1. Heather Wragg
Coldplay – Yellow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MwjX4dG72s&ob=av2e
Throughout this analysis I will be discussing editing and camerawork. Coldplay – Yellow was
a hit single in June 2000 and their first top 5 hit in the UK.
The whole of this video is minimalistic, and just focuses on the lead singer, Chris Martin,
walking along a beach (Studland Bay – Dorset) singing directly to the camera which gives us
the impression he is singing to us. Many effects were used during this video although it
looks simple.
At the start of the video at the intro, the camera shot is blurred and then gradually becomes
less blurred and we can see the camera is looking into the distance of the sea. As the song
starts to go past the intro to the place where the electric guitars and drums start to kick in,
the camera moves to look along the shoreline where the artist is standing and starts to walk
across the shore singing to the camera. At this point in the video it is really dark so we can
just see a black figure (he is wearing all black with his hood up) walking towards us.
We can see the sky and there are stars in which look like a midnight sky and links to the first
line of the song “look at the stars, look how they shine for you”. Gradually as the song goes
on, the sky turns from a midnight/early morning sky to 1 minute in where all of the stars
have disappeared and it has become lighter. The sky gets brighter and brighter and
eventually looks as if it is the middle of the day and at the end of the video the camera
moves and shows us a sunset. It is like a whole night and day has passed in around 4

2. Heather Wragg
minutes. The video ends with the camera being faced again towards the sea but this time
with the sun setting.
The whole of the video is filmed in slow motion yet the artist is singing the lyrics in time with
the song which is playing at normal speed. To do this, the artist had to sing at twice the
speed so they could slow down the video but also keep the lyrics in time. We can also see
the waves moving in slow motion.
At the end of the video the camera carries on moving backwards and the artist stops moving
and this turns into a long shot of him and then he walks off the view of the camera. This
video is also one long tracking shot of the artist walking down the beach. As the artist
stumbles to the side, the camera follows him and then follows him back. All through the
video we have a constant mid shot and sometimes even close ups of the artist to show the
emotions of the artist whilst he is singing.
The video doesn’t seem to directly tell a story and apparently there is no meaning behind
the song but the way the artist keeps looking back down the shoreline (we can see this from
a long shot of him) suggests that he is waiting for someone and possibly singing the song to
tell a story of this person. This is a conceptual video.

3. Heather Wragg
The weather is gloomy, wet and windy which helps create the effect of the song which
seems to be a sad love song and contrasts to what you would think a beach scene would
look like with golden sands and bright blue seas you generally find on holiday etc. He is also
wearing a coat and waterproof and has wet hair which suggests it has just rained.
Many of Coldplay’s video’s are created in the same way with edits such as Chris having to
sing the whole song backwards in ‘The Scientist’ to create a different effect that is very
original and different to many other videos. This particular video is very similar to The
Verve’s ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ video and is also an alternative rock band like Coldplay.
The Verve’s video is also just a constant tracking shot of the artist walking down the street
with a range of different camera shots and really only differentiates because there are
public walking around in this video and shots from behind.
This type of video that is used is not typical of a rock music video as these sorts of videos
generally have a performance type video e.g. Kings of Leon. Judging just by the video we can
tell that the audience for this sort of music is going to be teenagers and adults. Children
would find this video boring and there is not much to look at and children do not stay easily
entertained watching something considered boring and not very pretty to look at.