Musical Inspiration

Hello,

First up, let it be clear that this post exists as a pretence to talk about the Danny Elfman’s Music From The Films of Tim Burton concert at the Royal Albert Hall last night.
Sorry.

The show was fantastic and consisted of largely new suites written from themes from each of Burton’s films (anyone with either of the Music For A Darkened Theatre albums will have recognised the Edward Scissorhands and Batman suites) with illustrations by the director projected onto a large screen behind the orchestra. The show ended with Elfman himself appearing on stage to sing live for the first time, so he says, a number of songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Above is a picture of my friend Alexandra in our box.

For a massive film score nerd, particularly the works of Mr Elfman, it was a fantastic night of some of his best work played by a stunning orchestra. It was nice to see a theremin being played live during the Mars Attacks! suite. Edward Scissorhands was as timeless and beautiful as ever. And I have lived to see Danny Elfman sing “What’s This?” from Nightmare live to the scene in the movie.

This bring me round to writing.
I can’t write to songs because I listen to the words and can’t concentrate. I can write in silence, but I find it a little oppressive. I listen to film scores as a means of inspiration. There are a few video game sound tracks in there too, Jesper Kyd’s score for Assassin’s Creed 2 is phenomenal. I just checked and iTunes tells me that if I were to listen to all my soundtracks continuously it would take 5 days to listen to them all.

Whilst writing my book I have been mostly listening to Michael Giacchino (Star Trek, Super 8 and M:I Ghost Protocol in particular). I’m often to be found wandering the back catalogue of John Williams’ work. I’ve said it before, but this is a man who composed three of the best film scores ever over three consecutive years:
The Empire Strikes Back, 1980
Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982

You probably have favourite works of his: Harry Potter? Jurassic Park? Jaws? Catch Me If You Can?
Ergh, the list is endless.

Ennio Morricone’s work on countless Westerns; his theme to The Mission (oh my god, the love); his haunting, sad, edgy score for Adrian Lyne’s Lolita. There’s Thomas Newman (hello Silence of the Lambs, Lemony Snicket or The Green Mile) or Howard Shore’s everything. Who isn’t stirred by Alan Silvestri’s Back To The Future theme?

I love Alexandre Desplat’s Girl With A Pearl Earring, Clint Mansell’s Requiem For A Dream, Steve Jablonsky’s work on the Transformers movies, Eric Serra’s score for Leon, Stephen Warbeck’s Shakespeare In Love.

Perhaps the best score in recent years is Daft Punk’s soundtrack for Tron Legacy. If you don’t own that you’ve got to get a copy.

I’d be remiss not to mention my dear friend Steven Coltart who composed such wonderful things for my short films. He elevated Autumn Heart is ways that I can never fully explain, and to him I am indebted.

This is not a definitive list and I’m sure in half an hour I’ll think of something I should have added. There are hundreds. You’ll have your own favourites, post them below, I’m always open to suggestions.

What I’m getting at is these are the things that help bring my work out, that fuel my creativity, give it rhythm and pace. I lose myself to the emotion of the music. It helps me write.

How do you write?

– Andrew