Paradise - Coldplay - Music Video Analysis

The music video for Paradise by Coldplay (genre: pop) can appear simple, but there are many connotations contained in it. These appear throughout the music video, and are often portrayed through contrast - such as the contrast of the man in an elephant suit and the everyday, contemporary world around him.

The first shot establishes the main character
and the first location immediately.

The music video starts with the man dressed up as an elephant escaping from captivity - this represents how animals are often mistreated and abused. The first shot of the main character shows him looking through bars sadly - this immediately establishes the location and the character, and makes you support this character immediately. This shot uses the bars to express the feeling of imprisonment - just like the prison-bar-like lighting in the into to the thriller Essex Boys. This music video demonstrates the will animals have to escape - and this is done by showing a stereotypical wildlife enclosure location. The shot that really strikes you is the shot of the real monkey chasing the dressed-up man - a surreal image of a fake animal and a real animal next to each other.

This contrast becomes even more apparent when this dressed-up man manages to escape from security on... a bicycle! The long shot of him riding away is a memorable image that draws you into the music video. The next shot, of the man riding his bike into London (next to the cultural signifiers of Britain in the mise-en-scene, a red postbox and an Underground sign - cultural signifiers are a common characteristic of the pop genre, so this helps to establish the genre early on) continues this trend of contrast. The cultural signifiers of Britain are extended upon when the main character is in the Underground - shots of the Underground, including the iconic escalators and trains, help to establish the location. A shot that stands out is the shot of the main character sitting in the train, mostly ignored by the other people - not only is this shot brilliantly framed by using the window of the train door as a frame, but it is an accurate representation of what would happen if someone dressed as an elephant was on the train. People would probably ignore it as they are usually concerned with their own problems, and would not be too interested by this figure - this shows how much people sometimes have to deal with in contemporary Britain. The type of shot used next is one which I would like to focus on.

This music video uses a variant
of lyric cards

The shot of someone showing cards with the lyrics of the song on has been used many times - it is an iconic and recognisable shot. This makes the viewer connect more with the music video, as they feel more familiar with it. This music video uses the lyric cards in the mise-en-scene to progress the story - the main character is trying to get money so that he can travel. The location of the main character is also changing every time he is begging for money - again showing the progression of the narrative.This is enough to set this variant of the lyric cards apart.

The lighting in this video is subtle but very effective - if you watch closely, you see that the lighting (along with the attractiveness of the location) becomes lighter and more visually appealing throughout the music video. The lighting that particularly stands out is when the main character is riding a unicycle and the sun is shining onto him. This gives the main character even more of an otherworldly feel - but then this surreal character is suddenly destroyed when the suspense is broken and you find out that the main character is indeed a member of Coldplay (the band which produced this song) inside an elephant suit. This unexpected twist keeps you absorbed in the music video.

The unexpected moment when the main character finally
reveals himself to be a member of the band - Chris Martin

When you see the man walk into the wilderness, colourful, visceral shots of the location are used to again establish the location. The lighting becomes lighter again when the main character meets the rest of his group - the rest of the band Coldplay, also dressed up in elephant suits. The meeting of the elephant and its natural habitat, and the band member and its fellow band members (which is emphasized in the shots of the band dressed as elephants, but on the "natural habitat" of the stage) are similar - they are both something returning to its natural habitat.

The shots of the band playing on the stage show the genre of the song - music videos for pop songs often show performances that include fans. Fans are a big part of the pop genre and its popularity - more so than other genres. The artists are often more important than the music in the pop genre in terms of marketing and the fanbase.