All language subtitles for MasterClass Danny Elfman Teaches Music For Film - 04.Storytelling Through Music

[FOREBODING MUSIC]

Filmmaking, as a
collaborative art, how seriously

should it be taken?

Well, that question applies
to every part of filmmaking.

Should films be taken seriously?

Should any part of cinema
be taken seriously?

Is it all just
light entertainment

that doesn't take
itself seriously?

And since the 1900s
began and films began,

that's a question that's
been going on and on and on.

Film music is just as
important-- no more, no

less-- than filmmaking.

So if you believe
that filmmaking

has value and filmmaking
can be important,

then the music can
and is as well.

So your job as a composer
is exactly that important.

It's however important that
you take the subject of cinema.

When I started
watching the movies,

I'm guessing I
was around 5 or 6.

Because I remember the first
movie that scared the crap out

of me and kind of started a
bit of a lifelong obsession

was a movie starring
Peter Lorre called

"The Beast with Five Fingers."

Now "The Beast
with Five Fingers"

was a horror movie from
actually the '40s or '50s.

But this Peter Lorre character
became a lifelong obsession

with me.

And oddly, the hand that was
pursuing him-- because that's

what it was about.

It was the hand of
a pianist that he

was instrumental in
killing, this pianist.

Then he was haunted by the
hand that continued to play

the piano and--
whenever he was alone--

would come after him.

And it would be
climbing up his shirt.

And he would be pulling it down.

It was always
going for his neck.

And anybody who knows
their classic films--

Peter Lorre, who I
identified with greatly,

was better than
any actor has ever

been in terms of showing angst
and the pain of a situation

and the horror of a moment
when the hand was going up.

And I loved it.

That had me.

And I couldn't have been
more than six years old.

Because it started
lifelong dreams

of being pursued by
an amputated hand.

And if you look
around my studio,

you'll see I'm
obsessed with hands.

I collect hands--
hands that are human,

hands that are not human,
anatomical hands, wax hands,

real hands, mummy hands.

And so the things that
frighten me are now the things

that I stayed obsessed with.

But I also noticed there was a
great piece of music in there.

Now I learned
later that this was

Max Steiner doing the score.

The Steiner score
was magnificent.

And I didn't know who this was.

But I began noticing music but
not really paying attention.

I didn't know the
name Max Steiner.

When I was about 11, I saw "The
Day the Earth Stood Still."

And "The Day the Earth
Stood Still," of course,

was scored by Bernard Herrmann.

And this time, I
noticed the music.

The music-- something moved me.

It grabbed hold of me.

And I actually went and
checked who wrote the music.

And I got to a point where, by
the time I was an early teen,

I'd go, oh, I'll bet
that's Miklos Rozsa.

I'll bet that's Korngold.

That's got to be Korngold.

And I was getting
proud of myself

for being able to hear the
styles of different composers.

And it all started with my
infatuation with Herrmann.

Now the irony of my infatuation
with Bernard Herrmann

is many people will agree
that his best work was

done for Alfred Hitchcock.

But at this young age,
I had not seen any of it

and couldn't see it.

Because the first movie that
came along at the theater

that Herrmann would have scored
that Alfred Hitchcock directed

was "Psycho."

And for all my life, it's
the first movie my mom said,

no darling.

I don't think
that's a good idea.

And my parents never had
any idea what I was seeing.

I mean, I was seeing--

the week before-- "The
Head That Wouldn't Die,"

where the scientist reaches
into the mutant's room

and gets his arm yanked off.

And then you see the
bloody trail of his stump

go down the stairs
before he dies.

And then another creature
reaches into his neck

and pulls out some jiggly thing
and throws it on the floor.

And there's a close up.

These are the
movies I grew up on.

So for my mom to suddenly be
aware of what I was seeing

was like, what do you mean, Mom?

You never even ask me
what I'm going to see.

And I realized that
there was a difference.

Because there was a lot
of press for "Psycho."

