The Nightmare before Christmas
The Nightmare before Christmas is a 1993 stop motion fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It is a classic story about a Jack Skelington who lives in ‘Halloween’ town. He discovers a hidden land called ‘Christmas’ town, and is very interested but confused. He continues to ask himself, “What does it mean?” Since he is used to his life in ‘Halloween’ town, he doesn’t seem to understand how ‘Christmas’ town can exist, or how it works. He begins to do research and brings back Christmas items back to ‘Halloween’ town. He sets off to bring Christmas to Halloween town and to bring a little bit of Halloween into Christmas, not knowing that the two are very different and should no be combined. His quest ends with him destroying Christmas and Santa must restore Christmas before it’s too late. There is also a love story between Sally and Jack. Sally is a doll that was created by the town scientist to be his companion, but Sally doesn’t feel the same. Instead, she is in love with Jack and tries to tell him that she loves him in different ways. She also tries to tell him not to get involved in ‘Christmas’ town because she knows it is a bad idea.
One of the songs in The Nightmare Before Christmas is called ‘What’s this?’ sung and composed by Danny Elfman. The song is present in the movie when Jack first falls down into ‘Christmas’ town, and is amazed with what he sees. The harp is present in the beginning of the song. The song starts slow and then a quick change in tempo to fast. The melody is imitated throughout the song. The song is sing able and is sung by a baritone. A sequence is present throughout the song, which is a repeated melody at a higher or lower pitch level.
Another song in the movie called ‘Sally’s song’. The song is sung when Sally wants to proclaim her love for Jack. She sends him a basket to his window with fish and wine, and then starts to sing the song. She...