39th Annual Saturn Awards

Para pemenang Saturn Awards ke-39 telah diumumkan, berikut salah satunya:

BEST MUSIC
Frankenweenie - Danny Elfman

Life of Pi - Mychael Danna
Anna Karenina - Dario Marianelli
Skyfall - Thomas Newman
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Howard Shore
The Dark Knight Rises - Hans Zimmer

Baca lengkapnya di sini. Asik!

Tastemaker: composer Danny Elfman likes it deliciously dark

South China Morning Post mewawancarai Danny Elfman, berikut kutipannya:

Today we are sitting in a cafe inside Hong Kong's Disneyland as the theme park launches its new Mystic Point section, which features a soundtrack Elfman has put together. The Los Angeles native proves an engaging interview, confident and calm but occasionally adding a flourish of emotion.
Before the interview draws to a close, Elfman wants us to know Hong Kong might figure in his future - if all goes to plan. "Some day I would love to work with [comedian, actor and director] Stephen Chow [Sing-chi]. To me Kung Fu Hustle is one of the best movies ever made. I've shown that to a million people," he says.

"I say 'Look what can be done with this much money and a ton of imagination, rather than a ton of money and not that much imagination'. It's the most original film that I have seen in the past 10 or 20 years. It's always been a dream to visit one of his sets. One of these days, if destiny decides, it just might happen."

Elfman takes a breath, a pause for dramatic effect. "Do you hear that, Mr Chow?"

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'Independence Day 2,' 'Peregrine's Home for Peculiars' Get Release Dates

Situs The Hollywood Reporter memberitakan bahwa Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiars akan disutradarai Tim Burton dan dirilis tanggal 31 Juli 2015. Berikut kutipannya:

The film, based on Ransom Riggs' debut novel, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, will be directed by Tim Burton from a script by X-Men: First Class writer Jane Goldman.

Baca lengkapnya di sini, hati-hati plot spoiler.

Film-film yang musiknya akan dibuat oleh Danny Elfman berikutnya adalah The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld (2013), Big Eyes (2014) dan film ini (31 Juli 2015).

Epic

Situs Filmtracks me-review Epic, berikut kutipannya:

Don't be surprised if this score is met with much of the same reaction that greeted Oz the Great and Powerful. Both remain solid, workmanlike scores that lack the distinctive punch of the composer's classics, but you can't really knock any part of these works outside of some possible handling issues with the themes. The brain insists that a score like this one, on the heels of Oz the Great and Powerful, is worthy of a high three-star rating, but a cue with the majesty of "Return" demands that the influences of nostalgia and comfort add a fourth star. Elfman's loyalists are once again served with a reliably entertaining listening experience.

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"Soundtrack Review: Oz The Great And Powerful" Music By Danny Elfman

Situs Examiner me-review soundtrack Oz The Great and Powerful, berikut kutipannya:

The music for "Oz The Great And Powerful" features alot of Elfman's charming and distinctive sounds that he's become snynomous with in films like "Edward Scissorhands", "Batman", "Dolores Claiborne" and "Sommersby" to name a few. The huge orchestrial sounds mixed an enchanting chorus with its' angelic voices with the occasional edge towards darkness.

Walt Disney/Intrada's album is a wonderful recording and in continuing their partnership with Disney, Intrada's top notch production of the album continues with this CD and it's always good to see Elfman's work well taken care of. This score is a good solid album that should be played with "Epic" as a double feature which most fans will enjoy both very much. Thumbs up for its' rich melodic material.

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Danny Elfman on Scoring for a Disney Ride

The Wall Street Journal mewawancarai Danny Elfman soal Mystic Manor, berikut kutipannya:

The Wall Street Journal: Why did you take on this project?
Mr. Elfman: It was my connection with the Haunted Mansion from Disneyland that drew me, because I remember that so well. The chance to pay a bit of homage to that was very exciting to me, because I like the idea of doing something that gets into the subconscious mind of children from many generations, like the Haunted Mansion did for me.

You use different musical styles for the attraction. Why?
It’s more cinematic. That’s where it differs from the Haunted Mansion or Pirates of the Caribbean, where you have more of a single theme on a loop. We approached this more narratively, meaning really like scoring a movie.

Like the room with the Chinese artifacts?
Yeah, and where all the instruments come alive. And then the conclusion—it’s very much synchronized to what you are seeing. For everything in between, we had to create loops that are going to be a little different every time somebody goes through. So it was a great technical challenge.

