Synopsis

Boy's "Joey" is a nonlinear animated music video built from surreal, unsettling vignettes rather than a conventional storyline. Strange animal imagery, fragmented characters, and rapidly shifting environments create an offbeat dream world in which visual logic gives way to mood and musical rhythm. Among the video's more memorable moments is a fox violently tearing the head from a crow. The result is an eccentric, darkly comic collage that emphasizes atmosphere, motion, and unexpected visual associations over narrative clarity.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was made by Montreal animation collective Fluorescent Hill, whose members at the time were Mark Lomond, Darren Pasemko, and Johanne Ste-Marie.

• Fluorescent Hill described "Joey" as its second music video. The group created it while its members were still in school.

• The production took approximately six to eight weeks, including paperwork, transfers, and the finishing process. The completed video runs for less than three minutes.

• The animators were given broad creative control over the project. Boy's likeness was included twice, but hidden so deeply that even the band may have had difficulty spotting it.

• The video was deliberately nonlinear. Fluorescent Hill recalled worrying that an early assembly of finished scenes, line tests, and animatics might get the team fired, but Boy's representatives understood the unconventional approach.

• A standout production moment for the animators was Darren Pasemko's sequence in which a fox rips the head off a crow.

• Fluorescent Hill's work on "Joey" was discussed in a 2003 Animation World Network feature about the creative and practical challenges of animated music videos.

• A later online presentation described the piece as a second music video for "Joey" by Boy, helping preserve the video after its original release period.