Number 2: This is Halloween

I remember watching this scene for the first time as a child. It was unlike anything I’d ever scene before, and still stays with me as one of the best animated sequences I’ve ever scene in my life. This is Halloween establishes the tone for the rest of the movie and does a damn fine job of doing so. The scene is dark, creepy, fun, exciting, beautiful, and ugly all rolled into one cornucopia of animation. The town is clearly inspired by the works of German expressionist art movement, combined with the childhood sentimentality of Halloween. The song does an astounding job of establishing the world, and is one of the best pieces of music in Danny Elfman’s career if I do say so myself. It’s enjoyable to listen to and has a quality that I haven’t heard in a movie since. What I love most about this scene is getting introduced to all the characters. Each character is unique, each one having their own individual charm. The Mayor, the Wolfman, the guy made of goo, they’re all brilliantly designed and animated. The camera work is also fantastic, with pans and zooms not traditionally seen or attempted in stop motion. I should stop, I could go on all day with this.

Another reason I deeply respect everyone involved with this scene is the sheer number of puppets on screen at once. As I’ve said before in the podcast, I enjoy doing animation and I’m a somewhat competent stop-motion and cell animator. A general rule of thumb is the more characters you have on screen at once, the longer and harder it is to animate. Not only are all the citizens of Halloween Town present for the end of the song, they’re all constantly moving! Not to mention that if there’s a mistake on a single puppet then the whole shot has to be scrapped! How the animators kept their sanity is beyond me.

I’d also like to remind everyone to please chill out. These are just movies. It’s not a contest of whose movie is best, it’s all about sitting back and enjoying the them for what they are.

Tags: countdown, halloween, movie, nightmare before christmas