girl wonder

girl wonder

» Visit the 100th thread for more prettiness, fan vids, Joy soundtrack, etc.
» Joy/Haley #187: She has the kind of spirit & glow that can't be manufactured!

girl wonder

heart packed in ice

This is the interview with Alex Merkin (director of the SIMP video), conducted and transcribed by Courtney, a fan of Joy's who posted the video on YouTube for us. Turns out, they did a phone interview, so it's very lengthy. But is it an awesome(!) read. It was so kind of him to answer our questions.

(note: "C" stands for Courtney)


C: Hi.

Alex: Hi!

C: Thank you for doing this. People LOVE the video and there are many questions out there about it.

Alex: Wow. Thank you. It's my pleasure to answer them as best I can.

C: Thank you.

Alex: Oh! So let me just start off by saying how amazingly sweet and supportive all of you guys have been. I actually contacted Joy yesterday just to tell her that her fans are precious and that she should be incredibly proud of them. She said, "Yeah, they're awesome!" Of all the celebrity fans I've dealt with, I can honestly say Joy's are the best! I also wanted to encourage her to hurry up and release the video because it breaks my heart to receive so many sweet emails asking for a copy and to have to tell them to wait. I know she wants to get it out there for you guys too, but she has a lot of decisions to make right now, so obviously its easier for me to say. In any event, she said she may post an official message on her site about that sometime soon. So look out for that. Oh, and I got the chance to read her several excerpts of the many, many wonderful emails I got so that was nice too.

C: Wait, like our emails?

Alex: Yes.

C: Wow, thank you so much! That's awesome! So, can I start by asking when and where was the video shot?

Alex: The video was shot last year around March or April, I believe. We shot it on the beach and boardwalk at Coney Island at about 6 in the morning. We were trying to get there before sunrise so we could have Joy on the beach when the sun was coming up, but we just missed it because there was a lot of construction on the roads and we had to take a huge detour to get there.

C: How long did it take to make the video?

Alex: This was, without a doubt, the fastest video I've ever put together. Not because it was made with less care or effort, but because it came together so organically. We shot it in a couple of hours and I had a rough cut put together just a few days later.

C: Who's idea was the video?

Alex: Well Joy and I had been talking about doing a video for a while, but we didn't know which song we were going to do or when we were going to do it. One day I was listening to a five song CD she had just finished recording (the one she eventually released on the OTH tour) in a car and it occurred to me that a couple of the songs, actually most of them, had this very nostalgic quality to them and that I could put together a really cool and different type of music video using either home video footage or something to that effect. I immediately called Joy up, who was just getting ready to leave for the tour, and told her my idea. I also told her to record LOTS AND LOTS of footage on the road, and to let it feel as homevideo-y as possible. I was going to take that footage and intercut it with home video footage of her when she was younger (whatever she could find) and put the whole thing together. Well, unfortunately she lost her camera just before she got on the road, and that idea was out. But I still liked the idea of doing a very homemade feeling video where Joy could be Joy. Something that was real, like her music, and not overly glossy or lacking the human element and soul that you see missing in many music videos today. Joy's music is heartfelt and I wanted the video to mirror that. Also she has the kind of spirit and glow that you don't need hundreds of thousands of dollars to manufacture, nor could you manufacture for any amount of money. I loved the idea of stripping away all the elements and having Joy just do her thing. So for a while neither of us knew which song we were going to do and after a while we basically whittled the choices down to Crazy Girls and Songs in My Pockets. We were going to try to shoot something while the tour was in NY but the weather was horrible and, obviously, her schedule was crazy.

C: Did you get the chance to go?

Alex: To the show?

C: Yes.

Alex: Yes. I have to say I was surprised at how enormous the turnout was. I was actually going to video tape it for Joy, but the venue wouldn’t let me. Anyway, sometime later, about a month or two, I really can't remember which, she called me up and told me she'd be in the city for a couple of days. So I called up my producer, Gary Gimelfarb, and told him to get ready to shoot a music video. He said, "with what crew?" "You, me and Joy," I said. And then I started focusing on SIMP. It made me think of a postcard being written to a loved one from the road. So I had the idea of having Joy shooting this video postcard from the road to send to a loved one. You'll notice a lot of the shots are meant to be reminiscent of someone with a camera taking pictures of themselves at a beautiful location…the kind of Polaroid or snapshot picture people take when they travel. I'd be standing behind the camera and have Joy hold out her hand so it'd look like she was holding the camera herself. I even made her hold the camera for a few takes, like the ones where she's spinning around. The rest was Joy being Joy, which I knew would be great footage no matter what.

