LB: Music Video Analysis: Snow Patrol: Chasing Cars (UK Version, 2006): Institution & Media Language

Institution:

• In looking at the institutional context, when we look at the record label, they would have some main points to consider in the creation of promotional texts such as the genre and artist.
• To start off with, chasing cars, was a song that was create with two videos, one for the UK and one for the US, both with similar representations, but with different settings and ways of conveying the same story. The UK version shows the main singer, lying down in a rural setting on his own, where as the US version displays the lead singer lying down in an urban area with people just walking over him.  
• Another area the record label would has choice over is where and how they decide to promote the track, which would include factors like Music Channels it would be released on and radio stations. At the time of release, the song was a huge success and as a result, it could often be found playing on MTV, VH1, the Box and many more as well as the song on Radio Stations such as Capital FM or BBC Radio 1.
• Another factor that the record label would play is the allocation of funding provided to create the video; in this case, it was a strong belief clearly of Polydor and Universal to fund two identifiable videos.
• On top of this, due to the mainstream nature of the song and artist, the record label would have a large influence on such factors as costume, setting, and scene play within the video, once again, the American urban setting and the UK rural setting.

Media Language: 

• Before Chasing Cars, Snow Patrol were a relatively small band with a loyal fan base.This track catapulted Snow Patrol into the history books with Chasing Cars remain in the UK music charts for over 100 weeks. As a result, this track began to build upon a solid foundation of their band image, and develop their meta-narrative. The band image being created is one of that, Snow Patrol create meaningful songs that most audiences can relate to.

Visual techniques are important in any video. In the UK as well as US version of the track, it utilises many techniques in order to help create the star image, desired by the record label. In Chasing Cars, camera work and framing of shots use many CUs and MCUs in order to give prevalence to the lead singer.

Another camera technique implemented is the use of shallow focus throughout the video. Once again, this helps to give prevalence to the lead singer. in addition to this, there is also the use of a birds eye shot continuing to build prevalence for the lead singer.

Editing is another area where meaning can be created. The main feature in Chasing Cars is the pace of editing in which the video correlates with the speed and rhythm of the track. There is a slow cutting rate whilst many frames last for more than two seconds.

Mise-en-scene remains very limited in the video as we only see the lead singer in the same location for a large majority of the track, as well as using the same costume. Nevertheless, the location is a wide open, rural area which, in the context of this video, connotes loneliness and separation from the reality. Lighting is another factor in this video. In the beginning, the shot is well lit which connotes the idea of opportunity. However, towards the end of the track, the setting becomes very dark, thus suggesting that all that opportunity has gone, and the realisation of this has 'sunk in'. This is then combined with the the visual imagery of the lead singer plunging into the water.