Situs Billboard melaporkan acara penyerahan Maestro Award kepada Danny Elfman di acara Billboard/Hollywood Reporter Film and TV Music Conference tanggal 25 Oktober, berikut kutipannya:
Elfman said "the emotional side" of Hitchcock's story attracted him to Gervasi's picture. He had no intention of mimicking Herrmann, lest it sound like parody. As he rightly pointed out, John Williams' "Jaws" theme and Herrmann's "Psycho" shower scene music are perhaps the two most recognized bits of instrumental sound from any two movies ever.
Elfman was a huge fan of Gervasi's documentary about hard-luck Canadian metal band Anvil. "I take exception to the 'Spinal Tap' allegory," he said of the film. "In fact, the movie was so wrenching emotionally, my wife and I had to stop the first time. We couldn't finish it. We had to come back and finish it. We found it really engaging. One can look at it and say 'Spinal Tap like' because they're a crazy rock, heavy metal kind of thing. But it was really moving. Very rare that we have to pause before the last act of the film because we're almost afraid to see how it ends."
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Situs The Hollywood Reporter mewawancarai Danny Elfman, berikut ini kutipannya:
The Hollywood Reporter: How did you score seven films in about a year's time?
Danny Elfman: Eight. Dark Shadows, Men in Black 3,Frankenweenie, Silver Linings Playbook, Promised Land,Hitchcock, Oz, Epic. I've never had a year like this. It's a blur. Ripping myself out of one and hurtling into another is like switching alternate universes, a ripping slash.
THR: What was Russell like on Silver Linings Playbook?
Elfman: I was apprehensive because I have a real fear of romantic comedy. It's the one genre I go out of my way to never do because I don't have a feel for it. I see very few comedies, even. But this was just strange enough, and I loved the chemistry between Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. I thought it'd be easy, since there isn't that much music. It was far from easy, because David is such a character. He tortured me endlessly but never stopped amusing me. The trick with David is to be very patient, just kick back and try to enjoy the Russell Experience. Really worthwhile.
THR: You imagined yourself into composer Bernard Herrmann's head for Gus Van Sant's Psycho remake. What was it like to score Hitchcock?
Elfman: The main thing I wanted to know from Sacha was that he didn't want to do a Herrmann-esque score, a mock Psycho. The story is a romance between Alfred and Alma Hitchcock. It's a fairly romantic score, and it gets a little darker where Hitchcock is in the world of Ed Gein [the killer who inspired Psycho], talking to him. I found myself occasionally doing Herrmann-esque things but not intentionally. He's so much part of my DNA, there's moments where, yeah, there's a bit of an homage there, but it's just me.
THR: Why did you do Promised Land? Was it fun because Van Sant likes to let people take big risks?
Elfman: There's so many things fun about working with him, but that's an important one. He actually forces me to take risks. I start with ideas, and he'll say, "Let's try completely opposite stuff and see what happens." I just start playing Gus pieces I'm writing. For Promised Land, I'm thinking, "OK, guitars -- a very simple Americana score." Gus was like, "Why don't we do the whole thing on marimbas?" He's just a pure pleasure to work with.
THR: What makes music funny?
Elfman: I don't know.
THR: Do you have a "funny" button on your console?
Elfman: I wish. On Oz just yesterday, I was playing some music for [director] Sam Raimi, and he was laughing out loud. And what I did that was so funny in this particular moment was a pause. What's usually funny in music is timing. When I'm making Sam laugh effectively, which I've been doing quite a bit of this week, it's because I'm finding the timing of a scene, putting in accents and pauses in very specific moments. It's funny without trying to be.
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Situs Film Music Magazine mengeluarkan rekomendasinya untuk bulan Oktober 2012, termasuk Frankenweenie, berikut kutipannya:
“Frankenweenie” is always in hyperactive cartoon mode, flurrying about like Carl Stalling in a Franz Waxman “Bride of Frankenstein” mood. We also get a1930’s black and white orchestra, along with a wacked 50′s Theremin that at times makes “Frankenweenie” seem like the steroid soundtrack for the Ed Wood monster picture that Elfman always wanted to score. But in the end, it’s the swellingly magical choral and string sweetness of a little boy and his dog that sticks with you along with a truly genius horror-ification of Disney’s opening signature tune of “When You Wish Upon A Star” – easily the coolest bit of studio logo music subversion since Elliot Goldenthal turned Alfred Newman’s Fox fanfare to dissonance for “Alien 3.”
