Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reinvents the classic story of a wooden puppet brought to life in this stunning stop-motion musical tale.
Sing along to Ciao Papa from Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio. From the mind of Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and award-winning stop-motion legend Mark Gustafson, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio is a story you think you may know, but you donât. In theaters November and on Netflix December 9.
Ciao Papa Performed by Gregory Mann
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Lyrics by Roeban Katz & Guillermo Del Toro
Pinocchio is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children’s novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan village. He is created as a wooden puppet, but he dreams of becoming a real boy. He is known for his long nose, which grows when he lies.
Toad (David Jason), Rat (Ian Carmichael), Mole (Richard Pearson), and Badger (Sir Michael Hordern) follow animal etiquette in this version of Kenneth Grahame’s classic, in stop-motion model animation.
The Wind in the Willows is a 1983 British stop motion animated film produced by Cosgrove Hall Films for Thames Television and aired on the ITV network. The film is based on Kenneth Grahame’s classic 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows. It won a BAFTA award and an international Emmy award.
Between 1984 and 1990, Cosgrove-Hall subsequently made a 52-episode television series, with the film serving as a pilot. The film’s music and songs are composed by Keith Hopwood, late of Herman’s Hermits, and Malcolm Rowe. The Stone Roses guitarist John Squire worked on the series as a set artist.
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reinvents the classic tale of the wooden marionette who is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto. This whimsical, stop-motion film directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson follows the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is an upcoming stop-motion musical fantasy film directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, based on Gris Grimly’s design from his 2002 edition of the 1883 Italian novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. The film was written by del Toro and Patrick McHale.
Produced by Netflix Animation, The Jim Henson Company and ShadowMachine in co-production with PathĂŠ, El Taller del Chucho, and Necropia Entertainment, Pinocchio was announced by Del Toro in 2008 and originally scheduled to be released in 2013 or 2014, but the project went into development hell. In January 2017, McHale was announced to co-write the script, but in November 2017, the production was suspended as no studios were willing to provide financing. The production was revived the following year after being acquired by Netflix.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is scheduled to be released in select theaters in November 2022, followed by its streaming release on Netflix in December 2022.
A real radio presenter provides the voice for his animated counterpart, a weary soul who doesnât let a small thing like hosting a radio show get in the way of his morning routineâŚ
Commissioned by Channel 4 in 1982, Conversation Pieces allowed Peter Lord and Dave Sproxton to develop ideas aimed at a more sophisticated, adult audience. The 5-minute shorts also gave birth to a device that has become an Aardman trademark â matching animated characters to real-life dialogue.
Aardman Animations, Ltd. is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring its Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and Morph.
In this Oscar-winning short film, Norman McLaren employs the principles of animation to animate live actors through the process of pixilation. The story is a parable about two people who come to blows over the possession of a flower.
Neighbours is a 1952 anti-war film by Scottish Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren. Produced at the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal, the film uses pixilation, an animation technique using live actors as stop motion objects. McLaren created the soundtrack of the film by scratching the edge of the film, creating various blobs, lines, and triangles which the projector read as sound.
Neighbours has been described as “one of the most controversial films the NFB ever made”. The eight-minute film was politically motivated:
“I was inspired to make Neighbours by a stay of almost a year in the People’s Republic of China. Although I only saw the beginnings of Mao’s revolution, my faith in human nature was reinvigorated by it. Then I came back to Quebec and the Korean War began. (…) I decided to make a really strong film about anti-militarism and against war.”
â Norman McLaren
The version of Neighbours that ultimately won an Oscar was not the version McLaren had originally created. In order to make the film palatable for American and European audiences, McLaren was required to remove a scene in which the two men, fighting over the flower, murdered the other’s wife and children.
During the Vietnam War, public opinion changed, and McLaren was asked to reinstate the sequence. The original negative of that scene had been destroyed, so the scene was salvaged from a positive print of lower quality.
The term pixilation was created by Grant Munro to describe stop-motion animation of humans in his work with McLaren on Two Bagatelles, a pair of short pixilation films made prior to Neighbours. During one brief sequence, the two actors appear to levitate, an effect achieved by having the actors repeatedly jump upward and photographing them at the top of their trajectories.
