Coldplay's Music Video

Coldplay are an alternative rock band, below is their music video to their song called "Paradise".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G4isv_Fylg

Unlike in Kasabian's "Fire" music video Coldplay have chosen to title their video. They have most likely done this to simply advertise the name of the song and credit their band name, label and music video producer. The Titles are a basic font, positioned in the middle of the screen at a medium size. During the titles there is a collection of long shots of Africa at a low sun set. There is little action happening in the shots. I think the director has made the shots calm, peaceful and dreamlike so the audience get this relaxing paradise feel, and of course paradise is the name of the song.

The narrative of the video is about  an elephant who escapes his captivity in a zoo to travel back to his homeland in Africa in search of his fellow elephants. The main elephant is actually the lead singer Chris Martin dressed in a elephant suit and the other elephants are the fellow band mates of Coldplay. I think the music video is funny and entertaining and the director has chosen to use this narrative story for the comical and entertaining effect which I received.

At first we are not sure where the location is, we understand that he is in a zoo because he is in a cage and the shot of him running past a monkey in an enclosure. We are un aware what country the zoo is in and we have some suspicion it is in Africa due to the opening title shots, but the audience soon find out the zoo is near London. In about fifteen seconds of shots we can establish it is London because of the directors use of the iconic London Barclay's bike and how he has included the iconic London phone box and London tube in his shots.

This medium long shot has the elephant holding up a piece of cardboard with a lyric on which matches the lyric being sung. In the London underground it can be common to find homeless people or buskers that hold up cardboard asking for money or change. I think the director has decided make the elephant do this to make the audience emphasise that the elephant has just broken out of the zoo and may be short on money, and to also make us feel apart of the elephants journey and desperation to find whatever he is searching for. And he decides to put a lyric on the cardboard instead of asking for money to make things more interesting, plus we still feel what the director wants.

I think it is important for a music video to keep flowing and I believe the director does this by his use of transitions. For example, at forty nine seconds the transition of the train taking up the whole of the screen and driving past. The same transition happens at one minute. Also through out the video a lot of the shots are very short. By keeping the shots short and quick and the use of transitions to link shots keeps the audiences attention and keeps the video interesting.

Again we see more elements of funniness that the director is trying to get across through the use of obscurity. For example the pictures below, a elephant standing on a tube holding on to the rails with his trunk or a elephant riding a tricycle can be seen as comical. The director is again trying to make the music video more entertaining to the audience.

Similarly to a point mentioned before, the director is trying to make the accidence feel apart of the elephants journey. He does this through the use of not using a tri pod. An example of this is when the elephant is walking by the road in search of a lift and the camera is walking behind him. The motion of the camera makes us feel like we are walking the same path. The director again emphasises the point of the elephants long journey by the use of very long straight roads and the shots he accompanies them with like the one above of the elephant on the tricycle. He does this all to make us emphasise with the elephant and how desperate he is to find what he is searching for.

We soon find out that the elephant is Chris Martin the lead singer of Coldplay. After the shot of the sun setting and clouds moving, which shows the passing of time. We see the elephant walking, the next shot is a hazy shot of something in the distance which then focuses to reveal three other elephants. This give a realistic effect of realisation and the audience know he has finally found what he is searching for. We soon find out by there unique accessories on the elephant suits and their instruments that the other elephants are in fact the other band members of Coldplay. This adds to the narrative and the entertaining and comical feel of the video.

The elephants then dance and play their instruments like they would a performance. This is called a contrived performance. It then cuts to footage of a live performance of the song. I think the director has done this to credit the band, show the audience of what their live performances are like and it advertises to people. It also has an entertaining effect on the audience.

Please comment of what you think about the use of live performances in music videos as well as any other opinions on Coldplay's music video?

Jack

Kasabian's Music Video

Kasabian are an indie rock band, below is their music video to one of their singles called "Fire". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agVpq_XXRmU

The first part of the music video is a convention called extended narrative, were there is no music, just story. In this music video it is done to set the scene. The lead singer narrates about what we believe is something to do with the plot whilst shots of each band member waiting for something, then a final slow motion shot of a bag in the wind with music sheets flying out. So far the audience know little about what is the relevance of these shots and narration, this could be done to build suspense and mystery on the audience.

During the video the artist is looking into a reflection and singing. They may have done this to reflect how the character is feeling, when he is looking into the mirror he is reflecting about what he has done. I think they did it to show the artist was singing about something which has previously happened. By doing this to the audience the shots which are not him looking into his reflection are in the past.

We soon find out that the narrative of the story is that the whole band are robbing a bank. When the music changes in pace and intensity the shot changes to a black and white high angle shot like you are watching it from a CCTV camera. They use this shot for that exact reason, so you really get a feel for them robbing a bank by watching them through a security camera angle. I think the use of the unique camera effect works very well on the audience but I would not necessarily use this unless my narrative was a robbery or similar.

The band may have chosen for the music video to be a robbery because crime can be seen as rebellious and often stylish to some audiences. Kasabian are an indie rock band which supports the fact they could be trying to gain a rebellious image. However it can have a negative effect as crime may reflect the band in a bad way.

The setting is in the "western". It is the mis-en-scene that gets this across to the audience. Firstly the location and props set the scene. The audience can instantly tell that the dusty setting is western America by the choice of location. Also the director has chosen to dress the actors in cowboy dressing. For example, Serge one of the band members is wearing a long back coat and black cowboy hat, and another member Ian is wearing a classic western three piece suit. We do however know that it is the present date due to that the use of the items below which you would expect to see in modern times. If I was to do my music video in the past I must make sure I remove all signs of the current day.

The director uses two props in a very clever sarcastic way. Instead of holding guns the robbers and police have guitars and instead of them stealing money they are stealing music sheets, however the actors use the guitars like they would guns and imitate that the music sheets has the same value as money hence them robbing it. This cool change of prop relates to them being a band and gives a sort of noticeable comical effect adding entertainment to the video. I will definitely think about what I can do to my video to add comedy.

Through out the video there is a constant reminder of time. They do this in two ways, the first is how the music video starts and finishes with the non-digetic sound of a clock ticking. The second is the on screen digital time counting down to zero in the bank robbery scene. I think the digital clock was counting down to when one of the robbers is shot. This is when their plan starts to go wrong, and the non digetic sound of ticking is the clock counting down until he gets caught. I think the director has purposely made the audience  aware of the time to add suspense and danger.


Jack