Artist: Coldplay
Observations and Examples
Genre Characteristics:
Coldplay mostly fit into the alternative rock genre of music., which means this video would most likely fit into the amplification genre of music videos. This is because there is both performance by the band and a narrative, however this narrative is unusual and can be left to the audiences' interpretation. There is very much a link to the song, particularly between the music and visuals as the editing is very much kept in time to the beat of the music; seen when the band perform outside what seems to be a stately home. There is also a link between the visuals and lyrics because of the anti war message of the song. This can be seen visually by the french revolution styled clothes the band chose to wear and the setting of the deserted mountains. However the video does contain illustrative elements such as the violet sky over a hill at the beginning of the video and the strong emphasis on the performance of the band. There is also a lot of close-ups of the band members, particularly the lead singer Chris Martin singing, which is typical of an illustration genre video, but also of Coldplay as a band looking at other videos by them.
Relationship Between Lyrics and Visuals:
The main relationship between the lyrics and visuals is through the lip syncing we see from the lead singer. There is also a key link with the mise en scene that give a soldiers at war theme, seen in both the lyrics and from the video. The look of the band, with the war themed outfits and the dirty appearance shows the struggles of war which links to lyrics such as 'I don't want to be a soldier, who's the captain of some sinking ship'.
There is also a relationship seen as most of the time when Chris Martin sings ''If you love me, won't you let me know' the shot is a close up of his face. These lyrics are very personal and are supposedly meant for an individual, explaining why these shots have a feeling of the lead singer speaking to someone face to face.
Towards the end there is more gentle sound to the music and the lyrics include 'we sat in snow'. During this we see Chris Martin walking through snow.
Relationship between music and visuals:
This can mainly be seen from the editing throughout the video as it is very much to the beat of the music. At the beginning the very slow music fits in with the slow movement of the environment, such as the clouds in the sky or the sun light moving over a mountain. The band walking during this music is also in slow motion, linking to the pace of the music.
During a particular drum beat after the first chorus, the editing once again shows the relationship as as the drum beats the shot changes. In this case it changes between black and white shots of the band and Chris Martin banging a hammer ion time to the drum beat. During the fast paced, heavier music the shots are sped up, showing the actions of the band to be dramatic.
Close-ups of the Artist and star image motifs?
There are many close-ups of all the band members, particularly Chris Martin. However, although there is a lot of straight forward face on shots, there is also varying angles of the band members. They also fitted several members of the band into shots in different arrangements. I found this very effective and thought it made the video much more interesting to watch. These shots are not always close-ups there are longs shot silhouettes that still hold the band in focus, and the arrangement of the mid shots outside the house, also focus on the band. Also, conventional of a bands performance is the camera shots focused on the instruments being played, which are mainly close ups.
This video is mostly referenced to war. So the mise en scene is based on the idea of the band being in a war environment, as soldiers prepared for war. The outfits are based on the French revolution and the setting seems based in Europe and is very similar to that of settings for war films, which is likely to be where the inspiration came from, as well as real war evidence.
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