"Chasing Cars" - Snow Patrol, Textual Analysis

Chasing cars was released was released on the 24^th July 2006. The lead singer Gary Lightbody created the phrase “Chasing Cars” from his father, in reference to a girl he was infatuated with; he said “you’re like a dig chasing cars”. I have decided to analyse Chasing Cars because the codes and conventions are similar to the song I will be doing for my coursework (The Scientist, Coldplay). The codes and conventions of alternative/indie music are the use of musical instrument by the main character, scenes in black and white, disorientation of time and space; close up of the main character, aspects of ambiguity and low key lighting. The music video is mainly narrative as the video includes a positive format story and the character is sharing his emotions with the audience based on how he feels about his relationship.

The camerawork featured in this video are extreme close ups, long shots, mid shots and high angle shots. The extreme close ups are used to when Gary Lightbody is lying on the ground, singing into the camera conveying his sad emotions through his eyes. The high angle shots convey the character as being weak and vulnerable; which gives the insight to his current state of mind and emotional state. The long shots portray the characters body language and conveys the characters vulnerability and powerlessness through his body language.

The lyrics used in the track “would you lie with me and just forget the world” implies to the audience that he does not care about what is going on around him and only pays attention to the reality of his love. The lyrics in the song are based on him wanting to forget about the world around him and would rather lie on the ground with the woman he loves and share his feelings with her.

The mise-en-scene of the video is set in a busy town which implies that the world is trying to keep their relationship apart. The male character is dressed in a grey t-shirt and blue jeans. The grey t-shirt could signify the sadness and vulnerability he is feeling. High key lighting is used on face to portray his innocence as angelic like but to also emphasise the sad emotion which is portrayed on his face. The slow paced editing is synchronous to the music and the action portrayed in the video.

The narrative based video to Chasing Cars is similar to The Scientist by Coldplay. The narrative behind “The Scientist” is the main character never paid his girlfriend enough attention, then she died and he reflects on how he regrets not seeing her as the love she made him feel, felt good inside. Whereas this reflects to “Chasing Cars” as the main character feels good on the inside through the love that they share and wanting to spend even more time with the woman that he loves.