Textual Analysis - Fall Out Boy - A Little Less Sixteen Candles

Fall Out Boy - A Little Less Sixteen Candles

The narrative of the video is that of vampires, with the band members playing vampire hunters. The story is set around the song, making the sound of fight scenes and other diegetic sounds play over the song. The video is longer than the song, leaving room for a more direct story line and speech to reflect it. 

The opening scene is set on a verge overlooking a town, it is night time, reflective of vampires only being allowed out at night. The text shown is typical of that featured in comic books, and the scene is set in the 1980s, this is apparent by the style of car. The scene itself is a pastiche of the film 'The Lost Boys'.

The video features performance scenes around the main story line, these are set in a warehouse type building, representative of the hideout at which the hunters are based at. The shots of this are mainly mid-long shots, focusing on one member of the band yet sometimes including another.

The first part of the video shows a man, presumably the leader of the vampire hunters, assessing the scene from the beginning, the music featured in the background is different from the song itself and the lead singer is narrating his thoughts. The scene is tinted by a red light, representative of blood and vampires.

The next part of the video shows the hunters training cut with performance shots, each of the band members are featured, showing them on the same team and preparing to go into battle. One of the members is himself a vampire showing that, if tried, they could all live together.

The next scene cuts to one of a group of rebel vampires taunting the good vampire with a girl, chanting ‘kiss her, kiss her’ trying to make him go against his will and drink human blood. This scene is made up of medium shots containing the whole group and close ups, focusing on specific people. Instead he bites the person holding him, letting her escape and a fight begins. Many people from other bands are featured in the fight sequence such as Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes, Brendon Urie from Panic! At The Disco and William Becket from The Academy Is… The group enter in a formation and, after the drop of a glove from their leader, scatter and attack people in the surrounding area.

An overhead shot of a car bonnet is shown, in the car are the vampire hunters. The two groups are dressed differently showing a distinct difference between them and their styles of living. The fight scene is mainly made up of medium shots, capturing the choreographed attack between two or three people.

Five members of the opposing group are choreographed controlling girls like puppets, showing the control they have over non-vampires. This is shot using a medium shot containing at least three of them.

The video concludes with the police intervening on the attack and arresting the hunters, the final shots are filmed from within the police car and show the view out of the window of the other hunters being arrested as well at the leader of the rebel vampire group talking with the police showing that the police were on their side. The radio in the police car sounds with mocking laughter, this is animated by the policemen in the front of the car, laughing at the expense of the hunters.