Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas: The Film, the Art, the Vision [Paperback]

Frank Thompson (Author), Tim Burton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 1994

From the director of Batman and Beetlejuice came an innovative animated feature, Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas--the first ever to employ stop-action animation and earning over $60 million at the box office. This magnificent color volume is the perfect companion for fans of Tim Burton, his film, and filmmaking. Foreword by Tim Burton.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at this 1993 animated holiday film.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This year's holiday animation release from Walt Disney is a real departure for the studio. The first major movie done entirely in three-dimensional stop-action animation, Nightmare before Christmas is the macabre story of Jack Skellington, "the Pumpkin King of Halloween," who is so delighted when he discovers Christmas that he decides to take over the role of Santa Claus. Tim Burton (Batman, Beetlejuice) came up with the idea 10 years ago when he worked as an animator at Disney during a more straitlaced era; since, things have loosened up enough at the studio for Burton to get the green light on his pet project. This volume, timed to coincide with Nightmare's theatrical release, chronicles the film from its inception through all stages of production, with commentary from Burton and the other creators. It's loaded with artwork ranging from Burton's original sketches through scenes from the finished film. The groundbreaking movie is a commercially and artistically risky venture, but considering the track record of Burton and the success of Disney's recent animated features, it might just become a holiday perennial; if so, libraries would do well to have this print tie-in on hand. Gordon Flagg --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Disney Editions; Mti edition (September 2, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078688066X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786880669
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,561,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very illustrative..., July 11, 2005

By 

R.Suarez "R-Suarez-" (Mc Allen, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas: The Film, the Art, the Vision (Hardcover)

This book is definitely very illustrative about the process of creation of a film of the caliber of `The nightmare before Christmas'. With a foreword by Tim Burton, the book includes everything related with the making of this stop-motion animation classic. This book is more a documentary about the making of the film; it is divided in three sections (described below) and takes you through the whole process of creation of the movie. It is an interesting document indeed for people wanting to know about the creative process of making a movie of this kind. A perfect companion for the film!

The Film

The first part of the book focuses on the story ans the lyrics of the movie songs, beautifully illustrated with pictures from the movie, designs and Burton's sketches. Some movie facts are also given in this part of the book.

The Art

The original poem by Burton in which the movie is based on is presented in the firt part of the section. Most of Burton's sketches and character designs are here. The design of the sets, the characters and storyboards are well explained and presented in this section of the book with beautiful pictures, colored sketches and original drawings by Tim.

The Vision

In this section we get to meet all the people involved in making this film possible, and a little background on her profiles and how they were selected to partake on this project. Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Danny Elfman, Caroline Thompson, Kathleen Gavin and Denise Di Novi participate with comments and thought about the project.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved every page, picture, this book was really great, December 26, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas: The Film, the Art, the Vision (Hardcover)

For anyone who likes The Nightmare Before Christmas this book is extremely rewarding and something to have. It is filled with tons of drawings and pictures you can't find anywhere else. It gives you a lot of detail on exactly what went into making the movie and gives you insight from the people who worked on it. For any fan of "Nightmare" it's definitly something you must have

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful companion to the film, November 8, 1999

By 

"emmc" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas: The Film, the Art, the Vision (Paperback)

This colorful, coffee-table book turns out to be quite a very interesting read and an excellent book for both TNBC fans and Tim Burton fans in general. The book gives a solid overview of the creation of TNBC, from concept to production to the finished product.

On the plus side: Many original, and beautiful, concept sketches and artwork, both by Tim Burton and other conceptual artists; the complete lyrics to all of Danny Elfman's score, a very facsinating look at the actual production (creation of sets, puppets, mechanics behind stop-motion) of TNBC.

On the negative side: Nothing to speak of. A nice touch would've been the inclusion of Burton's original poem (now woefully out of print), but ah well.

Highly recommended!