Pixilation is a stop motion technique in which live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. The actor becomes a kind of living stop-motion puppet.
Artist Guldies created this claymation work of art using 2500 still pictures played at 24 frames per second. Shot with a Canon EOS 600D and animated in Dragonframe. Made with Plastilina clay. Everything was edited in Photoshop CC and Sony Vegas Pro. Sound effects recorded with a Blue Yeti and also taken from freesound.org.
TheStreet of Crocodiles is a 21-minute-long stop-motion animation short subject directed and produced by the Brothers Quay and released in 1986.
The Street of Crocodiles was originally a short story written by Bruno Schulz, from a story collection published under that title in English translation. Rather than literally representing the childhood memoirs of Schulz, the animators used the story’s mood and psychological undertones as inspiration for their own creation.
Inside a box full of curio, a puppet who is recently freed from his strings explores a dusty and forlorn commercial area. The explorer becomes ensnared into miniature tailor shop by baby-faced dolls.
Directed by Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay, and Weiser Quay.
A homeless thief takes the sacred rope from a bolder to cover a bloody wound, not realizing what evil it will unleash. SAKA MEN is a dark and wondrous stop motion short created by animator Shigeru Okada, created with armatures constructed by Tetsu Kawamura.
Shinto monks believe the Shimenawa rope represents the border between the lands of the physical and those of the spiritual, and the rope is often put up to indicate that a location is taboo and the rope line shouldn’t be crossed by the living.
Those mortals foolish enough to ignore this warning may find themselves faced with unspeakable horrors from the spirit realm, where human flesh is but a plaything.
Visit PowerPop today for a mind-blowing Eclectic Pop Culture Experience!
Thanks for the suggestion!
This is the closing track to John Fogerty’s solo album Centerfield, originally titled Zanz Kant Danz in reference to Saul Zaentz, Fogerty’s former boss at Fantasy Records who famously tried to sue Fogerty for plagiarism of Creedence Clearwater Revival material, to which Zaentz held the rights. The song is about an unnamed street dancer and his sidekick, a pig trained to pick people’s pockets as they watch the dancer do his stuff. The pig, originally named Zanz as a dig at Saul Zaentz, “Can’t dance, but he’ll steal your money – watch him or he’ll rob you blind.” When Zaentz threatened Fogerty with yet another lawsuit, but Fogerty changed the pig’s name to Vanz.
The video for Vanz Kant Danz was the first ever filmed entirely in claymation through the process of stop-motion animation. It was produced at Will Vinton Studio. Unfortunately, unlike other groundbreaking music videos such as a-ha’s Take On Me and Dire Straits’ Money For Nothing, this one failed to garner much public notice.
Another song from the Centerfield album, Mr. Greed, is also thought to be a musical salvo by Fogerty in his long-running feud with Zaentz, which lasted until 2004 when Fantasy Records was bought out by Concord Records, who restored Fogerty’s rights to his CCR material.
Seven and a half years in the making, The Moon’s Milk is an entirely handmade stop-motion animated short about a time when the moon was close enough to be reached by ladder. Narrated by Tom Waits, the film chronicles the last expedition of Captain Millipede and his crew to harvest the milk seeping from the craters. The action takes place between the gravities of two heavenly bodies, which further complicates the attraction between the characters. Longing, missed signals, and mishaps lead to the enchantment of the heavens with music.
Credits
Directed by Ri Crawford
Produced by Kim Aubry & Ri Crawford Narrated by Tom Waits
The Show is the first single by the Australian singer/songwriter Lenka. It was released on September 6th, 2008.
Lenka Kripac is an Australian singer and actress best known for her song The Show from her debut album, Lenka.
As a teenager, Lenka studied acting at the Australian Theatre for Young People, where she trained with actress Cate Blanchett. Lenka starred in the Australian ABC-TV drama series GP as Vesna Kapek in the 1990s. She also hosted Cheez TV and has guest starred in other Australian TV series, including Home and Away, Wildside, Head Start, and Spellbinder. She appeared in Australian feature films The Dish and Lost Things, as well as in theatre productions. Lenka provided the vocals for 2 tracks on Paul Mac’s 2005 album Panic Room. As Lenka Kripac, she was a member of the Australian electronic-rock crossover band Decoder Ring for two of their albums. She then moved to California in 2007.
