Kamis, September 29, 2011

Rabu, September 28, 2011

Danny Elfman On Composing Music For L.A. Cirque du Soleil's 'Iris'

Billboard mewawancarai Danny Elfman, berikut ini kutipannya:

The music will be a combination of an eight-piece ensemble performing live and the sound of an 80-piece orchestra Elfman will record in two weeks. "The language of cinema is orchestral so there's no way to leave that out," he says, noting that sounds come from the full force of the band or be a single instrument.

Elfman, known for his scores of Tim Burton films, "Milk" and the "Spider-man" films, began work on the project 2-1/2 years ago, simply writing music to hand to Decoufle. There were no drawings or clips, just conversations about what was needed. Once they had performances pieces ready, Elfman would cut and paste some music and return to his studio to compose some ore.

"Then I disappear and they would come back saying they have a dozen things working so I would take a two minute piece and have to turn it into 6-1/2 minutes," he says of the process. "They would show up with three pieces that have no music. Some times you start from scratch, in others you tie one piece to another.


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Selasa, September 27, 2011

Danny Elfman knows the score for Cirque du Soleil's Iris

The Gazette mewawancarai Danny Elfman juga mengenai Iris, berikut kutipannya:

So what was it like to switch from film to circus?

“It was a weird hybrid,” he replied.

“I did a ballet for Twyla Tharp. At first, I thought this was almost more like doing a ballet than doing a film. Yet many of the influences were film. So it was really like a hybrid of doing the ballet for Twyla and doing the films that I usually do. The process of it was much closer to the ballet, but much more intense.”

With the ballet, he only required the choreographer’s approval. Film, too, only requires collaboration with the director, he said. Within the Cirque, Elfman found he had to cater to the needs of each performer. (There are 75.)

“Every piece had to suit a very, very different temperament and style, and it was all about performance. Fortunately, I’m kind of used to rolling with the punches, and having to be a musical acrobat. That served me well.”

Elfman wasn’t prepared for the technical side of Iris, either.


Baca lengkapnya di sini. Albumnya akan dirilis tanggal 22 November, bisa dibeli di Amazon.com.

Composer Finally Gets to Run Away & Join the Big Top for Cirque du Soleil's 'Iris'

Daniel Schweiger mewawancarai Danny Elfman mengenai Iris, berikut kutipannya:

DS: Iris is going to be at the Kodak for a very long time. How do you see the music and the show developing through the years?

DE: I really have no way of anticipating that. I’m told, in the normal Cirque world, that it’s when things settle after the opening that they start to develop one or two alternating acts. That means, if somebody gets injured, they have to have some act to put in that person’s place. Iris has no alternates right now. Already in the last two months, there’ve been acts that have been down for three or four days at a time. But as they come up with replacements, I imagine I’ll have to score them. So I see Iris as a constantly moving thing -- an entire show that depends on the fragility of human tendons and ligaments. I have no doubt I’ll be called in again and again to make adjustments, changes, or to write new music for some new piece that will be going in.

DS: Even though it’s not a movie, Iris is very much about the images in movies that we instantly recall through music. In that respect, what do you think Iris has to say about the importance of music in the movies?

DE: I don’t know if Iris is saying anything important about music in film. I think the show’s music just speaks for itself. While it has nods to movies like West Side Story and King Kong, there are also moments that are just from my own imagination -- one that’s filled with film music. So I figured that, without even trying, Iris’s music would sound cinematic, whether I want it to or not. That’s just because it’s the way I’m wired.

DS: What’s one of the things that stands out for you about the whole experience of Iris?

DE: I didn’t think it would take me this long to say that one of my greatest moments was rushing into a rehearsal one night, I was late, and I’m driving down to the parking lot where they had special areas for the Iris customers. The guard was saying “Are you here for the circus?” I flashed my badge and said, “I’m in the circus!” As I was running upstairs, I asked myself if I really just said that. And wow, I did. I screamed, “I’m in the circus!” furiously to some parking lot attendant. It took me this long to be able to say that, and I didn’t expect that to happen at this point in my life.


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Jumat, September 23, 2011

Engel: Guiding film music's cream of the crop

Situs Variety mem-publish cerita mengenai Laura Engel yang dulunya adalah tour manager untuk Oingo Boingo, band-nya Danny Elfman dulu dan sampai sekarang menjadi agennya. Berikut kutipannya:

Engel got her start in the biz as tour manager for Oingo Boingo, beginning an affiliation with lead singer Danny Elfman that continues to this day as his agent.

"A career highlight for me this year was co-producing the recently released epic, 16-CD 'Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box' with Warner Bros. Records," she says. Elfman, who worked on a number of upcoming releases including "Men in Black 3," "The Hunger Games" (with T Bone Burnett) and "Dark Shadows," moved into new territory by composing the music for Cirque du Soleil's "Iris."


