4. Tim Burton

Most people are familiar with the work of Tim Burton. Commonly known for for his dark visuals and working with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, Burton is one of my guilty pleasures. Sure he makes visually stunning films but his quality has particularly remained consistent over the years. Nonetheless he is one of my favorites, particularly for his early works and his ambitious projects.


Through Tim's childhood he lived in a sort of suburban neighborhood and absolutely detesting it. He felt somewhat like an outcast not having many friends and felt distanced from many of the people he knew. For this he became quite efficient with art as being an outlet. Later attending art school he landed a job at Walt Disney Animation Studios to help animate some of their movies, but later realized that he wanted to branch off and fulfill his own ambitions.

Tim went on to direct many films such as Batman and Alice and Wonderland. Most of his movies are made with Gothic undertones and aesthetics, not always but usually incorporating dark skies, deep blue and purple tones and various themes and character profiles to set aside his work from the rest. His films, usually incorporate a lead who is often misunderstood and outcast from the rest of the movie's universe.

My love for Tim Burton's works isn't too complicated. His movies are visually stunning and more often than not, evoke a high sentimental value for me in portraying a person who is misunderstood for where he is currently placed and fights his way to find somewhere he truly belongs. My favorite movie that accurately portrays this, hands down is Edward Scissorhands. Mr. Burton always seems to have a clear vision of what he wants to represent on screen with his characters. He never delves into a overly complicated character arc, because he doesn't need to. His stories are simple and evoke feelings through the scenery and majestic matte paintings. His characters, albeit simple and easy to understand, are still multifaceted and interesting, more often than not giving us elements of ourselves we haven't really been able to connect with as often with other movies.

Tim Burton really inspires me to take better judgement when looking at creating an atmosphere and evoking feelings through a multitude of varying elements such as character and set design. Being able to relate with his back story and what he's accomplished as a filmmaker really gives me an aspiration to attain what I'd love to do with my life which is make movies that tell poignant and emotionally effective stories.

The List of Fantastical movies directed by Tim Burton
-Frankenweenie
-Dark Shadows
-Alice in Wonderland
-Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
-Corpse Bride
-Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
-Big Fish
-Planet of the Apes
-Sleepy Hollow
-Mars Attacks!
-Ed Wood
-Batman Returns
-Edward Scissorhands
-Batman
-Beetlejuice
-Pee-wee's Big Adventure

3. Alfred Hitchcock

The Master of Suspense. Usually regarded as the best director in history. Well to me at least. It's quite a tragedy that even though that
may be, he never once won an Academy Award to call his own. His story is actually quite entertaining, shown with several adaptations illustrating his life. While on the set of a movie in the thirties the director of the movie Always Tell Your Wife, which was in production in 1922, had walked out and couldn't finish the production, so one of the producers looked at Hitchcock and asked if he would like to take over. His legacy started then and there.

In mainstream media he is known simply as the man who directed the famous movie Psycho, but Hitchcock was so much more. By creating Psycho he proved horror movies could be made by highly regarded auteurs of cinema, and with every movie he made he tried to push the bar with something new and exciting. With his movie Rope, he announced that it was filmed all in one take. Now in this day and age we know better, a roll of 35mm film wouldn't have been long enough and if one watches the movie over carefully, you should be able to see the cuts. Regardless, watch the movie. It's fantastic.

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the many first directors I was introduced to as a child. The first movie I viewed of his was indeed Psycho. Exemplary in its editing and pacing the movie still stands on it's own merit of being a genius piece of art. As was many of his films. It gave me a sense of tension and anxiety I hadn't felt with many movies before. It was new for me, it was exciting! Watching the movie years later my feelings never change about it.

He was known for his mastery of suspense and with that title I was always intrigued in viewing his catalog and I was simply astonished when I started delving into the thematically rich stories he told. One of my favorite techniques he's used is the "shadow on the wall" to create suspense in Suspicion. While it might seem a cliche now, I imagine it was a more effective technique back then.

Alfred Hitchcock seemed to have the mentality of not giving the audience the relief of suspense until the very last moment. I always find new elements of his films that he used to further add to his stories and just when I think I have something of his I'll discover something new. There is always something new to appreciate of him which I always try to integrate into my own work occasionally. He was a true source of inspiration for many directors such as Steven Spielberg in Jaws and I am no exception.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents:

-Always Tell Your Wife (1923)

-The Pleasure Garden (1925)

-The Mountain Eagle (1926)

-The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)

-Downhill (1927)

-Easy Virtue (1928)

-The Ring (1927)

-The Farmer's Wife (1928)

-Champagne (1928)

-The Manxman (1929)

-Blackmail (1929)

-Juno and the Paycock (1930)

-Murder! (1930)

-The Skin Game (1931)

-Rich and Strange (1931)

-Number Seventeen (1932)

-Waltzes from Vienna (1934)

-The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

-The 39 Steps (1935)

-Secret Agent (1936)

-Sabotage (1936)

-Young and Innocent (1937)

-The Lady Vanishes (1938)

-Jamaica Inn (1939)

-Rebecca (1940)

-Foreign Correspondent (1940)

-Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)

-Suspicion (1941)

-Saboteur (1942)

-Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

-Lifeboat (1944)

-Spellbound (1945)

-Notorious (1946)

-The Paradine Case (1947)

-Rope (1948)

-Under Capricorn (1949)

-Stage Fright (1950)

-Strangers on a Train (1951)

-I Confess (1953)

-Dial M for Murder (1954)

-Rear Window (1954)

-To Catch a Thief (1955)

-The Trouble with Harry (1955)

-The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

-The Wrong Man (1956)

-Vertigo (1958)

-North by Northwest (1959)

-Psycho (1960)

-The Birds (1963)

-Marnie (1964)

-Torn Curtain (1966)

-Topaz (1969)

-Frenzy (1972)

-Family Plot (1976)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000033/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm#director