Star Anna’s Alone in this Together has an aching sound that strikes an extremely personal and raw chord. The loneliness of the lyrics paired with the tone of the song is haunting, evocative and truly captivating.

Developing a video for this song required us to visually tell her story through an authentic and thoughtful lens. Craig Brooks and I co-directed this video with Seattle based production studio Kontent Partners. We worked closely with artist, Star Anna to ensure our story aligned with the meaning of the song she wrote.

The words dive deep into Star’s personal life which inspired us to shoot in what appears to be her childhood home. As she walks around the deserted space, memories of how her home one looked fill her mind. The camera continues to explore the home as she sits in her old room and memories from her childhood flood her mind. As the energy of the song picks up a chaotic sequence of projections line every crevice of the home. Photos lap over her face and over the other band members who are standing in the bedrooms of the home. True to the meaning of the song, Star experiences all of these moments “alone” even though the space is filled with moments of being “together” with her family. As the song subsides the projections begin flashing completely blank light representing that she has no memories left in her mind. The emptiness of her home is illuminated and she is left completely alone and overwhelmed with sadness.

This evocative visual story compliments the critically acclaimed voice and song writing prowess of Ellensburg’s rising star – Star Anna & The Laughing Dogs. They will be opening for Pearl Jam September 3rd&4th at “Destination Weekend”

written by Lindsay Daniels

The camera curiously moves around the walls and doorways of a dark, abandoned home as a restrained guitar strums far away. Through the maze of corners and hallways we see a light flickering on a wall in the distance. The camera moves towards this light and sound as the song gently opens.The camera makes its way to the main living room passing StarAnna who is sitting in a lonesome chair. Floating dust particulate is illuminated in the stale air. We focus on a window projected on an empty wall. StarAnna’s voice fills the stagnant room and the curtains on the window projection billow up as if a gust of wind came into the house.

Memories that once filled that room are projected onto the walls, bookshelf and fireplace mantel. The nostalgic and mysterious content grips the viewers attention as the camera quietly observes.

We constantly play with the viewers perception of what is real and what is an illusion by shooting and composing the projections to appear real. We give the impression that she is surrounded by memories, people and important objects even though she is alone in an empty space. We project a combination of still photos, video sequences and stop motion sequences though out the video. We also capture footage of StarAnna singing with the projections in the distant background that we edit in.

The camera observes several rooms, from unique perspectives. Each room is filled with different content. We witness sweet and volatile moments, relationships and memories on this journey through her mind. The projections give us insight into her past and why she is alone in this world. Throughout the song the camera moves closer and closer to the projections until they fill the entire frame and become more complex. They begin to run over StarAnna’s face and body as she sings.

Her band members are seamlessly integrated into the video by being with her in the home. They are playing their instruments in separate rooms. They wear all white and projections run over their bodies.

As we get to the end of the song, her memories run out. Blank white projections take over the empty walls throughout the entire house. The slides shift from one blank slide to another illuminating the emptiness of the space. The light dramatically pulses across StarAnna’s profile as the camera pulls away from her. One by one, the projections stop working and the environment slowly darkens. We end with her sitting in the living room, completely alone. The last projector clicks off and we fade to black.

projection techniques //

New Skin // Still // One technique is to perfectly align the projection with existing environment giving it a new skin, full of life, that can instantly disappear or change. We would perfectly frame the scenarios to make them feel as realistic as possible and reveal that they are fake in dramatic ways.

New Skin // Stop Motion // Shoot a stop motion sequence of events in the home and project it back onto the same space. These memories could acknowledge StarAnna or interact with the environment.

Simple Memory // Running footage of a memory that is projected onto a wall or person.

Nostalgic Object // Photograph a nostalgic object in the environment and project it back onto the wall or floor.