Give You Hell - Video Analysis

‘Give You Hell’ is the latest song from Rock band All American Rejects from their upcoming third studio album When the World Comes Down. The broad characteristics of the Rock videos include, tattoos, piercing, guitar and other instruments, hair and clothing. It was directed by Marc Webb who has directed other videos such as Green Day ‘Waiting’ to Miley Cyrus ‘Start All Over’ and produced by Michael Angelos.
The lyrics are illustrated through its visuals throughout the majority of the video. At the start he sings ‘I wake up every evening with a big smile on my face...’ and that is exactly what we see. The chorus too is illustrated within the visuals of why every time he see’s his face he gets angry. For example just as the chorus starts the neighbor gets on a lawnmower and starts messing up his front garden the camera angles are in the point of view of the innocent one to help emphasis the problem. Little incidents happen like this throughout the video. This is until the end, where they actually confront each other about not getting along.
Looking at the relationship between the music and the visuals shows a parallel. The video cuts each shot to the beat to follow the conventions of a rock video and to really pull out the strong drum beats. An example would be near the beginning (44secdonds) where the guitar just finishes a small solo it cuts to the glass of water and the beat drops in. Instruments that they use are highlighted through there solo part (around the time of 1.32) where he is riding on the lawnmower and him standing on the grass. This again follows the conventions of the rock genre as instruments play an important part. Towards the end of the video and song where the two couples confront each other the music and singing changes as more people join in with the singing and the music becomes quieter as the visuals are more important.
This video is quite different to previous All American Rejects as it has the humor element within it. This widens the target audience. Having the two different ways of living allows more people to relate to the song and the video becomes more interesting. However it still has the same feature of the performance side in there, where the entire band are playing and singing. It’s not really giving a definite image that people have to follow as such. It allows people to see two different sides and how the other people feel about each other. And what to one person is fun is another person’s nightmare. In some ways the video represents a change of image as the main singer is also the posh neighbor and they do look very different, totally opposite to the actually image he represents.
Within the video there is slight reference to a sexual nature. The whole image of a rock star is sex, drugs and drink which is highlighted within the video. The reason that the two men don’t get on really is because they fancy each others girlfriends. There is also a shot where the rock man is lying in bed and his girlfriend is wear red latex gloves and a long top. This highlights the type of people which listen to this sort of music.
There is a few broad in textual references to a range of other media. For example the film ‘The Girl Next Door’ is where the next door neighbor falls in love with a girl who has just moved in to the house next to his. There are also parts which are linked with films like ‘Save The Last Dance’ and ‘Step Up’ where two people or two worlds that are totally opposite go together and become one. These are broad in textual references but they are still linked.
The majority of the video is narration base. The story line is that there are two neighbors which are total opposite. One is a rock man whilst the other is a real goody too shoes man. Both have there typical girlfriends however each want to be with the other. So the rock mans girlfriend fancies the goody one and vise versa. Having this story line running through makes it more entertaining as it is humorous. This would encourage a wider audience to like and watch the video. However whilst this story is running through there is also performance parts too. Where we can clearly see the band performing by singing and playing their instruments. There aren’t any conventions of it being concept based as the other two make a good combination and make the video entertaining.
Give You Hell a rock song by All American Rejects follow many typical conventions of the genre, with the makeup clothing and storyline. Through its lyrics and music it’s able to come to life through its visuals making the video a success in my opinion its abit of fun and a real good video to watch.