With spooky season upon us, we look at Tim Burton’s development of the iconic stop-motion animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas.
How ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Came to be
The film originated as a poem written by Burton in 1982 while he worked as a Disney animator. Disney however was hesitant about the poem being brought to life, fearing it would scare young children. Shortly after the success of Burton’s Vincent during the same year, Disney reconsidered their decision to develop The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Disney subtly included a Mickey Mouse feature in tribute to the Mickey Mouse House. For instance, when the children in the film wake up to their unusual presents, the siblings can be seen wearing Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck pajamas.
The Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck pajamas are worn by the children in this scene. Image credit: Factinate.
About ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’
The film tells the story of Jack Skellington from “Halloween Town” who discovers a portal into “Christmas Town”. He decides to celebrate the holiday after entering this new world. Thankfully the Halloween vibes are maintained throughout the story. The poem originally had three characters- Jack Skellington, his dog “Zero” and Santa Claus. The film is directed by Henry Selick while produced and written by Burton.
Jack with his ghost dog “Zero”. Image credit: Insider.
The Film’s Creation Process
The project took more than three years to complete. Since this is a stop-motion film, each shot was 24 frames per second. This means the characters were repositioned 24 times for every second of the film. For emphasis, to create one minute of footage took a week’s worth of effort. What a time-consuming process. With a deadline on production, Selick and his team started to film without a completed script. Eventually it pieced together, but they formed ideas as they went along.
The Songs in ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’
All of the songs in the film were sung by Danny Elfman, a world-renowned composer. He also voice acted for Pumpkin King. However, Selick and Burton believed he was not the best fit. They then decided to have Chris Sarandon re-record the scenes. This later caused a rift in Elfman’s and Burton’s relationship for future projects. Also, the film’s songs were written before the script according to Insider. Check out Elfman performing “What’s This” down below.
Deleted Scenes in ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’
Numerous scenes were taken out or altered for the final cut. This includes Jack striving to find out the meaning of Christmas through scientific experiments. Visual gags were removed along with Oogie Boogie’s dance to save the film’s running time. Furthermore, an alternate ending with Doctor Frankenstein being revealed within the boogeyman’s sack was not used. In this ending, he kidnapped Sally to teach her a lesson after he made her from scraps and she still chose Jack. Frankenstein then stated that he would make a new creation before he disappeared through a trapdoor.
Be sure to watch this classic during both the Halloween and Christmas season!
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