popsicle sky

Independent #2: Tim Burton’s Tragic Toys

Lately I’ve been fascinated with Tim Burton’s work, especially his sad little creatures, all with tragic stories. I love (and I’m intrigued by) my little figurines of the creatures from Tim Burton’s The Melancholy Death of Oyster  Boy and Other Stories, so I decided to use them as my subjects. I wanted to show them for more than the creepy things that make my friends flinch, and I did this by adding mood to the photos. I tried desaturating and adding blue tint to Stain Boy’s photo, but he ended up looking a little too miserable and overdone. Instead I left the natural colors of late afternoon which make Stain Boy look less ghostly and more forlorn. I toned down the colors and boosted the saturation on Pin Cushion Queen; this close-up made her look more sad and relatable.  I like the effect of the tired-looking, faded colors and deep blacks and whites. I tried to make some of the photos humorous to contrast with their sad subjects, like Staring Girl’s awkward, fearful sidelong glance at Beethoven, and the last photo’s title “The Onslaught,” dramatized because they are actually only two or three inches tall.