Who is Tim Burton?

Get ready for spooky-cool stories! Have you ever felt like you didn't quite fit in? Well, guess what? Tim Burton felt that way too when he was a kid drawing weird monsters in Burbank! He loved the strange and the mysterious, but when he went to work for Disney, they thought his art was way too dark! 😱 What did he do? He didn't give up! Discover how this movie magician brought us awesome, slightly creepy classics like *Beetlejuice*, *Batman*, and the amazing stop-motion world of *The Nightmare Before Christmas*! Join Mira and Finn as we explore how the kid who loved scary movies became a Hollywood genius who turned spooky into spectacular fun! You won't believe how the outcast became one of the biggest visionaries ever!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to History's Not Boring by Kodopoly.com. I'm Mira.

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And I'm Finn.

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We have a super special shout-out today for Liv Logan, age seven. Liv, we heard you love the podcast, and you asked for an episode about Tim Burton. What incredible taste you have, Liv!

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Liv has great taste. Tim Burton's movies have so many cool, spooky characters.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

They do, and that's who we're talking about today. The king of the weird, the master of the macabre, the visionary who turned black and white stripes into Hollywood magic.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Wait, who is he? Is he like a magician?

SPEAKER_01 0:42

He's a filmmaker, Finn, but maybe even better. His stories feel like magic. Imagine a kid who loved drawing monsters so much that one day he was making movies that looked exactly like his monster drawings. That kid was Tim Burton.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Whoa! Like making movies that are his drawings.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

That's cool! Exactly! But before we dive into the spiky-haired genius, get this. The most famous movie he ever made, The Nightmare Before Christmas, took over three whole years to film, frame by tiny frame. That's longer than 300 school years combined.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Three years? But where did this Tim Burton guy start? Was he always drawing monsters?

SPEAKER_01 1:32

He started right near Los Angeles in Burbank, California, born in 1958. Burbank is a big city, but when Tim was little, he felt very different from everyone else.

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Different how?

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Well, most kids loved playing sports or sunshine. Tim loved quiet things, drawing spooky pictures and watching old black and white horror movies. Think of the original King Kong movie. He loved that vibe.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

I bet he felt a little lonely when his friends didn't like the same stuff.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

That's so true, Finn. He often felt like an outsider. It was his way of escaping, drawing these wild characters. One specific detail is that he loved taking these little walks, sometimes for hours, just to be by himself and think.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Wow, so he was like a lonely artist kid. Did he ever get to show his drawings to anyone who liked them?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yes, and this is where the numbers get interesting. Because of his amazing talent, he got a scholarship to the California Institute of the Arts, that's CalArts, in 1975. It was a big deal because it meant people believed in his art. A scholarship, like getting paid to go to art school. Exactly. Then, the biggest studio in the world, Walt Disney Studios, hired him. Can you imagine? A kid who loved spooky monsters was working for Mickey Mouse. He started there around 1979.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Wait, if Disney hired him, did he start drawing Goofy with giant spiders?

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Ha, not quite. His art was too f for Disney at the time. They wanted bright colours, but Tim was drawing tall, skinny, dark characters. He worked on things like The Fox and the Hound and Tron, but his personal projects were too gothic.

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So Disney didn't like his style. That's a bummer for him.

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It was tough, but it made him try something else. He started making short films. One was called Frankenweenie, about a boy who brings his little dog back to life using science. It was so cool they made it into a real movie later.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Like Frankenstein, but with a pet. That's a good idea. Did he ever get to make a big scary movie then?

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He did. His first big film as director was Pee-Wee's Big Adventure in 1985. But then, in 1988, he finally got to make the movie he was born to make, Beetlejuice. It was about a funny, messy ghost who was only two feet tall when he showed his real form. A funny ghost? Was it dark and spooky? Super dark and spooky, but also hilarious. It made about$240 million worldwide. That proved Hollywood needed his unique look. Then, just one year later, in 1989, he directed Batman. Batman? That's huge!

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Was his Batman movie dark too?

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It was. It was gritty and gothic, not the bright colours people expected. It made an incredible$411 million. Tim Burton had officially taken his Lonely Kid drawings and turned them into blockbuster hits.

