At Just 24, Tim Burton Created The Short Film That Introduced His Iconic Style

Tim Burton taught moviegoers that there is whimsy in horror through his silly yet substantial artistry. Among his trademarks that made this point was Burton's use of stop-motion animation, which he brought into the mainstream with films like "Beetlejuice" and the Henry Selick-directed "The Nightmare Before Christmas," one of the best stop-motion animated films of all time. It's an iconic style that Burton claimed at just 24 when he released the Disney-backed stop motion short, "Vincent," which foreshadowed some of his now beloved films.

Released in 1982, "Vincent" follows a boy named Vincent Malloy as he uses his imagination to process the world around him in the vein of his hero, horror icon Vincent Price. He dreams of monsters, including a snake-like creature resembling the sandworm from "Beetlejuice," and wishes he could turn his dog into a zombie, foreshadowing Burton's "Frankenweenie." His family tries bringing him back to reality, but it only makes him feel more alone. 

Animated by Stephen Chiodo of future "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" fame, the use of stop-motion animation perfectly realizes Vincent's imagination in a real yet childlike way due to the homemade clay style. Interestingly, despite the short essentially setting the stage for Tim Burton's movies, "Vincent" wasn't always meant to be a film.

In the book "Burton on Burton" (via Remind Magazine), the director explained that "Vincent" was supposed to be a children's book. "I wanted to do that kind of animation because I felt there was a gravity to those three-dimensional figures that was more real for that story," he wrote. Tim Burton knew that using a rough, tangible medium such as clay allowed his creepy creatures to feel real while making them feel like we conjured them up in our own imaginations.

Along with being inspired by the horror legend, Vincent Price himself was the film's narrator. Burton explained his appreciation for Price and his movies, saying, "When you're younger things look bigger, you find your own mythology, you find what psychologically connects to you. And those movies, just the poetry of them, and this larger-than-life character who goes through a lot of torment – mostly imagined – just [spoke] to me..." 

Finding your own mythology is exactly what "Vincent" is about as he imagines what his world would look like if he were Price. A few years later, both men would work together on what would be Price's last film, and their collaborations cemented their legacies as dreamers who taught adults that it's okay to explore their imaginations well after childhood.