Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Big Fish

From the loud, in your face, circus inspired music to the quiet, calmer, mood inspired music when Edward Bloom died, the wall to wall music inspires the beautiful story about a man's life and love between a dieing father and his son. Danny Elfman composed the music for the Tim Burton film, Big Fish. The mixture of diagetic and non diagetic music fits in with the plot so well you feel as though the music is almost part of the plot.
Just like Danny Elfman's music inspired this amazing film, Danny Elfman was inspired by some of the great composers. Bernard Herrmann was one of the composers that Danny Elfman admires. His music for the film Psycho, was crucial for the film, according to Elfman. Elfman said, "I can't imagine almost any of the scenes in the movie working as well without the music — not just talking about the famous shower scene." I do not feel Big Fish would have been the same film if the music was either gone or different. One of the most important scenes in the film and examples of how the music in Big Fish truly effected the mood of the film was the last conversation between Will and Ed, right before Edward dies. Will is telling his father how he dies. During the parts of the scene where the audience of the film is seeing Will's story come to life, the music is happy and joyful. When the audience sees Will telling his father the story in the hospital the music is a little more quiet, less exciting, and a little more sad. I feel that this example of Danny Elfman's work was inspired by Bernard Herrmann.

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