Danny Elfman's Batman: A Film Score Guide (Scarecrow Film Score Guides)
Elfman's original score supports well over half of Tim Burton's two-hourBatman, 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 toWeird Science, Edward Scissorhandsand 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 behindBatmanand 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 HasanMusic From The Movies)