Romulus - ID# 295
Maine South
Music Video
Entry Description
A fall day evokes memories for two estranged friends in this music video for Sufjan Stevens' "Romulus."
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
- 4/29 12:32 pm - Fantastic music video- gorgeous camera work and complex storytelling. I really appreciate the maturity of the actors' performances. The guitar playing is a bit out of sync from the music at times.
- 3/3 9:27 am - This was a visually strong and thoughtfully edited music video. The pacing worked well with the tone of the song, allowing moments to breathe while still maintaining forward momentum. The editing felt intentional and supported the emotional arc of the piece. The nature shots were especially well composed. Framing, depth, and use of space were handled effectively, creating cinematic visuals that enhanced the mood of the story. The color grading throughout the video was also a highlight. The tones felt cohesive and added to the atmosphere, helping unify the different locations and scenes. One area that could use clarification is the role of the guitar player. At times, he felt somewhat disconnected from the main storyline and did not appear to be singing the lyrics, which created a bit of confusion about his purpose in the narrative. Is he meant to be the same person as the boy in the forest? Is he watching old videos on television that reflect on a past relationship? If so, those connections could be made clearer through visual cues, performance choices, or editing decisions that tie the timelines together more explicitly. Overall, this was a strong project with beautiful visuals and solid editing. Clarifying the character relationships and narrative connections would make the story even more powerful and cohesive.
Judge 1
Positives: The camera work in this was really nice. Everything was clear, framed right and you guys took advantage of the changing leaves to make it a visually interesting piece. A wide variety of shots from wide to close up, and the amount of broll to switch it up throughout seemed thoughtful and had intent. Really nice work on this.
Improvements: I understand what the story is, but I didn't think it had too much depth. I would have liked to see more pertaining to the two characters and their relationship. Felt like they were just endlessly walking around the forest with no real reason to be there. I would have liked to see more lip synced shots.
Judge 2
Positives: Fantastic cinematography! Really cool way of composing shots using such a vibrant background. Hard to frame a bad shot in a setting that beautiful. The song selection is so good. This is such a great song and it fits the vibe that the video showing us like a glove. Great casting as well. I can feel the closeness that will never be close enough for one of the friends. The actors sell that well.
Improvements: 4:51 is a hard number to hit. I've created a few music videos myself and anything over 3:00 is hard as far as a narrative storyline is concerned. And unfortunately, I think this particular video did suffer a bit from being too long. It feels like the whole story could have taken place over a three minute song and been just as effective. Of course... this song is this song, so you had to try! It didn't feel like there was enough going on in the story to keep the audience engaged enough to last the whole time. Once their dynamic was established, we didn't learn that much more about either character. I would have loved to have more of their stories/story. But all in all, I really enjoyed it!
Judge 3
Positives: The cinematography really sings here. Wonderful work behind the camera! A few of my favorite shots... near the start at 28 sec, the shot with the deer is incredibly well composed. The wide shot with the two of them at 44 sec is just plain gorgeous, I mean really wonderful. The shot pointing toward the sky with the trees & yellow leaves at 3.06 and the wide shot at 3.20 are both incredible too. Can't say enough good things about the camera work here. The story was clear enough to communicate the core theme of the piece, but not much past that - which is ok for a music video.
Improvements: The male actor doesn't look like he knows what to do with his hands at 3.32. If I were you I would've just not used that shot. In my opinion I don't think the third character (the guy playing guitar) adds much to the piece. He's not Sufjan Stevens, so why is he playing guitar over someone else's song? Is he meant to be the boy actor but older? If not, I don't think his presence is purposeful.
Judge 4
Positives:
Improvements:
Judge 5
Positives:
Improvements: