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Well, I’m sure that it will sound just like the same mash up of the chord progressions he uses in every film. HB II sounded like TNBC, Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, etc. and the only way “his” sound might change is if his he uses a different crew other than:
Edgardo Simone,
Steve Bartek,
Mark Mann, along with
music editor Bill Abbot,
Bob Fernandez,
assistant music editor Denise Okimoto,
score mixer Dennis Sands,
Music Editors Bob Badami, Nancy Fogarty, Denise Okimoto, etc.I would be typing in names all morning if I listed all the people that actually do his job for him! Yes, most Hollywood composers have a team to help out, but most of the composers can orchestrate their own material if need be, where if Elfman was left with a piano, paper, and a pencil- we’d get musical poop. Yes, he has some nice ideas, but he needs to learn how to orchestrate! He didn’t even orchestrate his serious “art music” album “serenade schizhophrenia.” WHAT THE F**K?? Also, he needs to expand his harmonic language other than his usual minor scales- try some non-diatonic church modes fro a chance.
I couldn’t live with myself as a composer that only creates MIDI sketches and gives it to about 20 other people to get the end result… I guess the music is a product though and who cares then, right? It’s not like he is Brahms, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, Mahler, Vivaldi, or Chopin. What a shame it is when people actually believe that the music in the film is 100% Elfman… sad, sad state of affairs it is! At least for film music.
Thanking me for what- the elephant in the room or creating discussion on a discussion board?
Here is something that is from Elfman himself:
“Complete Guide to Film Scoring”
ISBN: 0-634-00636-3
Berklee Press
Richard DavisPage 284:
Q: “What advice do you have for young composers?”
A: Danny Elfman: “If you want to be successful learn to imitate. I think the entire industry right now revolves around plagiarism and imitation, and unless you’re willing to plagiarize you may find it difficult to proceed. On the other hand, if you want to be a good composer, or a real composer, learn to resist that tendency. That can be hard and it can also mean you may not get certain kind of jobs you want… I think imitation is the easy way out…’
The last time I checked, Elfman was pretty dang successful in his field:)
Also- here is a partial list of specific scores that I found that Elfman *cough* “borrowed” *cough* themes and snips from from:
“The Hulk”- Debussy’s “Book of Preludes Vol. 1” and Philip Glass’ “Dance Suites”
“Spiderman”- Philip Glass’ “Dance Suites”
“Beetle Juice”- Stravinsky’s “Histoire du soldat”
“TNBC”- One of Kurt Weill’s voice and piano pieces (theme used in the EXACT same key & rhythm!!!!)
The Simpsons- Sir Malcolm Arnold’s “Overture”I have many more if anyone wants to know about these “coincidences.” I also have specific bar numbers, movements, etc.
This guy can cut and paste better that Microsoft Word! I really dig Elfman, but he has stolen more themes that I can keep up with. Listen to Stravinsky, Kurt Weill, Sir Malcolm Arnold, and Prokofiev. Now there is ‘influence’ and ‘ripping.’ You decide which is Elfman’s favorite method. Bartek also has similar ‘methods’ with his orchestrations for Elfman’s sketches.
What else would you expect with ‘minimal’ classical composition training (Elfman) and some formal education in orchestration (Bartek)? Yeah they were both in Oingo Boingo, but “Weird Science” is pretty damn far from the conservatory training of Bartok, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Weill, Arnold, Brahms, Beethoven, Webern, Berg, Rach, Liszt- (need I go on)?
So I would be surprised if anyone was naive enough to believe that Elfman, Bartek, and the other 20 people it takes to complete a single ‘Elfman’ score doesn’t use material from another composer who has completed the work by him or herself. It’s the way of the Hollywood score composer, n’est-ce pas?
just imagine Prokofiev handing a sketch over and asking another friend to orchestrate it for him!!!!! LOL!!
