Tim Burton is a remarkable filmmaker who has produced some brilliant work and is destined to produce more films to amaze us in the coming years. In fact, in 2005 he has a couple of promising films coming out, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Corpse Bride.
One of the greatest things about Tim Burton - at least in my biased opinion - is his penchant - or the penchant of his design team - for using fonts which I designed. They've shown up in various forms in his past films and are going to be featured in these two upcoming films as well. Very flattering, very gratifying, but sometimes frustrating.
Here's the rub and why I'm posting about this on Blogcritics as well as on my own company website, in hopes of reaching the widest and most knowledgable audience. In the trailer for The Corpse Bride Burton is using my Buccaneer font for the titles. That's great, except that he seems to be using an early release which has a variety of design defects in it which I hate to see immortalized on celluloid. The capital 'A' is kludged together, the numbers are entirely wrong, and there are some defects in weighting and spacing which stand out to a trained eye. This version of Buccaneer was originally released almost 10 years ago and was replaced not long after with an improved version and then another revision was done in 2002 which made it just about perfect.
As an artist I hate to see an imperfect version of my work being used in a prominent place like film titles from one of my favorite directors. But I have no idea how to get hold of Tim Burton, which of my company's customers might be on his design team, or how to contact some appropriate person to get them a current version of the font. This is never something I've tried to do before, but there's no contact info on the movie website and I don't know where to go from here. Does anyone out there know a secret way to get hold of Tim Burton, his production company or his graphic design team? If you've got the secret key, please drop me an email.
Dave
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dave Nalle
As an addendum to this I ought to mention that timburton.com is not much use nor is the Warner Brothers site or any of the fan sites. If they were useful I wouldn't be blogging about it.
In addition, if you do have the secret info, remember to email it. Don't post it here or anything like that.
Hope springs eternal.
Dave
2 - Aaman
Dave, Tim Burton is going to be having a garage sale on March 11 in CA, in case you're in the area:
TIM BURTON'S GARAGE SALE
Friday, March 11, Saturday, March 12 and Sunday, March 13, 2005
207 North Aspan Avenue Azusa, CA 91702
9:00am - 4:00pm
(Absolutely No Early Previews or Early Sales)
Previously owned items by director Tim Burton and his actress wife former girlfriend Lisa Marie. Designer furniture (Herman Miller, Noguchi, Knoll, Ashland & Hill), clothing (Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, YSL), lamps, ceramic kiln, fine crystal, make-up, electronics, Tiffany & Co. Sterling Silver, movie memorabilia, props from movie sets and tons more. This sale will be held in a warehouse in Azusa, CA, a 45 minute drive from Studio City.
3 - mermy
Official Word from Tim...
"It recently came to my attention that a warehouse sale, claiming to include "previously -owned" items of mine, is scheduled to take place. Allegedly, these items include props, memorabilia and costumes from various films I have directed, as well as some drawings of mine that were private gifts--never meant for public display or purchase. Since I have not been contacted by the sellers, it is important to note that I can in no way vouch for the authenticity of these items. I am completely against the selling of personal items in such a public way."
So if anyone was planning to go and possibly buy something, the items may or may not be authentic.
4 - Mykuh
With all of the "defects" in the font, did it ever cross your mind that maybe it's NOT your font? Or are you too self-centered for that to make sense?
5 - Dave Nalle
No, the defects are what identify it as my font. It's the first shareware release of the font and it has a noticably different version of the capital A, among other smaller details. It's just an early release, and the current release is better. But trust me, I can recognize my own work.
Dave
6 - DrPat
Perhaps Mykuh is suggesting that Tim Burton deliberately created an identical font for his film, complete with defects...
7 - Dave Nalle
Yikes, how diabolical of him!
Actually, one of Burton's partner companies did hire me to create a font clone of the hand lettering used for the other titles in The Corpse Bride, so they could do the title in Spanish and French.
So it's all very twisted and incestuous now.
Dave
8 - Toni Hearn
Have you found Tim Burton yet. I too am on the hunt for Tim Burton and would like to find Tim. The reason for my search is that I am a Graphic Artist/Designer from Australia and would like to contact Tim Burton about some possible work experience. My plan is to come to Los Angeles and I am hoping to find Tim Burton to see whether work experience with him or any contact with him at all, as a fellow artist, is possible in anyway. My dream is to work as a designer with Tim in film and I hope that people will help me fulfill that dream of finding Tim.
