'The Scientist' - How it is an Influence for our Short Film and the Analysis of it as a Music Video

we plan to use no copyrighted music for our short film (this is because when you listen to music that you recognise your attention is focused on the origins of the song as opposed to the emotion expressed).

Yet the tone and directional techniques shown in the Jamie Thraves’ music video of Coldplay's 'The scientist' is awe inspiring, it also contains similar narrative themes. This means we can employ many of the techniques demonstrated.

Grading

All the pictures were graded to a grey tone, with blue enhanced. This is because we link blue with tragedy, and the main theme of the piece is death. This is shown in the opening shot of Chris Martin (Lead Singer), he makes his eyes extremely blue.

This not only emphasises that him as an aspiration figure and uses his sexuality to sell records, but also suggests that the character is mourning.

The use of grey shows that the world is empty, there is nothing to interest us, because without his love there is nothing. Colours excite an audience, the lack of it makes us feel upset creating pathos for the character.

Editing and Cinematography

Whilst we do not want to replicate this aspect of the video, it uses the slow editing. That’s because it’s a slow character piece. Whilst ours too focuses on one character, it shows his hectic attitude as he is stuck in this situation.

‘The Scientist’ has a multiple of midshots, close ups and wideshots all focusing on ‘Chris Martin’ (meaning he is always in the foreground, making his black clothing prominent against a bright background).

Constant Voyuerism takes place through the video, this to make Chris Martin have a connection with the viewers, it forces you to recognise his grief and makes the situation all the more real (ironically considering it’s breaking the forth wall).

All these techniques reinforce the image of Coldplay (more specifically their lead singer) , this video was made at a highpoint of their career and promoting the star is essential for any band and a selling point.

Locations

The mixture of Urban and Rural locations plays a major part of the visual direction of both our piece and the music video. I believe it gives an epic feel, as if being on a journey, also leaving suburbia for nature gives a feeling of escapism, a quest.

The tall trees give a scale as they tower over our protagonist. There is a mixture of beauty mixed with tragedy. This creates an underlying poetic poignancy that makes the piece much more powerful and timeless. We hope to encapsulate this tone in our Short Film