The Making Of Bollydoll
Marinelli has spent most of the last 2 1/2 years writing Bollydoll, a Broadway musical, animated film and dance spectacle. Created by Amrita Sen and Marinelli, Bollydoll incorporates immersive visual worlds, dancing and singing to infectious vocal hooks that channel funky East Indian, African and R&B influences. The show, featuring forty songs, thirteen dancers, and projected animation, opened with Sia for Deepak Chopra’s Sages and Scientists Symposium, and was first presented in a geodesic dome at Vortex Immersion/LA Center Studios. “What really sets Bollydoll apart is how it deliberately and seamlessly integrates original story, characters, music choreography, artwork, animation, fashion and education into a unified experience for the audience,” says Marinelli.
Jaguar Campaign/Extended Songs For Social Media
Marinelli’s pre-Bollydoll spot work included an ongoing campaign for Jaguar. The composer was tapped by the Spark44 agency creative team to come between picture and music in a unique way. The resulting spots, “Jaguar at Play”, “A Little Less Conversation”, “Heritage”, “Machines/How Alive Are You?,” “More Alive” and “It Plays Well/No Mere Machine/Everyday/Too Much” owe their musical inspiration to composing on the fly. “We went mobile,” says Marinelli. “We set up a recording studio at editorial so that ideas could quickly flow in either direction between all creatives as picture was being put together.” Working with an orchestra, analog synthesizers, soloists and vocalists, Marinelli crafted 15, 30 and 60 compositions, plus some extended “song” versions (“El Remedio” and “Machines”) for social media, based on the musical hooks and messages in the ads.”
Artist Collaboration
For part of the campaign Marinelli collaborated with neo soul rock band “The Heavy” and three time Grammy winner Asdru Sierra from Ozomatli. The campaign “Jaguar at Play” features a mix of flamenco guitars, Afro Cuban percussion and Asdru Sierra’s take on Tuvan throat singing. “Little Less Conversation” is a cover of the famous song written by Mac Davis and Bill Strange, made iconic by Elvis Presley. “Heritage is an emotional anthem composed of South American guitars, electric and acoustic guitar, live drums and bass, all performed to electronic pulses. ”It Plays Well/No Mere Machine/Everyday/Too Much” features stunning vocal performances by Amrita Sen and Sierra over driving flamenco guitar rhythms and Cuban percussion. “Machines” features industrial music and sound design created with analog synthesizers and drum machines with vocals by Heather Bradley. “More Alive” was recorded with a real 60-piece orchestra.
“I loved working with the Spark44 (creative director Bruce Dundore, managing director Miland Ravel, producer Kris Roberts, copywriter Ryan Moore, art director Jim Kowalski and director Vic Huber),” says Marinelli. “Advertising offers creative people a unique opportunity to communicate through music, sound and picture, all at a very high level. This campaign was a great opportunity to cultivate new relationships that exist outside the ad world.”
Score Catalog
Anthony Marinelli has compiled a special catalog of scores for agency creatives to access. “This is not a music library,” says Marinelli. “This is my personal catalog of “real” film scores, that have been vetted to the standards of the most demanding film directors and producers. I have written music for orchestras, small ensembles and live performances by hit-making musicians. These are not demos. There are fresh, emotion rich, long-form ready scores, perfect for ad and social media campaigns. Score catalog offers clients the advantage of one stop licensing (to avoid negotiations and unpredictable outcomes from multiple rights holders). It also allows creatives to take advantage of music that has not been overused or exhausted.” Spot credits utilizing the Score Catalog include work for Washington Lottery, Adidas, DHL, Lipitor, Ortho, IBM and Habitat For Humanity.