[ETC] TRANS: RED ROOM PHOTOBOOK - CONCERT DIRECTOR INTERVIEW
CONCERT DIRECTOR
Shim Jae-Won, who had struggled for over six months to present an unforgettable ‘first’ concert to Red Velvet, has come to tell his story about the time he had dedicated for Red Velvet.
Could you introduce yourself first?
Hello, I’m Shim Jae-Won from SM ENTERTAINMENT. I’ve been working at SM for 20 years now. (Laughs). I’ve worked with BoA, TVXQ, SHINee and EXO. And this time, I worked on Red Velvet’s “Red Room.”
How did you plan “Red Room?” Where did you start planning this concert from?
I spent more time thinking about this concert compared to the other concerts that I’ve directed before. I started to brainstorm about this concert from February 2017, so that means it took me six months. For the first time in my life, while staying abroad for about two months, I traveled to a variety of places to see about 50 works of art, ranging from musicals, performances, art exhibitions, and even circuses. While seeing them, I took notes of the ideas that popped into my head and made an outline. Red Velvet was the first artist that came to my head when I thought of whose stage I could make with these ideas. So, I told SM that I would direct this concert, and thankfully, they said OK.
Was there something special that made you create the concert around the theme of “a girl’s room?”
I thought that the public might think of Red Velvet’s image as a bit quirky but lovable. I thought that they were a group that especially piqued the curiosity of women in their 10s and 20s. So, I started from the idea of ‘how about Red Velvet and the audience play in a room like friends?’ I added in some musical-like elements because I wanted to both recreate the things that women want to do with their friends normally and also fantasies that they want to do, but haven’t been able to do. That’s why we nicknamed the concert, ‘Inside Yeri’s Room on One Summer Night.” (Laughs)
Maybe that’s why a lot of props that girls might like came out during the concert. It looks like the members would have liked them too.
There were a lot of things that Red Velvet had to take care of because they had to create a story with various props. They had to interact with each other and not forget about the props in their hands in order to recreate that musical-like feeling. At first, they found immersing into that awkward. But later, they started to play with each other with the props and show them naturally. They also broke a lot of props while playing with them. (Laughs) There were also props that got lost in the way because there were so many of them, and ones that were used to the core due to practicing over and over again. These props have gone through almost everything that there could be.
What was your favorite stage?
Because Red Velvet pulled off “Red Room” spectacularly, it’s hard for me to choose. But, if I had to choose just one stage, I would say “Be Natural,” which is also the stage where each of the members performed solo choreography. Having a first concert can be something really exciting but also extremely pressuring and nervous. If Red Velvet makes a mistake on stage on top of the pressure that they’re feeling, the concert can become a trauma, since it’s such an important day to them. Red Velvet has performed on stage as a group more as individuals, so I believe that the individual performances would’ve been more stressful than the group ones. They could feel stressed because while there’s only a limited time given to practice, they really want to do well, or because although they’re doing well, they feel like they’re not doing well enough. So, I felt like a really proud dad when they really pulled it off well. I’m really thankful to Red Velvet who went through all of this fantastically.
Is there a reason you put this performance in the set list, even though you knew that it’ll pressure the members?
Red Velvet are good performers who have extremely strong foundations. I wanted to show the audience how good of a performer each of the members were. The fans seemed to like Red Velvet’s androgynous, girl-crush like charms, and on top of that, I wanted to amplify the emotions of the concert by showing a different side to Red Velvet compared to the lovely charms that they had shown during the first few stages. Lastly, because Yeri hadn’t joined the team when this song had been released, I wanted to complete “Be Natural” with Yeri in it.
Wendy also had a solo stage.
Wendy’s “Last Love” was needed because of the general flow of the concert. But because she’s so good at singing, I also wanted to give her something to work with.
Even after you’d spent the whole day playing with your friends, when you fall asleep, a million thoughts cross your mind, right? I wanted to express the emotions that girls feel when they want to be alone just for a minute when they’re surrounded by their friends.
There’s actually a really touching story behind this performance. Red Velvet is actually really pure and nice, so they’re cautious when they tell the other members what they want to do, because they’re worried that they might be making the other members uncomfortable. Wendy also worried a lot about her stage because she was worried that if she messed up on her solo stage, she thought the other members might be affected by it. But, on the contrary the other members were worried about Wendy too. Eventually, the rest of the members came to me and asked, “Is there any way that we could help Wendy? She could be feeling pressured because of her solo stage. What words could cheer her up?” It was so heartwarming to see how all the members came together to monitor themselves after practicing and rehearsing, and how they all cheered Wendy up when she showed the slightest sign of nervousness.
What did you value the most while you were preparing this concert?
The first thing was having the actual performers, Red Velvet, understand “Red Room.” I believe that since performers need to clearly deliver the director’s purpose and the story of the concert to the audience, Red Velvet could only do that once they understood the overall flow of the concert.
Another thing that I thought was important was having this concert be something special to the audience. In the future, when they think of “Red Room,” the audience won’t remember what the concert was like from start to end, but what kind of story and image it had, and how lovely Red Velvet was. I hoped that those aspects would last in the audience’s memories for a long time. Like how the quality of my life increased after I got inspired from the performances that I watched during the two months that I had spent abroad, I hope a lot of people earned something from this concert.
How about a couple of words about how you feel after successfully wrapping up “Red Room?”
I really hope that really, a lot of people know how lovely Red Velvet is. I believe that this is just the start for Red Velvet, who have their whole life in front of them. I really hope that they’ll always have fun performing. Also, I would like to thank the staff who went through all of this hard work with us. I would especially like to thank the choreographer Ryu So-Hee, who trained the countless stage choreography to the members. Thank you.
Lastly, leave a message for Red Velvet, who have took on their first concert well.
Because I’ve worked in the entertainment industry and have worked at SM for a long time, I know the hardships that Red Velvet goes through. So, I hope that Red Velvet would feel happy while doing this. The meaning of directors like me come to life while creating performances like these one by one, and the concerts themselves, become our value. That’s why we wouldn’t want nothing more than Red Velvet to be happy in a place where our meaning comes to life. Good job, Red Velvet!
