Big Fish essay I wrote to get into Uxbridge College

Ok I wrote this in year 11 to get into Ux college, its about my fave film, enjoy

Film is my passion. My favourites are those that are controversial and/or metaphorical. My favourite film of all is ‘Big Fish’, directed by Tim Burton and produced by Columbia Pictures, Jinky/Cohen Company and The Zanuck Company, it is one of the most meaningful and beautiful films I’ve yet to see.

The film has many magical told by the character of Edward Bloom, one of the two perspectives in the film, and magic is really brought to life and scenes directed well. One of my favourite scenes is the circus scene. It’s so bright and has such an up-beat atmosphere which helps really capture Edward’s amazement when he sees Sandra for the first time and the whole scene freezes apart from Edward. The other actors had to remain still while being filmed and then more CG obstacles were added for example the popcorn frozen in mid-air until Edward pushes it aside and it falls to the floor. There are only a few visual effects in this film and this is my favourite of them, there are many special effects used however such as making the person who played the giant seem taller.

Edward has made-up or exaggerated every story he has told his son Will, and Will doesn’t understand why as he just wants to know the true version of things. Edward sees adventure, opportunity and magic in everything and Will is very logical. There are some subtleties in the film which help convey their differences. In the scenes that contain both Will and Edward, Will hasn’t got as bright lighting on him, he is always in shadow, and where as the character of Edward is always brightly lit even though he is dying. Another subtlety that I find interesting is the lack of background sounds and music in any scene Will is in, until he begins to see things from his father’s perspective. Towards the end Will fully accepts why his father made up stories all of the time by making up the story that Edward had never told, what he saw in the witch’s eye as a child showing how he died, and after hearing Edward actually dies.

Even once Edward has died we see that Big Fish is not a film about death and dying, nor is it just about the father/son relationship, it is a film about life. How life should be lived to the full, seizing every opportunity, having courage, making the best of everything and finally how we live on through the impression we have on others and the stories we leave behind us. Just like Edward Bloom, making up magical stories was his way of showing how magical life can be and making others happy by telling them the stories.

The majority of the cast acted well, particularly Helen Bonham Carter and Danny Devito. Ewan McGregor fitted well to the part of a young Edward even though I found him a little corny although I love how he portrays Edwards’s amazement and attitude. I also like the lighting in the story scenes as the brightness reflects Edwards’s bright outlook.

The camera angles weren’t very complex in most of the scenes, but I found the high angled shots and the long shots visually interesting as they also showed the set well, for example all of the long shots in the witch story. Also I like the camera travelling in circles as they are dancing in Spectre as it was unusual. Spectre was probably my favourite location as it seems so different at each point in the film, the first it seems so beautiful and then so derelict later, and we see it again at the funeral when we see just one of the buildings remaining. It is amazing that they actually built the small village for the film.

I love the symbolism of the film; it has a lot of meaning when you look behind the metaphors. An example of one of these metaphors is Edward turning into a big fish at the end of the movie. The big fish is a metaphor for what a big character Edward is and that he is a big influence on others, and that his stories are his life.

The script, written by John August and based on the book by Daniel Wallace, is fantastic; my favourite part of it is the ending, as it sums up the film. To end my essay I will quote the last part of the closing monologue, my favourite of all the monologues I’ve heard. “A man tells his stories so much that he becomes the stories, they live on after him and in that way he becomes immortal”.