Big+Fish

__**REDO IS BELOW!! (see paragraph REDO) (I finished this during feburary...but just linked it on the Redo page...sorry..)**__

__**Big Fish (2003) - A Tim Burton Film**__

Big Fish (2003) is a fantasy adventure film with elements of science fiction and comedy. The use and techniques of lighting, cinematography, and editing helped greatly with building the mood and tone of the film, it also helped to convey the theme of the reconciliation of the father-son relationship in a humorous but profound way.

The lighting in this film is a key element of heightening the tone and mood of the whole film. Due to the science fiction element, I found the lighting very spontaneous, it greatly help built the mood and the tone of excitement, tension, and affection. During a scene where the main character is on a secret mission, the lighting behind the stage was red, but in front of the stage where there’s performance, the lighting was bright. The lighting built tension caused by the plot, but the lighting contrast helped provoke a humorous tone at the same time.

The cinematography used also helped built the excitement, tension, and affection within the tone. The use of close up to show the affection and emotions of the father and sons, this helped convey the father and son theme a lot because it built a touching tone throughout the “moment of truth” of the life of the father is presented to the son.

The editing also helped create symbolism of the “Big Fish” and help built the tone and theme of the film. Especially with the editing of the front and end of the film with the big fish swimming in the water, it helped built the excitement and fantasy element in the film.

Overall the tone and mood of the film is conveyed strongly with the lighting, cinematograph, and editing.

__**-Renée Wong**__

---REDO--- __**Big Fish (2003) - A Tim Burton Film**__ Big Fish (2003) is a fantasy adventure film with elements of science fiction and comedy. The use and techniques of lighting, cinematography, and editing helped greatly with building the mood and tone of the film, it also helped to convey the theme of the reconciliation of the father-son relationship in a humorous but profound way.

The lighting for this scene which involves the narrator telling a story about Edward Bloom encountering the big fish. The lighting for the scene was a bit over-exposed and had a glowing light around. This lighting emphasizes that the scene happening was one of the story that Edward told, which was more of fantasies rather than fact. However, this scene the lighting is similar with a glow around the characters, but it does not convey the same idea as this being a fantasy. It conveys emotions of hope and joyful of the birth of Will. In this scene the lighting conveys the tone directly. When Edward is pursuing Sandra he is confident is happy, therefore the glowing and blurry feeling of the light shows that Edward is happy and excited. For Sandra, she was lit from more of the left to the back side. There is a glow around her figure, it conveys the tone of she is sacred and perfect, like an angel to Edward. But the shadow on the half of her face foreshadows that she is engaged to someone else already. Although this might not seem straightforward, but it creates a bit of a tense and ominous atmosphere due to the shadow on the left half side of her face. The lighting in this scene contrasts with before when Edward is pursuing Sandra. This scene is when Don beats Edward up because he saw him pursuing Sandra which is engaged to him. The lighting is darker, a shadow is casted on Edward emphasizing that he is in a losing phase with pursuing Sandra, that he did not successfully win her over. Also since Don is beating Edward up, it shows that he is in a better position than Edward, therefore the shadow is casted on Edward.
 * Lighting:**
 * The director uses similar lightings to convey different feelings.**

This shows how lighting conveys the tone of Edward gradually arriving at a better place. The light went from dark blue to natural sun shine. It conveys a change of tone from tension, worry, and dangerous to relief, happy, and safe. During this scene Edward goes on a secret mission, the lighting behind the stage was red, but in front of the stage where there’s performance, the lighting was bright. The lighting builds tension within the atmosphere, the contrast, between backstage and the frontstage, helped provoke a humorous tone at the same time.

The camera pushes in to the witch's eyeball then cuts to the character with an extreme close up pushing in. This creates tension, it pressures the audience and creates fear within the atmosphere. The movement of zooming in also indicates that this is their future, and that the characters are slowly approaching towards the day of their death.
 * Cinematography**



The lens changed for this shot, it is more of a fish eye point of view to connect to the scene Don saw in the witch's eye about his death, to show the audience that the witch did successfully predict Don's death. This creates fear and anxiety within the atmosphere of this scene, it also helps create astonishment and surprise within the tone.

__Close shot moving upwards of the woman with two heads when she was performing:__ This camera movement started from the girl's foot and slowly moves upward until it captures her head. It creates a sense of mystery within the atmosphere, make the audience wonder about this mysterious women. It also creates a feeling of fantasy with this shot, indicating that the women is mysterious and important. This framing of this shot is generally symmetrical, creating a sense of tradition and seriousness. The camera then moves upwards capturing the back of the stage linking Edward's secret motion and the performance at the same time. It connects both events in order to relate with the intercutting technique that is used later. It introduces the connection between both scenes and builds tension, making the audience wonder about both events happening simultaneously.

__Montage Sequence of Edward pursuing Sandra:__ This created a humorous romantic tone within the scene. Since the theme of Big Fish is to show love, cherish, and understanding, a montage sequence definitely portrays the hardship and persistence of Edward pursuing Sandra. Which therefore creates a exciting and romantic tone that motivates the audience.
 * Editing**

This cross cutting indicated that the scenery presented in the witch's eye is the death of the characters. This cross cutting links the characters with the scene happening within the witch's eyeball. It also shows each character's emotion of being afraid and frightened after acknowledging the way of their death. This creates tension and fear within the tone.

__Intercutting between the backstage and frontstage:__ The intercutting of Edward on a secret mission fighting people at the backstage while there is a performance on the frontstage. The intercutting between both locations provokes a humorous tone within the scene, this tone is also strengthened with the help of lighting (mentioned above). This emphasizes the tension and dangerous things happening backstage, and contrasts it with the serious and beautiful performance occurring a frontstage. This contrast creates a sign of relief within the tension of Edward being in danger, it also creates a humorous tone for both events happening in the same scene.

__Slow/No motion:__

When Edward first saw Sandra, he fell in love with her. And when he walks toward Sandra, all the action occurring withint the scene stopped. This edit creates tension and indicates that a small climax has arrived. It sets a romantic tone for the scene as well, emphasizing the enterance of one of the theme --- love.