Rise Against Hero Of War Deconstruction

The song Hero Of War, By Rise Against, is accompanied by an extremely effective, if not slightly haunting video, demonstrating a fictional yet realistic struggle in relation to the songs title a young man who enlists in the army, demonstrating his struggles, accompanied by the emotional song itself. The video opens up with a performance set, with only the singer of the band, and his guitar. However, the location of the set gives of a strange sadness, at it is implied clearly that the desolate playground is the effect of war that nobody is around to use it, removing the happiness that is normally related to such a place. The fact that only the singer is here is obvious it is an acoustic song, with only need of him as he can also play guitar. However, a more deep thought gives off the abandoned effect even more, and makes the area appear more derelict. The narrative kicks in soon after, and shows a soldier cautiously searching a building with his gun at the ready. The lighting, showing what looks like sunset, blinding the camera, adds a strangely serene effect to the shot. This first shot of narrative seemingly confirms the video is war related to anyone who didnt know. Flickering between the performance, this currently unidentified soldier, and small portions of a new, young mans life, which due to the dark effects accompanying them appear to be memories, the video progresses. There is a particularly effective shot that focuses in on the young man, as he is clearly swearing his oath to his country, and it is clear he is joining the US military. The props, for example the flag in the background, and his actions, confirm this to the audience. The narrative continues flicking through memories, which are displayed with a dark, gloomy effect, which adds emphasis. It is noticeable that scenes similar to the oath shot represent this young mans development in military life. The hair cutting scene is also important, because besides linking in with the

lyrics, it also shows the young mans separation from his old, civilian life, as if it represents the change. It soon becomes obvious that the soldier shots are in fact the present perspective of the narrative, and excluding all of the performance scenes, the other scenes represent memories. The soldier scene shows the story of the young mans military life. These scenes also show the young man, as a soldier, interacting with the local villagers, in an extremely positive, happy way. This shot effectively ties in with the lyrics at said point. There is an effective close up shot of the soldiers gun following this shot, which adds the sinister, dark side to the happiness he shows, and adds emphasis on the fact that he is in the country to fight. The establishing style shots used in the desert are effective for the narrative, because they express the devastation of the country, which emphasises the message of the song and video.

The next few shots show the corruption of being a Hero, through lyrics and video. It is noticable that in most of these shots, when the soldiers are showing negative morality, the camera aims down at them. This emphasises that they are bad, and not as good as they are percieved. It is also noticable that in between some shots, there a short flickers of night vision shots of a man in a room. It seems to show his dealing with the mental effect of what he has done when he reflects at night, which shows an emotional effect. The close up shot of the photograph again shows the soldiers memories, in a way, to

emphasise his rememberance of the life outside of war. This is effective because it engages the audience emotionally with the character, and also makes them feel seperated from the life outside of this war zone. After a series of torture scenes, small head shots of the rest of Rise Againsts band are shown. This opens the video back into reality, and also makes it clear to the audience that this is a band, not just a solo artist as could be percieved by the opening.

The breakdown of the song shows the cruelty of war that is implied through the lyrics. The setting and mise-en-scene show a smokey, dark and gloomy war zone, amongst things such a children in amongst the firing, and also a significant focusing shot of a young girl, standing still in the same position, which adds a strangely emotional effect. The music in the backround fits perfectly along with this, portraying the emotion of the song. The final verse of the song adds all of the memories together, and looks back up on the soldiers time from memories of normal life, to the memories of war. It seems to show both the highs and lows of the war, and fits along with the beat to engage the audience massively. This is the most effective part of the video, adding a killer blow that makes even the viewer feel emotional. One of the final shots shows the young man, back before the war, as if the video is actually a glimpse into the unknown future from the soldiers perspective, rather than just memories which is what is implied through the majority of the video. The focus shot into his face gives the message that he has no idea what he is getting himself into, although we have just a seen glimpses of everything. It adds a huge deal of sympathy for the character. The video for Hero Of War is extremely effective, and is definitely a video to inspire a video of my own. The use of narrative and performance make it an engaging, emotional story, and also present the lyrics and message of the song.