It's not every day you see a YouTube video that perfectly captures the nuances of leaving your 20s behind, but "This Is 30" is doing so with giggles — and some tears.
The slow-motion, one-minute video, set to Simon & Garfunkel's melancholy 1964 hit "The Sound of Silence," depicts a group of carefree wedding guests frolicking in a photo booth. They laugh together as they clown around with party favors, while one man stands behind them staring somberly into the camera. (It even reminds us a little of this "Garden State" scene).
That man is Andrew Stadelberger, of Hoboken, N.J, who filmed the funny — and oddly poignant — video at a pal's real-life wedding.
"It was just a fun night," Stadelberger, co-president of the Lodge Music, a NYC-based company that creates music for advertising, told TODAY. "We got into the photo booth and they were basically telling everybody to go bananas, so I just kind of stood there in the back. The next day I threw on the music to be funny and to make my buddies laugh."
After he shared a link to it on Reddit, the video quickly went viral, garnering more than 760,000 views in its first few days.
"It's absolutely surreal," said Stadelberger, who appreciates that the quirky clip is resonating with people, many of whom have left comments about the anguish of adulthood.
"Omg I am 27 and I realized I'm the guy in the back staring into oblivion," writes one viewer.
"This brought me to tears," writes another.
"It's really interesting to see other people put some kind of meaning on it," said Stadelberger.
"Crossover time"
Those viewers probably feel the same way about turning 30 that Stadelberger does — it's a weird "crossover time" from one's 20s, he said, a time filled with change and uncertainty, but also with way, way too many weddings.
"You just go to wedding after wedding, weekend after weekend," said Stadelberger, laughing.
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"The title ‘This Is 30’ describes what it feels like to be at a wedding, kind of in between your party stage and wanting a little bit more."
Stadelberger said he'd love to take credit for creating a great piece of "accidental art" that's moving people.
"But really, this is just me being silly," he says.