Customer Reviews

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride: An Invitation to the Wedding (Newmarket Pictorial Moviebook)

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A dozen years after its release Tim Burton's "A Nightmare Before Christmas" continues to maintain a cult following. Burton returned to the realm of stop-motion animation as well as the deliciously macabre in "Corpse Bride", just released this year. Burton's love and preservation of the art of stop-motion animation is very important. This is a form of animation that is nearly dead in this country yet in the hands of masters such as Willis O'Brien (King Kong, Son of Kong) and Ray Harryhausen (Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans) it has given us many classic films. Burton expresses his deep admiration in a meeting with Harryhausen early on in this book. From Newmarket Press comes this wonderful and informative companion to the film. Unlike the cheaply produced fluff books like other film companion books that are loaded with photos and little worthwhile information, this book takes the reader through the entire filmmaking process from concept to digital filming. It is filled with over 250 color photos, illustrations, and storyboards.

The genesis of "Corpse Bride" began over a decade ago when a friend of Burton's told him about the Russian folklore story that the film is based on. Burton for years had shared his concept for the film with friends and colleagues and the book displays many of Burton's original sketches. The film began pre-production in 2003 and the book takes you through every step of the production process beginning with character creation and storyboards. Most interesting was the team's creation of the dozens of puppets and their armatures that would be used in animating the myriad of characters in the film. Improving upon "A Nightmare Before Christmas" the puppet makers uses a combination of both latex and silicon for the skin which gave a softer, dewy look to the characters and didn't wrinkle like pure latex did.

From there the book covers the casting of the character voices, costume and set design, animation (which was done digitally as opposed to traditional film) and music. The great Danny Elfman composed five songs for the film and the score, as well as providing the voice of the Bone Jangles character. The final fifty or so pages of the book provides an illustrated version of the film told with photos from the film, text, and song lyrics. It's simply a gorgeous book. The photos included are sharp and beautiful. But the real selling point is the wealth of information about the film. It's a must have for fans of the movie.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Length:: 0:43 Mins

This book is more of a movie companion book than an artbook, although there's plenty of art to look at.

The book's divided into 3 parts:
Part 1 - Land of the Living
Part 2 - Land of the Dead
Part 3 - Going Upstairs, The Illustrated Story

You know those behind the scenes videos from movie DVDs? This book is essentially that, except in written form.

Part 1 talks about how the story was conceived, the people involved in making the movie, project development, and the challenges to handling stop motion animation. There's a lot on character design, especially the back stories that determine who they are, and how they were created physically. There are very interesting details you'll learn in the creation process. Below's a quote on controlling facial movements:

"By inserting an Allen wrench into a socket in the ears of the puppets, the animators could control various facial movements. If you put the key into the left ear and turn it in one direction, it would make the puppet smile on the left-side of the face; if you turned it the other way it would make the corner of the mouth on that side of the face droop down, giving the puppet a slightly sad expression, and vice versa on the other side."

Part 2 is about designing the movie set. It talks about the design influences on the buildings and how the sets were designed in order to facilitate shooting. There are write ups on the voice casts, animators and the music. Interesting to note is that the movie was shot using a digital SLR. A quote on the living and dead set:

"Both thematically and visually, Corpse Bride is about inversion, with the Land of the Living a gray, dead place where people are lifeless, hopeless and sad, while the Land of the Dead is full of vivacious dead people with a lust for life and joy."

On animators:

"Some will act out before the shot, others will videotape themselves and try and piece together a performance that way. Some animators sort of just go for it and sort of feel it."

Part 3 is the storyboard of the movie. This part is filled with the script, penciled storyboards and movie stills.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE: AN INVITATION TO THE WEDDING is the lush movie book accompaniment to tie into the release of TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE, and includes a foreword by Burton, details on his film, storyboards, his drawings, and more. It arrived too late for more timely holiday mention but the movie is certain to be a hit for many months and any viewer or would-be viewer will continue to find TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE an excellent guide to the movie.

I am a student of the great art of stop-motion-animation. For those interested in this pioneering addition to the art form or just interested in what it takes to write plan and pull off a feature length animation this is a great book. Lots of colot photos, concept sketches and digital concept art as well as the writing itself tells a lot about what it took to pull it all together. Well worth it to own as a reference and the coffee table.

I am a HUGE Tim Burton fan and when I saw this book I had to have one. Thank you for getting it to me with a quickness!!

The book has beautiful pictures of the puppets and design elements that went into making the movie. I was particularly interested in the character designs. I recommend it for Burton fans and for people interested in stop motion animation or puppetry. The technology has advanced so much between Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride for building and photographing the puppets!

Es la segunda vez que compro este libro, su calidad de impresion es magnifica y su contenido muy bien pensado y organizado, rico en información y detalles sobre la creacion de la pelicula, personajes musica, ambientes y proceso de diseño. Realmente recomiendo este libro para todo aquel que gusta del arte de la animacion cuadro por cuadro.

I paid for expedited shipping of this book and received it two days earlier than I expected. The book was in perfect condition. I definitely recommend this seller!

If you are looking for a book with a little bit of insight into the creation of the Corpse Bride film, this is good choice. Nice selection of production pictures and concept artwork with a good description of the processes involved.

The book covers puppet making, music creation and a small scale time line of concept to film.

I bought this book several months ago in a local bookstore. The photos and images in the book attracted my attention almost immediately, although at that time I've only heard of the film but haven't watched it. Like other behind-the-scenes books, it shows how they produced the film in every detail, from beginning to end. I especially like the concept sketches and the black humor. The production process also provides a good reference to the making of stop-motion animation, which makes this book unique. If you like the the film or stop-motion animation, I believe this book won't disappoint you.