Sky was the limit in Coldplay’s new Target commercial for the exclusive album edition of “Ghost Stories” — literally. The ad, which premiered during this weekend’s Saturday Night Live and was directed by famed music video and film director Jonas Akerlund, took celestial inspiration from the band’s single “Sky Full of Stars,” filling the set with hundreds of hanging origami stars.

The commercial set was transformed into a mysterious, forest-like setting, echoing the album’s focus on stories of love and magic told through a lens of mystery. Target collaborated closely with Coldplay for the creative concept of the commercial, capturing the essence of the new single. In total, more than 500 paper stars—featuring lyrics to “Sky Full of Stars” handwritten by Chris Martin — were folded with the help of professional origami artist Alison Reisel. The band even rolled up their sleeves to fold some stars before being suspended mid-air among them.

Take a look at the making of the commercial in our behind-the-scenes video:

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Now the stars have become well, stars, in their own right.

You spotted them live during Coldplay’s SNL performance, and they’ll be traveling with the band for more performances leading up to album release on May 19.

Below, we talk to the origami expert who helped make Target’s commercial out-of-this-world awesome and snagged the attention of Coldplay.

So, how does one become an origami expert?
Alison Reisel: A few friends first got me interested in origami about 15 years ago. I started talking classes from this amazing woman who taught origami at the Japanese-American National Museum in L.A. I haven’t stopped since. Origami instantly captured my imagination. I’m detail-oriented and good with my hands—it’s a great creative and imaginative outlet for me.

What was your favorite part about being involved in the Coldplay commercial?
I always love being part of a creative collaboration and working with an art and production team­, but the most amazing part was seeing the set come to life. I didn’t know I was making stars for Coldplay at first, and had no idea about the overall theme or vision—it was all kind of secret. I was thrilled to be invited to set and see the stars come to life in person!

And you got a pretty big surprise on set!
Yes — I met Coldplay! It was so unexpected. After being such a big part of the commercial’s creative concept, they all wanted to see how the stars were actually made. So, the crew set up a little crafting table for us and I got to teach the band how to fold the stars, which were then added to the set. There were so nice! I have to say they were awesome folders — you would have thought they’d been doing origami for years. Chris [Martin] memorized the steps after just one time.

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