Elfman cites Bernard Herrmann and Nino Rota as the film composers who have most influenced him, and you can see how he has taken the psychological depth from the former and a quirky humour from the latter. He can (and frequently does) move effortlessly between these influences or combine them while adding liberal experimental dashes of his own creation.
#DEAD PRESIDENTS DANNY ELFMAN COMPLETE FULL#
The music for "Good Will Hunting" is finely crafted, being quite light for Elfman yet hinting at depth and complexity in the psyche of the main character.Īlthough he doesn't have a formal musical training like some film composers, this seems to work in his favour to create a unique style full of talent and numerous influences from classical, early film music, blues, jazz, pop and various ethnic styles. Another conventional soundtrack "Black Beauty" seems to lilt with melancholy English folk music not unlike Vaughan Williams' Fantasy on Greensleeves, and "Sommersby" smacks of American farm country. The small residual amount of Elfman quirkiness serves to add to the uncertainty about the lead character and whether she is telling the truth. "Dolores Claiborne" is dark not so much in the Gothic sense but in true emotional depth. Although they have worked together also on "Mar Attacks!" and "Men in Black", Burton chose Howard Shore to score "Ed Wood" and Elfman in particular has scored many other films for other directors including "Shrunken Heads" for his brother Richard again.Īlthough clearly well known for these wonderful dark or wildly exuberant scores, Elfman has also produced some more conventional fair and ably demonstrates that he can turn his hand to anything. The partnership between composer and director hasn't been exclusive.
Again this is a fantastical fairy tale, with disturbing undertones, where the music is part of the whole conception with lots of good songs and Elfman providing the voice for Jack Skellington the lead character. This was a huge opportunity for Elfman to display all his talents and he didn't disappoint. The collaboration continued with Batman Returns, containing great musical characterisation, and then with The Nightmare Before Christmas. Elfman's soundscape for Edward Scissorhands has been much copied particularly on television commercials, and the music has now been adapted into a ballet by British composer Terry Davis. In Batman the powerful Gothic theme seems to reverberate from some dark cathedral, with some colourful characterisation for the deranged Joker, and in Edward Scissorhands we have a gentle fairy tale with wonderful imagery (and equally descriptive music) which seems to have escaped from a fairy story rather than a horror movie. In Beetlejuice, the bold, dark and bouncy theme which accompanies the opening sequence immediately sets the scene for a romping tour de force, where you just know that something strange will hit you around every corner. In Pee-Wee, Elfman uses good-humoured yet whacky tunes bobbing on top of simple accompaniments which suddenly change direction as though distracted. It's worth quickly reviewing that style as applied to those early film collaborations, because it is so distinctive. In many ways Elfman's music complements Burton's directorial style, frequently dark and weird but with a wicked humour. On the music side the extended team included Steve Bartek (also from the Oingo-Boingo band) as orchestrator, and music editor Bob Badami.
#DEAD PRESIDENTS DANNY ELFMAN COMPLETE MOVIE#
That relationship started when Burton asked Elfman to provide the score for his first movie "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" (1985) whose modest success led to Beetlejuice, Batman and Edward Scissorhands to fully bring the partnership into the Hollywood big league. While these two events were to open up new avenues, it was the relationship with director Tim Burton that truly launched his career as a major film composer. Firstly Richard founded the group Oingo-Boingo which Danny then joined and secondly, when Richard was directing "The Forbidden Zone" he asked Danny to compose the music for it. Two of Danny Elfman's major opportunities in the music world have come from his brother Richard Elfman.
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