Too Young

by Kseniia Sheveleva

Too Young is a music video to the well-known song “Softcore” by The Neighbourhood (2018). Composed of footage from BBC, BFI and HBO, and personal archives, the video draws attention to the experience of growing up too soon and conceiving a family at a young age. Having been raised by a single young Mom, the author wished to highlight that, despite the stigma around teenage Moms, she had as happy of a childhood as one could have in a full mature family. The clips have been carefully picked and edited to demonstrate the inevitable difficulties of young love and parenthood in an “entertaining” manner, as the flow of images matches the beat in the typical commercial “music video” style. Young parents are aspiringly brave, and the prejudices they face are yet to be disrupted.

Kseniia is a first-year Media and Communications student with a huge aspiration towards filmmaking. Coming from a belief that “personal is political”, she seeks to reflect her life experiences through screen in a way that would disrupt common ideological misconceptions around them. She hopes to create pieces that people from various social and cultural backgrounds could resonate with and respond to mentally and artistically. Kseniia assures you that once she becomes a well-known film director, she will give away free tickets to her screenings in exchange for California rolls.

She can be found on Instagram at @matzueva.

edited by Judith Toh