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A first for Elfman, musik untuk... smartphone game app! Berikut kutipannya:
Puppet Masterpiece Theater: The Circus game app captivates players with story and illustrations by Alexandra Conn and music by Danny Elfman. Based on a story written by a child, this circus app includes nine magical games, lions, seals, snakes, talking birds, a painted horse, and a villainous ring leader. Available now from Organa on iTunes for iPads.
Puppet Masterpiece Theater: The Circus has nine games woven into a classic story of intrigue, adventure and circus delights. These interactive games promise to educate, entertain and engage the kids as they travel with a group of friends on a mission to get their beloved horse back – they get more than they bargained for when the circus comes to town. This captivating story is set to a spectacular soundtrack by Danny Elfman, Grammy award winner, known for his TV and film scores including “The Simpsons”, “Nightmare Before Christmas” and most recently “Frankenweenie”.
"Alex Conn's genius design and Danny Elfman's music is AMAZING for the young and not-so-young." says Dorit Avganim the Theater Producer and Arts Educator.
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Studio: The Weinstein Company
Sutradara: David O. Russell
Composer: Danny Elfman
Tanggal rilis film: 21 November 2012
Tanggal rilis album: 19 November 2012
Label: Sony
Track list:
1. Silver Lining Titles – Danny Elfman
2. My Cherie Amour – Stevie Wonder
3. Always Alright – Alabama Shakes
4. Unsquare Dance - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5. Buffalo - alt-J
6. The Moon Of Manakoora – Les Paul & Mary Ford
7. Monster Mash – CrabCorps
8. Goodnight Moon – Ambrosia Parsley & The Elegant Too
9. Now I’m A Fool – Eagles Of Death Metal
10. Walking Home – Danny Elfman
11. Girl From The North Country – Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash
12. Silver Lining – Jessie J
13. Hey Big Brother – Rare Earth
14. Maria – The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Situs The Hollywood Reporter melaporkan bahwa Danny Elfman akan mendapatkan Maestro Award di acara Billboard/Hollywood Reporter Film and TV Music Conference pada tanggal 25 Oktober mendatang di W Hotel, Hollywood. Berikut kutipannya:
Ever since his first major film score, Tim Burton's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure in 1985, Elfman has been among the most gifted and prolific composers in Hollywood history, earning a Grammy for Burton's Batman, an Emmy for Desperate Housewives, and four Oscar nominations. His compositions, including the theme to The Simpsons and scores to most Burton films, are instantly recognizable and often iconic.
THR film critic Todd McCarthy will give the award and host a Q&A with Elfman and Hitchcock director Sacha Gervasi. Elfman is the ideal composer for Hitchcock, since one of his chief influences is Hitchcock's frequent composer Bernard Herrmann, whose score for Psycho Elfman "interpreted" for Van Sant's remake.
The Q&A will address not only Hitchcock but Elfman's other award-contender movies, David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook, Gus Van Sant's Promised Land, and Burton's Frankenweenie.
Baca lengkapnya di sini. Congrats, Mr. Elfman!
Situs Filmtracks me-review score album Frankenweenie dan memberi empat bintang. Berikut kutipannya:
Buy it... if you are consistently engaged by Danny Elfman's mastery of gothic storytelling, his themes and narrative in this work a showcase of the composer's reliable fantasy and drama modes.
Avoid it... if you expect Elfman's thematic identities, despite their tender and raucous range and entertaining execution, to be original enough to consider this score transcendent in the composer's career.
Overall,Frankenweenie is extremely entertaining in nearly of its ranks, despite some regurgitation and simplistic themes from Elfman. The parody material, from the opening logo to the monster-fest at the climax, is tremendous fun. The "Electricity" and "Re-Animation" duo is equally engaging. As surprising as this may seem, it's the lighter two themes that, while very pleasant, fail to carry the same ingenuity and memorable character. Still, this is a very solid score that is pure Elfman magic at its heart, and, as a superior companion piece to Dark Shadows, it reaffirms the composer's mastery of gothic storytelling.
