|
I found a lot of that interview disingenuous and self-serving. Elfman has made a great many films and I can't believe he doesn't understand the sound cutting and mixing process better than he lets on. SFX cutters cover all the possible sound making sources in a movie so that they are AVAILABLE to the director and mixers on the dubstage--they do this work because they would be thought very odd (and then unemployed) if they didn't. The dub stage is not when anyone wants to be searching for sfx or making sound design elements, so the tracks are loaded up. What Elfman is doing here is blaming directorial decisions he didn't like on support people who have no "voice" in an arguement with a famous composer like him (another Hollywood tradition--blame those who can't talk back). Did he sit in on all the days of the mixes of those films and make his case for each scene? I can see how he would like that moment in "Lawrence of Arabia" where it goes from SFX to pure music--what composer wouldn't? But that statement gives away his true feelings, which is that he doesn't see movie soundtracks as being collaborative and as working well when all the possible elements are present in a mix. If he complains this much about some SFX, I wonder what he thinks about dialog?
Philip Perkins
|