National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas was released by Touchstone Pictures in October 1993, produced through Burton's collaboration with director Henry Selick and Disney. The film brought stop-motion animation to mainstream theatrical audiences with unusual ambition, blending gothic imagery with musical storytelling. Its success helped establish stop-motion as a viable feature format and built a cultural following that has only deepened in the decades since.

This cell presents Sally across three sequential frames, capturing her crouching near a large barrel or cauldron within a beam-ceilinged interior. The subtle pose variations between frames are characteristic of stop-motion production, where animators reposition figures incrementally between exposures. Seeing that progression preserved in a single encapsulated cell offers a rare window into the handmade craft underlying the finished film.