MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSISDarcy Capps

COLDPLAY – THE SCIENTIST • https://youtu.be/EqWLpTKBFcU

LYRICS• Come up to meet you, Tell you I’m sorry, You don’t know how lovely you are

I had to find you, Tell you I need you, Tell you I set you apart

Tell me your secrets, And ask me your questions, Aww let’s go back to the start

Runnin’ in circles, [sounds like] Comin’ our tails, Heads on the science apart

Nobody said it was easyIt’s such a shame for us to partNobody said it was easyNo one ever said it would be this hardAww take me back to the start

I was just guessin’, At numbers and figures, Pullin’ the puzzles apart

Questions of science, Science and progress, Do not speak as loud as my heart

Tell me you love me, Come back to haunt me, Oh when I rush to the start

Runnin’ in circles, [sounds like] Chasin’ our tails, Comin’ back as we are

Nobody said it was easyAww It’s such a shame for us to partNobody said it was easyNo one ever said it would be so hardI’m goin’ back to the start

AhhoooooooooooooooooAhhoooooooooooooooooAhhoooooooooooooooooAhhooooooooooooooooo

Immediately after reading/hearing the lyrics we gain an understand that perhaps this video will be revolving a death, or love story. ‘Come up to meet you’ connotes perhaps he is referring to heaven, however, could also be meaning he is meeting a girl. At the beginning of the video Martin is shown lying on a mattress, positioned centrally, this immediately puts all the focus on him.

‘I had to find you, Tell you I need you’, these lyrics suggest maybe he has just come off of a bad break up, connotating negative things. Although, it could also carry the meaning of Chris Martin wanting to find a girl to tell her how much she means to him.

MUSIC AND GENRE• Genre : ’00s Rock• Released: 2002• Album: A Rush of Blood to the Head• The song is built round a piano ballad, with its lyrics telling a story about

a man’s desire to love and an apology.

CINEMATOGRAPHY • Close ups are used throughout the video to show emotion of the face. As

the events are very emotional this is vital to representing feeling – which explains the plot of the video.

• Most of the shots are heavily focused on Christ Martin, drawing all focus to his character in the music video.

• All the shots are very typical of a stereotypical music video. This is because combined with lip syncing, they illustrate meanings of the lyrics more to the audience, as well as continuing to establish the setting.

EDITING & INTERTEXTUALITY• The editing in this video is very specific. The video was most notable for

its distinctive reverse narrative. Martin had to learn the song backwards in order for It to look normal, something only a very capable artist could do/pull of well. The narrative done backwards is unnoticeable until the very end, using the editing techniques really does make the text look like a normal music video of an everyday standard.

• The video uses some intertextuality as the same concept had been previously used for Spike Jonze’s 1996 music video for the song ‘The Second Summer of Love’ by Scottish band Danny Wilson.

NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE• The narrative for this video is ‘time moving backwards’. Christ Martin

(lead singer’ is in the car along with a female, he loses concentration, leading the car to tumble and flip down a nearby hill. Killing the female. Martin is then seen walking through a town passing different locations such as a railway, bridge and group of teenagers playing basketball. Perhaps reflecting on past memories. After his walk he is shown to end up lying on a mattress.

• The thing I like most is this is all done backwards, so him lying on a mattress is first. To an audience it creates a sense of disorientation making it quite diverse and allowing it to stand out.