Music video analysis "Chasing cars"

Act: Snow Patrol

Track: Chasing Cars

Audience: 12 or over

Year: 2006
Genre: Mellow rock
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GemKqzILV4w

Narrative: The narrative in this video is quite evident as it seems that the protagonist is going to a number of places to find someone to be with however he is unable to. The beginning of the video shows him sitting in a café alone and the director has intelligently positioned the shot with him on the far right and not actually in the middle where you would normally position a singular character in a scene. This could’ve been done in order to emphasise the fact that there should be someone (perhaps a woman) sitting next to him and that he is missing something vital in his life.

Visuals and lyrics: The chorus to the song goes “if I lay here” and we can clearly see that whenever he is singing that lyric he is lying in a spot that wouldn’t normally be appropriate to lie in in real life. One of the spots is at the top of an escalator and as he is lying there, people just simply walk over him as if he isn’t present which could convey the fact that he feels very lonely or lost. This is also shown by the fact that he is always alone throughout the entire video. The lyrics to the song are suggesting that the main character is searching for someone to be with and wants to forget about everything else in the world. It’s clear that when he is lying in all of those spots, he seems completely oblivious to the fact that there are other people around him. It is almost as if the entire video is like a dream. This could also be supported by when he sings “chasing cars around our heads”.

Shot variety: The video is quite simply cut so I do not think that a huge number of cameras were used to shoot it. There’s a mix of long shots, slow ups, mid shots and close ups. The slow ups in the video I think are used in order to give it more emotional feeling and I believe that it allows for the audience to connect with the character a lot more easily as the moving camera shots might make the person watching the video feel like they are in the scene.

Pace: The pace of the video is quite slow however this fits in just right with the song, as it is a slow song.

Location/mise-en-scene: The video is set in a city which seems very alive however this contrasts with the main character as it seems that he does not fit in the video due to him feeling alone and upset. The costume is just simple everyday clothing so there doesn’t seem to be much importance towards what is being worn. I think that the director has purposely made it so that the character is in a location that goes against how he is feeling and this creates dramatic effect for the audience as it is ironic.