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Is Danny Elfman capable of composing anything that doesn't sound...

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pel1300

Member
..like Danny Elfman music?

Because I cannot imagine his style working for Terminator Salvation. When I think of Danny Elfman, I think of gothic tone or dark humor. I think he is one of the worst choices for a Terminator movie, honestly. Terminator music is supposed to sound very serious, dark, and epic.

Elfman's style is dark, but not in the same way...it's dark, but also sounds light hearted in a way. I think his style only fits dark comedies or Tim Burton style films.

His style is just very unique, and not in a good way.
 

flsh

Banned
I never liked his stuff. On the other hand, I never liked Tim Burton as well. I'm not into Gothic\Nonsense presentation in movies.

Hopefully he'll surprise us, but his style doesn't match action movies.
 

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
Everything sounds like Batman... hell even the theme for the 1990 Flash TV series sounds like Batman.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
We'll see. Keep hope alive!

DarienA said:
Everything sounds like Batman... hell even the theme for the 1990 Flash TV series sounds like Batman.
His Spider-Man theme was such a blatant mashup of his Batman and Men in Black pieces. :lol
 

NekoFever

Member
I wish I could find the Blue Harvest clip where John Williams dies and they replace him with Danny Elfman...
 

Burai

shitonmychest57
Oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah

Waah-waah-waah! Waah-waah-waah!

Oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah

Ahhhhh-ahhhh-ahhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhh!

Oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah

*harps and shit

Oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah
 

pel1300

Member
I wish McG's original choice, the combination of gustavo santaolalla and thom yorke, worked out.

Gahh..unless Danny Elfman comes up with a score that sounds nothing like anything he has ever done before, this is gonna really suck.

Fiedel's score is one of the best things about T1 and T2.
 

pel1300

Member
Even if you like Tim Burton's music...he has been out of his prime for at least 15 years.

which brings up another topic...all the big name composers seem to only produce good scores when they are young.

IE - John Williams. His best work is from the 80s. But for the past 15 years, if John Williams is scoring a movie, it is guaranteed to be dull and for the most part forgettable.

It's probably a combination of these film composers getting lazy + losing creativity as they get older.
 

Phobophile

A scientist and gentleman in the manner of Batman.
You might as well as John Williams not to compose every permutation of Star Wars imaginable.
 
I agree a lot of his stuff is very similar. I disliked his Hellboy II score most recently.

I really like his score for Ang Lee's Hulk. It's pretty unique sounding in comparison to his other superhero works. Ang Lee was supposedly adamant that it not sound like his other scores, when he was brought on as a replacement. There's some good action cues in there.

He does do dramatic films and he scored The Kingdom recently, which was a huge departure from his fantasy scores and shows he can do a more serious action music. I'll wait and see. I think he is capable of turning out great stuff that suits the subject. It really depends on what the director asks for.
 

pel1300

Member
Thing I don't get is, why couldn't McG have Fiedel involved in some way. Even if he didn't want this movie to sound too similar to T2, he could have had Fiedel score this movie alongside another composer.

Then again, Brad Fiedel of today may be a shell of his former self like many other veteran film composers.
 
isnt it standard for all musicians to have their specific sound? I mean I can usually tell a new song is by greenday before the singing even starts
 
I don't want to spread rumors that I am too lazy to research online myself, but oh well I guess I will anyway:

I remember reading somewhere that Elfman doesn't even know how to transcribe sheet music, he just records himself singing/playing the score and someone else converts it to an arrangement.

Now try to get the image of him leaning into a microphone going "Waaah-WAAAAHHHH!" out of your head every time you hear one of his pieces.
 

Jasoco

Banned
Leatherface said:
I really like Tim Burton's music, but I agree. I'm not so sure he's the right choice for this movie..
You mean Danny Elfman's music, Tim Burton doesn't do music. He has Danny Elfman do it.

Also.. wait.. Danny Elfman is doing the music for Terminator Reloaded.. er Rebooted.. er Salvation?

He also did Futurama's theme.
 

pel1300

Member
Suburban Cowboy said:
isnt it standard for all musicians to have their specific sound? I mean I can usually tell a new song is by greenday before the singing even starts

I was waiting for someone to bring this up.

Yes, it is standard. All film composers have their own unique sound.

But Danny Elfman brings it to a whole new level in that his music can almost be described as his own genre.

And that genre of music does not fit Terminator.
 

pel1300

Member
koam said:
Clint Mansell is the bessssst :p

I was actually going to post that Clint Mansell might have been a much better choice.

Not that any of his work sounds Terminator-like, but the guy is very creative with using modern sounds mixed with classical music, which might be what Terminator Salvation needs.
 

Solo

Member
Short answer: no
Long answer: no - he's been more than content to rehash/rework/recycle his previous, better scores for more than a decade now.
 

jett

D-Member
I fear for Terminator Salvation's soundtrack. :/ I wonder what posessed McG to choose Elfman, of all people.
 

