Star of Wonder

The song, called Star of Wonder by Sufjan Stevens, I thought runs deeper than only the music and could be improved by visual aid. I thought of what the song might mean, what it tries to communicate, and what that might look like on a screen. I tried to listen more closely to the music and really focus on what images the music builds in my mind. When shooting the video, I tried to elaborate on some of the themes that the music touches on such as: the smallness or insignificance of human beings, the aesthetics of lights, stars, and the moon, the busyness of our lives and how small and insignificant we are, and the overall awesomeness and grandeur of the Universe. I shot within the city and let the bigness of the city parallel and serve as a metaphor with the theme of the hugeness of the Universe. Since I was not able to get any shots of the night sky in detail with the primitive equipment that I have, I let the city lights serve as a substitute. I made sure that the rhythm of the video matches the rhythm of the music, such as only cutting on beat with the music or the stop motion segments alongside the fleeting sounds of the flute and keyboard. Segments with quicker tempoed sounds match with quicker movements on the screen, and more peaceful music match with serene landscapes or sights of lights. I tried to focus on the framing and color of the shots in the video the most. With all of the city lights, the colors are very important. Additionally, the camera movement provided another hugely important element in the video, which offers different artistic perspectives in the way the images are presented.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Star
• of
• Wonder
• Sufjan
• Stevens
• Songs
• for
• Christmas
• Atlanta
• Russell
• Strauss
• film
• Georgia
• Tech
• Computational
• media
• music
• video

[MrFingers20]

wow this song is incredible, and great work on the video, apart from isn't the moon part at the end a clip from oddsac :P

[russellstrauss]

The moon footage was recorded from the window of my apartment.

[Darin847]

im going to play this non-stop when it starts to snow

[bonecrusherbraun]

I really like this video, I think it does a good job of capturing the themes you mention.

It's funny because I associate similar themes with this song, particularly the awesomeness and grandeur of the Universe, even though Sufjan doesn't explicitly mention any of that in the lyrics.

I know Sufjan Stevens has strong Christian beliefs, but when I listen to the song and think of the beauty, grandeur and wonder of the Cosmos, I'm inspired. It's like a hymn for those of us who don't believe in god

[kindakrazykool]

no dislikes!! lets keep it that way :)

[n8330s]

Just wanted to say...i think this video (and of course the music!) is beautiful...well done!

[TuneSleuth]

Great job on the video! This is one of my favorite songs ever... I think you really did it justice. Very creative! :)

[drewmisery]

i can dig it. beautiful

[wastgood]

this is really good man thanks