Textual analysis: Bullet For My Valentine- All these things I hate

The video I am analysing is by Bullet for my Valentine called ‘All These Things I Hate’. The video was directed by Scott Winig, the song is released as the third single from their debut album The Poison in 2006. The band generally falls under the genre of Metal/Screamo. This song features their usual screamo vocals but is the softest on The Poison album.

The video follows the typical conventions of a rock/metal video as it is both narrative based and performance based, there is a story going on and also shots of the band performing. Another convention typically used for videos of this genre is the gothic wear, the band and the characters all wear dark clothing, the lead characters also have many tattoos and dark hair matching the bands costume. The characters may match the band to show that they are reflecting the bands experiences in their story. The video depicts a series of what seems like predictions made by a young woman. It starts off showing the outside of a motel and then cuts inside to show a young couple. After saying goodbye to his girlfriend the boy leaves the room, walks out onto the driveway, and gets into his car. His girlfriend realises he has left his necklace behind so goes after him. As soon as he pulls out onto the road he is slammed into by a truck and killed. This appears to be a nightmare though up by the girlfriend. This relates to the title of the song ‘all these things I hate’. These series of events repeat a few times, with minor variations each time.

The video begins outside of a motel and slowly turns inside of the couple’s room, before the couple are shown, a close up shot shows the lead singer starting to sing; this follows the timing of the song. The close-up shots are significant as they promote the artist, this is the bands debut album so this video are using these shots to familiarise the audience with the artist. It then cuts to couple who appear deeply in love, in-between their story it cross-cuts back to the band with the lead singer in focus frequently making it seem as if he is narrating their story. The dark atmosphere used, specifically on the band, is another typical convention used in rock/metal videos.

Throughout the video we see a wide range camera shots, the most frequent shot used would be close-up shot, mainly on the lead singer, and this may have been done to show that he is narrating the story in the video. Close ups are used also on the girlfriend to show her reaction to what happens which is key in this story. Mid shots are also used many times to show the whole band so they become more recognisable with the audience.

The song starts of soft and slow in pace to match the characters performance but gets much louder and faster when the action begins, e.g. when the truck slams into the boyfriend’s car. The music returns to its slow pace when the girlfriend wakes up and realises this was a nightmare and this happens throughout the video, this shows the video changing pace with the music. The same events happen constantly throughout the video, one part shows a range of shots playing one after the other at a high speed to show that the same thing keeps happening. It also shows a clear link to the title ‘all these things I hate’, the girlfriend hates seeing her boyfriend get killed and is forced to see it in a nightmare over and over. When a solo in the song is played, the video begins showing fast cuts matching the beat of the guitar.

When the lyrics ‘Torn apart at the seams and my dreams turn to tears’ play, a shot of the girlfriend getting up to chase after her boyfriend is shown. This illustrates the lyric as she starts off happy with her boyfriend and then ends up in tears when her boyfriend is killed. At one point slow motion is used when the truck slams into the car which shows a significant relationship to the lyrics ‘all these things I hate’. One of the final shots is of the girlfriend looking out a window and seeing the truck that would have killed her boyfriend pass by. However, the boyfriend is not there. The band is playing in a graveyard throughout the whole video and ends with the lead singer crouching over what seems to be the coffin of the boyfriend. There is a lot of camera movement particularly on the band which is a typical feature in rock metal videos like Guns 'N Roses 'Sweet child of Mine'. It highlights the importance of the band while promoting them and allowing the audience to get used to them.