1) The music video for Coldplay's "The Scientist" tells a story in reverse order, beginning with Chris Martin lying on a mattress and ending with a car crash that kills his female passenger. 2) Scenes show Chris Martin walking through various London locations, appearing ghostly in a white shirt, as the events seem to take place over night and lead towards the accident. 3) Filmed on location in London, the video uses natural lighting, close-ups of Chris Martin's emotional reactions, and long shots to give a sense of journey and disorientation for the audience experiencing the story backwards.

1. Content
The narrative for thisvideois'time movingbackwards'. The leadsinger,ChrisMartinisinthe car
witha female,perhapshisgirlfriendandhe loseshisconcentrationwhilstdrivingandthisleadsto
the car rollingandflippingdownthe nearbyhill,consequentlykillingthe female.ChrisMartinisthen
seenwalkingthroughthe townpassingscenesandlocationssuchasa railway,abridge anda group
of teenagersplayingbasketball.ChrisMartinisthenshowntobe walkingdownahighstreet,before
endinguplyingona mattress,despite itbeing broaddaylight.
Howeverthe narrative ispresentedbackwards.Therefore itstartsonthe mattress and endswiththe
car crash.It is a linearnarrative asit goesintoorderof events,butbackwards.If it wasto be
watchedfromthe endto the beginning, the audience will understandthatfromthe car
crash onwardsisveryreminiscent of adreamsequence,asthe audience wouldunderstandhe died
fromthe car flippingdownthe hill.Thisalsocreatesafeelingof disorientationtowardsthe audience
and subsequentlymakesthe videoverypromotional asthe audience will have toreplaythe videoto
understandthe sequence of events.
The settingisbasedinLondon.The majorityof the videoisbasedinforestrylocations,where the
accidenthappenedandthe otherhalf wasbasedinthe inner-city,withthe hustleandbustle of
London.The settingwhere the basketball istakingplace linksintothe lyricsaboutpullingpuzzles
apart and questionsof science.
The lightingusedisverynatural as itis filmedinthe forestlocation.Inthissmall partof the videohe
isin a forestlocation,butit’sat night-time,toemphasise the seriesof time the eventshave taken
place over.You can see here thatthere islow keylightingwhichisbasedonthe leftside of the
camera.You can tell thisbecause the lightisreflectingoff the treestoo,usedtohighlightChris
Martin, andemphasiseshiswhitet-shirtwhichcouldrepresentthe ghostlyfigure,hauntingafterthe
crash. Alternatively,thiscouldbe perceivedasanangelicfigure,asa possible transformationand
journeytowardsheaven.

2. Close upsare usedthroughoutthe video,togeta reactionoremotioninthe face,thisisbecause the
eventsinthe videoare veryemotional,socapturingChrisMartin'sreactionisvital to explainingthe
plotof the video.Butinthisparticularclose up,fromthe beginningof the video,isusedtoestablish
for the viewerstraightawaythatthe musicvideoisbyColdplay,because titlesare notusedinthe
video.
The extreme close upof ChrisMartin's face thenzoomsout to forma long shot.Thisshotis alsoa
crane shot,butalso couldhave beenusedona tripoddue to the mise-en-scene inthe background
beingdesignedtolooklike awall ratherthana floor.Fromlookingatthe close-up,itlookslikehe is
on a bedwhichwouldnormallybe more suitedtoabedroombutfrom the longshot,the audience
can clearlyestablishthatit'souton a street,furtheremphasisingthe feel of disorientationamongst
the audience.
A mid-shotisusedtogive informationastothe location,withoutallowingthe audience tolose the
majorityof theirfocusawayfrom ChrisMartin.These shotsare verytypical of musicvideos,
because,combinedwithlipsyncing;theyillustrate meaningsof the lyricsmore tothe audience,as
well ascontinuingtoestablishthe locationof the scene
Alsotypical of a musicvideoisthe use of extreme longshots,usedtogive the characterthe
appearance of takinga journey,usedsothatcharacters can get fromone place to anothereasily
insteadof changingshotsquicklydue tobeing focussedonanartist'sface.In thisparticularframe,

3. the suburbsof Londonare furtheremphasised,inanattemptto make the audience see the videoas
beingmore realisticandlessfantasized.
Towardsthe endof the video,ChrisMartinis shown entirelyonhisown.Thisillustratestothe
audience thatthe plotof the videoisabouthim.Also,byhavinghimonhisownreducesthe chance
of the audience beingdistractedbythingshappeninginthe background.A trackingshotsurrounded
himwhichisalso at a lowangle to give ChrisMartinpower,furtherhighlightingthathe isthe
protagonistof boththe videoandthe plotof the story.
Mise-en-scene isalsoveryhugelyusedinthe musicvideo.FirstlywasChrisMartin'scostume.With
himwearingjusta white topthissignifieshiscalmingmood,however,asIpreviouslymentioned,it
couldalsopossiblyrepresentaghostlypresence.Half waythroughthe videohe putsonhisblack
jacketwhichcouldsignifycomingbacktolife,suggestingthatbecause the videoisinbackwards
motion,the firsthalf of the videocouldhave beenapossible transitionof movingonintothe
afterlife.
Secondly,make-upisusedinthe video.ChrisMartin'smake-upisdeliberatelyveryneutral forthe
video,toemphasise hislackof life,butcouldalsorepresentChrisMartinasbeingverypure,ashis
image doesnotneedaltering,linkingintothe ideaof himbeingangelic.However,atthe beginning
of the video,ChrisMartin'seyesdoappearto be of a deeperblue colourcomparedtoatthe endof
the video,thismaybe a coincidence due tolighting,howeveritmayfurtherlinkintothe passinginto
the afterlife.Furthermore,ChrisMartinappearstonot have shaved,whichcouldmeanthathe
doesn’treallycare anymore abouthisappearance.Butalso,possiblybecause he isaninvisible
presence,beingdead,sohe wouldbe unable toshaven.
The third use of mise-en-scene isthroughthe use of editing.Therehave beenconsiderableamounts
of editingdone tothisvideo,the mostobviousbeingthe backwardseffect.All the transitionsused
are faded,tokeepthatflowof the video,andto emphasise thatastoryis commencinginthe video,
and some shotshave beensloweddowntokeeptothe tempoof the music,whichismainlyquite
slowto keepasad atmosphere aboutthe song.