C: Awesome! Well, you definitely accomplished that! Did Joy contribute to the ideas?

Alex: Of course. I mean, half the video hinged on Joy's ability to be spontaneous and playful. With Joy, it's really easy. You just have to turn on the cameras and let her be herself.

C: Is this the only video you guys have made?

Alex: It's the only music video we've made…so far. I've shot a lot of footage of Joy, like behind the scenes footage, of her getting ready for the tour, her at TRL and her recording her album…that kind of stuff, but this is the only music video.

C: Do you plan to shoot more with her? And, if so, which songs?

Alex: We've talked about it and I've even sent her some treatments (like scripts for music videos) for some of her other songs which she really likes. It will all depend on what happens with her music and what Joy wants to do at that point. I probably shouldn't comment beyond that because I'll leave the announcements concerning her music to her. But I will say that even when I stop making music videos all together and focus solely on film (I'm primarily a film writer/director) I'll still want to make music videos with Joy. She just has that amazing spirit and her music's so inspiring.

C: So you've heard the album?

Alex: Yes.

C: Can you tell us anything about it?

Alex: I can tell you it’s amazing. I hope you guys get the chance to hear it soon because you definitely won't be disappointed. I was telling someone last night that everytime I play it for anyone they immediately want to go out and buy it.

C: So you have a copy.

Alex: Uh oh…uh, no comment.

C: Ha! Caught you! So wait, is the video part of Epic Records or does Joy own it?

Alex: Epic Records does not own the video. We actually shot it just before she officially signed with them. At the time she was meeting with lots of record labels and we knew it was only a matter of time. Once I started dealing with Epic Records, in terms of contract negotiations (for video footage and additional filming) I made sure not to sign over the rights to the video.

C: What was it like to work with Joy?

Alex: Well I'm very close with Joy as I've known her for several years now so it was really very easy for me to work with her. I know that Joy is the kind of person that you can turn on a camera and her energy and spirit will take over. I will say that she is definitely as creative, radiant and talented as she comes across on screen and it's always a relief to a director to have the good fortune of working with someone so natural and with such an amazing ability to command the screen. She makes it easy. It's my job to do her and the song justice by not drowning out that natural beauty and talent with video elements that distract the viewer from the true nature of the song or Joy's spirit.

C: So you said you write and direct movies? What are you working on now?

Alex: I just finished a movie with Adrian Grenier called Across the Hall and am working on several scripts with Queen Latifah for her deal with Focus Features.

C: Would you ever cast Joy in one of your upcoming projects?

Alex: Of course. I'm always looking to work with Joy.

C: How did you meet Joy and how long have you known her?

Alex: I've known her since about 1999 or 2000, so somewhere around 7 years. I met her while I was at filmschool and when she was still on Guiding Light. She actually used to live DIRECTLY across the street from where my office is now and where I used to live. Anyway, I met her through a mutual friend who had worked with her before (and whom I had cast in all my student films). We hung out a lot one summer and then I asked her to play a role in my final student film. She agreed and we've been friends ever since.

C: Any funny Joy stories?

Alex: Hmm…good question. Oh, I have one. Once when we were in LA, shortly after I graduated from college, and just after she had left Guiding Light and moved out to California, we were hanging out at the Universal City Walk getting ready to go see a movie. She got a call from her agent telling her she'd been cast in a WB show, I think it was Off Centre. Well, right after she got off the phone we had some time to kill before the movie started so we were just walking around and she was drinking this huge bottle of water and I started teasing her about something, I don't remember what, but I made the mistake of teasing her while she was taking an enormous sip. She spit out the entire sip of water all over me and I had to sit in the freezing cold, air-conditioned movie theater, soaking wet. I learned the hard way that if you tease Joy while she's sipping on water, you're taking the chance that you might end up wearing that water.

