Stephanie Sapienza
This is a Professional Website.
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
Gemma Sky Collaboration (2026)
A six-video projection suite for D.C.-based electropop artist Gemma Sky, built around a visual language of neon pinks, purples, metallic textures, vintage glamour, and 1980s pop iconography. Created for her March 2026 set at Pie Shop, the visuals translate songs about romance, heartbreak, resilience, and feminine reinvention into looping backgrounds. I also created a custom animated logo loop designed to move between songs. Watch “Don’t Mess With Me” on YouTube
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 orphaned film collections. She is currently a digital archivist on the faculty at the University of Maryland, where she also teaches digital storytelling and the reuse of archival imagery in new creative works. 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)[https://www.alternativeprojections.com/].
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.