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Randall Larson merilis buku sejarah lengkap musik film Musique Fantastique: 100 Years of Fantasy, Science Fiction & Horror Film Music Second Edition. Edisi pertamanya dirilis tahun 1985 dan mencakup sejarah musik film sampai awal dekade '80an. Edisi kedua ini dilengkapi sampai dengan film-film tahun 2011 (2012?). Berikut kutipannya:
Announcing: Musique Fantastique, Second Edition
100+ Years of Fantasy, Science Fiction & Horror Film Music
By Randall D. Larson
Creature Features Press: 2012
This thoroughly re-written and massively expanded new edition of Larson’s seminal 1985 book will be spread over a landscape of four large volumes, covering every aspect of music for fantastic films from the Silents through the Summer Blockbusters of 2011. Focusing on the composers whose work has enlivened the movies of monsters and madmen, fantastic lands and distant worlds, Larson analyzes fantasy, science fiction, and horror film music around the world, from A TRIP TO THE MOON in 1902 to TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON in 2011. Eschewing criticism for commentary, Larson incorporates interviews with hundreds of composers along with his own perceptive analytic commentary and the perspectives of a myriad of other reviewers, writers, and commentators, providing in Musique Fantastique, Second Edition a comprehensive historical overview of how music has been used in the fantastic genre.
Totaling 34 Chapters and more than 1700 pages, featuring a new introduction by film composer Christopher Young, Musique Fantastique, Second Edition offers a definitive historical context for the evolution and development of film music within science fiction, fantasy, and horror cinema.
Sejarah musik film ini terbagi menjadi empat buku:
- Book One: Beginnings and The First Golden Age (1900-1959)
- Book Two: Post Classical Cinema and Music Beyond Hollywood (The 1960s)
- Book Three: The Symphonic Resurgence and the Rise of the Machines (1970-1989)
- Book Four: The Turning of a New Millennium & the Explosion of Fantastic Cinema (1990-2010).
Baru buku pertama yang dirilis. Danny Elfman baru akan mulai disebut di buku ketiga dan keempat. Dari daftar isinya, Elfman mendapat beberapa subsection yaitu "Danny Elfman’s Big Adventure" di buku ketiga, Chapter 23: Resurgence: Fantasy Film Music in the ‘70s and ‘80s – Part Two, "The Decade of Danny Elfman" di buku keempat, 28: Fantasy & Fusion: The Hybrid Horror & Fantasy Music of the 1990s – Part 1 dan "Elfman 2000" di Chapter 30: New Styles For The Musical Millennium – The Evolving Dynamics of Fantastic Film Music. Berikut kutipannya:
If any single composer defines mischievous mayhem in 1990s cinema music it was Danny Elfman, who carved out an entirely memorable and extraordinarily effective new career as a film composer out of what had been a comfortable life in rock and roll. Elfman began his rise in the film musical community in the late 1980s (see Chapter 22), crafting a slightly lunatic style that was perfect for the emerging mix of humor and horror that embodied many of these films… [He] continued his association with director Tim Burton throughout this decade and the next, the two continuing to share a common creative bond. “The hardest part of being a film composer is not writing the score, it’s climbing inside the director’s head and seeing the movie through their eyes, and yet still giving it your own identity,” said Elfman. “One of the great joys of working with Tim is that climbing inside his head is not that much different than being inside my own head. There are definitely a lot of common links there.” When Burton filmed his Gotham City sequel, Batman Returns (1992), Elfman found the opportunity to expand his original 1989 Batman score and create some deliciously devilish music for the Penguin and Catwoman characters, whose origins are introduced in this film. “Tim and I made a decision to hear the Batman melody played straight and simple, or you’d lose the connection with the first picture,” Elfman told Daniel Schweiger. “The Catwoman needed a more complex theme than the Penguin, because she’s a victim. Felina’s schizophrenic, so her music had to be twisted, fun, and bittersweet…. The Penguin is a broad, twisted, and evil little character, but one that we love. His music is more theatrical, because whenever he walked on the stage, I saw the Penguin as an opera singer who was about to deliver an aria. I gave his melodies a grand, overblown quality that was sometimes just plain sinister.”
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Tanggal 2 Oktober, Dark Shadows dirilis dalam format DVD (region 1 yaitu Amerika dan Kanada), blu-ray (region A yaitu Amerika dan Asia Tenggara termasuk Indonesia) dan Ultraviolet Digital Copy untuk Amerika. Tidak ada fitur khusus mengenai musiknya atau Danny Elfman, tapi ada pembahasan musiknya oleh Danny Elfman dalam fitur picture-in-picture track dengan "focus points".
