MS: Music video Anlaysis

Coldplay 'The scientist'

Representation 

The stereotypical representations of youths are being reinforced with one shown riding around in an urban area on BMX and some young black men playing basketball. These are very stereotypical and are being reinforced by the artist maybe because with the video being played in reverse it gives a different outlook on the stereotypical things that these groups are doing such as playing basketball. One dominant belief that is challenged is the type of person who comes from an urban area. The lead singer is walking around an inner-city area but from his costume, non-verbal language and the audiences cultural understanding of urban areas the typical people from urban areas is being challenged. The artist may have done this to show that he is different to the stereotypical people and you don't have to be a specific type of person to be from an urban area.

This track is very different to the genre that tyla and i have decided to use for our music video production, it follows suit to a number of conventions that are typical to its genre that is alternative rock but it also has some un-conventional aspects such as the fact that it is played in reverse from end to start.

Institution and Audience

The band themselves are very mainstream and appeal to a wide audience range which is the reason why they have become so successful since their formation. Their music videos receive a large amount of air time die to their popularity and thus as a follow on from hearing their music people would want to re-consume the band but by watching their music videos on web 2.0 platforms such as youtube.

As for the institutional contex of the video,coldplays record label EMI who are a major record label who are known worldwide.They would have some say in the style of video Coldplay make to ensure they stick to conventions of their genre and don't stay too far from the star image that has been created for the brand.
Using Goodwin's theory, when listening to this song the synaesthetic effect it gives is an emotional mood which is amplified by the music video because it is about a car crash where someone has died which is emotional and is reflected by the song. In addition the lyrics play a part by influencing the visuals of the music video.The line 'I'm going back to the start' is clear evidence of why the music video is playing backwards.The music video also shows Barthes theory of the'grain of voice' which sees the singing voice as personal to the singer and therefor the audience is able to see that the song is telling a story about the singer. This is further expressed by the breaking of the fourth wall which clearly shows the singer as the story teller. Goodwin would describe this video as illustrating the meaning of the lyrics with some amplification as the video is quite artistic in the way that it is in reverse.

During the video, Dyer's theory of paradoxical 2 is shown as the lead singer is seen to be both present, as he breaks the fourth wall at the beginning of the video but also absent, as shown towards the end when there is no breaking of the fourth wall or lip-syncing. The 'star'of the band is further constructed by mise-en-scene with costume being important. During the video the lead singer puts on a leather jacket which from the cultural code i would associate with being "cool". The video also develops the band's meta-narrative because it tells a story of losing someone close to you in an accident which could potentially be your fault. This creates a sense of sympathy towards the band as the person watching can mentally relate to the situation and would be able to relate the guilt felt to other past situations.

Different social groups are represented in the video being men,women,young black men and white teenagers. Firstly, the most prevalent social group is men who are represented in the video by the lead singer.

 

Chris Martins representation of him in the video is that he is from an urban background as shown by the location for the majority of the video. In addition there are numerous camera shots from a low angles that are lower than eye-level which gives indication that he is of importance and dominant within the video. Finally when he puts on a leather jacket his costume has connotations of being normal with plain white and black clothes but on the other hand the leather jacket has connotations of being more masculine and trendy. Secondly, white youths are given quite a typical representation from the male perspective as if seen hanging around in an urban setting casually riding on a BMX a person would not think this to be abnormal. This is a very typical view of white youths from urban areas and suggests they have nothing better to do than hang around.