Vincent (1982 film)

Last updated
Vincent
Vincent (1982) opening title screen.jpg
Title screen
Directed by Tim Burton
Written byTim Burton
Produced by Rick Heinrichs
Narrated by Vincent Price
CinematographyVictor Abdalov
Music byKen Hilton
Production
company
Distributed by Buena Vista Distribution
Release date
  • October 1, 1982 (1982-10-01)(United States)
Running time
6 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60,000 [1]

Vincent is a 1982 American stop-motion animated short film written, designed and directed by Tim Burton, and produced by Rick Heinrichs.

Contents

The film is narrated by actor Vincent Price, a lifelong idol of 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 — better than a star on Hollywood Boulevard." [2]

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 .

Plot

Vincent is the story, told in rhyming verse, of a 7-year-old boy, Vincent Malloy, who pretends to be like the actor Vincent Price (who narrates the film). He does experiments on his dog Abercrombie in order to create a horrible ravenous zombie dog. He is obsessed with the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and it is his detachment from reality when reading them that leads to his delusions that he is in fact a tortured artist and mad scientist, deprived of the woman he loves, mirroring certain parts of Poe's "The Raven". The film ends with Vincent feeling terrified of being tortured by the going-ons of his make-believe world, quoting "The Raven" as he falls to the floor in frailty, believing himself to be dead.

Production and release

While working as a conceptual artist at Walt Disney Productions, Tim Burton found himself two allies in Disney executive Julie Hickson, and Head of Creative Development Tom Wilhite. The two were impressed with Burton's unique talents and, while they felt he was not "Disney material", they still thought he deserved respect. In 1982, Wilhite gave Burton $60,000 to produce an adaptation of a poem Burton had written titled Vincent. Burton had originally planned the poem to be a children's short story book but thought otherwise. [3]

Together with fellow Disney animator Rick Heinrichs, stop motion animator Stephen Chiodo and cameraman Victor Abdalov, Burton worked on the project for two months and came up with the six-minute short film. Shot in stark black-and-white in the style of the German Expressionist films of the 1920s, Vincent imagines himself in a series of situations inspired by the Vincent Price/Edgar Allan Poe films that had such an effect on Burton as a child, including experimenting on his dog — a theme that would subsequently appear in Frankenweenie — and welcoming his aunt home while simultaneously conjuring up the image of her dipped in hot wax. Vincent Malloy, the main character in the film, bears a striking resemblance to Tim Burton himself. [3]

The film was narrated by Burton's childhood idol, Vincent Price, and marked the beginning of a friendship between them that lasted until Price's death in 1993. Burton credits the experience as one of the most formative experiences of his life. [3]

The film was theatrically released for two weeks in one Los Angeles cinema with the teen drama Tex . Before it was consigned to the Disney vaults, it garnered several critical accolades when it played at film festivals in London, Chicago and Seattle, winning two awards at Chicago and the Critics' Prize at the Annecy Film Festival in France. [3]

Cameos

An early form of the character of Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas can be seen in the upper-left corner of the screen from 1:18-1:25 as well as in front of the embodiment of his deceased wife from 4:45–4:47. Jack also appeared in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice and the stop-motion animation film James and the Giant Peach . The first two cameos were years before production of Nightmare, though Burton had toyed with the original story idea while still an animator at Disney. [4]

The character Prince Vince, from the Beetlejuice animated cartoon which would premiere seven years later, is named after and bears a strong resemblance to Vincent Malloy, both in appearance and mannerisms.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stop motion</span> Animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own

Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames is played back. Any kind of object can thus be animated, but puppets with movable joints or plasticine figures are most commonly used. Puppets, models or clay figures built around an armature are used in model animation. Stop motion with live actors is often referred to as pixilation. Stop motion of flat materials such as paper, fabrics or photographs is usually called cutout animation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Pit and the Pendulum</span> Short story by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, though Poe skews historical facts. The narrator of the story describes his experience of being tortured. The story is especially effective at inspiring fear in the reader because of its heavy focus on the senses, such as sound, emphasizing its reality, unlike many of Poe's stories which are aided by the supernatural. The traditional elements established in popular horror tales at the time are followed, but critical reception has been mixed. The tale has been adapted to film several times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Burton</span> American filmmaker and animator (born 1958)

Timothy Walter Burton is an American director, producer, writer, animator, and illustrator. Known for pioneering goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his gothic horror and fantasy films. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and three BAFTA Awards. He was honored with the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2007 and was given the Order of the Arts and Letters by Culture Minister of France in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Price</span> American actor (1911–1993)

Vincent Leonard Price Jr. was an American actor known for his work in the horror film genre, mostly portraying villains. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures and one for television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Williams (animator)</span> Canadian-British animator (1933–2019)

Richard Edmund Williams was a Canadian-British animator, voice actor, and painter. A three-time Academy Award winner, he is best known as the animation director on Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) -- for which he won two Academy Awards -- and as the director of his unfinished feature film The Thief and the Cobbler (1993). His work on the short film A Christmas Carol (1971) earned him his first Academy Award. He was also a film title sequence designer and animator. Other works in this field include the title sequences for What's New Pussycat? (1965) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), title and linking sequences in The Charge of the Light Brigade, and the intros of the eponymous cartoon feline for two of the later Pink Panther films. In 2002 he published The Animator's Survival Kit, an authoritative manual of animation methods and techniques, which has since been turned into a 16-DVD box set as well as an iOS app. From 2008 he worked as artist in residence at Aardman Animations in Bristol, and in 2015 he received both Oscar and BAFTA nominations in the best animated short category for his short film Prologue.

