Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

Snow Patrol are a NorthenIrish/ Scottish alternative rock band that formed in 1994.

Chasing Cars was a song wrote by Dr Gary Lightbody in 2005. This is one of the bands biggest songs that they have ever released, reaching number 6 in the uk top 40 and being nominated for two awards; "The Best Rock Song" at the 2007 Grammy awards and also "Best British Single" at the 2007 Brit Awards.
In the music video Gary Lightbody lies on the floor as it starts raining, in the middle of a busy street.
The lyrics refer back to something Lightbodys father used to say, referring to a girl that lightbody used to like,"You're like a dog chasing a car. You'll never catch it and you just wouldn't know what to do with it if you did." Gary Lightbody says this was what made him write the song. The target audience for the video would be any age but the understanding of the lyrics as the videos played would be more understandable for people of a much older age.

Lyrics and Visuals

Lyrics and Visuals are used throughout most of the video, when Lightbody says "If I lay here" at 0:36 and also on many other occasions, he can be seen lying on the floor saying it, this shows that he is waiting for the person that he is singing about to come and join him, this also gives us an understanding of how much the person means to him.

Music and Visuals

Music and visuals match almost perfectly with Goodwin's Theory. Yet again at 0.36, when Lightbody sings "If I lay here" The music almost has a silent patch from where the video changes from him sitting up in a chair in a restruant to him being on the floor, the background guitars and the base kick in as he says this. This shows inportance to these lyrics as it is a  question to his young love. The same thing happens to the music two more times and he repeats the lyrics. Also as he is about to sing the chorus, he starts to sing slower, this is also portrayed in the music video as the camera slowly spirals out of the shot. The Chorus seems to also change the setting and place of where he is lying, when he sings it.

Genre Characteristics

Chasing Cars is alternative rock song, which is a slower and more calmer version of the rock genre, it usually involves a lot of acoustics and light bass, but can be heavier at times.The Video definitely portrays the slower and calmer aspects, because when he is singing the softer parts of the song, he is in a smaller, quieter area, eg his bedroom but when the guitars start playing and his vocals become louder he is in a darker and much louder environment,such as a busy street. Also Lightbody is slow and relaxed in the video, this matches the tempo of the music, showing the audience a relation between the two.

Artist Close Up/Label

Goodwin's Theory is correct with this, as the main artist of the band is seen throughout the video playing a part to the storyline, the rest of the band are not seen in the video this is because they want the main singer to be seen, this is because he is the main "attraction" to Snow Patrol, they want people to know who they are when they see his face. Also Lightbody's emotions portray the storyline clearly, he walks round with this hand in his pocket, this can be seen as him being saddened by what has happened, also his facial expressions like having his eyes closed, show sadness. He isn't attempting to make himself look good in the video, he is just playing his part in the storyline, another reason why he may be the only one shown in the video is because as it is a problem between two people, because of the mention of no name of the other person they may be intending to show loneliness.

Star Image

The camera work shows Lightbodys star image as he is the only person getting all of the attention from the camera, showing his importance to the song and video. He Wears a plain t-shirt and jeans to show a casual and relaxed look, also when walking around he has his hands together or in one of his pockets, this shows that he is shy and quiet.

Voyeurism/Looking/Gaze

There is no exposure of anyone in the music video itself but there is a slight exposure of the emotion, loneliness.Throughout the whole video you see Lightbody on his own, with people taking no notice to him being their, he is seen lying on the floor a numerous amount of times and each one someone is walking past him or stepping over him without caring or wondering about what could be wrong with him. 

 Intertexuality

The music video has no intertexuality at all, as their is no relations to any other music videos or films, this shows that this is an independent song based solely on its own storyline.