After adopting her first name as her sole artistic name, Lenka released her eponymous debut album on 24 September 2008, with The Show chosen to be the first single release from the set. The album peaked at number 142 on the US Billboard 200. Her song Everything at Once was featured in a Windows 8 ad, becoming a worldwide success. Lenka creates paper art type stop-motion animated music videos for each of her singles with her husband James Gulliver Hancock, a visual artist from Australia, for a deliberately childlike effect. She provided vocals on two tracks (Addicted and Sunrise) on German artist Schiller’s album Atemlos, released in Germany on March 12th, 2010.
In 2011 she released her second album Two which was inspired by her engagement and is full of romantic love songs. Despite a warm critical reception, the album failed to match the success of her debut album, with Two reaching peak chart positions of 69 and 88 on the Belgian and Swiss charts respectively. Her third album Shadows appeared in 2013 after the birth of her son.
Stop-motion puppet animated short film written and directed by Michal Struss.
A character is inside a cubical room; there is a hole in the roof, which is too high to reach. But pushing on the walls distorts the room in various ways, always appearing to bring the hole closer while still leaving it tantalizingly inaccessible.
Michal Struss graduated from the Department of Film and Television at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, majoring in animation. His stopâmotion animation picture In the Box was nominated for a Student Academy Award. He worked on animation, visual effects, and postâ production of Blind Loves (SlepĂŠ lĂĄsky, 2008), Blue Tiger (ModrĂ˝ tiger, 2011), and Deadly Stories (SmrteÄžnĂŠ history, 2016). He was nominated for the Czech Lion for Blue Tiger in the category of best production design.
Balance is a German surrealist stop-motion animated film, released in 1989. It was directed and produced by twin brothers Wolfgang and Christoph Lauenstein.
A group of fishermen on a precariously balanced platform fight over a trunk.
The setting is on a floating platform where a group of evenly and carefully placed men live. Each man is aware that the platform is not stable and in order not to fall to their deaths, they maintain a careful balance of weight to prevent the platform from tipping too far and cause them all to fall. This reasonably harmonious understanding is lost when one man pulls up a heavy trunk. In the ensuing struggle, balance is lost in more than one sense.
More alcohol, caviar, carry on with our fluid conversation On matadors, sycamore, furthermore I establish ground for what is zero, patio, chemical basis One more line of avalanche-winterland-handicap Bleeding from the nostril
More dynamite, satellites to add to my frequency of communication It’s televised, paralysed, subscribing to everybody’s station Zero, patio, chemical basis One more line of avalanche-winterland-handicap Desolation, home at last Home at last
Desolation riser Desolation riser
More alcohol, caviar, carry on with our fluid conversation On matadors, sycamore, furthermore I establish ground for what is zero, patio, chemical basis One more line of avalanche-winterland-handicap Bleeding from the nostril
Vincent is a 1982 stop motion short horror film written, designed, and directed by Tim Burton, and produced by Rick Heinrichs. It is the second Disney horror film, the first being The Watcher in the Woods. At approximately six minutes in length, there is currently no individual release of the film except for a few bootleg releases. It can be found on the 2008 Special Edition and Collector’s Edition DVDs of The Nightmare Before Christmas as a bonus feature and on the Cinema16 DVD American Short Films.
The film is narrated by actor Vincent Price, a lifelong idol and inspiration for Burton. From this relationship, Price would go on to appear in Burton’s Edward Scissorhands. Vincent Price later said that Vincent was “the most gratifying thing that ever happened. It was immortality â better than a star on Hollywood Boulevard”.
Frankenweenie is a 1984 short film directed by Tim Burton and co-written by Burton with Leonard Ripps. It is both a parody and homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein based on Mary Shelley’s novel of the same name. Burton later directed a feature-length stop-motion animated remake, released in 2012.
The Finale is the final song of the movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. It is sung by Jack Skellington as he realizes that he is the Pumpkin King and that he must return to Halloween Town in order to help the citizens fix Christmas. Later, Santa thanks Jack for helping him save Christmas by bringing snow to Halloween Town. Jack and Sally sing together under the moonlight in the final scene as they lovingly embrace and kiss.
