Ethelyn Mastrangelo
Rhythm City Music
This is a demo reel of Campaigns that used music from my music cues library: (Theatrical Trailers, TV-Radio Spots, Home Video Trailers, etc…)
Oliver Stone’s “W”
Scary Movie 4
Legend Of Zorro
Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
Hide And Seek
Paycheck
Alien vs. Predator
Hellboy
Cold Mountain
The Missing
SWAT
Master Spy
28 Days Later
The Shield
Buffalo Soldiers
Blue Crush, etc...
I took a hiatus from this line of work for personal reasons, but I wanted to make a special mention about the “movie trailers” era of my life. For anyone out there pursuing a dream or a goal, you have to do more than just “believe in yourself”. It's a pretty phrase, but it's useless if you don't have a strategy to maneuver around all the negative types that get in your way.
In my pursuit of landing jobs that would use music from my library for movie trailers, I encountered many obstacles. Primarily because there were already so many established music libraries, and Editors were already familiar with their catalogs. But I was fearless, and woke up every day with a mission to get our music placed and draw these Editors out of their comfort zone. I had all types of music, “Adventure, Orchestral, Horror, Rock, World”, you name it, I had that genre covered.
I have nothing against taking or seeking advice, but in my case, listening to my instincts was the best “inner voice compass” I ever followed. Here’s why:
Hellboy: The track used for this trailer is called “Bounty Hunter”. I co-created it with a composer who had a different version. When I first heard it, I asked him to add tribal drums throughout, because I thought an Editor would key into that sound for an action scene. I remember playing it once to a producer acquaintance of mine who said he thought the track sounded “cheap” and to NOT include it in my Library because big studios would not want to use it for their "blockbuster" marketing campaigns. But I saw potential in the track and thought an Editor would surely want to use it, so at the very last minute, I added it and finalized the CD (Vol 1). A couple of months later I received a FAX asking me for a quote to use it for a movie called Hellboy. I thought, “Hellboy”, what the hell is “Hellboy" ? Haha! It felt triumphant to watch the Official Trailer playing in the theaters, on all the flat screens at my local Best Buy store, but mostly, see that the entire track was used primarily to introduce Hellboy when he appears! If... I had listened to that "expert" producer and discarded the track, I would have never landed this amazing project. If it was good enough for a Guillermo Del Toro film, at the end of the day that's all that really matters.
Legend Of Zorro: My composer gave me a track I absolutely loved called “Fuego”. It was a Spanish track with an escalating adventurous orchestral flair. I felt so strongly about finding the right fit for this track, that when I found out that there was a sequel to Mask of Zorro being filmed, I emailed a couple of Editors to ask them to listen to the track in the event this project landed on their desk. I got a couple of responses back saying they liked the track. However, i got this one reply that reeeeeally bothered me. One of the Editors scolded me for pitching music for projects that weren't yet in post production. His snarky criticism really stung me. However, he did have a point, and he was right. My weekend was virtually ruined because I felt really embarrassed. I eventually got over it. Many months later —- Bingo! I came home to see there was a fax waiting on the tray. I thought it was just a quote request for a different project I had discussed earlier. When I eventually picked up the Fax, and read the title song “Fuego”, my thoughts immediately went to that one Editor who thought I was wasting his time. I felt a calm wave of vindication take over my body. I reminded myself that when you knock on 10 doors, all you need is for one to open. And that's what happened here. One of the many Editors I had emailed months earlier, remembered “Fuego” and used it.
Alien Vs Predator: Holy smokes! Being a sci-fi geek and having this one as of my credits is one of my proudest achievements, but mostly, because of how I got his project. There was a particular Post Production Trailer House that I had been feverishly pursuing for a while, hoping to land a project with them. But every time I went by their office, their Music Supervisor always told me the same thing, “things are soooo slow right now”. I wasn't buying it, and I resented these supervisors always getting in the way of me being able to reach out to the Editors directly. One day on an impulse I showed up, and got the same song and dance. Another, “don’t call us we’ll call you” scenario. This particular office was not close to my home, so as I was getting on the freeway to return home, I suddenly yelled, “Oh hell no, I'm not going home! So I drove back, and waited in the parking lot till 7pm. As soon as I saw that the Music Supervisor drive off, I went right back in. I knew that although the staff was gone, these Editors regularly worked till very late. Now that the middle man was out of my hair, I had the run of the place. I made myself some coffee, ate a couple of bagels, played at their pool table, trying to build up the nerve to talk to someone. Eventually, I met an Editor who was currently working on “Alien Vs Predator”. I went into sales mode and played all of my horror and sci-fi tracks. He told me that he was already pretty much done with the trailer, but that he liked the tracks I played for him. I gave him a compilation of my music library and we chatted a awhile. I went home feeling somewhat more satisfied, that I had made the trip work out on my terms. Exactly one week later, I got a call from the studio requesting one of my horror tracks be used for a TV spot. Turns out, the Editor was given more spots to do, and that's when he used one of the tracks I’d shown him. It’s a very short spot, and the music track is more like this high pitched rush. I remember using the Stair-master at my gym, watching all the flat screens playing the tv spot. I'd shake my head thinking, “good thing I made that U turn back to that office, nobody tells me to go home !”
I’m not trying to brag. I mainly want to inspire anyone, to not doubt their ability to be able to change the course of their destiny. I love the thrill of pursuing “impossibles”. Whenever my kids sometimes get into their self-defeating modes, I remind them of these experiences. ***Don't be a bystander waiting for your luck to change. No one is going to give you anything, you have to create the opportunities yourself.***