- This topic is empty.
- Posts
Here’s one for fun: What’s your favorite Title Sequence from a movie that Elfman composed? I’m not just talking about the music; but rather the visuals and audio…everything.
Mine’s a toss-up between Batman Returns, Sleepy Hollow, and Mars Attacks!
I love Batman Returns’ moody travels of the bassinet, and the one shot where the shadows fall across some rocks just right and make it look like the shadow of a penguin.
But then I also really enjoy the Sleepy Hollow titles: Words fading in and out, letters drifting like leaves, sunlight streaming through the titles, all while the coach makes its way through a creepy forest. Mmm! And the music just adds so much mood to the moment.
And then Mars Attacks!, with its impending doom. Amazing that such a simple visual subject (masses of alien ships) could be so subjected to that wide variety of camera angles and pans. Nice work, that.
But since I started this topic and asked for ONE TOP favorite, I’d cast my vote for Sleepy Hollow. I can watch those opening 5 minutes again and again and never get bored.
Yeah, I would have to agree that the Sleepy Hallow opening credits are my favorite. Although, Good Will Hunting comes close. But that’s my opinion!
Jonny
Well…well I’m going crazy thinking which one is my favorite…
Both Returns and Hollow have great opening titles…but if you make me choose I’ll
go with Batman ReturnsBobby
I love the PotA opening! Great stuff there.
Pota (well, it just kicked my ass very very well
)
Mars Attacks ! (kind of repetitve but the most powerfull Titles I’ve seen and heard in my life)
Beetlejuice (the reason of my inconditionnal love for Danny)Don’t scream, but i find that the “main titles” of edward is the weakness of the soundtrack even if it’s great job !
And of course, the Simpsons
I’d go with Darkman and Nightbreed — and only because i don’t remember them!How blind is that?Dont forget MIB was kinda cool.
But seriously, spiderman was pretty cool. They did alot of nice designs with them…
I’d have to go with Batman Returns because its just so cool the way it drifts through the tunnel, being very dark and Gothic and Elfman’s theme is amazing.
I also liked the first Batman simply because of the music (better than on the soundtrack).
I also enjoyed Sleepy Hollow and Beetlejuice, but Returns is my favourite.lI’d have to go with Batman Returns because its just so cool the way it drifts through the tunnel, being very dark and Gothic and Elfman’s theme is amazing.
I also liked the first Batman simply because of the music (better than on the soundtrack).
I also enjoyed Sleepy Hollow and Beetlejuice, but Returns is my favourite.You’re not limited to my top three picks in my first post. ANY Opening Title sequence from ANY movie that Elfman composed for.
Votes so Far: (as far as I can tell…some appear to be ties)
Batman Returns – 1
Darkman – 1
Mars Attacks! – 1
Nightbreed – 1
Planet of the Apes – 2
Sleepy Hollow – 2Elfman’s best opening titles eh? Wow, so many choices so little time! The best main titles is the Planet of the Apes. No other titles that I’ve listened to by Elfman conveys as much stirring, raw emotion in me as this piece does. Also one of the more underrated titles, but not best, is Black Beauty. For my money his best overall scoring work outside of the first two Batmans.
Jeff,
Hmm…
I’d have to go with “Sleepy Hollow” as my all-time favorite, if only for purely sentimental reasons. (That was the film that got me into the world of Danny Elfman, and film scoring!). That main title sequence still makes me melt like none other…
As of right now, my favorite main title sequence is Black Beauty. I’ve been listening to that for a while now, and it’s been making me so darn weepy – but I guess that’s just the mood I’ve been in lately
My favorite: Sleepy Hollow (because it’s Halloweeney
Hooray, my most favorite holiday for the 15th year running!-E
Hmm…
I’d have to go with “Sleepy Hollow” as my all-time favorite, if only for purely sentimental reasons. (That was the film that got me into the world of Danny Elfman, and film scoring!). That main title sequence still makes me melt like none other…
As of right now, my favorite main title sequence is Black Beauty. I’ve been listening to that for a while now, and it’s been making me so darn weepy – but I guess that’s just the mood I’ve been in lately
My favorite: Sleepy Hollow (because it’s Halloweeney
Hooray, my most favorite holiday for the 15th year running!-E
Good topic
I’d have to say Beetlejuice just barely beats out Spider-man.
Yeah, but Beetlejuice and Batman and Batman Returns all have a similar opening sequence with a sweeping panoramic view of a landscape or an emblem or whatnot…..That’s why i don’t really choose those, because they’re all the same, even though the music supercedes that. Edward had the cookies and scissors, and Spiderman had the web designs with the character morphing in and out of them. Damn…do any of you guys remember Darkman and Nightbreed? I’m so lost on those. Sleepy Hollow has interactive titles which set the mood really damn well. And MIB had the dragonfly while Mars had the convoy…Good Will Hunting had all that neat Math stuff…Army of Darkness was kinda cheesy with the whispy swirling titles…NMBC didn’t have main titles, did it?Proof of Life’s main titles was an action sequence. Damn…i should just vote for Pee Wee’s simple black screen with the white heading in the middle…
Call me crazy, but I love the Flubber Main Titles.