Written by Danny Elfman (1993)
Cyclops: Jack! Corpse Father: Jack’s back! Undersea Gal: Jack? Winged Demon: Jack’s okay! Offscreen Voice: He’s all right!
Chorus: Jack’s okay, and he’s back! Oh, yay!
(with Corpse Kid) He’s all right!
(with the Mayor) Let’s shout, make a fuss Scream it out, wheee!
Jack is back now, everyone sing In our town of Halloween…
(“What’s This?” verse)
Corpse Kid: What’s this?
Cyclops: What’s this?
Harlequin Demon: I haven’t got a clue…
Mr. Hyde: What’s this?
Clown with the Tear-Away Face: Why, it’s completely new!
Offscreen Voice: What’s this?
Wolfman: Must be a Christmas thing…
Offscreen Voice: What’s this?
Mayor: It’s really very strange…
Chorus: This is Halloween Halloween, Halloween, Halloween
What’s this, what’s this? (verse repeated three more times)
(instrumental verse)
(“We’re Simply Meant to Be” verse)
Jack: My dearest friend, if you don’t mind I’d like to join you by your side Where we can gaze into the stars
(with Sally)
And sit together now and forever For it is plain as anyone can see We’re simply meant to be
Poor Jack is a song from the film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. It is sung by Jack after he survives an explosion in Christmas Town that was meant to kill him. The song is about Jack confronting his guilt surrounding the mess he made of Christmas Town. He then chooses to remain the Pumpkin King and rushes off to save Sandy Claws.
Written by Danny Elfman (1993)
What have I done? What have I done? How could I be so blind? All is lost, where was I? Spoiled all, spoiled all, everything’s gone all wrong
What have I done? What have I done? Find a deep cave to hide in In a million years they’ll find me Only dust and a plaque that reads here lies poor old Jack
But I never intended all this madness, never And nobody really understood, well how could they? That all I ever wanted was to bring them something great Why does nothing ever turn out like it should?
Well, what the heck I went and did my best And by God I really tasted something swell, that’s right And for a moment, why I even touched the sky And at least I left some stories they can tell, I did
And for the first time since I don’t remember when I felt just like my old bony self again And I Jack, the Pumpkin King That’s right I am the Pumpkin King
And I just can’t wait until next Halloween ‘Cause I’ve got some new ideas that will really make them scream And by God, I’m really gonna give it all my might Oh, oh, I hope there’s still time to set things right Sandy Claws
Sally’s Song is sung by Sally Finklestein in the film, The Nightmare Before Christmas after her plan to stop Jack fails. During her song, she sings about how she hopes that Jack is safe, yet she feels that Jack will never accept her feelings for him.
Written by Danny Elfman (1993)
I sense there’s something in the wind That feels like tragedy’s at hand And though I’d like to stand by him Can’t shake this feeling that I have The worst is just around the bend And does he notice my feelings for him? And will he see how much he means to me? I think it’s not to be
What will become of my dear friend? Where will his actions lead us then? Although I’d like to join the crowd In their enthusiastic cloud Try as I may, it doesn’t last And will we ever end up together? No, I think not, it’s never to become For I am not the one
Oogie Boogie’s Song is the main villain song from the film, The Nightmare Before Christmas sung by Oogie Boogie and his prisoner, Santa Claus. Due to time constraints, the instrumental break was cut from it in the film, while the second verse was omitted because its sequence which was to feature bugs dancing on Oogie Boogie’s arm was deemed impossible and too difficult to animate after being storyboarded. But both were present on the soundtrack of the film.
Written by Danny Elfman (1993)
Oogie Boogie: Well, well, well, what have we here? Sandy Claws, huh? Ooh, I’m really scared! So you’re the one everybody’s talkin’ about? Ha, ha, ha, ha!
You’re jokin’, you’re jokin’! I can’t believe my eyes! You’re jokin’ me, you gotta be, This can’t be the right guy!
He’s ancient, he’s ugly; I don’t know which is worse! I might just split a seam now If I don’t die laughing first.
When Mr. Oogie Boogie says There’s trouble close at hand, You’d better pay attention now ‘Cause I’m the Boogie Man!