The Chinese room is the most dramatic, with the monkey king coming to life.
I treated it just like it was a film score at that point…like it was the big conclusion at the end of a movie. That was the thing I didn’t know when we started, that we were going to treat it that way. But that’s the way it evolved, and it just seemed like the right way to go.

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EPIC – Danny Elfman

Movie Music UK me-review soundtrack Epic, berikut kutipannya:

Featuring a large orchestra, chorus and a number of regional specialty instruments, Epic is large-scale, loud, thematic and has several moments of genuine power and beauty. Elfman has always had a knack for capturing a sense of wonder and innocence through his music, and this score continues the trend, going all the way back to the early days of his career, but now we have the added bonus of being able to enjoy Elfman’s more sophisticated and accomplished compositional techniques alongside the heightened emotional content.

Parts of Epic are really superb, especially when the main theme comes into play and the orchestra builds to its largest forces.

This small grumble aside, there are really no other complaints to be made about Epic. Perhaps the main theme could have been a little stronger and more front-and-center, but the lack of a really dominant melody is more than counteracted by the rich and lustrous orchestrations and the overall sense of magic Elfman brings to the rest of his music. Epic most definitely represents Elfman writing firmly in his warmly-hued comfort zone, creating whimsical and wondrous worlds through his enchanting writing, but Elfman’s comfort zone is arguably more comfortable than almost anyone else’s these days, and fans of his world will want to stay there for a while. Happy birthday.

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"Epic" Soundtrack Review Music By Danny Elfman

Examiner me-review soundtrack Epic, berikut ini kutipannya:

This is Elfman's fourth entry into animation after "Meet The Robinsons", "The Corpse Bride" and the aforementioned "Frankenweenie" and this is one of Elfman's solid efforts that follows on the heels of "Oz" in terms of grandness and what is the best part of this score is that quite different than his last few efforts.

The score is a grand huge orchestral score featuring a choir that is epic and dramatic. It is a tour de force of Elfman's more engaging material along with his usual flair for playfulness as almost every Elfman score does and happily so.

Sony's album is a nicely assembled album featuring fifty-one minutes of Elfman's lovely, lush score and it has such as smooth flow that fans will enjoy it as much I did much to my surprise. I have to say that I owe a friend a solid kudos for this one because this was quite a departure for Elfman who is enjoying a musical renaissance over the last year and "Epic" continues that positive trend. Thumbs up to a grand work.

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Danny Elfman

HK Magazine mewawancarai Danny Elfman sehubungan dengan musiknya untuk atraksi di Hong Kong Disneyland, Mystic Manor, berikut kutipannya:

HK Magazine: You can now check off “roller coasters” from your composer’s bucket list. What’s tricky about scoring a ride, as opposed to a film?
Danny Elfman: Well, I knew that everything was going to have to be timed out in a unique way. In movies, you might have a number of different scenes, but [for the ride] it had to be compressed. There isn’t one car moving people from beginning to end—there are four. That meant that some things could be synchronized exactly to the action, but others couldn’t and would be played on loops through the rooms. It was really quite a puzzle in terms of putting it all together, but that’s what made it fun.

HK: Is this your first time in Hong Kong?
DE: No, this is my third time. I was here two years ago when there was nothing but foundation [at Mystic Manor], and again a month ago working every day in the rooms, mixing and putting together the sounds. That was fun.

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Mystic Point grand opening celebrated at Hong Kong Disneyland

Seperti pernah diberitakan di sini, Danny Elfman membuat musik untuk Mystic Manor, salah satu atraksi dari Disneyland, Hong Kong. Tanggal 17 Mei kemarin, atraksi tersebut diresmikan, termasuk mengundang Danny Elfman ke acara tersebut.

Berikut kutipan dari Richard Kraft, agen dari Danny Elfman:

In addition to scoring Mystic Manor, Elfman makes a few "cameos" throughout the attraction, including as a portrait in the queue area as "Maestro D. Elfman", as a name on a harpsichord in the Music Room, and amongst the singing voice as a suit-of-armor helmet, and a tiki god.

Baca ceritanya di sini.

Varèse Sarabande's 35th Anniversary Gala

Film, Music & Media meng-upload foto-foto acara ini di Facebook. Klik di sini.

The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld

Situs agen Danny Elfman menyatakan bahwa ia akan mengisi musik untuk film dokumenter dari Errol Morris The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld. Beriku kutipannya:

Elfman’s most recent projects include Sam Raimi’s Oz: The Great and Powerful, Chris Wedge’s animated film Epic and the Errol Morris documentary The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld.

