
There is nothing like going through pictures from a fond memory with people that mean the most.  Looking back on great memories tends to strengthen friendships and relationships.  In The Chainsmokers’ music video “Closer,” they use many visual aspects to show a couple becoming closer to each other, and a love from the past resurfacing.  In the music video the couple is making a memory on a beach.  Amongst all of the fun, they are capturing this event with a camera by taking pictures during their adventures on the beach.  In the music video “Closer,” The Chainsmokers use polaroid pictures in three different shots as a visual motif to contribute to the theme that memories and memory making is important.

The start of the video captures many moments where the couple is together.  In one of the first shots of the music video the polaroid picture motif is present to show the couple beginning to relive the beach memory.  This occurs at the 0:03 second mark.  In this instance the couple is first shown looking through the pictures from a beach trip.  This shot is a point of view shot which brings the person watching into the reality of the video.  This use of placing the person watching into the girl’s point of view reaches out of the computer screen and puts the viewer into the music video.  When watching the couple start to look through the pictures, the video begins to reveal the notion of the beach memory that the couple has made.  The pictures contribute and help to tell the story by having them relive the memory from the beach.  By reliving the memory, the couple is becoming closer in their relationship, and they are starting to form memories together.  Looking through the polaroids, they are remembering what it felt like to be on the beach that day which helps to rekindle their relationship.  By going through the pictures the couple shows how important making the beach memory is to their forming of a relationship.  

The Chainsmokers continue the music video into more representation of the visual motif by showing more of the setting.  They move the video forward to display the motif in a later shot at the 0:13 second mark where the polaroid pictures are shown again.  This shot is taken at a bird’s eye view which gives the person watching a sense of the setting and where the couple is while they sift through their memories of the beach day.  This is different than the first shot because in the first one, the living room was not shown.  This view gives more depth of the background in the living room and it shows the couple is in a comfortable place.  By being in a comfortable and home-like space the couple grows closer because they feel more at home.  Going through memories while in a comfortable place brings out more raw emotion in a person.  As this scene passes by he/she will see the theme of how significant memory making is because of how much closer they bring people.  It becomes clear that their view exemplifies how imperative making memories are and having memories to look back on are in a comfortable and free environment.  

Both shots are at the beginning of the music video.  In having these two shots in the beginning at the 0:03 and 0:13 second marks, it starts to give the person watching preface as to what the music video will be about.  As a person starts to watch, they will see the couple going through the pictures.  The couple is looking through a memory of theirs through the act of looking through these photos, and showing how important that memory is to make.  As the music video goes on it shows the couple making the memory at the beach, so having the pictures shown multiple times in the beginning shows the viewer that the memory is a central aspect of the couple’s relationship.  Through reliving the memory and being in a comfortable, the couple shows how crucial making memories are in human life because it brings them both together.  

Lastly, nearing the end of the music video, The Chainsmokers show how the couple has grown from reliving the memory and making another one by going through the pictures.  This happens when they show the polaroid pictures once again.  The Chainsmokers show the pictures for a final time in a shot that happens at the 3:15 minute mark.  This shot is a close-up which brings even more emphasis on the polaroid pictures.  The pictures are shown to be a huge part of the music video.  This displays that the memory the couple has made is a large part of their relationship and them becoming closer.  The intimacy in the video of the couple shows how they have grown through the day at the beach.  The couple is growing together through a memory and most people grow from past experiences and past memories.  By displaying the pictures once again at the end of the video, it shows the evolution of the couple. It also shows how because of one memory that was made, they now have a closer and stronger relationship.  

Aside from the previous two shots, the third shot is at the end of the music video.  This is to show an impression on the viewers at the 3:15 minute mark, and show them how substantial the memory on the beach was to the couple.  This relates to the previous two shots because it is yet another presentation of the polaroid pictures.  All the three shots come together to form the theme that memories and making memories is vital in life, and in building relationships with others.  This visual motif is repeated to depict how reliving memories in a comfortable setting promotes growth in human’s lives.  Each shot has a different view and they all put those watching in perspective with the couple, and draws the audience inward.  This creates the effect that memories are used with all people and that it is critical to have memories and create memories with others.

In the music video “Closer” by The Chainsmokers, through the visual motif of polaroid pictures, the audience is made known how significant memories and the act of forming new memories is in life.  Through the couple, the viewers see how close only one memory can make two people.  It is shown how memories can bring growth from a prior situation when reliving them.  Humans create memories each and every day that fuel their lives and help in decision making.  Memories are pertinent to the human life, and making new memories can help aid a person’s future.  Memories bring people together and they provide light for many in the world.  Making memories and having memories to look back on is a precious gift in life.
