//Thirteen & Co Director Zach Merck Explores Happiness
//Thirteen & Co & RSA director Zach
Merck has always been attracted to the darker elements of science
fiction and horror, which ironically is very different from Merck's
light comedy commercial work. Zach followed up last years "The
Chattering" short film with "Happy", a unique project for the band Blue
October.
"Happy" explores the concept of "love" in today's
technology-enriched world. Inspired by the song "I Hope You're Happy"
Zach took the unconventional route to creating a music video. The
result? A unique mash up of sci-fi, romance, and comedy, or what Merck
refers to as "a 1980s-ish short film that is like if John Hughes had a
baby with Ex-Machina."
The project was very for Merck as it gave him the freedom to essentially create what he wanted to make from scratch. Says Merck: "As a filmmaker, science fiction is a great genre as you can essentially
do whatever you want, because you're playing with social
commentary that is rooted in reality through make believe scenarios. Who
wouldn't want the perfect companion robot? I think my natural comedic
sensibilities creeped into the situations and dialogue."Love has always been an interesting concept - no less so in modern times. The way we find true love changes with every generation. The very current age of social media dating - swiping left or right, matchmaker websites, Snapchats and Instagram - is already very different than ten years ago.
Says Merck: "For me, it's all kind of overwhelming at times - and somewhat plastic and removed. In this film, I took the current social media fueled approach of building the perfect companion versus dealing with the current dating climate. Would you do it...and most of all, would you be happy?"
Zach Merck is available for commercial work through production collective //Thirteen & Co.
Merck's showreel can be viewed here: http://13co.io/zach-merck/
For enquiries please contact Roy De Giorgio - roy@13co.io