Film ini mendokumentasi karir mantan Secretary of Defense dari Amerika Serikat, Donald Rumsfeld dari sejak menjadi anggota kongres di dekade 1960an sampai ke perencanaan invasi ke Irak tahun 2003. 

Film ini akan dirilis tahun 2013 dan akan merupakan kerja sama untuk kedua kalinya antara Errol Morris dengan Danny Elfman. Mereka pertama kali bekerja sama untuk film dokumenter Standard Operating Procedure di tahun 2008.

Situs agen Danny Elfman bisa dibaca di sini dan press release dari film ini bisa dibaca di sini.

Epic

Studio: Blue Sky Studios, 20th Century Fox Animation
Sutradara: Chris Wedge
Composer: Danny Elfman
Tanggal rilis film: 24 Mei 2013
Tanggal rilis soundtrack: 28 Mei 2013
Label: Sony Classics

Track list:
1. Leafmen (1:17)
2. Pursuit (2:40)
3. Tara's Chamber (3:03)
4. Meet Dad (0:34)
5. Moonhaven Parade (1:27)
6. Alarms (0:41)
7. The Selection (2:13)
8. Ambush (4:17)
9. Tara's Gift (2:05)
10. Small (2:29)
11. Girl Meets Boy (3:24)
12. Rings of Knowledge (2:35)
13. Antlers (2:10)
14. Kidnapped (0:54)
15. In the House (3:39)
16. Many Leaves (1:54)
17. Escape (4:45)
18. False Start (3:07)
19. Epic Final Confrontation (3:19)
20. Return (4:18)
21. Epic Finale (1:34)

Total time: 52:25

Tim Burton to Direct Christoph Waltz, Amy Adams in 'Big Eyes'

Berita agak lama, Tim Burton akan menyutradarai film Big Eyes yang artinya Danny Elfman akan membuat musiknya. Big Eyes akan bercerita mengenai kehidupan Walter Keane dan istrinya Margaret Keane, pasangan suami-istri yang pada tahun '50an dan '60an memproduksi massal lukisan-lukisan anak-anak bermata besar. Film ini akan dirilis tahun 2014 dan akan dibintangi oleh Christoph Waltz dan Amy Adams. Baca beritanya di sini.

BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES: VOL. 2: LIMITED EDITION

Berikut kutipan dari booklet-nya:

Michael McCuistion who came to (Shirley) Walker's attention via a demo tape passed through husband Don, remembers being intimidated by his early trials. "She was such an enormous talent, and her musical skills were off the charts. She would take my sketches, which were about ten lines tall in various clefs, an sit at the piano to play them, simultaneously reducing and sight-reading in temp to picture to get an idea of what I had written." It was a skill Walker had honed over many years; she had done similar on-the-fly piano reductions for Carmine Coppola on THE BLACK STALLION, and for Danny Elfman on BATMAN. "The first time she did that I know my jaw must have hit the floor," says McCuistion.



DISC ONE

1. BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - Main Title
Composed by Danny Elfman

Danny Elfman's original main title is here presented "clean," without the sound effects that accompanied the broadcast version (see disc four). Elfman arranged the cue himself, with orchestration by Mark McKenzie, based on his Batman theme for the 1989 Burton film. The combination of music and imagery was deemed so iconic that the title BATMAN never actually appeared on the screen.

50. BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - End Credits (Extended)
Composed by Danny Elfman

Danny Elfman's end credits adaptation of his '89 theme was abridged for broadcast, clipping the initial 4 seconds and excising a passage from 0:22-0:33. An alternate ending was also used (see disc three). This is the uncut version of the theme, in its original form.



DISC TWO

1. BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - Main Title (Piano Version)
Composed by Danny Elfman and Shirley Walker

Early in the development of the series, Walker was asked to come up with an original concept for the show's main title sequence. She performed and recorded this piano demo against a beeping metronome, utilizing both Elfman's theme and her own original theme. (This is the earliest surviving take, and represents the composition in stripped-down form; additional components would have been overlaid later, as heard in the synth mock-up that opens disc three.)

50. BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - End Credits (Alternate Beginning)
Composed by Danny Elfman

This alternate version of Elfman's end credits strips the live strings from the introductory measures, leaving the reinforcing synth exposed.