And if you aren’t shakin’, There’s something very wrong! ‘Cause this may be the last time You hear the Boogie Song!
Woah
Skeletons: Woah
Oogie Boogie: Woah
Skeletons: Woah
Oogie Boogie: Woah
Bats: Woah
Oogie Boogie and Chorus: I’m (he’s) the Oogie Boogie Man!
Santa: Release me now or you must face The dire consequences The children are expecting me So please, come to your senses
Oogie Boogie: You’re jokin’, you’re jokin’! I can’t believe my ears! Would someone shut this fella up? I’m drownin’ in my tears!
It’s funny, I’m laughing; You really are too much. And now, with your permission, I’m going to do my stuff…
Santa: What are you going to do?
Oogie Boogie: I’m going to do the best I can.
Oh, the sound of rollin’ dice To me is music in the air ‘Cause I’m a gamblin’ Boogie Man Although I don’t play fair.
It’s much more fun, I must confess When lives are on the line Not mine, of course but yours, old boy, Now that’d be just fine.
Santa: Release me fast or you’ll have to answer for this heinous act!
Oogie Boogie: Oh brother, you’re somethin’! You put me in a spin! You aren’t comprehending The position that you’re in.
It’s hopeless, you’re finished You haven’t got a prayer ‘Cause I’m Mr. Oogie Boogie, And you ain’t goin’ nowhere!
Tim Burton featuring Vitamin String Quartet (2008)
Vitamin String Quartet is an American musical group from Los Angeles, widely known for its series of tribute albums to rock and pop acts.
VSQ is not a string quartet in the traditional sense. Rather, VSQ is a series of string quartet projects developed and produced by CMH Label Group, an independent record company based in Los Angeles. The CMH team works with an ever-evolving cast of arrangers, producers, string players and other creatives to bring each project to life. Their albums are released through Vitamin Records and primarily performed by a string quartet, though other instruments have been used. “Vitamin String Quartet is about applying rock n’ roll attitude to classical technique,” says Tom Tally, a violist and arranger who has performed on and produced over fifty Vitamin String Quartet albums.
Kidnap the Sandy Claws is a song from the film, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. It is sung by Lock, Shock, and Barrel when they plan to capture Santa so that Jack could take over Christmas, which only brings in a disastrous result.
Written by Danny Elfman (1993)
Lock, Shock, and Barrel: Kidnap Mr. Sandy Claws?
Lock: I wanna do it! Barrel: Let’s draw straws! Shock: Jack said we should work together
Barrel: Three of a kind Lock: Birds of a feather Lock, Shock, and Barrel: Now and forever!
La, la, la, la, la, la La-la-la-la-la La, la, la, la, la, la La-la-la-la-la
Kidnap the Sandy Claws, lock him up real tight Throw away the key and then turn off all the lights
Shock: First, we’re going to set some bait inside a nasty trap and wait When he comes a-sniffing, we will snap the trap and close the gate
Lock: Wait! I’ve got a better plan to catch this big red lobster man Let’s pop him in a boiling pot And when he’s done, we’ll butter him up!
Lock, Shock and Barrel: Kidnap the Sandy Claws, throw him in a box Bury him for 90 years, then see if he talks
Shock: Then Mr. Oogie Boogie Man… Lock and Shock: …can take the whole thing over then Lock and Barrel: He’ll be so pleased, I do declare Lock and Shock: That he will cook him rare Wheeee!
Lock: I say that we take a cannon, aim it at his door and then Knock three times and when he answers, Sandy Claws will be no more!
Shock: You’re so stupid! Think now If we blow him up to smithereens, we may lose some pieces And then Jack will beat us black and green
Lock, Shock, and Barrel: Kidnap the Sandy Claws, tie him in a bag Throw him in the ocean, then see if he is sad
Lock and Shock: Because Mr. Oogie Boogie is the meanest guy around If I were on his boogie list, I’d get out of town
Barrel: He’ll be so pleased by our success That he’ll reward us too, I bet
Lock and Barrel: Perhaps he’ll make his special brew Lock and Shock: Of snake and spider stew (Shock: Mmmm!)