If anyone can contact this blogsite with any information at all, which can then be passed on to me, I would be very grateful, cheers.
Ms. Toni Hearn
9 - Bob A. Booey
Maybe Tim's hurting for money if he's having a garage sale.
That is all.
10 - Axolotl
I don't have any College experience. There isn't much to my life other than I have had these story ideas running around in my head for 9 years. I actually wrote a script for my story back in my freshmen year of high school. It was a very long script of 1,717 pages, all hand written so it wouldn't have come out to be that many pages if I had the chance to type it out. Unfortunately my mother after I had finished the script nearly at the end of freshmen year found part of it as I kept the script in various notebooks in my room, and she decided it was Satanic, dark, morbid and unholy and threw out the first 300 pages which were all she could find. It was in fact no way any of these things, my mother has a bad habit of thinking everything is evil and didn't stop to conceder my feelings or how badly it would affect me. Needless to say, it discouraged me so deeply that I nearly threw down my project. I also drew many scenes for it. The story has since changed and improved and I wish dearly it could either be made into a novel, stop-motion animation or a live-action film. I'm 21 years old; I have no idea how to get my project off on its wings for everyone to see. If it was ever made into anything, I wouldn't even really care if I got that much money off from it, I simply want to share it widely enough that people from all over the globe could watch it and then decide if they liked it or not. If I did make money from it, this is off topic but I would donate most of it to animal shelters, the Animal ASPCA animal rescue, and Grant a Dream foundation to help young children and use some of it to buy a house and a car that I wouldn't have to worry about breaking down when my husband makes the nearly hour long trip to work each morning.
I care for the characters in my story. I don't want them to die off. I think if I could ever see it made into something big, and then I would feel so accomplished. As for College experience, I got married last year in August and haven't had the money for college as of yet but hopefully in the near future I can afford it. I live in a very small apartment and a computer and sketch pad that gets me by in the meantime with my ideas. I wanted to post about this because these are my feelings on Tim Burton. Tim Burton is an outstanding director who's way of thinking and visual expression has brought him a great deal of amazing affection from fans spanning the globe. Tim Burton, if you ever come across my post, I want to say that I envy you and respect you for your talents and the fact you are able to get your ideas published, out into the public eye, and enjoyed by so many people. You are so lucky because you are able to get your ideas published in the way that you do, and the way that your imagination has created such wonderful films. If I ever had the chance to get my ideas made into a film I would want you to be the one to cradle it, to make it happen. The only thing that I would want is that the characters and the story line to stay original, but I am completely open to improvement and ideas. You really have no idea how lucky you are Tim. I know you get that a lot, but I had to mention it.
I am very excited. My husband and I are going to watch Corpse Bride at the Theatre later this evening. I have been waiting to see this adorable film for some time now. Later we're going to watch James and the Giant Peach because my husband hasn't seen it yet and I'm pretty excited for him to see it. It's one of my favorites.
If anyone has any comments about what I have written, please respond to my email, or if anyone is interested in knowing what my story is about, I am eager to share it! Please feel free to share your feelings. I am open for constructive criticism.
11 - Bob A. Booey
You're an odd girl, Axoloti.
2,000 pages is way too long for a screenplay, but that must have been a lot of hard work.
Give us a pitch and tell us what the story is about in a few sentences and maybe then we can tell you if we think the idea is interesting. No one reading this works in Hollywood, but that might be better constructive criticism for you.
That is all.
12 - Axolotl
Hey Bob, thanks for replying. My Story is very Fantasy/fairy folklore based and mixed with both Celtic and eastern style. I wanted to go with something very original. My story is about a young male Sidhe Loki, (a fairy based off from Celtic Dialect and folklore stewed with my own word tweaking) named Shane Poe Laupebaude who accidentally kills his closest friend after he neglects the warnings of his nations elders and enters the dark lands in search of flowers he wished to give as a gift to a young female Sidhe Loki. At the time he was attending a school to learn the arts of earth magic and how to control the essence of a sacred ore called Mystrile used to summon spirits and dead organics. After heading the warnings and he murders his friend he is expelled from the school and escorted back to his nation’s kingdom of Coiced to receive punishment.
