Analysing a music video

Coldplay - Every teardrop is a waterfall

The second music video I chose to analyse was a song by Coldplay called ‘Every teardrop is a waterfall’. I chose this in particular because I like the style of editing; for example the slow, shuddery effect at the beginning of the music video. The genre that the music would fit under is dominantly illustrations. The conventions within this category that are included in the music video is the band performing –which is a simplistic narrative. However they’ve complemented the idea of a performance with animations and a variety of lights. In one perspective, this could pragmatically imply a typical atmosphere of one of Coldplay’s live performance – due to the stylistic effects of performance techniques. As well as this, the band is the main focus throughout the video. You have the band leader singing the vocals and the rest of the band performing instruments that collaborate with the music in the background. This acts as a marketing technique for the band as it’s ‘selling their performance’ – especially to the type of audience who enjoy that style of music and atmosphere when seeing a band live. 

The use of animation throughout the video is presenting lyrics and also a ‘cartoon’ effect to it through the drawings. This helps the audience visualise the lyrics – sometimes it’s difficult for the audience to understand the lyrics being sung by the band/artist so this effect acts as a ‘reel’ to focus the audience’s attention in. The speed of the lyrics (through the animation) and the different shots is quite quick – this is because the lyrics being written out needs to keep up to speed with the music and the singing – so the speed is determined by the lead singer. Again this is another marketing technique as because it’s so quick – people watching the video will want to watch it again so they have a chance to read the lyrics and understand the whole video (hitting up the views).

Also in the video there is use of amplification for example – the aspects in the video of the band visually playing their instruments; however there is also a simple narrative, noticed in the first part of the song where it shows the beginning of a day
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Continuously throughout the video you can notice surrealistic approaches which are through the animation – which complement the narrative.

Furthermore, throughout the video there is repeatedly direct links to the song. For example: animation and lyrics and also instruments with music/beat. There is no evidence of disjuncture created in the music video because all of the editing and the location link with the bands style, how they’re portrayed, their lyrics and finally their music.   .

One of the effects I like in their music video is how the camera almost follows the singer but he keeps coming in and out of the scene. It gives a ‘first person’ aspect making it as though the audience are following him or – on the other hand, it could be implying that the lead singer is trying to draw the audience in by making them follow him – who represents the band as a whole, Coldplay. In the music video you can also notice an obvious link between the lyrics and the visuals. This is another element I like with how some of the animations link with the lyrics and the actions of the lead singer. For example - the drawing of a heart and the action of the heart beating both combine with the lyrics ‘my heart is beating’.

The way the band are dancing and performing presents them as a band who want to put the effort into a performance and want to deliver this to their fans. As a fan myself, it makes me want to see them as they’re putting the effort in – this effect is noticeable with other fans too. It wins over their audience. The contrasting effects of fluorescent lights, slow motion, flashing lights, jerky camera movements and quick editing all come together to portray this idea of a performance which is what intrigues fans into wanting to see them live. This is an important aspect in videos. When creating the video I will need to be aware of male gaze and also how the female audience will look at Eve. I need to ask myself ‘why would someone want to come see Eve live’ and once answering that I can include that effect in the video.  There is a continuous narrative throughout the video which makes the style seems so simple yet it’s still intriguing. As a band there isn’t that dominant effect created on the audience as there is in solo artists. There is a great deal of effect portrayed by the band when they perform which attracts people to go see them as they can share that ‘vibe’ or ‘buzz’.