Synopsis

Set aboard Oslo's number 12 tram, "Au" turns an ordinary Saturday-night journey into a strange, emotionally charged urban dream. Passengers sit, stare, perform small gestures, and drift through the carriage at different speeds as Kaja Gunnufsen appears among them, singing and observing. Shot in stark black and white, the video moves between quiet loneliness, awkward encounters, fleeting attraction, and unsettling moments that make public transportation feel both intimate and alienating. The result is a fragmented portrait of city life and disconnection.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed entirely on Oslo's number 12 tram and was shot over two weekends, one in March and one in April 2014.

• Its central technical device is time-lapse photography combined with lip-sync performance. The changing speeds were used to reflect the restless pace of urban life without making the technique overwhelm the human stories.

• The production grew from a simple idea: filming Kaja singing on a crowded tram on a Saturday night. The concept expanded as the filmmakers focused on the small, often unnoticed interactions between strangers.

• Gunnufsen said she had long been fascinated by the situations that develop between people who share a tram but do not know one another. She also described the finished video as capturing the dark and lonely side of the city.

• "Au" was presented as the first part of a "Fast Motion Trilogy." The Vimeo production listing identifies it as a nominee for the UK Music Video Awards, the Norwegian Music Video Awards, and the International Music Video Festival.

• The song appears on Gunnufsen's 2014 debut album, "Faen Kaja." It was her first original song written on piano, despite having played classical piano since childhood.

• The title came from Gunnufsen initially singing "aaa" as a temporary chorus vocal. Repeating it eventually suggested the short Norwegian exclamation "au," meaning "ouch."