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Kamis, September 22, 2011

Musisi 'Movie Score' Aghi Narottama, Syukuri Berkah 2011

Composer Aghi Narottama diwawancarai oleh Kresno Adji Djayandaru dan di-publish di situs TNOL, berikut kutipannya:

Aghi mulai jatuh cinta pada score ketika ia menonton video film The Goonies (produksi tahun 1985) terutama opening-nya saat kejar-kejaran mobil. Scorefilm ini dibuat oleh Dave Grusin dan merupakan turning point ia menggilai movie score. Bahkan Aghi berulang-ulang menonton video film ini hanya karena sangat suka dengan score-nya, mengingat pada masa itu akses untuk mendapatkan movie score hampir tidak ada. Sejak itu setiap Aghi menonton film, ia makin merasa perlu untuk menyimak score-nya.


Baca lengkapnya di sini. Sukses para composer Indonesia!

Real Steel Original Motion Picture Score

Minggu lalu beredar kabar bahwa soundtrack Real Steel, film terbaru Danny Elfman, berisi lagu-lagu dan hanya satu score track ihik... tapi ternyata kemudian Varese Sarabande mengumumkan bahwa mereka akan merilis score album-nya, huhuy!


Studio: Dreamworks, Reliance, 21 Laps Entertainment, Touchstone Pictures
Sutradara: Shawn Levy
Composer: Danny Elfman, various artists
Tanggal rilis film: 7 Oktober 2011
Tanggal rilis soundtrack: 4 Oktober (song album), 1 November (score album)
Label: Interscope Records (song album), Varese Sarabande (score album)

Track list (song album):
1. Fastlane – Bad Meets Evil (Edited)
2. Here’s A Little Something For Ya – Beastie Boys (Edited)
3. Miss The Misery – Foo Fighters
4. The Enforcer – 50 Cent (Unreleased)
5. Make Some Noise – The Crystal Method Featuring Yelawolf
6. Till I Collapse – Eminem (Edited)
7. One Man Army – Prodigy & Tom Morello
8. Give It A Go – Timbaland Featuring Veronica
9. The Midas Touch – Tom Morello
10. Why Try – Limp Bizkit (Edited)
11. Torture – Rival Sons
12. All My Days – Alexi Murdoch
13. Kenton – Danny Elfman

Berikut kutipan dari iklannya Varese Sarabande:

In a score that mixes guitar with symphony orchestra and choir, composer Danny Elfman returns to cinemas with this Fall action blockbuster.

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Minggu, September 11, 2011

Elfman circles back to the circus

Wawancara dengan Danny Elfman mengenai Iris, mengenai Yahudi-Yahudian dan lain-lain, berikut kutipannya:

The irony of IRIS being staged at the Kodak Theatre hasn’t escaped Elfman. He’s often said that he doesn’t believe he’ll ever win an Oscar, and having his music grace the stage where the annual Oscars ceremony takes place, night after night, is a strange treat. “It’s funny, because I’ve always avoided going to the Kodak,” says Elfman, who now finds that the theater feels like a bit of a second home after going there daily to run the soundboard for the preview performances of IRIS.

“I really don’t like going to awards ceremonies,” Elfman muses. “If you give me a choice between attending the Grammys or the Academy Awards or any of these ceremonies or having a root canal, it would be a tough choice.”

“I’ve always loved the idea of being something of an underdog,” he says. “I was actually a little disappointed when I got my first (Academy Award) nomination. I had like a fantasy of being the most successful composer never to have gotten a nomination.”

Elfman sees awards as something to be avoided, not sought out. “I don’t take awards themselves seriously. Every award I’ve won has gone straight to my mother’s house. I feel like it’s bad luck to even keep them in my house. I have a hardcore policy of never believing in awards.”

All bashing aside, Elfman still has a deep respect for what the Academy does. “It gets people interested in movies, and I support anything that gets people interested in movies. Nobody would ever see a documentary or an animated short…were it not for their awards”

Elfman plans to keep taking more creative side projects, like “IRIS,” in the future, though. “I have to do something every year that’s not film,” he says. “I’m dying to write a suite of chamber music for piano and percussion.”


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Kamis, September 08, 2011

The Cinematic Magic of Cirque du Soleil's 'Iris'

Review untuk Iris dari situs Reuters.com, berikut kutipannya:

And finally, they were ingenuous to bring in a top movie magician – a film composer to do the music score. And they get one of the very best maestros: the great Danny Elfman ("Batman," "Mission: Impossible," "Alice in Wonderland") who created the most cinematic music score in Cirque musical lore.

Bravo, Danny! You should read my memoir "Kiss Me Quick Before I Shoot" that celebrates great composers and the divine marriage of music and film.

The show is presently in previews, the official opening date is Sept. 25. Make sure you experience the magic as soon as you can … because you’ll want to see it again and again and again! Bravo Cirque!


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