And the press all said sexual.

"Psycho" is sexual.

And suddenly, a
lot of us kids had

the brakes put on for the
first time in our lives.

And so it took a while for
me to be able to get into.

Finally, I guess
when I was 16 or 17

and started to look more
back into film history--

oh my god.

It's like I already
loved Herrmann.

But "Psycho"-- this
is the best score

I've ever heard in my life.

[ROUSING MUSIC]

And then "North by Northwest"
and then "Vertigo"--

and it's like this is the
most amazing use of music

in a film I've ever
seen in my life.

And then, of course,
going all the way back to,

you know, his earliest
work with "Citizen Kane."

So the one that was
already a demi-god for me

became a god at that point.

I grew up paying attention
to the music of Korngold

and a lot of the
classic composers

who were excellent
narrative storytellers.

They came out of the late 19th,
early 20th century tradition.

And that's literally
who they were.

They were German
composers that were

drafted to try to figure out
in 1930, what is a film score?

And what can you do with it?

And they were lucky
enough to get guys

like Korngold and Franz
Waxman and Steiner.

They were all
classical composers

out of this era of very
narrative storytelling music.

Because that was the music that
was leading into that period--

the music of Tchaikovsky and
so many other composers that

was the beginning of narrative.

You listen to music, and
you can hear stories.

That was the tradition
that they established.

The first two scores,
the big ones--

"King Kong," "Bride
of Frankenstein."

It's amazing to go and watch and
listen to those scores again.

Max Steiner with "King Kong"
not only figured out what to do.

And you have to understand
if you're watching this,

nobody had done this before.

He was figuring it out
in his head from scratch.

There was no tradition to
follow to say, how do you

synchronize music to film--

this relatively new medium--

and make it work
for a narrative?

And he was inventing
on what he knew.

And when "King
Kong" starts moving

and his music moves
with King Kong,

that seems like nothing now.

Of course.

You hear that all the time.

But back then, it
was extraordinary.

It was establishing
an idea which

would last for the
rest of the century

and is still around today.

And what Franz Waxman did with
the "Bride of Frankenstein"

was to go this great, effusive,
mysterious melody and score

that built and built and
did such a beautiful job

of bringing in this tragic,
dramatic, melodramatic-- sure,

why not--

but mysterious element
of bride of Frankenstein

and what she was.

And it's an incredible score.

The bride of Frankenstein!

[SOARING ORCHESTRAL MUSIC]

And thank god John Williams--
in the '70s, who was a student

of this music--

brought to life again in the
'70s into the '80s and helped

bring back the whole idea of a
big narrative orchestral score.

Because that's really what
he did with Star Wars,

was to re-establish, as a genre,
a big, orchestral, melodic

sound.

It dates right back to
the original composers

in a beautiful but original way.

I'm not saying that he was
copying them because he wasn't.

He had his own style.

But he was illustrating
exactly how

the masters would take
a thematic narrative

and weave it into a score.

And on the other extreme,
you have contemporary music,

which can be extremely
effective, where

there's no melody at all,
but there could be a motif.

And the motif says a lot.

The most minimalist
beautiful way

in recent history I can think of
would be Mica Levi in the film

"Under the Skin."

I love that score.

And I love her compositions.

But so simple and so basic and
so primitive and so effective.

[FOOTSTEPS]

[TENSE MUSIC]

Sometimes, the whole point
is to make a statement

and not be obvious that
we're saying this or this.

We're saying, just
giving you a feeling.

How does that make you feel?

And that's what you want to do.

You want to go, I'm not sure
how I feel about this character.

I'm not sure if this
character is good or bad.

Maybe they're both.

And you can do
that with the music

purposely, this
kind of ambiguity

that maybe it's telling
a story, maybe it's not.

And again, I think that's
one of the beautiful things

about composition is that
gray area when you're

telling a story that really can
be interpreted different ways

and intentionally so.

Because you don't want to give
up your hand at that point.