Shane and his escort arrive in Coiced only to find that their nation and homeland is being ransacked and demolished by a dark race (similar to elves) called the Drow that were created 4,000 years prier by the dark gods in an effort to control the creation. Shane finds his mother and sister have been killed and his father is still at best, barely alive and conscious. Overwhelmed by the situation at hand, Shane discovers he had obtained a dark power and lust for revenge that consequents from disobedience entering the dark lands and uses it to kill off the Drow. Unfortunately in his attempts to do something right for his people, Shane ends up demolishing ¼ of the kingdom and wiping out a nearly uncountable amount of his own race.
Forced to face fault and guilt, Shane is exiled from Coiced by the queen feeling he is far too great of a threat to even be imprisoned safely, and forced beyond the Loki’s realm of Tir-nan-nog into the realm of the humans to face an uncertain fate. Overtime these events that piled up so rapidly eventually leave Shane torn, dull of emotions and leave some important angles open for curious proceedings.
Important notes: Sidhe Loki are vegans. They do not eat meat or Dairy and this plays an important roll in my story and they do not look like or act how a person would expect a fairy to be or do. They are tall like humans and only the males have horns. There is a lot of different races and creatures, beasts in my story, far too many to mention in a short summery and a very in-depth plot that leads up through the hardships and fate Shane is forced to face. If anyone would like to find out more, please email me and I will gladly share. I do not know if I should get the story written in novel form, or try to publish it as a screen play. There is so much work put into it, 9 years worth. If anyone knows anyone that I could contact to get this work published/recognized, please let me know. Any help will be most appreciated!
I can draw some and I am not sure if my style of writing is anywhere near expectable as good writing. If anyone is interested, I also have bits of it typed out to see why I don't think it's exceptable. Constructive criticism is most appreciated!
13 - Bob A. Booey
Yeah, that's what I expected.
It's too abstract fantasy/sci-fi and no one will be able to relate to it. No one knows about any of those things.
Get outside your own head, don't coop up in your apartment writing in your own fantasy world so much, and write about things that people can understand and relate to emotionally and socially. Write about your friends and family, write about your crazy, intrusive mom, write about your high school years.
In other words, take it down about a hundred levels and write about what you know and experiences from your own life.
Make it funny, sad, angry, just make it true and interesting.
That is all.
14 - Axolotl
There's a million published books, movies that most people can't relate to, yet people enjoy them for this reason. People don't want to be trapped in a world that they can only relate to, they want to expand and explore the imaginations and talents of other people. I appreciate your comments, but I do intend to get this work published if I can at all. Just because you don like it mean I'm going to drop 9 years of work and effort and focus on something else ^_~. Many people I know and admire like my story. They have all pushed me to try and get it published or made into something, expand it.
No one knew about Nightmare before Christmas, or could relate to it, but yet it's a very outstandingly beautiful movie with a clever storyline and became very popular after it was released. It is still very popular because of the work that went into creating it and also the witty storyline. I would still like to hear from other people or from anyone that can give me information on how to get this out in the public. It really is an interesting story. People just need to give it a chance. There's far too much work in it for me to give it up, and don't worry everyone, I'm not too isolated in my little apartment ^_~. I get out quite often.
15 - Dave Nalle
>>It's too abstract fantasy/sci-fi and no one will be able to relate to it. No one knows about any of those things.<<
Babs, you're clearly not familiar with the culture of 13 year old girls.
Dave
16 - Axolotl
I don't see what 13 girls has anything to do with my story other than maybe goth teen generation, but I really hope that my book doesn't get thrown into that catagory. I'm aiming for it not to. My story has a mature rating on it. If anyone is familiar with Japanese anime, a good portion of that market is dished for mature audiences. The biggest reasoning is because of the comlex story lines, and of course the occasional adult situation, dialect, or situations that are too complex for children to understand. If I limited my story to things that people could only relate to then it would be no more complex than a basic animated or live anction disney movie. No thanks, that is not my cup of tea, and i am sure once a wider range of people know and understand my story to its fullness, they will enjoy it very much. I want people to give it a chance before they mock it.
