Snow Patrol research

The Vees are primarily a cover band. One of the bands that they have done covers for in the past was Snow Patrol. I thought the song chosen to for the music video sounded a bit like a Snow Patrol song, so I’ve decided to do some research into their music videos, to see if the techniques and ideas used in their videos can be used in our own production.

Chasing Cars

There were a few locations including a coffee shop, what looked like a London tube station, a city centre at night and a bedroom. In all these locations the lead singer was lying on the floor, oblivious to what was going on around him. This complimented Andrew Goodwin’s theory of music videos- ‘relationship between visuals and lyrics’, ‘if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?’. Furthermore, with the lead singer being the main focus of the video, emphasised by the number of close ups used on his face and extreme close ups on different body parts such as his eyes, mouth and hands, he almost becomes the identity of the band- the person who the audience recognises. Lots of high angled shots are used to show him lying on the floor, which creates a very vulnerable portrayal of the lead singer, which reflects the words of the song. This enables the audience to feel like they’re getting to know the lead member of the band, like the song is almost speaking to them. 

There isn’t a performance aspect of the video, which suggests that the band, as a whole, is very well established. 

Just Say Yes

This video was quite different to Chasing Cars in the sense that this video was all performance. It was very futuristic with stars and blue lights for lighting. The band’s costumes consist of futuristic type suits, so they are quite smart and stand out from the back ground, also complimenting the blue and white colour scheme. This shows another side to their personality and enables the audience to think that they are getting to know the band.

Again, there are lots of close ups of the lead singers face, showing that he is the lead singer and most important and iconic member of the band. Furthermore, I noticed that when an important aspect of the music came in, a guitar solo for example, a shot of the guitarist is shown (another aspect of Andrew Goodwin’s music video theory- ‘a relationship between music and visuals’). This pays more particular attention to the mechanics of how the song is formed; showing their audience that they are good musicians and enjoy making music.

Open Your Eyes

This video is completely different to Chasing Cars and Just Say Yes. The video literally consists of a (assumed) car journey through a city, with day gradually turning into night and right at the end, we see the lead singer, again, meeting up with his girlfriend. This, almost narrative like video, doesn’t strike the audience as having a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. However, in looking into it more closely, I interpreted it as being the lead singer wishing he could tell his girlfriend all the words of the song (the car journey), but in the end, when he meets up with her decides that he would upset her too much to tell her.

The majority of the video is one long shot, following the city around on a car journey- almost a point of view shot. This suggests that it’s the driver of the car’s point of view, which really involves the audience, because they can be involved in the car journey. 

The pace of the video is also in time to the music, which again proves Andrew Goodwin’s music theory- ‘relationship between the music and visuals’.

Set the Fire to the Third Bar

This video is entirely narrative, almost similar to Chasing Cars but with two people in the video instead. This song is a duet with Martha Wainwright, so she is also featured and enables the narrative to be more realistic, which requires an emotional response from the audience. The narrative consists of two rooms, parallel to each other. The room that the male is in is white, very plain with just a table, whereas the room with the female in is darker with just a chair in it (almost as though the table and chair are meant to go together, symbolising the male and female’s relationship).  Their location is almost like a police questioning cell, or observation, adding to their isolation and longing to be together- they are locked up so it’s physically impossible to be together. This is emphasised when the male and the female mirror each other through the glass window in the middle that they both cannot see through.

You Are All That I Have

This video is similar to Just Say Yes, in that it is a fully performance video. It is located in what looks to be like a power station. One of the main aspects of the video, other than the band, is the static running from the amps and progressing, as the song progresses, to surround the band and hit the floor in random directions. 

Again, there are close-ups of the lead singer and different instrumentalists, but there are also close-ups of the static flying everywhere, which creates a sense of excitement and tension.