Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Music For A Darkened Theater

October, my favorite month of the year. For me October has always been about scary movies and Elfman. For the next couple posts I'll be focusing on the wonderful world of the darker Elfman film score.

"After having contributed music to over 100 film and television projects it's easy to forget that Danny Elfman was once the manic, fiery orange haired frontman for Los Angeles based over-the-top, eclectic pop combo Oingo Boingo. For those concerned with timelines, Elfman gradually began trading in his former lifestyle as a wild and rambunctious post modern punk when around 1985 when he was commissioned by friend Tim Burton to score Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Granted it would be another 10 years before he fully retired from the Boingo recording and touring maelstrom, but still to this day Elfman is perhaps the most famous pop musician to make the switch from the sweat soaked live stage to the austerity of the home studio and soundstage. Funny thing though, most folks haven't a clue about Elfman's past. "Most places I go people will say 'You were in a band? What was the name of the band?' I'll go 'Oingo Boingo' to which they'll give me kind of a blank stare and go 'Oh…heh-heh-heh, that's amusing.'" -by Spence D. IGN Filmforce, 10.06.2005

"Film composition is a unique art with unique requirements. It is not the same as writing a symphony-- something I've never professed to be able to do. Film music is written for no other reason than to accentuate the images on the screen, to underline the emotions of the characters, and hopefully, when we're lucky, to help breathe life into a two-dimensional medium. A film score is not 'pure music,' and should be judged on its dramatic, emotional, and/or visually enhancing merits."

"My education in film music came from watching tons of films," said Elfman (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2005.10.05)
Nightbreed 1990(IMDB)

Main Titles
Uh Oh...Decker
End Credits

Excerpts From:

Tales From The Crypt (IMDB)
Batman (IMDB)
Darkman (IMDB)



The Elfman Zone

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