Name: Danny Elfman's Batman: A Film Score Guide 2nd Edition
Author: Janet K. Halfyard (Author)
ISBN: 9780810851269

Danny Elfman's Batman: A Film Score Guide 2nd Edition book cover

Danny Elfman's Batman: A Film Score Guide 2nd Edition

Author(s): Janet K. Halfyard (Author)

Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Publication Date: 7 Sept. 2004
Edition: 2nd
Language: English
Print length: 192 pages
ISBN-10: 0810851261
ISBN-13: 9780810851269

Book Description

Danny Elfman is recognized as one of the most successful, interesting, and innovative figures in recent film music composition. He came to the fore in the late 1980s in connection with his collaboration with Tim Burton on his films including Pee-Wees Big Adventure (1985), Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Nightmare before Christmas (1993), and Sleepy Hollow (1999). In addition to this, Elfman has composed music for more than 40 other films, including Somersby (1993), Dolores Claibourne (1995), Good Will Hunting (1997), Men in Black (1997), and Spiderman (2002).

Beetlejuice was the first mainstream commercial success of the collaboration, but Batman was the film which marked Tim Burtons arrival as a major figure in Hollywood film direction, and equally established Danny Elfman as a film score composer, particularly in relation to action and fantasy genres. The score for Batman won a Grammy in 1989 and is an outstanding example of his collaboration with Burton as well as admirably demonstrating his particular talents and distinctive compositional voice. In particular, it displays the characteristic darkness of his orchestration in this genre and the means he uses to create a full length film score from what is often a relatively small amount of musical material, in this case the famous Batman theme.

This book examines Elfmans scoring technique and provides a detailed analysis and commentary on the Batman score. The film is discussed in the context of its comic-book origins and the fantasy-action genre, setting it and its score against the late 1970s and early 1980s equivalents such as Star Wars and Superman, and revealing how Burton and Elfman between them changed the cinematic idea of what a superhero is. The book also explores Elfmans musical background, his place within the film music industry and the controversy that sprang up following the release of B

Editorial Reviews

Review

…a thoroughly researched and extremely useful guide….compact, accessible, and highly informative….

Elfman”s original score supports well over half of Tim Burton”s two-hour Batman, which is no small achievement. In addition, Elfman proved how effective music can be in what is usually called the “action movie” genre. Halfyard…examines Elfman”s composition career, including his contributions to Weird Science, Edward Scissorhands and a number of offbeat comedies, showing how his work began to differ from the usual scores of the 1980s and 1990s. She analyzes the themes behind Batman and Elfman”s effective use of duality in describing a complex character in conflict, set against others clearly good or evil. Halfyard then works through the score and film scene for scene.

Even if music theory isn”t your cup of tea (or its terminology is simply baffling), Halfyard”s book will serve as an excellent reference work, and the career and film assessments are invigorating. Though Scarecrow Press has thus far published three volumes in their Film Score series, hopefully it”ll continue further, and perhaps Halfyard will tackle another composer of particular note. — Mark Richard Hasan

From the Author

This book presents a detailed study and appraisal of Danny Elfman’s score for the 1989 film, Batman, directed by Tim Burton. Chapter one examines Elfman’s musical background, looking at his work with the Mystic Knights and Oingo Boingo in the 1970s and 1980s, at how he came to scoring films scoring in the first place, and at his working relationships with Tim Burton and Steve Bartek in particular. It also looks at the controversy that sprang up around 1989/ 90 about whether he actually wrote his own music or not.
The second chapter examines Elfman’s overall approach to film scoring, and the aspects of his technique, style and innovations that make him both a distinctive and important figure in contemporary scoring, looking at many of his other films and discussing issues such as orchestration and idiom, Elfmans approach to the use of themes and his ideas on capturing the tone of a film.
Chapter three looks at the film itself, examining it from the point of view of its narrative, themes and characters, its comic-book origins and the 1960s TV series, and the idea of the superhero in film from the 1970s onwards. The music is not discussed here, but the chapter sets out the elements of the Batman mythology and Burtons film to which Elfman’s score is responding, placing it in an historical and artistic context.
Chapter four is on the overall sound of the film, in particular examining the relationship between Elfman’s score and Prince’s songs. The fifth chapter traces the relationship between Batman and the Joker, examining how the music both supports and creates ideas of duality and opposition between the two characters; and chapter six examines the Bat-theme itself and the multiple meanings that Elfman generates from it and its variations. Between them, these two final chapters present an in-depth critical analysis of the score in relation to the film.

About the Author

Janet K. Halfyard is a senior lecturer at Birmingham Conservatoire, a faculty of the University of Central England, where she teaches courses in film music, and twentieth century and contemporary music.

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