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COLDPLAY – THE SCIENTIST Fanny Chen
COLDPLAY
British alternative rock band
Formed in 1996
Four-man band
Chris Martin (lead vocalist and piano)
Jonny Buckland (guitar)
Guy Berryman (bass)
Will Champion (drums)
Top of music charts for over a decade
THE SCIENTIST
From the album A
Rush of Blood to the
Head
Released in 2002
Music video directed
by Jamie Thraves
Won 3 MTV music
video awards
Reverse narrative
Filmed in London and
Bourne Woods
OVERVIEW
Words: urgent, imploring, wistful
“…back to the start”; “nobody said it was easy.”
Romantic relationship
“That's just about girls. It's weird that whatever else
is on your mind, whether it's the downfall of global
economics or terrible environmental troubles, the
thing that always gets you most is when you fancy
someone.” – Chris Martin on “The Scientist”
Not a storytelling
OVERVIEW
Music: simplicity complexity
Begins with piano ballad; small range of pitches
Ends with piano, guitar, keyboard, vocals; wide range
of pitches; fuller sound
Predictable
Consistent rhythmic pulse
Repetitive melodic lines
Follows verse-chorus-verse-chorus format
OVERVIEW
Images: backward storytelling
Carefreeness
Terrible tragedy
Carefreeness
Director’s intention
“I had this idea that I wanted to do a story that’s tragic but starts off happy and ends happy, and the video is about rewinding to that happy ending” – Jamie Thraves
OVERVIEW
All three components generally go different
directions
Music: constant forward progression
Words: little progression
Images: constant backward “full-circle” progression
Counterpoint brings out themes
Puzzles
Love vs. Science
Relational hardships
MOMENT 1 – REVELATION
0:27 - 0:41
http://youtu.be/RB-RcX5DS5A?t=27s
MOMENT 1 – REVELATION
Words
“Oh, let’s go back to the start”
Music
Simple, only vocals and piano
Innocent, pure, genuine
Images
Jerky, unnatural movements
Gravity-defying “leap” from mattress; backwards
bicycling
relaxed withdrawn
MOMENT 1 – REVELATION
Setting: city, graffitied building
Body position:
MOMENT 1 – REVELATION
Overall effect
Beginning of the resolution to a mystery
Reveals direction to the rest of the piece
“I want to go back to where I belong”
Mattress has associations with home and safety, but
juxtaposed to someplace clearly not his home. Also, sense of
discomfort and unsettlement from change in body posture.
“let’s go back to the start.”
Raw, emotional vocals
Suggests that the person he loves is where he feels at home,
at peace, and secure
Immediately intriguing, pulls viewer into story
MOMENT 2 – JOURNEY
1:51 – 2:05
http://youtu.be/RB-RcX5DS5A?t=1m51s
MOMENT 2 – JOURNEY
Words
“Questions of science, science and progress/Do not
speak as loud as my heart”
Music
Added instruments
More colors, depth
Images
Sudden cut from neighborhood to railroad tracks
Abandoned, desolate, higher risk setting
Not mouthing words
Introduction of shadows that darken his face/white
shirt
MOMENT 2 – JOURNEY
“Questions of science…”
“… do not
speak as loud
as my heart.”
MOMENT 2 – JOURNEY
Overall effect
Contrast to previous scene – attention-grabbing
Heart is stronger than rationality.
Shadows
Railroad tracks
Lack of mouthing words vs. lyrics
Increased fullness/color in sound – moving forward
Foreshadows accident
MOMENT 3 – THE START
3:00 – 4:25
http://youtu.be/RB-RcX5DS5A?t=3m
MOMENT 3 – THE START
Words
“I’m going back to the start”
Decisive, resolute, declarative
Music
Fully transitioned from piano ballad to guitar-driven
instrumental with full band
Vocals drop out, then come back in with melismatic
ooh’s
Musical climax
Resolves with softer dynamics and an ending chord
that still involves whole band
MOMENT 3 – THE START
Images
dynamic/explosive, visual climax of the accident
taking place
Girl took off seatbelt to put on jacket
Ends in a state of calm and carefreeness again (notice
color of lady’s shirt – parallels to white color of
Chris’s shirt in the beginning)
MOMENT 3 – THE START
Overall effect
Dramatic, conclusive ending
Words introduce scene, music and images piece
together the tragic ending/beginning to the story and
the emotions
In context of images, falsetto ooh’s are haunting and
mournful
Powerful, poignant, brings viewer back to the start of
both the story and the music video
FINAL THOUGHTS
Personal take-away
Reverse narrative super effective
Relationships are complex and unpredictable
Can’t trust rationality all the time – sometimes you
need to trust in love
Cultural context
In a culture where relationships form and break just
like that, “The Scientist” flips the paradigm that love
is volatile and suggests that love is something
constant that keep people together even when it
doesn’t make sense.