Music

Video Analysis: Hate My Life by Theory of a Deadman

Full Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfnAOcBirAs

The music video for the song Hate My Life was directed by Bill Fishman and released in
2009.

The video begins with the close up of the lead singers
hand holding out some change with the intention of
giving it to a homeless individual. At the same time at
0.01 we here the diegetic sound of a ring, as the audience
we expect this to be coming from a phone belonging to
the lead singer. Instead, the camera pans across to reveal
a homeless man taking the phone call and telling the
singer to hang on buddy. This breaks the usual connotations associated with the rich vs.
poor binary opposition by creating a role reversal and putting the homeless man in a
position of power. The stereotypical grouchy-old-man look gives the exchange a somewhat
comedic feel and establishes a feel-good tone to the narrative and the song itself: Youre
not the only one having a bad day.

The camera them pans back and as a result of the previous
zoom now features the lead singer in a medium shot. With a
direct address to the camera, the encounter with the
homeless man also serves at as action code to progress the
narrative, as identified by theorist Roland Barthes. He begins
to sing the song as I direct reaction to what he has just
experienced. The director reflects this through his use of
continuity editing throughout the video. However, as the
singer walks away and begins to sing about other things that annoy him, there is no edited
transition between shots. The director relies on various camera movements to allow the
video to progress in one continuous take between 0.00 1.51. During this period the
audience are able to see a consistent relationship between the lyrics and the video
onscreen, therefore adhering to a key music video convention highlighted by Andrew
Goodwin. As the lyrics mention key physical actions such as
bad driving between 0.21 0.28, the camera pans to the right
into a close up of a car before quickly returning to the singer.
This is once again another of Goodwins music video
conventions as the lead vocalist is given more screen time than
anyone else as he will be the person the audience will most
likely connect with and associate with the music and music
video.

The camera then begins tracking backwards for a short time as the singer continues his
journey down the street, thus sustaining the medium shot. From 0.36 0.37, the camera
pans ahead to the singer at a low angle in order to prepare for the arrival of the singers
wife. Her introduction is one very conventional towards women within the media and
particularly in the rock genre. It begins with an upward tilt at 0.37 0.39, putting an
emphasis straight away on her physical appearance: exposed legs, short skirt and a bright
pink top. This gives her a somewhat inferior representation to that of her male counterpart
as she is simply there to appeal to the male gaze. This
negative representation continues as we see her
alongside props commonly associated with the
stereotypical celebrity-wife, such a lap dog, high
heels, a small handbag and a purse (given to her by the
male singer, showing his role as the dominant provider).
Her role is then fulfilled as she is seen getting into an
expensive car between 0.44 0.50.

As the continues take continues, the camera again resumes tracking back in a medium shot
as the singer makes his way into the middle of the street and begins the chorus. During the
chorus, the singer is singing about how he hates everyone to the bitter end. When this
poignant line is delivered, the camera moves closer to him to capture a close up of his face
at 0.58 (still in the continuous take). The camera however
does not remain stationary. Instead, it arcs around the lead
singer in a full circle, unconventionally breaking the 180-
degree rule in the process. Once again, this demonstrates
how the action taking place within this continuous take
directly reflects the lyrics within the song. The cyclical
motion around the singer at 0.58 1.05 represents how the
singer feels his life is going badly and he doesnt see an end
in sight.

The early portion of the song doesnt contain any loud music beyond that of guitar
strumming, therefore diegetic sound from props in the video can be heard clearly and are
mainly used as action codes to set up various events within the narrative onscreen. For
example, in the video the audience can clearly hear the distinct sound of a bicycle before a
panning shot (1.05 1.08) shows a bicycle crashing in to a woman in the street. Here we see
another example of sexual connotations with regards to women, as the focus is not on
helping her, but the provocative clothing in her bag
which the singer proceeds to hold up to the camera in
a close up. From 1.22, we see a contrasting
representation for the men as a long shot shows three
men dress as construction workers. This gives
connotations of strength and productivity. Alongside a
representation of masculinity, the construction
workers also represent the working class as they are
shown performing manual labour whilst lip-synching
lines about hating their jobs and superiors. These

views are ones commonly associated with their particular socio-economic group.

The remainder of the video is no longer one continuous take, as the lead singer joins the
rest of the band on a float. Despite introducing more
cutting between the shots, the shots themselves are still
frequently close ups on the lead singer (still following
convention) with the introduction of more medium and
close up shots on the other members of the band and their
respective instruments. This is more fitting of the rock
genre and follows the genre conventions further with a
faced paced editing style to link the shots together. For
example, the director cuts between 5 separate shots and 5 seconds between 2.22 and 2.27.
The video comes to an end with the camera once again panning
around at 3.08 to break the 180-degree rule. This reveals a wide
shot of a vast crowd cheering on the band and includes a lot of
extras previously seen throughout the video. A final glimpse of
the lead singer is then shown before the camera tilts up to
reveal the title of the song written the sky.