Coldplay - Paradise
I have chosen to deconstruct a Coldplay music video because of their worldwide success. They are one of the most popular and most recognised indie genre bands in the world. This is highlighted by the fact they played a large set at the paralympic closing cermony which was broadcast across the world on the 9th of september 2012. The music video for the song "Paradise" has 146,965,892 views on Youtube. In the music video the main character of the elephant holds up the lyrics which is a similar concept to what I would like to do in one of my chorus's of my music video.
Above is the establishing shot for the music video "Coldplay - Paradise". It is a wide angle long shot which keeps to generic conventions of the shot type of establishing shots in music video. The visuals are un-stereotypical of a establishing shot however. The location is in Africa where part of the music video is set. The colour of the sunset and the acacia tree framed off centre in shadow creates a stunning establishing shot which would instantly grab the audiences eye and interest them about the narrative of the music video to keep them watching. The establishing shot is followed by several other wide angle long shot location shots of Africa with the sunset which helps establish the narrative and location. Unlike other music videos I have deconstructed, the production company for the music video along with the song and band name are featured in the establishing sequence of the video. This helps to highlight how large the band are commercially and how successful they are. I will not need to put a production company on my music video as it will have a substantially lower budget than this one.
The lead character in the music video is the man dressed in the elephant above. The narrative of the music video follows his escape from a London zoo back to the wild in Africa. The elephant costume is amusing to the target audience but as the narrative of the music video progresses, you start to forget the fact its a man in a costume and start to identify with the story. The narrative for the music video has given the song a meaning which the target audience and other audiencescan relate too. The compelling narrative also encourages audiences to re-watch the music video therefore getting the song stuck into their heads making it more likely that they will purchase the song. . The elephant is framed centrally in a medium-long shot above. He is holding up a piece of cardboard which has the lyrics of the song written on. This works effectively to help the audience sing along with the catchy song and to keep engaged in the music video. There are fast cut edits in and out of this shot with different lyrics to keep the narrative running during this section of the video.
At the start of verse 2, the lyrics are once again displayed by the elephant character. The background location has changed as the narrative has continued. Before, the location was a London Tube station while above is a backstreet in a city in Africa. Both these locations contrast with the idyllic African landscape shots seen in the establishing sequence and later on in the music video. These contrasts help to keep the music video visually attractive making the target audience more likely to watch it again and again. Throughout this lyrics sequence the camera is kept stationary while several different shots have been cleverly edited together with the elephant holding different lyrics in different 'wacky' positions. The mix of shots and framing of the elephant helps to keep the video interesting. The editing occurs on the beat which keeps to the generic conventions of music videos and helps the video flow.
From deconstructing this music video, I have learnt that my idea about having my artist 'create' lyrics with her hands on the screen can work and can be effective in helping to get the target audience to sing along with the song, get it stuck in their head and therefore purchase the track. By watching how much detail went into creating the lyric sequences, particularly the second one where it is very hard to notice the edits between shots, I have learnt that it may take many practises with my chosen artist before I manage to get these sequences up to scratch.
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