<i>Beetlejuice</i> 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Tim Burton

Beetlejuice is a 1988 American dark fantasy horror comedy film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren based on a story by McDowell and Larry Wilson. The film stars Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O'Hara, Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton as the titular character. The first installment of the Beetlejuice franchise, the plot revolves around a recently deceased couple. As ghosts, they are not allowed to leave their house. They contact Betelgeuse, a charismatic "bio-exorcist" to scare the house's new inhabitants away.

<i>The Nightmare Before Christmas</i> 1993 film by Henry Selick

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 American stop-motion animated musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick in his feature directorial debut and produced and conceived by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, the King of "Halloween Town", who stumbles upon "Christmas Town" and schemes to take over the holiday. Danny Elfman wrote the songs and score and provided the singing voice of Jack. The principal voice cast includes Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Ken Page, Paul Reubens, Glenn Shadix and Ed Ivory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Selick</span> American filmmaker (born 1952)

Charles Henry Selick Jr. is an American filmmaker and animator, best known for directing the stop-motion animated films The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Monkeybone (2001), Coraline (2009), and Wendell & Wild (2022). Selick is also known for his collaborations with the late voice actor and artist Joe Ranft.

<i>Frankenweenie</i> (1984 film) 1984 film by Tim Burton

Frankenweenie is a 1984 American science fiction comedy horror featurette directed by Tim Burton and written by him and Leonard Ripps. It is both a parody and homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Burton later directed a feature-length stop-motion animated remake, released in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Frees</span> American actor (1920–1986)

Solomon Hersh Frees, better known as Paul Frees, was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during the Golden Age of Animation, and for providing the voice of Boris Badenov in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. Frees was known as "The Man of a Thousand Voices", though the appellation was more commonly bestowed on Mel Blanc.

<i>Corpse Bride</i> 2005 stop-motion animated film by Tim Burton

Corpse Bride is a 2005 stop-motion animated musical fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton from a screenplay by John August, Caroline Thompson, and Pamela Pettler, based on characters created by Burton and Carlos Grangel. The plot is set in a fictional Victorian era village in England. Johnny Depp leads the cast as the voice of Victor, while Helena Bonham Carter voices Emily, the title bride. An international co-production between the United States and United Kingdom and produced by Tim Burton Productions and Laika Entertainment, Corpse Bride is the first stop-motion feature film directed by Burton and his first stop-motion film distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures after previously producing 1993's The Nightmare Before Christmas and 1996's James and the Giant Peach for The Walt Disney Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Hahn</span> American film producer and director (born 1955)

Donald Paul Hahn is an American film producer who is credited with producing some of the most successful animated films in history, including Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgar Allan Poe in television and film</span>

American poet and short story writer Edgar Allan Poe has had significant influence in television and film. Many are adaptations of Poe's work, others merely reference it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skellington Productions</span> Defunct film production company

Skellington Productions was an American animation studio and production company that was a joint venture between Walt Disney Feature Animation and directors Henry Selick and Tim Burton. The company specialized in stop motion animation and made use of the art in its two films. The studio's last work was season one of KaBlam!, after which it was closed by Disney.

<i>Frankenweenie</i> (2012 film) 2012 stop-motion animated film by Tim Burton

Frankenweenie is a 2012 American 3D stop-motion animated science fiction horror comedy film directed by Tim Burton, written by John August, and starring Charlie Tahan, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Atticus Shaffer, and Winona Ryder. A co-production between Walt Disney Pictures and Tim Burton Productions, it is a feature-length remake of Disney and Burton's 1984 short film of the same name, and is also both a parody of and homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein, based on Mary Shelley's 1818 book Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Set in 1957, the film follows a boy named Victor Frankenstein who uses the power of electricity to resurrect his dead Bull Terrier, Sparky, but his peers discover what he has done and reanimate their own deceased pets and other creatures, resulting in mayhem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Burton's unrealized projects</span>

The following is a list of unproduced Tim Burton projects, in roughly chronological order. During a career that has spanned over 30 years, Tim Burton has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction.

<i>Stage Fright</i> (1997 film) 1997 British film

Stage Fright is a 1997 stop-motion short film produced, directed, and written by Steve Box. The story follows Tiny, a vaudeville performer, Arnold Hugh, a silent film actor, and Tiny's co-worker Daphne, as they attempt to adjust to the coming age of film. All of the characters are voiced by Graham Fellows. The short film is eleven minutes in length, and won a BAFTA Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Burton filmography</span>

Tim Burton is an American film director, producer, artist, writer, animator, puppeteer, and actor.

References

  1. ↑ Coleman, David (1982). "Vincent". Cinefantastique . Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  2. ↑ Frierson, Michael. "Vincent — A Matter of Pastiche". Animation World Magazine (Issue 1.9). Retrieved 2007-01-22.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Salisbury, Mark; Tim Burton (2000). Burton on Burton: Revised Edition. Faber and Faber. ISBN   0-571-20507-0.
  4. ↑ Thompson, Frank (2002). Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas: The Film, the Art, the Vision. Disney Editions. ISBN   0-7868-5378-6.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.