DISC THREE

1. BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - Main Title (MIDI Version)
Composed by Danny Elfman and Shirley Walker

After evolving her proposed version of the main title on piano, Walker moved into synth mock-ups. This incarnation, which never made it to the scoring stage, continues to feature both the Elfman and Walker themes.

50. BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - End Credits (Alternate Ending)
Composed by Danny Elfman

This alternate version of Elfman's end credits music features a sharper final crescendo, as heard in the broadcast version of the cues.



DISC FOUR

1. BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - Main Title (with Sound Effects)
Composed by Danny Elfman

Elfman's title theme was augmented for broadcast with an explosive crash at 0:15 and a dramatic thunderclap at 0:56.

34. BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - End Credits (Alternate Beginning and Ending)
Composed by Danny Elfman

For this take of Elfman's end credits music, both the alternate beginning and ending (as heard on discs two and three) are used.

Lihat infonya di sini.

"It's all in the (film) music": Interview with Lukas Kendall (Film Score Monthly)

Situs ColonneSonore.net mewawancarai Lukas Kendall pendiri majalah Film Score Monthly dan labelnya yang merilis soundtracks. Berikut kutipannya:

The right way to produce a film score album is the way we did them (complete and chronological). It may seem like there were a hundred people who wanted abridged albums, but it was really just one guy who posted a hundred times. I’m not saying our way is creatively the best, but it is the best for our audience.

I think that as listening experiences, yes, the shorter presentations are better. It’s natural that if you cherry-pick the best cues and cut out the boring parts, the album will be better. But then people lament what got cut. There is always that short 20-second transition that is your favorite moment in the entire score that the composer (usually Goldsmith) left off the original album—who are we to perpetuate that deprivation? There is no perfect solution except to release everything complete and chronological, and let people make their own abridged sequences

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The Changing Soundscape of Superhero Movies

Variety mem-publish tulisan Jon Burlingame terkait dengan Man of Steel-nya Hans Zimmer, berikut kutipannya:

You’ve known them for years, maybe all your life: the great comicbook movie and TV themes. John Williams’ soaring brass flourishes for Superman, Danny Elfman’s brooding Gothic fanfare for “Batman,” even the silly Spider-Man title song from the TV series that was so catchy it wound up in the first three Spidey movies.

Once upon a time, superhero movies demanded big orchestras and heroic musical signatures. The concept dates back to the Max Fleischer “Superman” cartoons of the 1940s, carried on in the “Adventures of Superman” series of the ’50s.

But in the 21st century, do big-budget comicbook movies still require the same treatment? More to the point, do audiences demand it? Is it a risky strategy to depart from the decades-old musical traditions of DC and Marvel heroes?

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VARÈSE SARABANDE 35th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT GALA

Dalam rangka perayaan ulang tahun label Varèse Sarabande ke-35, akan diadakan konser pada tanggal 11 Mei di Los Angeles, bekerja sama dengan The Golden State Pops Orchestra. Berikut kutipannya:

On May 11, 2013 the Golden State Pops Orchestra will stage a historic concert in celebration of Varèse Sarabande's 35th Anniversary and host a gathering of the label's roster of composers, along with other dignitaries from the film music world of Los Angeles.

A special concert program has been prepared specifically for the GSPO by Robert Townson, producer of over 1200 of Varese Sarabande's soundtrack releases since 1986. Townson will host the evening and present highlights from the label's past, with music by Jerry Goldsmith (Rudy), Alex North (Spartacus) and Georges Delerue (World Concert Premiere of Academy Award-winning A Little Romance, featuring flute soloist Sara Andon), plus a wide selection of contemporary blockbusters by Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino, John Powell, Danny Elfman and many others.

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Varèse Sarabande: A 35th Anniversary Celebration

Seperti telah disebutkan sebelumnya, tanggal 23 April Varèse Sarabande akan merilis box set berisi musik-musik yang dirilis label tersebut dalam lima tahun terakhir. Track list-nya telah diumumkan dan akan ada tiga tracks dari Danny Elfman:

• CD 1 track 13, Real Steel "Final Round" (6:54) 
• CD 2 track 19, Standard Operating Procedure "S.O.P. Theme #1" (5:57) 
• CD 3 track 12, The Wolfman "Wolf Suite (Part 1)" (4:17). 

Tidak ada track dari Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Baca track list lengkapnya di sini.

Marc Mann on DP and Danny Elfman

Situs MOTU mewawancarai Marc Mann termasuk mengenai Danny Elfman. Link-nya ada di sini.