17 - Bob A. Booey
Well, princesses are one thing.
But Celtic goblins and anime wizards are a whole other thing.
Lemme guess, Axoloti, you really, really loved Lord of the Rings?
Don't give up all your hard work, by any means. But just realize that there may not be a huge market for what you're doing -- since you said you're interested in anime and have already drawn this out in storyboard form somewhat, why not consider making a comic book out of it? You might find a lot more receptive attention there.
That is all.
18 - Nukapai
If I was faced with your dilemma, I'd consider contacting the studio the films in question were produced by. In fact, you should be able to find an industry directory (such a thing is usually available in industry agencies, film schools and so on) from which you can find out who the right person to contact is. Write a polite letter, giving the details of your query and instead of asking to "get access to Tim Burton", send along a CD rom resource or the URL to a website from where the up to date font can be donwloaded. The more professional and un-fan-ish you appear, the more likelihood of success you'll have.
Of course I could try to trace a college buddy of mine who's worked for Burton in Sleepy Hollow, but that would probably be next to impossible now... (sadly). Good luck anyway!
19 - Areej
Did Tim Burton design all his movie fonts?
20 - Dave Nalle
No, Areej. As the article says, he has used many of our fonts either as published or slightly modified, as well as some original hand lettering. I don't know if the original stuff he's used is his own work or someone else's.
Dave
21 - moonatika
how can i contact tim burton...??? I really need to send him an email...
luna.
22 - Jo
Hi there
AXOLOTL: its a shame your story recieved such bad criticism but sadly, that is what you have to come to expect if you want to be a writer. I do agree with Bob as far as people can't relate to it but thats not necessarily a bad thing. Don't bring Burton's work into your arguement though as there are so many recognisable story themes to his work: love, power, lonliness etc etc which any average intelligence person could see. If you want people to love your work- humanise the characters enough so that they have emotions and things which we can see in ourselves. if in 9 years nothings happened either you aren't trying hard enough or your work wasn't meant to be.
My final piece of advice is don't expect your work to be made into a film- think book first, film later. Your work seems in the league of Dark Crystal... just don't get ahead of yourself. No one likes a whiney author who has failed at their chosen profession.
Thats all for now- thanks 4 your time
23 - youngin
wow, if you could get a contact with tim burton i applaud you, i've been trying, he has had a huge impact on my art, the eerie settings and long thin appendages and all. I have a dream to one day be one of those people to help work on one of his story boards. so if ever you were to find a contact could you help me out?
24 - Me
Did you you find Mr.Burton yet? (sorry, Mr...I can't help you...i don't even know his address)( yeah, i agree with you Mr. Burton, its kind of wrong to sell personal items...my mom gives away some of mine and i feel rather empty...) I, like billions of people out there am trying to find him. My reason for trying to find him is not for buissness. My reason is just to contact him somehow, meet him, or possibly become his friend (It would be great to meet him because he's been my idol ever since i wqas 6 yrs old, and ever since I've looked up to him...and his work kind of got me through life...but i doubt that he would just want to talk to me just for that so i wrote 2 screen plays...maybe he'll like one and i can work by his side and that would be one of the best things i can get out of life...) Well anyways... I hope the rest of you find him! Same to you Mr. Graphic designer! and congratulations Dave Naell for contacting him and the same for the rest of you people! (can you please help me contact Mr. Burton? If you have time/want to that is...)
25 - Margaret Moore
Dear Mr Burton,
I'm writing as a last resort. My son has been accepted to the California Institute of the Arts. He chose this college for it's specialty in his chosen field which is animation. You have been a HUGE inspiration to him and have been a major influence in his choosing this field. He applied three years in a row before finally being accepted. He has almost half his tuition paid for in the form of grants and scholorships. The rest must be paid in the form of a student loan. We, his parents have applied to co-sign. After we were turned down he had his aunt and uncle also apply. They were approved but the uncle got cold feet at the last minute. My husband and I are currently awaiting an answer from another lender. We would hate to see him not get the financing that he needs, as he has worked so hard to get this far! Is there any chance you could help us? Your consideration would be greatly appreciated!
Sincerely,
Margaret Moore
You may contact me on Blogster.com as Maggiemae