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
Hanz Zimmer is worst.

Gotta admit their music is still good on its own. Batman theme, Pirates' theme, etc., are very good.
 

Mifune

Mehmber
Joe Shlabotnik said:
I don't want to spread rumors that I am too lazy to research online myself, but oh well I guess I will anyway:

I remember reading somewhere that Elfman doesn't even know how to transcribe sheet music, he just records himself singing/playing the score and someone else converts it to an arrangement.

Now try to get the image of him leaning into a microphone going "Waaah-WAAAAHHHH!" out of your head every time you hear one of his pieces.

I believe this is just an urban legend. A music professor of mine knew him and said, and I quote, "He is definitely not a hummer." His words, not mine.
 

Xeke

Banned
Ether_Snake said:
Hanz Zimmer is worst.

Gotta admit their music is still good on its own. Batman theme, Pirates' theme, etc., are very good.

Pirates theme, also known as the Gladiator theme.
 
Danny Elfman is not compatible with Spider-Man
works with Bat-Man, works with Darkman, works with Hulk

but does not work with Spider-Man :p
 

sc0la

Unconfirmed Member
The last time Elfman tried something different was for planet of the apes, and fox made him rescore it to be less dark and disonant. So I could understand him not trying that again. He Is clearly capable but probably just does what is easy. I always wanted to hear the original PotA score
 
Ether_Snake said:
Hanz Zimmer is worst.

Gotta admit their music is still good on its own. Batman theme, Pirates' theme, etc., are very good.

Hans is an excellent composer. You have to imagine that more than half the requests these guys get is "I loved your work in...can you make it sound like that?"

The Crimson Tide score is pretty incredible.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
pel1300 said:
Is Danny Elfman capable of composing anything that doesn't sound...

...like Danny Elfman music?

*listens to some Oingo Boingo*



Yes



*pictures Bale fighting a Terminator to the song 'Weird Science'*

*laughs*

*cries*
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
People nitpicking about about musicians or directors who dont stray much from their successful styles are horrible people.

I mean, back in the good old days, people bought artists' paintings because of its specific style. Dont know why that standard has changed so that everyone is required to do as many genres successfully as possible.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
Actually, I purchased the Wanted soundtrack. While it obviously wouldn't go with Terminator, it is a bit different than his normal 'sound'. I think he can adapt to what the movie requires.
 

GreekWolf

Member
jett said:
I fear for Terminator Salvation's soundtrack. :/ I wonder what posessed McG to choose Elfman, of all people.

I don't think you like any connection to the Keaton Batman movies. :lol
 

pel1300

Member
Ether_Snake said:
Hanz Zimmer is worst.

Gotta admit their music is still good on its own. Batman theme, Pirates' theme, etc., are very good.

I'd rather have Hans Zimmer compose Terminator than Elfman.
 

tino

Banned
pel1300 said:
Even if you like Tim Burton's music...he has been out of his prime for at least 15 years.

which brings up another topic...all the big name composers seem to only produce good scores when they are young.

IE - John Williams. His best work is from the 80s. But for the past 15 years, if John Williams is scoring a movie, it is guaranteed to be dull and for the most part forgettable.

It's probably a combination of these film composers getting lazy + losing creativity as they get older.

I disagree. I like Jerry Goldsmith's later stuff more than his earlier. 13th Warrior score was awesome. He does great work for smallish lower budget movies. I have listen to his earlier works I still prefer his 90s output better.

I also like Danny Elfman's Sleepy Hollow as a representation of typical Danny Elfman music.
 
Burai said:
Oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah

Waah-waah-waah! Waah-waah-waah!

Oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah

Ahhhhh-ahhhh-ahhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhh!

Oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah

*harps and shit

Oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah-oompah

:lol :lol :lol thankyou for sparing me the effort of trying to explain how the music typically sounds.

That said, I'll always love The Nightmare Before Christmas.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
distantmantra said:
Elfman did the score for Milk. It's unlike anything else he's ever done, in my opinion.
I don't even remember that movie having a score, so that can't be good.

~Kinggi~ said:
People nitpicking about about musicians or directors who dont stray much from their successful styles are horrible people.

I mean, back in the good old days, people bought artists' paintings because of its specific style. Dont know why that standard has changed so that everyone is required to do as many genres successfully as possible.
Yeah, but who wants to buy the same basic painting over and over again? There's still room for variety within styles. Williams has certainly managed well enough.

And who thinks of Elfman's style as fitting something like Terminator?

Hey, I want the score to kick ass. Maybe whatever that dark dissonant stuff he originally did for Planet of the Apes could come back. I mean, I would assume McG and the producers don't have any desire for his typical fantastical approach, so we'll see.
 
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