I am not a professional movie/film analyst/critic. I just did this for the purpose of my grade in my major subject. HAHAHAHA! Well me and my group mates got a high score so our sleepless nights and coffee nights are seemed to be worth it. ☺ I hope this film analysis helped you a bit!!



♥,
J


(photos not mine) 
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