Lock, Shock, and Barrel: We’re his little henchmen and we take our job with pride We do our best to please him and stay on his good side
Shock: I wish my cohorts weren’t so dumb Barrel: I’m not the dumb one Lock: You’re no fun Shock: Shut up! Lock: Make me!
Shock: I’ve got something, listen now! This one is real good, you’ll see We’ll send a present to his door Upon there’ll be a note to read Now, in the box we’ll wait and hide until his curiosity
Lock, Shock, and Barrel: Entices him to look inside And then we’ll have him! One, two, three!
Kidnap the Sandy Claws, beat him with a stick Lock him up for 90 years, see what makes him tick Kidnap the Sandy Claws, chop him into bits Mr. Oogie Boogie is sure to get his kicks Kidnap the Sandy Claws, see what we will see Lock him in a cage and then throw away the key…!
Jack’s Lament is a song from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. It is sung by Jack Skellington who is tired of celebrating Halloween and wants to experience something else. The All American Rejects covered this song for the album Nightmare Revisited, which was released in 2007.
Jack laments the mundane repetition of Halloween as he wishes for a new adventure and hopes to experience something new as he searches for meaning in his life.
Nightmare Revisited is a cover album of songs and score from the 1993 Disney animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was released on September 30, 2008 by Walt Disney Records to commemorate the film’s 15th anniversary of its theatrical release. In addition to the album’s eighteen covers are two re-recordings by original composer Danny Elfman, of the “Opening” and “Closing” tracks. One song featured on the album, Marilyn Manson’s “This Is Halloween”, was previously released nearly two years earlier, on the 2006 reissue of the film’s original soundtrack which, featuring five covers of songs from the film, acted as a precursor to Nightmare Revisited. The album also features Korn covering “Kidnap the Sandy Claws” which is also their first recording to feature Ray Luzier on drums. Enhanced content on the disc features the trailer of The Nightmare Before Christmas, as well.
American psychobilly band Tiger Army also provided a cover of “Oogie Boogie’s Song”, which was not featured on physical CD editions of Nightmare Revisited, but was released as a digital bonus track. Scott Murphy’s cover of “Sally’s Song” is also featured on Japanese pressings of the album.
Danny Elfman (1993)
There are few who’d deny, at what I do I am the best For my talents are renowned far and wide When it comes to surprises in the moonlit night I excel without ever even trying With the slightest little effort of my ghostlike charms I have seen grown men give out a shriek With the wave of my hand, and a well-placed moan I have swept the very bravest off their feet
Yet year after year, it’s the same routine And I grow so weary of the sound of screams And I, Jack, the Pumpkin King (SHOUT!) Have grown so tired of the same old thing
Oh, somewhere deep inside of these bones An emptiness began to grow There’s something out there, far from my home A longing that I’ve never known
I’m a master of fright, and a demon of light And I’ll scare you right out of your pants To a guy in Kentucky, I’m Mister Unlucky And I’m known throughout England and France And since I am dead, I can take off my head To recite Shakespearean quotations No animal nor man can scream like I can With the fury of my recitations
But who here would ever understand That the Pumpkin King with the skeleton grin Would tire of his crown, if they only understood He’d give it all up if he only could
Oh, there’s an empty place in my bones That calls out for something unknown The fame and praise come year after year Does nothing for these empty tears
Come, one and all, and bear witness to the fantastic freakishness of the creepy crypt creators Tim Burton and Marilyn Manson as stop-motion animation meets shock rock.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 American stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced and conceived by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, the King of Halloween Town who stumbles through a portal to Christmas Town and becomes obsessed with celebrating the holiday. Danny Elfman wrote the songs and score, and provided the singing voice of Jack.
The Nightmare Before Christmas originated in a poem written by Burton in 1982 while he was working as an animator at Walt Disney Productions. With the success of Vincent in the same year, Burton began to consider developing The Nightmare Before Christmas as either a short film or 30-minute television special to no avail. Over the years, Burton’s thoughts regularly returned to the project and in 1990, he made a development deal with Walt Disney Studios. Production started in July 1991 in San Francisco; Disney released the film through Touchstone Pictures because the studio believed the film would be “too dark and scary for kids”.
