Music Video Analysis : Coldplay's The Scientist

Music Video Analysis : Coldplay's The Scientist

Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals

• Illustrative : He sings 'Nobody said it was easy' and we can see his pain and emotion of his tragic loss. He also sings 'now lets go back to the start' and the video is actually shown to us backwards so we are literally going back to the start.
• Amplification: We discover the reasons behind why he is singing 'nobody said it was easy' even though the lyrics themselves do not tell us

Relationship between Music and Visuals

• Illustrative : Sound-vision editing and slow paced. Cuts are on the beat of the music

Performance, Narrative or Concept Based

• Performance : This plays a substantial part of the video, as we follow the lead singer throughout the video singing
• Narrative : There is a narrative, as we are being shown that he has lost his girlfriend through a tragic car crash
• Concept : The emotional effects of loosing someone close to you

Visual Hooks

• There are lots of CU's and ECU's of his face, which makes her the visual hook. We see him clearly expression his pain and devastation

Genre Characteristics (Indie/ Rock)

• Music and Lyrics : Emotional lyrics with slow paced indie rock music
• Editing : Slow editing, which mainly fits with the pace of the music
• Gesture Codes : Emotional expression when he is singing into the camera
• Fashion : Skinny jeans, tight tops, rugged unshaven look
• Artist : Well-known male lead singer of a band

References to the Notion of Looking

• We follow him, as he walks backwards and it is as if we are there following him.
• He also sings directly to the camera, invoting us to watch his performance