I'm doing a case study on Coldplay and I thought it would be good to analyse the 'Paradise' video considering it's quite different to their other stuff. I'm trying to analyse representation, audience and institution in the video and compare it to their older videos.

 

So far I've got:

- Humour appeals to audience

- Irony of seeing one of the biggest bands in the world dressed up in elephant costumes (links to humour)

- Main focus of the rest of their videos is Chris, whereas in this video his face is only seen for exactly 3 seconds, when he takes of the mask.

 

Just wondering if you guys have any thoughts on the video? Specifically what you like and/or dislike about it? The message it's sending out? Comparisons to old videos?

Compare it to yellow; although yellow is a happy(ish) song, the video is set on a rainy beach. On the other hand, paradise is a happy/sad song (although she is trapped, she dos find an escape), the music video is very happy, especially towards the end. Maybe talk about how in the last 11 years, coldplay's videos have shifted from very basic and sad to quite elaborate and happy (the unicycle alone makes it difficult to refilm!). I'm sure there's other links in there, but i just gave you something to start thinking about, if you want to of course :)

I think that if you take all Coldplay videos, you can see a clear evolution in terms of color: with this era, the videos are much more colorful than before, like Viva era videos were a bit more colorful than the trilogy, that had darker videos - in terms of color but also what happened in them...

 

The video creates here a sweet, endearing character, and I've never seen something like it in other Coldplay videos - well, in the alternative (*coughs* original *coughs* ) video of VLV the character is quite endearing, but it's basically Chris with a crown, so, it's not like it was a brand new character.

 

I love the Buckin moment in the video :dazzled: and the end is emotional, I remember the first time I watched it, I was like: :awesome: and had the biggest smile on my face when the elephant finds its friends !

 

Anyway, great original, funny, colorful & emotional video according to me, which I think fits perfectly to this era & to the band :D

Love the video. Never watch it because I don't like the song though. However, I do think it compliments the song, it makes it quite a bit more bearable.

 

And it's the first Coldplay video I remember to contain a great dose of humour.

Agreed with the two previous posts.

But, Talk was funny too. And Strawberry Swing. And the alternative Viva. But this one is the funniest by far.

 

It's different from all their videos, but then again, all of them are different from each other. I think they're always creative with their videos, there isn't one I don't like. (Well, maybe LiTii, but that's just me not liking puppets. Oh and the official Viva video. :|)

It has the vibe, colour and warm feeling of their last two albums, but the originality and cute weirdness is still the 'old' Coldplay. Makes me happy.

This video makes Paradise less cliché, which was much needed. It's a new interpretation of the song, shows you a different angle. I love how at first you go 'wtf??' but the more you watch it, the more layers you find.

Funny how they made it in very short time, yet I think it's one of their deepest. Though essentially they're just joking around.

 

I do think the focus is still mainly on Chris. But that's ok and I think it's the way they all feel best.

 

:elephant:

And it's the first Coldplay video I remember to contain a great dose of humour.

 

Life In Technicolor ii is hilarious for me.

 

I'm not a big fan of the video, it doesn't really fit the song, but it's cool that they tried to make something original. I think the video has some similarities to LiTii, the colours and the "WTF" humor. It's not only about the humor though, it's quite beutiful and pretty innocent, It's fun for 8 years old children and 80 years old people.

Maybe you could go into how strong themes of escape are in the video, and how that links to the fact that the band is trying to do something much different than anything they've ever done, thus escaping preconceptions people have of them