Tim Burton’s First Short Films: Vincent and Frankenweenie

Tim Burton’s Micro-Budget First Short Films: Vincent and Frankenweenie

While at Disney in 1982, Burton made his first short, Vincent, a six-minute black-and-white stop motion film based on a poem written by the filmmaker, and depicting a young boy who fantasizes that he is his hero Vincent Price, with Price himself providing narration. The film was produced by Rick Heinrichs, whom Burton had befriended while working in the concept art department at Disney. The film was shown at the Chicago Film Festival and released, alongside the teen drama Tex, for two weeks in one Los Angeles cinema.

Burton’s next live-action short film, Frankenweenie, was released in 1984. It tells the story of a young boy who tries to revive his dog after it is run over by a car. Filmed in black-and-white, it stars Barret Oliver, Shelley Duvall (with whom he would work again in 1986, directing an episode of her Faerie Tale Theatre and Daniel Stern. After Frankenweenie was completed, Disney fired Burton, under the pretext of him spending the company’s resources on a film that would be too dark and scary for children to see. – Wikipedia

Download Tim Burton’s Screenplay Collection in PDF

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WATCH Filmtrepreneur’s Micro-Budget First Films Collection

• Christopher Nolan: Doodlebug & The Following
• Quentin Tarantino: My Best Friend’s Birthday
• Neill Blomkamp’s Micro-Budget First Film: Alive in Joburg
• The Coen Brothers’ Micro-Budget Short Film: World Cinema
• The Coen Brothers’ Short Film: Tuileries (Paris, je t’aime)
• Guillermo Del Toro’s Micro-Budget First Film: Geometria
• James Cameron’s Micro-Budget First Film: Xenogenesis
• Paul Thomas Anderson’s Micro-Budget Short Film: Cigarettes & Coffee
• Paul Thomas Anderson’s Micro-Budget First Film: The Dirk Diggler Story
• George Lucas’ Micro-Budget Short Film: Filmmaker – A Diary by George Lucas
• Wes Anderson’s Micro-Budget First Film: Bottle Rocket
• Tim Burton’s First Short Films: Vincent and Frankenweenie
• Tim Burton’s Short Film: Hansel and Gretel
• Martin Scorsese’s Micro-Budget Short Film: The Big Shave

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