Fix You

Coldplay are renound for making excellent videos that grip thier audience for example the video The Scientist is excellently filmed and edited. I am going to look at the video for Fix You, which is half narrative and half performance.

In the early stages Chris Martin is staring down the camera singing the opening lyrics, this incorporates the audience and involves them with the lyrics. Andrew Goodwin states that the lyrics either match or contradict the visuals, in this case the match, the lyric 'stuck in reverse' is followed by Chris Martin stopping and walking backwards. The first cut comes after 38 secs this is reflective of the mellow tone of the music, this video is about a journey and if there were multiple cuts its would look odd as the music is not fast paced.

This changes after 2 minutes 30 seconds, when the main character starts to run as the music picks up speed, we also see that he runs through all the locations that he has been shot so far in, this indicates the idea of a journey. This effect is helped by the use of a handheld camera in some parts, this allows gives the effect that we are chasing his and that we are involved.

The lyrics are matched with the lighting and facial expression of the character. The lyric for this shot is "when you lose something you cant replace". The idea of loss is shown by the low key lighting and the main character diverting his gaze from the camera. This suggests a sadness and regret, he is deep in thought therefore his facial expression is reflecting this.


For the chorus, there is a transition that takes us back to the first setting in the video, this links to the idea of creating a base in your video that can be referenced throughout. One of the main lyrics in the chorus is 'lights will guide you home', throughout the song there are constant rays of light that appear from over Chris Martin's shoulder or behind him. This is another case of lyrics matching the visuals, this is something that we will have to be aware of when filming our video, we need to make our video unique to our song.

Chris Martin ends up running up the stairs to a massive crowd at a concert, the lyrics are matched in the storyline, the lights have guided him to his home, which is the stage. We then see much more colourful lighting to reflect the positive mood and their are more vigorous movements from Martin himself and the crowd. This suggests that he is in a joyful state of mind because he is home, when he is performing there is a light in front of him, this signifies last the light in his journey home.