Danny Elfman's Batman by Janet K. Halfyard

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-Wee's 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 Burton's 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 Elfman's 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 Elfman's musical background, his place within the film music industry and the controversy that sprang up following the release of B

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.

Reviews
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. * Reference and Research Book News *
...a thoroughly researched and extremely useful guide....compact, accessible, and highly informative.... * Music & Letters, February 2007 *
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 * Music From The Movies *



Book Information
ISBN 9780810851269
Author Janet K. Halfyard
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Scarecrow Press
Publisher Scarecrow Press
Series Film Score Guides
Weight(grams) 272g
Dimensions(mm) 221mm * 141mm * 13mm