An overview of studies evaluating music composed by Danny Elfman for Tim Burton films

American film composer Danny Elfman and well-known director Tim Burton have constituted one of the most important director-composer relationships in the history of cinema for more than twenty years. Since the 1985 movie Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Danny Elfman and Tim Burton have made many cult films that are worth examining, especially within a musical context. Danny Elfman has significantly contributed to the narrative quality of Tim Burton films by constantly innovating and uniquely shaping the existing classic Hollywood soundtrack. The 'Elfman' sound which has evolved over the years, has been truly adopted by the audience of Tim Burton films.Although Danny Elfman does not have a formal music education background, he is considered one of the most marginal film score composers of his time by both the audience and important music authorities. As a matter of fact, Danny Elfman's music differs significantly from his contemporaries in terms of both orchestration and instrumentation. The color palette that Danny Elfman uses to depict stories of extraordinary characters seen in Tim Burton films with his music is quite unique and bears distinct traces of many musical periods, musical genres and composer styles. The subject of this study is to investigate factors that make films in which Danny Elfman and Tim Burton collaborated unique within the musical context through selected films. This study also focuses on the techniques used by Danny Elfman to process thematic materials in music he composed for Tim Burton films, as well as Danny Elfman's individual style within the context of orchestration, instrumentation and storytelling. Danny Elfman's life and musical journey are examined in detail and attention is drawn to the source of inspiration in Elfman's music. Keywords: Danny Elfman, Tim Burton, Composition, Orchestration