Written by Danny Elfman (1993)
Boys and girls of every age Wouldn’t you like to see something strange? Come with us and you will see This, our town of Halloween
This is Halloween, this is Halloween Pumpkins scream in the dead of night This is Halloween, everybody make a scene Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright It’s our town, everybody scream In this town of Halloween
I am the one hiding under your bed Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red I am the one hiding under yours stairs Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair
This is Halloween, this is Halloween Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
In this town we call home Everyone hail to the pumpkin song In this town, don’t we love it now? Everybody’s waiting for the next surprise
Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can Something’s waiting no to pounce, and how you’ll… Scream! This is Halloween Red ‘n’ black, slimy green Aren’t you scared?
Well, that’s just fine Say it once, say it twice Take a chance and roll the dice Ride with the moon in the dead of night Everybody scream, everybody scream
In our town of Halloween! I am the clown with the tear-away face Here in a flash and gone without a trace I am the “who” when you call, “who’s there?” I am the wind blowing through your hair I am the shadow on the moon at night Filling your dreams to the brim with fright This is Halloween, this is Halloween Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Tender lumplings everywhere Life’s no fun without a good scare That’s our job, but we’re not mean In our town of Halloween In this town Don’t we love it now? Everybody is waiting for the next surprise Skeleton jack might catch you in the back And scream like a banshee Make you jump out of your skin This is Halloween, everybody scream Wont’ ya, please, make way for a very special guy Our man, Jack, is king of the pumpkin patch Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King now This is Halloween, this is Halloween Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! In this town we call home Everyone hail to the pumpkin song La, lala la, lala la La la la, lala la, lala la La la la, lala la, lala la La la la, lala la la la Heir
Inspired by Walt Disney’s and Ub Iwerks’ Silly Symphonies animated short The Skeleton Dance, Tim Burton pays homage to the frolicking skeletons of swing in this fun little diddy, Remains of the Day.
Remains of the Day
Danny Elfman (2005)
Hey! Give me a listen, you corpses of cheer. Least less of you who still got an ear, I’ll tell ‘ya a story, make your skeleton cry, of our own judiciously lovely corpse bride. Die, die we all pass away, but don’t wear a frown ‘cuz it’s really okay. You might try n’ hide, and you might try n’ pray, but we all end up the remains of the day.
Die die die yeah yeah, die die die.
Well! Our girl is a beauty known for miles around. A mysterious stranger came into town. He was plenty good lookin’ but down on his cash, and our poor little baby she fell hard and fast, when her daddy said no, she just couldn’t cope, so our lovers came up with a plan to elope.
Die, die we all pass away, but don’t wear a frown ‘cuz it’s really okay. You might try n’ hide, and you might try n’ pray, but we all end up the remains of the day.
Die die die yeah yeah, die die die yeah yeah die die die yeah yeah die die die yeah yeah
Yeah, so they conjured up a plan to meet late at night, they told not a soul kept the whole thing tight. Now her mother’s wedding dress fit like a glove, you don’t need much when you’re really in love. Except for a few things or so I’m told, like the family jewels and a satchel of gold. Then next to the graveyard by the old oak tree, on a dark foggy night at a quarter to three, she was ready to go, but where was he?
(And then?) She waited (And then?) There in the shadows, was it a man? (And then?) Her little heart beat sooo loud! (And THEN?) And then baby, everything went black.
Now when she opened her eyes, she was dead as dust, her jewels were missin’ and her heart was bust, so she made a vow lyin’ under that tree that she’d wait for her true love to come set her free. Always waitin’ for someone to ask for her hand, when outta the blue comes this groovy young man, who vows forever, to be by her side, and that’s the story of our own, corpse bride
Die, die we all pass away, but don’t wear a frown ‘cuz it’s really okay. You might try n’ hide, and you might try n’ pray, but we all end up the remains of the day.
Baby Snakes is a film which includes footage from Frank Zappa’s 1977 Halloween concert at New York City’s Palladium Theater, backstage antics from the crew, and stop-motion claymation from award-winning animator Bruce Bickford.
The first and and the last stop-motion movie by Lumière Brothers. A skeleton dances joyously, often collapsing into a heap of bones and quickly putting itself back together.
