Guy Pollard

Music video analysis

Coldplay's The Scientist is a soul / alternative rock song which was released in 2002. It is famous for its unique music video which tells a powerful narrative in reverse. the character is played by the lead singer of the band Chris Martin who lip sings the whole of the song. It is like he is telling a story in reverse. Through the beginning of the music video the narrative is shrouded in mystery as the audience does not know where he has come from. From the beginning of the music video through means of mise-en-scene you can see that the character has come from a bad place as he is traveling on his own and is walking in rough areas. The music has contrasting words with the video such as ‘pulling the puzzle apart’ like the audience is doing with the narrative. It is only at the end that the audience see the crash the started off the sequence of events. This will be a shock for the audience which will make the video all the more powerful.

Video concept

The director of this music video uses camera and editing to full effect to get the contrasting elements across. Through out the video the shots are slow pace and consistent throughout the music video much like the rhythm of the song so it stay to genre convention. In the top right shot you will see our character walking towards (in reverse) a dead body. This shot shows the main focus of the music video. With the contrasting effects of the dark lighting and the dead body this gives the audience the impression that this is a bad place for our character as they wonder how the dead body got there. They use slow motion shots which gives an impressive spectacle to the audience. They use wide shots like the bottom right just to show the audience how alone the character is and the vastness of his problems he has to deal with.

Camera and editing

Since the narrative is supposed to be surrounded in mystery they start off with a shot that bring in people curiosity straight away. The first shot is of the character on the ground in a grotty park like he is some sort of drug addict or homeless person. It is only when people see the narrative is in reverse that their interest in hooked as they are now egger to find out his story. They use shots to confuse the audience like where he jumps over the wall. Although it is shot in slow motion this can give the audience the impression that he is quite an athletic or enthusiastic person which helps the audience make their own assumptions about him. In the bottoms shot we see our character going back into the dark. This gives the audience a insight into his personality. As dark is usually considered to be a bad colour of evil or depression it reflects the emotions of our character.

Character and artist representation.