C: That's so funny! So here's a question: do you know what the best way for fans to reach Epic or some other record label and voice our love for Joy and her music? Should we send emails or letters to someone? Is there an address? Or, is Joy already in the process of searching for a label? Is it better if we kept quiet and let her handle it?

Alex: Good question. Well, it never hurts to voice your opinion but my advice to you would be to wait and see what information is released about the situation, especially from Joy's side, so that you can better organize and focus your energy where it's needed the most. I'm sure Joy has no intention of keeping any of her fans in the dark about what's going on with everything and, believe me, she wants her music to be heard. I know everyone's anxious to hear the album, and for good reason. But I would wait to hear what official announcements Joy makes about the situation and then take it from there. That said, I certainly am not qualified to make any announcements on her behalf and I certainly don't speak for Joy. I just know she's working on taking care of the situation and I'm sure when the time is right she will update everyone. Hope that's helpful.

C: It is…definitely. Okay, is the video for "Songs in My Pocket" a finished product? Or does Joy plan on changing it in any way?

Alex: Why you don’t like it?

C: No I LOVE it!

Alex: I'm just kidding, I'm kidding. Well, I'm happy with it and Joy seems to be as well. I'll probably do a little more color correcting to it before I send it out there but for the most part it's a finished product. At one point I toyed with the idea of, and actually had some animators come in and put together, this special effects opening and closing sequence where the camera zooms in to a letter that's lying opened on a table over an envelope. On top of the letter are four little slides, as if someone had sent out a letter with a bunch of pictures they'd taken wrapped up inside the letter. Each slide had a different scene from the music video on it, with the first slide having the first frame of the video and the last slide having the last frame of the video. The camera pushes into the first slide and the video comes to life, basically starting where it does and going through the entire thing. Then at the end of the video the shot freezes with Joy sitting on the beach there and the camera pulls out of the last slide and rises back up to where it began. It was kind of a cool idea but I felt it took away from the simple beauty of the video so I scrapped it.

C: Why does Joy write "SEND MONEY"?

Alex: Oh, that was just her being playful. It's like the kind of thing that someone writes when they're away from a parent for too long…like when you're at camp and you write a letter (I know, everyone does email now, but back in the day people used to write actual letters) to your parents and sign off with "write soon, send money". That kind of thing.

C: Oh, and what's the connection with Fivelion designing the cover of her album and you and Gary working for Fivelion?

Alex: Ah, Fivelion is the company I started with a few people. We do all sorts of things here so when Joy had to put together her album cover design we handled that for her.

C: Have you ever met any of the other cast members?

Alex: Yeah, a few.

C: Did you like any in particular?

Alex: I thought Tyler Hilton was really nice. I met him backstage at TRL when Joy was hosting with him. Very nice guy.

C: Awesome! Well, thank you sooooooooo much for taking the time to do this.

Alex: Is that it? Did I survive?

C: You did great! Thanks again. And on behalf of all the Joy fans out there, you did an AMAZING job with the video! Thank you so much for that!

Alex: Thank you! Thank you so much. That means a lot to me. I'm glad I could do it. You guys are the best! Honestly.

C: Thank you. Bye.

Alex: Take care.


YAY!! I flove the new thread Gem! Lovely title!

girl wonder

Thanks for bringing that over!

No worries.

Syd, nope, no promo pics yet.

infallible love

Aw, this title is such love! Thanks, Gem.

shayesta

thanks for the new thread !
the title is

infallible love

We're kinda close to 200.

kacey lou

Just dropping in real quick to say Thanks for the new thread Gem. Be back later.

girl wonder

No problem!

I'll BRB!

Poupa

Thanks for the new thread, Gem.

Love the title.

london grammar

Love the new thread.

Jordan23

K, thanks for the beautiful new thread. It's great you guys got your questions answered about Joys video.

Btw K, left you a comment at the NH Couples thread.

heart packed in ice

It's Pat! And she is half lurking We gotta catch up on the Couples this or that

girl wonder

Stop lurking, Caro will whip you.

I honestly think my toe is broken. <whimpers>