Stephanie Sapienza
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Video Work
Below are some highlights from my work with local musicians: music videos, archival remix pieces, motion-graphics loops for live shows, and longform VJ sets built from a combination of archival sources, animation. My background is in moving image archiving, so I tend to reach for historical and marginal footage, then layer it with bright color, geometric animation, and audio-reactive elements.
Recent / Featured Work
Color Palette Collaboration (2025)
For Color Palette, an indie dream pop band from Washington, DC led by songwriter and vocalist Jay Nemeyer, I created 14 looping projection visuals and two music videos that extend their lush, melodic sound into a visual language of light, motion, and memory. The most recent, Zombie (2025), is a tribute to classic monster-movie imagery. I also cut together a video for their song Grateful which features live footage from the January 2025 show with audience-captured footage.
King of the Moon Collaboration (2025)
A 12-song live performance video set for psychedelic rock duo King of the Moon, a collaboration between Sam Cooper and Michael Stettes. The album was recorded out in Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve, where Sam grew up, and that environment shaped a lot of the sound. My job was to translate that sense of space and atmosphere into moving images. Watch the playlist →
Mazerrati Star Collaboration (2023–24)
A music video concept album with multidisciplinary artist and musician Skye Handler, for the band Mazerrati Star (formerly Ladygod). Featuring original music by Handler, the piece is a cycle of five videos charting a dark, nonlinear journey across motels and liminal landscapes. I also collaborated with Handler on the album art as well as the album’s Spotify video loops. Watch the playlist →
About Me
Stephanie Sapienza is a filmmaker and archivist based in Maryland. She has directed music videos and created live visuals for numerous local bands, blending a background in filmmaking with her career as a film archivist and historian specializing in experimental film, animation, and the reuse of archival imagery in new creative works. She is currently a digital archivist on the faculty at the University of Maryland, where she also teaches digital storytelling. Earlier in her career, she worked in Los Angeles on a range of independent films and documentaries, with credits including The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007), When Standup Stood Out (2003), and Tapped (2009), as well as a large-scale historical project about the history of experimental film in postwar Los Angeles.
What I Do
- Music videos
Concept, archival sourcing, edit, and motion graphics for bands, solo artists, and experimental projects. - Archival remix / found footage works
Transforming public-domain and orphaned media into new audiovisual narratives. - Live visuals / projection design
Custom looping visuals or full-length synced VJ sets for live shows and installations. - Creative direction and consultation
Album art, Spotify video loops, social media promotional videos.
Contact
For collaborations, commissions, or live visual work, please reach out at stephaniesapienza@gmail.com.