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Coldplay Paradise Analysed

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The music video uses visual elements as a metaphor to tell the narrative of an elephant escaping from captivity to return to the wild, representing a girl realizing her life is not what she expected and wishing for paradise. Some key shots include the elephant trapped in a cage at the beginning, contrasting the song's message of freedom. Cinematic shots of the elephant flying to an island create a calming atmosphere of relief and happiness. By the end, the elephant is reunited with other elephants, implying being with Coldplay, and seems happy in his new paradise.

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Coldplay – Paradise video analysis The music video for Paradise is a narrative and conceptual video (Firth). It uses visual elements to get across the meaning of the song. The video tells the narrative of a elephant escaping captivity to go back to the wild, however the song is about a girl realising her life isn't what she expected and wishing her life was perfect, which would be paradise. The narrative is a metaphor for what the song is really about. The video starts with a mid shot of the elephant in a cage. The mid shot allows the audience to see the elephant as well as the setting that it’s in. Because the elephant is centre of the frame, the audience sees it and develops a connection with it. the elephant mask has no expression on it, but the audience gives it an emotion, even though they can’t tell what it is. This is because of mis-en-scene. The audience can see enough to know that the elephant is in a cage and because it is holding onto the bars, the audience assumes that the elephant is trapped. Also, the first shot completely contrasts the title of the song because the elephant isn't free in paradise, he is stuck in the zoo. The first few seconds of the video are quite fast paced even though the song is slow however, it cuts in time to the music and the narrative is able to quickly begin so it still goes with the song. It also makes it look dramatic and creates enigma as the audience wonders where the elephant is going and what it will do when it gets there. There is iconography to London in the video. Coldplay is well known for being a British band and the video shows well known icons that are related to London such as the telephone box and the underground. This both sets the scene and associates the band with London.
Coldplay – Paradise video analysis Some of the shots in the video are quite cinematic. For example, the cinematic shots of the aeroplane and the island are shown during an instrumental of the song. The shot combined with the music creates a calming atmosphere and makes the audience feel relaxed after watching the elephant escape from the zoo. The audience also feel relief that the elephant got away and has made it to the island. The mood that the atmosphere gives changes to a more positive feeling. When the elephant is in the tube station with the flash cards asking for money, he’s just standing with the lyrics in his hand however when he’s in the new location, he’s asking for money by dancing and putting on a show for the people showing how much happier he is. The music builds up when the elephant is reunited with the rest of the elephants which the audience can assume are the rest of the Coldplay band. Showing the elephant running In slow motion emphasises that he’s in paradise and achieved what he set out to do. When the chorus plays again, the audience can see how the elephant has fit into the rest of the elephants and how happy he is compared to how he was at the beginning of the video. They are also conventions of the genre as there are close up shots of the instruments the other elephants/band members are playing such as the guitar. The video cuts to Coldplay performing live to an audience. This could be to show audiences that they have a big fan base and to show that their concerts are fun. There are lots of wide shots so the audience is able to look at all the people that have come to see Coldplay perform. It also could show that Coldplay’s idea of paradise is to be performing to lots of fans and being a worldwide success
Coldplay – Paradise video analysis There are intertextual references to film in the music video. The beginning of the music video is set out like the opening credits of a movie. It states who the film was made by, who’s in the video and the name of the song. There are also cinematic shots in the video that aren't usually used in music videos but in movies. There is a relationship between the text and the image in the opening credits when the song title appears. The word “Paradise” is written in big, bold writing so it stands out and the audiences can clearly see that that’s the name of the song. The background is of a sunset and the animals are roaming around freely, not in a zoo, which conforms to most people’s typical ideas of paradise. Todorov’s narrative theory can be applied to the narrative in the music video. There’s an equilibrium where everything is balanced. The elephant is at the zoo. Then there’s a disruption when the elephant decides to escape the zoo to find it’s friends. The video then ends in a better equilibrium where the elephant finds it’s friends and is free from the zoo. There are also intertextual links to their own song. In the second verse, the lyrics are “every tear a waterfall” which is referring to another one of their singles, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.” “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall,” is about finding something positive in a bad time or situation. When the lyrics “every tear a waterfall” is sung, it shows the elephant stop at a bike shop. This could be seen as something positive because it’s the bike that gets him to paradise at the end.