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So he made the huge Batman movie. What came after that? Did he just keep making superhero stuff? Nope.

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He went back to the feeling of being an outsider. In 1990, he directed Edward Scissorhands. Edward was a sweet character who was built by a scientist and had giant sharp scissors for hands.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Scissors for hands? That sounds really dangerous. How did he hug anyone? It was tough.

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He couldn't do normal things. The movie shows how people were scared of him because he looked different, even though he was kind. It was exactly like feeling like the odd one out. Something Tim understood from being that kid in Burbank.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

I get that. He's showing us that different is okay. Did he ever make a movie about Halloween or Christmas, since he liked spooky stuff?

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yes, this is the big one. In 1993, he created The Nightmare Before Christmas. It wasn't just a regular cartoon, they used stop motion animation.

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Stop motion. Like the clay figures that move one little bit at a time.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Exactly. Imagine making a movie where you have to move a puppet just one millimeter. That's about the thickness of two pieces of paper, and then take a picture. You need 24 separate pictures to make just one second of film move.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Whoa! So that's why you said it took three years. That's so much work for every tiny second of the movie.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

It was. The main character, Jack Skellington, was meant to look tall and thin, like a stretched-out silhouette. Tim wanted to show Halloween Town meeting Christmas Town, which was a huge clash of totally different worlds, just like his art clashing with Disney initially.

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So after all those movies, is Tim Burton rich now? Did he stop being the lonely kid? He became incredibly successful.

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He is one of the most recognisable directors ever. His visual style, the dark colours, the swirling landscapes, the stripes, is iconic. He made being weird fashionable. His movies have earned billions of dollars globally. Billions? That's way more money than I can count. It is! Now for some whoa facts. Did you know that in Edward Scissorhands, the iconic mansion house was actually built on a soundstage that was only 55 feet wide on the inside.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Only 55 feet? That's barely longer than five cars parked end to end.

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Right? And get this. For the movie Sleepy Hollow, they grew over 10,000 white, dead-looking plants just to make the forest look extra spooky. They needed that many to cover the set.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

10,000 plants? They really committed to the scary vibe. They did.

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And one last thing, even though he loved scary things, when he was little, he was afraid of animals getting hurt. His feelings about things being scary or sad, even when he drew them, always came from a place of real deep feeling.

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So the lonely kid who loved monsters became the guy who showed everyone how cool being different can be. That's a great story.

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Alright, Finn, it's time for the history's not boring quiz. Are you ready to test your Burton knowledge?

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Okay. I hope I remember the numbers. Let's do it.

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First question. In what year was Tim Burton born? Which is way back when the internet wasn't even a thing? Next one, this is about scale. For stop motion animation, how many separate pictures did they need to take to create just one second of film? Question three. Which famous animation studio hired him right out of art school, even though they thought his art was too weird. Here's number four. What was the specific, amazing technique used to create the nightmare before Christmas? Last question. His movie Beetlejuice made roughly 240 million. That's a huge number. Wow! What was his very first big Hollywood movie as director just before Beetlejuice? Phew! Great job on those tough ones. Let's see how you did with the answers. The first answer is that Tim Burton was born in 1958. For question two, they needed 24 pictures for just one second of movie. Number three, the studio that hired him was Walt Disney Studios. Question 4. The amazing technique was stop motion animation. And the final answer is that his first big movie as director was Pee-Wee's Big Adventure from 1985.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Wow. Thinking about how much work went into those spooky characters makes them even cooler.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Right? He really showed that the things that make you different are often the things that make you super powerful. It's inspiring, Finn.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

It is. I'm going to go draw some spooky stuff now.

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Before you do, if you loved learning about the visionary who brought Gothic style to the masses, we would be so grateful if you could give History's Not Boring five stars wherever you listen. Just scroll down and tap the stars. It helps other kids find our show.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Yeah, we want everyone to see how cool history is.

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And hey, speaking of cool stuff, don't forget to check out our site, kidopoly.com. We have loads of fun learning games and activities there that tie into all the amazing history we cover. Go explore! And if you ever want to send us a note, or maybe even ask for an episode like Liv did, you can email us at hello at kidopoly.com. We love hearing from you. Bye everyone! See you next time on History's Not Boring!