FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION, MEDIA AND BROADCASTING

MODULE NAME/CODE:

Assignment Title : Appreciation Paper

Due Date : 27/04/09

Lecturer : Daniel Vidal

Student Name : Noeks Cecil De Witt

ID No :
London ID No : LKW150384
Course : Creative Multimedia

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work. Referenced work, articles, arts, programs, papers or part thereof
are acknowledged at the end of this paper. This includes data excerpted
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Nightmare before Christmas
Producer: Tim Burton
Studio: Touchstone Pictures

The first full-length stop-motion animated feature to be made, it follows the story of Jack
Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town and how he took over Christmas. A
story filled with magic and mayhem, humour and romance.

Director Henry Selick truly brings Tim Burton's world to life. “It was a natural project for
a creator who'd tried just about every animation technique, from cel work at Disney to
cutout techniques on the MTV pilot "Slow Bob In The Lower Dimensions" to stop-
motion work on Ritz Bits and Pillsbury products. But Nightmare was a project of a
different order—a fully stop-motion movie more notable for its gorgeously detailed
design and animation than anything else. After Nightmare, Selick tried incorporating
animated characters and sequences into live-action movies, but the results, Monkeybone
and the Roald Dahl adaptation James And The Giant Peach, were troubled productions
that debuted to mixed reception.”1
Henry Selicks use of cinematic language in the opening sequence alone can truly show
his talent. From the Tilt/Pan of the opening sequence that brings us into the holiday circle
of trees, to the slow tracking in through the Halloween door and the flowing movement
across the landscape, to the introduction of the characters.
Henry stays true to the cinematic language throughout the story. His use of the rule of
thirds grabs the attention and highlights the feeling within a scene.

Having to have worked within the constraints of a built set had it's challenges in bringing
the vision into reality. Small sets, awkward angles, fitting a camera in to film a scene are
just a few of the obstacles that had to be overcome to bring Nightmare before Christmas
to life. Not to be forgotten is the fact that this is a stop-start animation and was a
painstaking process of small changes to characters frame by frame. Every movement
needed to be miniscule and correct. So when watching this film, consider that every
tracking movement, tilt or shift of the camera was done by hand, pre-planned and
organized and what is but a few minutes of scene, is days and days of painstaking work.

Without cinematographer Pete Kozachik however, even Henry would have been stretched
to make Nightmare before Christmas the success it has been. For a dark, moody, grey
film, Pete Kozachik still managed to brighten things up. His use of colour and lighting
truly lends weight to the emotional settings of scene's.

From the Grey Halloween Town, to the white Christmas Town, no light bulb is left un-
switched. The true essence of his vision is brought to bear in the Oogy-Boogy scene, with
flourescent lighting and contrasting darkness, he brings out the casino, fun but deadly,
feel of Oogy_Boogy's lair. Various places throughout the film, a thought, scene or action
is highlighted by Pete Kozachik's vision of light and colour.
Now though, let us not forget that this is still in essence a musical and would have been
nothing if not for the amazing work done by Danny Elfman who in the “early 1970s that
Danny and his older brother Richard Elfman started a musical troupe while in Paris; the
group "Mystic Knights of Oingo-Boingo" was created for Richard's directorial debut,
Forbidden Zone (1982)... While continuing to compose eclectic, intelligent rock music
for his L.A.-based band (some of which had been used in various film soundtracks, e.g.
Weird Science (1985)), Danny formed a friendship with young director Tim Burton, who
was then a fan of Oingo Boingo...”2

Nightmare before Christmas aren't the only big films he's written scores for though, he
also wrote for The Frighteners (1996), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
(2001), Red Dragon (2002) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).2

His use of song, tone, tenor and backtrack is what culminates into bringing Nightmare
before Christmas into greatness, capturing the audiences attention, imagination and
emotions. Danny Elfman didn't just write the score however, he also provided Jack
Skellington's singing voice.3

Nightmare before Christmas was not simply just a film, but rather a labour of love.
Something that is easily seen and felt when watching it and having earned a gross profit
of $50m on it's 1993 release, $8.7m on it's 2006 release and $15.8m on it's 2007 release,
having formed a big cult following, it's not hard to see that it all paid off.3
REFERENCE:

1 http://www.avclub.com/articles/henry-selick,23298/
2 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000384/bio
3 http://in.glue.yahoo.com/page/the+nightmare+before+christmas