Two men compete over winning the heart of their common love interest. This nearly lost short was released by Warner Bros. as part of its varieties series. The soundtrack, on Vitaphone disc, remains lost. The film remains for us to enjoy, thanks to the preservation efforts of Mark Kausler. Howard Moss was one of the first stop-motion animators, producing a series called ‘MoToy Comedies’.
Ray Harryhausen was an American filmmaker best known for his pioneering use of stop-motion animation effects. Unfortunately, he died May 7, 2013 in London, England at the age of 93.
Harryhausen grew up in Los Angeles, acquiring a love of dinosaurs and fantasy at a young age. His parents encouraged his interests in films and in models, and he was inspired by the cinematic effects in such movies as The Lost World (1925) and King Kong (1933). After seeing the latter, he began experimenting with marionettes and stop-motion animation, making short films in his parentsâ garage. At about age 18 he met noted animator Willis OâBrien, with whom he would later work on several projects. On OâBrienâs advice to refine his abilities, Harryhausen enrolled in art and anatomy courses at Los Angeles City College and later in film courses at the University of Southern California. It was around this time that he began developing the technique that became known as âDynamation,â used to make it appear that actors on film are interacting with animated models.
In 1940 Harryhausen landed his first animating job, working for producer George Pal on a number of âPuppetoonsââshort films that animated puppets by using a type of stop-motion. He subsequently served in the U.S. Army, where he worked with director Frank Capra on propaganda films for the war effort. After being discharged in 1946, Harryhausen created a series of short nursery rhyme-based films that he distributed to schools. He was soon contacted by OâBrien to help on Mighty Joe Young (1949), an adventure drama featuring an enormous ape, in the style of King Kong. The film, for which Harryhausen did much of the animation, received an Academy Award for special effects. Harryhausenâs work on The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), which was based on a story by his friend Ray Bradbury, caught the attention of producer Charles Schneer, with whom he would work on the majority of his films advertisement
Near the Arctic Circle, an atomic bomb is detonated. This fearsome experiment disturbs the sleep of a giant rhedosaurus encased in ice for more than 100-million years and sends it southward on a destructive, deadly rampage. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is a film of firsts. It spawned a new era of atomic-age creature features. It was the first screen adaptation of a work by fantasy fiction titan Ray Bradbury. And it marked the first time Ray Harryhausen had control over special effects. Harryhausen came up with a fantastic creature (constructed at full scale, all 50 tons of it) that swims down from the north to run amok through New York City before being conquered in a spectacular Coney Island roller coaster finale. Take a classic ride and unleash the Beast!
Harryhausen contributed effects to more than a dozen movies, including It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), Mysterious Island (1961), and Hammer Filmsâ One Million Years B.C.(1966). He was well known for the Sinbad films: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), his first colour feature; The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973); and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). He also created the special effects for the star-studded Clash of the Titans (1981), which was remade with animatronic and computer effects in 2010. Though he effectively retired from animation in the mid-1980s, Harryhausen continued to work on small projects into the 21st century. In 1992 he received the Gordon E. Sawyer Award for technical contributions from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His published works include Film Fantasy Scrapbook (1972) and the autobiography An Animated Life: Adventures in Fantasy (2003; cowritten with Tony Dalton).
The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer is a 1984 British surreal short stop-motion film by the Quay Brothers, an homage to the influential short filmmaker Jan Švankmajer.
This early film by renowned animators the Quay Brothers is structured as a series of little lessons in perception, taught by a puppet simulacrum of Jan Svankmajer, whose head is an opened book, to a doll whose head the master empties of dross and refills with a similar open book. Each of the nine segments or chapters ârefers variously to the importance of objects in Svankmajerâs work, their transformation and bizarre combination through specifically cinematic techniques, the extraordinary power of the camera to âmake strangeâ, the influence of Surrealism on Svankmajerâs work, and the subversive and radical role of humor. Taken out of the context of the original Visions television documentary on Svankmajer, for which they served as illustration/commentary, these vignettes might at first sight seem a trifle bewildering. They ideally need to be viewed more than once before they begin to work effectively as quirky introductions to the Svankmajer universe. Then, however, they emerge as surprisingly charming and delightful excursions into this astonishing (and often deeply disturbing) directors work.â âJulian Petley
