Fun- We are youngAlternative/indie genre music video analysis.

• This music video portrays a relatively typical life gig at a venue, however, its use of slow motion editing and dark lighting contrasts the genre characteristics for indie pop videos. In this shot, there is a stage performance with stereotypical band proxemics with the lead singer in centre stage, and guitarist to the side, for example. This is signify the genre characteristics of performance style videos, which are conventional and popular, as we get to see the band for ourselves. The atmosphere on stage is portrayed through the chiaroscuro lighting,

with spotlights and a dark background. We can see a hint of pink in the wide long shot, which implies passion for the music. The long shot acts as an establishing view and displays their formal dress of black suits and ties. The lead singer is wearing a tuxedo, and holds the mic stand to further signify he is serious about his music.

Above is a mid shot of the guitar player being spayed with water during his performance. The guitarist is off-centre to give an interesting composition to the shot. This, combined with the oversized glasses, represents him as a quirky person, which is a characteristic seen in indie videos. The shot is filmed in slow motion so we can see the pull focus of the keyboard player in the background. The guitarist takes the foreground of the shot because he could be considered a more important/popular member of ‘Fun’. There is a smoke machine which is used for theoretical purposes and to give the impression of a wacky atmosphere with the conventions of a performance style based music video. We understand from this shot that everything has gone out of hand yet the band play on, making them seem exuberant.

This shot below is a long shot which is a convention of the performance narrative because it clearly shows the setting which is a venue location for the band.

The natural low key lighting signifies it is night time in the shot, with dark shadows of the people having a disagreement. The sign above tem is presented in an old fashioned movie theatre style, and promotes the band song title. The use of vintage elements is popular within indie music videos.

Amplifying the disco ball prop In this wide shot of the performance creates an emblem of the lyrics, “We can burn brighter than the sun”. The shot does this as we see the band performing on stage, and the stage lights hit the disco, so it reflects to the camera, highlighting its presence in the shot. The disco ball is falling which implies that the venue setting. The people in the shot are empowered to embody the sun, representing the band as dominant and confident, which gives us positive connotations for their success. The off-centre positioning of the camera and framing suggest that the night is going to become unstable, which gives the viewer a skewed perspective of the events, it also allows us to focus more on the disco ball, allowing us to make the connection between the graphic match of the sun and the pop of the disco ball.

The shot on the right is illustrative of the lyrics because it is a literal display of a girl standing from across the room from the perspective of the viewer. This signifies a point of view type shot, which shows a direct relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. “My lover she's waiting for me just across the bar” A model is seen in the centre of the shot with close framing, stood behind someone's shoulder which is seen in the foreground. We can see a pull focus in the shot because she is made the centre of attention by standing alone in the middle of the frame in focus. The extra stood near her is seen in a dark top and red skirt talking to someone off camera, and the man in the foreground is seen running way from our view in a shirt worn informally, with the sleeves rolled up. This signifies that the extras were used to connote a busy atmosphere but wear darker colours so they don’t attract as much attention.

These are multiple mid close-ups of the lead singer as he performs by lip signing the song. The footage is edited in slow motion for the song to be in time with his mouth. This has been done to give the video a more professional look. The conventions of having lots of close-ups in this video allows us to recognise the band from the extras. Also I have noticed that each close up is similar to the other because he is always filmed in the same place, which is on the stage in the setting of the club.

These are visual motifs across their work as I looked at Funs previous and latter music video releases. I found their video for ‘Carry on’ was similar to shots in ‘We are young’’ Both shots have a shot of the band together using a wide long shot of the stage setting. Also the lighting are similar effects with red lighting and quite low key. The position of the band is also very similar.

Therefore, audiences and fans of Fun will now recognised their video and gain a wider audience due to the fact people would notice the motifs in their music videos.

This music video features many still shots with wide framing, so there are few references to this idea of the ‘notion of looking’. This video does highlight the screens within screens as the camera used a pull focus on a phone. At the time of the video’s release, this was a new windows phone model. And the home screen is shown clearly in this close up of the phone as it was thrown through the air. This means the artist has used synergy with the video and the product of the new windows phone as both mututally promote one anothr. The pull focus is on the object itself to allow the audience to recognise the brand and how modern techniology was used in the video. It is also a contextual reference for the future, as an audience will recognise how old the model of phone is in relation to how old the video is. I have also noticed that there is a lot of low-key lighting surrounding the phone, perhaps to make the phones screen stand out moe as it soars towards the camera with slow motion editing. The slow motion editing style givws us an predispostiin as to how this is a turning point in the videos plot, as this happens before the actors go wild in the venue.