This is an original production storyboard used in the making of Tim Burtons cult classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Storyboards are the first step in the animation process after the script has been written. It allows the director to plan out the action and camera angles and if necessary, move scenes around – If you look closely at the corners you can see the pin holes where this storyboard was tacked to the wall of the production office and then moved around. This is an amazing opportunity to own a piece of this legendary movie!

The original ideas for the film came to Tim Burton while working as an animator for Disney. Burton has stated that he was inspired by being at a store and seeing them taking down the Halloween merchandise and changing it out for Christmas displays. While at work, Burton scribbled out the poem on a piece of paper as well as a few drawings. These initial versions only included Jack, Zero and Santa Claus and the plot was subsequently much different than that of the film. Originally, Tim Burton pitched his idea to Disney, but it was declined. Disney told him the theme was too dark in nature, so he kept his sketches and continued his work on Disney's The Black Cauldron. It wasn't until years later that he was able to start production on something that had become his dream to create. 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' marked the first time that a stop motion movie had been attempted at this scale. Because of this fact, a great deal of imagination and inventiveness had to be used in making the film. In order to produce the film, Tim Burton assembled a hand-picked group of animators, artists, and crew members to work on the film and founded a production company called Skellington Studios. In order to flesh out the script and come up with new characters (as the initial poems only had Jack, Zero and Santa Claus), Burton hired screenwriter Caroline Thompson. Burton also worked very closely with composer and long time collaborator Danny Elfman to write songs for the film. Because Burton was not able to give his full attention to the project (he was contractually bound to direct Batman Returns), he hired director Henry Selick to helm the project. Selick brought an understanding of the media to the film and maintained a vision close to that of Burton. When Tim handed over the project to the concept artists he was very specific as to the look and feel of the movie, even limiting them to orange, black and white for the primary colours of Halloween Town. Burton also encouraged the artists to not use their dominant hands as to give their drawings his trademark feel. Once the sets had been approved they were then made into half scale mock-ups out of cardboard. These were then used as guidelines to build the actual sets. The puppets were constructed with a detail metal armature as a skeleton, and then placed into moulds which were injected with a foam latex. From there they were set to the fabrication department to be painted and finished. Multiple puppets were made of most of the characters so that they could cycle between the set and fabrication for touch ups. The crew often had to improvise solutions to problems that they encountered during production. One of these problems was to give facial expressions to the puppets and making them speak. This was accomplished in a number of different fashions. Some puppets had mouths that were moved manually while some of the main puppets, such as Jack, were giving hundreds of replaceable heads so that they could have a greater range of expression. The puppet for Sally was given interchangeable masks that were integrated behind her hairline because her hair was too long to be sculpted for the number of heads that would be needed. Another problem that was faced was allowing the animators to work on the sets. Because some were so large, the animators were worried that they would have to reach too far to move the puppets. This problem was solved by building the sets in different sections that could be separated when an animator was working and then placed back together for the shot. The actual production of filming was a very slow and grueling process, taking over 3 years to finish. The animators worked on multiple sound stages at once to improve productivity on the film but a week’s work was still only a minute worth of actual film. The animators had to be very careful to be cautious on the sets as a simple thing such as a bump to one of the puppets could ruin a shot and they would have to start from scratch. At the finish of the production of the film, the sets and puppets all faced different fates. Henry Selick kept a great deal of props from the film in his personal collection, and some of the animators also took home the puppets. Many of the sets were simply discarded as there was so many of them and they took up a great deal of space. A number of the puppets with a more human like structure were cut open and the armature taken out, as they were custom made and expensive.

Henry Selick art is now available to purchase. In addition to Henry Selick art, fans can also now purchase Henry Selick posters and Henry Selick prints. These Henry Selick gifts are a necessity for all Henry Selick fans.
 

Buy some Disney Art and have your very own slice of the world, created by Walt Disney, which has captured the imagination of millions of people. As well as limited edition Disney art we also stock Disney prints and Disney posters. These Disney gifts are a true reflection of the success and happiness that Disney has bought to the lives of children and adults all over the world.