Close Reading: Genre/Atmosphere

• What is the tone?
• Mood of the scene?
• How is it created?

The tone of Edward Scissorhands' opening scene is dark and slightly whimsical. Tim Burton achieves this through the use of sound, colour and a number of different close-up shots. Danny Elfman's score has a very ethereal quality to it, and when coupled with the blue-hued images of machinery, cookies, architecture and hands, and shots of snow against a black background it gives the opening a very fairytale feel. Especially, images like snow falling on the 20th Century Fox logo show that this movie has a darker tone. The snow is also used to represent Edward's isolation. The use of this in the opening is important because it allows Tim Burton to introduce the reader to the emotions and themes of the film before it begins.


The mood of the scene is sad, and suggests feelings of isolation. There are many close-up shots of abandoned machinery, and the empty house of the inventor. The close up and slow zoom out on the dead inventor, shown in blue, creates a definite feeling of sadness and loss. Images such as close-ups on machinery covered in cobwebs, and a POV shot of an empty staircase suggest a feeling of loneliness, which relates to the character of Edward. All of these techniques used to create emotion help to introduce the viewer to some key themes before the movie's narrative has even begun.


Techniques such as the "scissoring" effect on the film's title, and several other titles throughout the opening, also relate back to Edward and the central point of the narrative, which is Edward's hands and how they represent his differences from normal society. This is reinforced by a pan over a wrought-iron gate featuring a set of scissors. Once again, the use of these techniques in the opening sequence helps introduce the viewer to important aspects of the film before the film's beginning.

The opening sequence ends with a fade from a shot of snow falling, to a long shot of the inventor's house at night as it stands alone on the top of a hill. Snow is still falling to continue the images introduced in the opening and to link this shot back to what the audience has just seen. This long shot serves to establish a main setting in the film and to make a smooth transition from the opening titles to the film's narrative.

(Link to opening sequence here.)