The Script - 'The Man Who Can't Be Moved'

TheScript are a band from Dublin, their music is mainstream indie pop, this song was one of their biggest selling records in 2008.

The video is set in New York, we can tell this because of the setting. The opening shot of his shadow uses narrative enigma, then it is quickly revealed that the shadow belongs to the lead singer. This shows that the key focus is on him, as is a common convention of music videos in the pop, indie and numerous other genres. The editing is very fast pace and there are a variety of shot types and angles, which is unusual for the introduction of this song as it is slow tempo classical guitar.

As the lyrics kick in the lead singer begins lip syncing, which would signify to anybody who hadn't heard of the band before that the man we see on screen is more than just a central protagonist in the video's narrative and is the front man of the band. He frequently looks into the camera as though he is singing directly at the audience, this helps to draw the audience in.

This would be described as a concept video as the visuals have a narrative. Throughout the opening scene, the lead singer continues to walk through the streets, which matches the lyrics 'Going back to the corner where i first saw you' because it signifies he is returning to the street where he met her.

When the track hits the chorus the street scene switches to a performance video, though there is no audience present. The setting appears to be in a brightly lit multi-story car park. This fits with the urban setting of the previous scene. Here we see the typical codes and conventions of performance video, with close ups of other band members playing their instruments to convey they're talented musicians, and a slight low angle on the lead singer to portray his iconic status as front man of the band.

The video then cuts back to the narrative section, at which point the lead singer has reached his destination, and camps down with his sign, this again shows how the visuals match the lyrics. Many point of view shots from the singer's perspective are used, as there are low angled shots of pedestrians walking past looking down at him. There are numerous shots of a police officer with their head out of the window of their vehicle, in order for the visuals to match the lyrics; 'Policeman said, "Son you can't stay here."'

There are a couple of shots where the camera is panning slowly around the singer, this could be to signify turning of the earth, or seasons, and of the time passing.
There are also close-ups of the crowd which grows around him as hit sits at his corner, this conveys their emotion of confusion, pity and general interest in his strange behaviour.
As the lyrics 'Maybe I'll get famous as the man who can't be moved, and maybe you won't mean to but you'll see me on the news' are sung, the shot changes to being one from a television, with broadcast borders of 'LIVE' and 'BREAKING NEWS' on the screen, again this continues the matching of visuals to narrative.

Following this, the shots begin to speed up, we can see that the car headlights become blurry and the light of day fades to the dark of night within seconds, this continues for a couple of seconds, we also see a change in weather conditions and the hands on his watch spinning rapidly, this signifies more clearly that a lot of time is passing by as he remains in the same place.

Throughout the narrative there are still cut away shots back to the performance, this might be an attempt to not detract from the fact this is a band, and keep some focus on the other band members as well as the lead singer.

As the last chorus kicks in, the editing pace picks up and there are a lot more shot changes, until the final shot which lingers for a 8 seconds as the song ends. The narrative remains unresolved as the audience never find out if the girl ever comes to find him.