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Coldplay Paradise Analysed

  • 1. Coldplay – Paradise video analysis The music video for Paradise is a narrative and conceptual video (Firth). It uses visual elements to get across the meaning of the song. The video tells the narrative of a elephant escaping captivity to go back to the wild, however the song is about a girl realising her life isn't what she expected and wishing her life was perfect, which would be paradise. The narrative is a metaphor for what the song is really about. The video starts with a mid shot of the elephant in a cage. The mid shot allows the audience to see the elephant as well as the setting that it’s in. Because the elephant is centre of the frame, the audience sees it and develops a connection with it. the elephant mask has no expression on it, but the audience gives it an emotion, even though they can’t tell what it is. This is because of mis-en-scene. The audience can see enough to know that the elephant is in a cage and because it is holding onto the bars, the audience assumes that the elephant is trapped. Also, the first shot completely contrasts the title of the song because the elephant isn't free in paradise, he is stuck in the zoo. The first few seconds of the video are quite fast paced even though the song is slow however, it cuts in time to the music and the narrative is able to quickly begin so it still goes with the song. It also makes it look dramatic and creates enigma as the audience wonders where the elephant is going and what it will do when it gets there. There is iconography to London in the video. Coldplay is well known for being a British band and the video shows well known icons that are related to London such as the telephone box and the underground. This both sets the scene and associates the band with London.
  • 2. Coldplay – Paradise video analysis Some of the shots in the video are quite cinematic. For example, the cinematic shots of the aeroplane and the island are shown during an instrumental of the song. The shot combined with the music creates a calming atmosphere and makes the audience feel relaxed after watching the elephant escape from the zoo. The audience also feel relief that the elephant got away and has made it to the island. The mood that the atmosphere gives changes to a more positive feeling. When the elephant is in the tube station with the flash cards asking for money, he’s just standing with the lyrics in his hand however when he’s in the new location, he’s asking for money by dancing and putting on a show for the people showing how much happier he is. The music builds up when the elephant is reunited with the rest of the elephants which the audience can assume are the rest of the Coldplay band. Showing the elephant running In slow motion emphasises that he’s in paradise and achieved what he set out to do. When the chorus plays again, the audience can see how the elephant has fit into the rest of the elephants and how happy he is compared to how he was at the beginning of the video. They are also conventions of the genre as there are close up shots of the instruments the other elephants/band members are playing such as the guitar. The video cuts to Coldplay performing live to an audience. This could be to show audiences that they have a big fan base and to show that their concerts are fun. There are lots of wide shots so the audience is able to look at all the people that have come to see Coldplay perform. It also could show that Coldplay’s idea of paradise is to be performing to lots of fans and being a worldwide success
  • 3. Coldplay – Paradise video analysis There are intertextual references to film in the music video. The beginning of the music video is set out like the opening credits of a movie. It states who the film was made by, who’s in the video and the name of the song. There are also cinematic shots in the video that aren't usually used in music videos but in movies. There is a relationship between the text and the image in the opening credits when the song title appears. The word “Paradise” is written in big, bold writing so it stands out and the audiences can clearly see that that’s the name of the song. The background is of a sunset and the animals are roaming around freely, not in a zoo, which conforms to most people’s typical ideas of paradise. Todorov’s narrative theory can be applied to the narrative in the music video. There’s an equilibrium where everything is balanced. The elephant is at the zoo. Then there’s a disruption when the elephant decides to escape the zoo to find it’s friends. The video then ends in a better equilibrium where the elephant finds it’s friends and is free from the zoo. There are also intertextual links to their own song. In the second verse, the lyrics are “every tear a waterfall” which is referring to another one of their singles, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.” “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall,” is about finding something positive in a bad time or situation. When the lyrics “every tear a waterfall” is sung, it shows the elephant stop at a bike shop. This could be seen as something positive because it’s the bike that gets him to paradise at the end.