Temple Grandin was released by AJJ under SideOneDummy records and was Directed/Edited by Joe Stakun and the Director of Photography was Eric Bader. The video features the band playing their song with their instruments in front of 3 big screens with occasional projections on the band members. The music video also features random things being thrown in like toilet paper and balloons, there's also uses of edits from post-production, these edits sometimes work well with the big screens in the background and the light projections.
AJJ's main genre is considered folk-punk but Google also lists them as art-rock, indie-folk, indie-rock and punk rock. Their style of music is extremely unique so it's hard to define them, they do not have any common characteristics really other than traditional instruments but even then they use a double bass and cello.
It is a performance based contemporary music video and opens with the band's name and song title as on screen text then transition to a shot of the text on the middle big screen and pans outwards the get the full band in the shot. There are a lot of continuity edits and fast paced cuts. There are mainly long shots of the whole band and then mid-shots for the lead singer. Some are handheld and some are on a dolly.Lyrics and Visuals
The lyrics themes are about three different people and how they overcome their difficulties and things they do. "Stevie Wonder to the bullshit" is about him being blind, but "write a nice pop song about it" is the positivity and overcoming being blind. Again when they sing about Hellen Keller and Temple Grandin, they are talking about the challenges in their lives and what they do overcome them.
Some of the lyrics are shown on the screens behind them, coming on as soon as they are sung in the song. However, it is only for a few of the lyrics. The fact the lyrics are extremely big on screen yet almost hidden in the background by the band reflects the band's nihilistic approach to songwriting, it shows things are significant (big lyrics) yet also so meaningless (they are hard to actually see). When "Open up your murder eyes" is sang you can see lasers coming out of peoples eyes in the background.
Music and Visuals
The music doesn't really link to the video other than the band playing their instruments in it. The screens change the image(s) when there is a chord change or for example when the eagles are shown some new Eagles appear when the chord changes.The screens are changing at quite a fast pace so this reflects the song as it has a fast tempo. When the key changes at 1:17 the screens go from very bright and colourful to black and white. All of this makes it more aesthetically pleasing for the viewer.
Close ups and Star Motifs
Sean Bonnette - the frontman - has a lot of close ups and mid-shots in the video as his their label wants them to be recognisable. This is an example of Richard Dyer's Star Theory where artists are constructed and made to be like a brand and recognisable for the audience. The bassist also has a few close ups as he and the frontman are the two original/longest lasting members of the band so the audience is more likely to know them.
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