I took my step-brother to see it, and while the movie itself was a dud, the title sequence with all the equations floating around was pretty sweet. I don’t think it is my favorite one, that’s Sleepy Hollow, because it starts with Christopher Lee, and ends with a cool shot of Ichabod walking through the town. It actually moved the story along.
Still since no one brought it up (probably because no one else saw it) I would like to put Flubber out there.
So sue me.
Dobbs: I remember Darkman…it was a lot of swirly images, I think even mirrored from one side of the screen to the other. The music was gripping, but I didn’t find the overall sequence to be so awesome as you seem to remember.
BUT: since this is just a friendly poll, you are MOST welcome to hold to that opinion.
Nat: Flubber is rather cool!
I don’t plan to sue you.Score as of 8:02 PST:
Batman Returns – 3
Beetlejuice – 1
Darkman – 1
Flubber – 1
Mars Attacks! – 1
Nightbreed – 1
Planet of the Apes – 3
Sleepy Hollow – 3NOT ONE FREAKIN VOTE FOR BATMAN????????
C’mon now. I know he has written a lot of music that put him on the map.Beetlejuice is musical genius, and Hollow, Edward, and Returns are great, but for my dollar there has been no more exhilerating moment in movie music as when the first bars of the looming Batman theme gets introduced right off the bat, then it’s off a’runnin, and along with the visuals, I remember everyone thinking it was the inside of the Batcave on the opening sequence….It sets the movie on fire, and then off course the followthrough that it’s actually a great movie didn’t hurt.
It was awesome….he has written and continues to write some dandies, but Batman sealed the deal for me…he could lose his head and start writing only on toy piano for Barbara Walter’s Specials and I would still worship his accomplishment that was BATMAN.SOMEONE VOTED FOR FLUBBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
C’mon people I need to hear your voices!
Me, personally, I wouldn’t limit it to one… but if I had to pick a number one spot, it would probably be Batman Returns — particularly the ostinato building up to the crescendo. Very dark, very fluid, very brooding… ALL Elfman. By Returns, he took what was originally Herrmann’s work and finally transformed it into something completly fresh and atmospheric… something that still sends chills up my spine evertime I hear it. The strings, the choir, the vibes, the chords… *shivers*… B-r-r-r-r…
I’d also go with Sleepy Hollow, Spiderman, Darkman, Mars Attacks, Edward Scissorhands, Nightbreed, and Beetlejuice as runners up.
Note: those are my favorites — they don’t necessarilly reflect what I think are his BEST (which might included Delores Claiborne, Sommersby, POTA, A Simple Plan, and Nightmare Before X-mas, among others).
Peace Love and all that Jazz. . .
TexNightmare Before Christmas and Sleepy Hollow.
The music, the music, the scenes, the scenes, everything about them…
Well I’ll say that for about every film Tim Burton and Danny Elfman have done together. I’m just hardcore and obsessedNightmare was SO well thought up its incredible…
and so was Sleepy Hollow.Oh, and also, to Erika — Nightmare is Halloweenie!
I don’t believe anyone in that time period and of that culture would celebrate Halloween. (But I may be wrong — there were lots of crazies in 1799.)-Em
DON’T think about JUST the music! Evaluate the whole package known as the Main Title Sequence!
I will concede I probably should have put Batman higher up on my list, Richard. I re-watched it recently, and it does have a gripping effect. I’m still stuck on Sleepy Hollow as tops, though.
Hey Brian, I was taking the whole concept of a title sequence into consideration. Sleepy Hollow is probably one of the most beautiful movies ever made. I watched it last night in thinking about your comments, and I do concede that it is very cool, tone and mood setting, very neat. but it doesn’t have the dramatic force that Batman does, neither does Returns for my money. There wasn’t the big hiype or mystery about the film. I appreciate more and more the visual and acoustical apsects of Sleepy Hollow every time I watch it. Beetlejuice has that great opening sequence, but it’s just that shot going ove rthe model, Edward is neat, especailly when you consider its relation to the whole. But I’m sticking to my guns, BATMAN. I can’t figure why I’m alone on this one.
‘Cause opinions are opinions, and tastes vary! Good thing too!I thought I was the only one who would actually base a whole life off of Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow (and I probably AM hehehe) but it IS, in my eye, the most beautiful movie ever made. (Next on my list: The Nightmare Before Christmas. I’m a total Burton freak.)
-Em
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.