The music video for Coldplay's "Princess of China" featuring Rihanna has strong Chinese cultural themes throughout. Scenes with the male protagonist are shot with darker, moodier lighting and colors that connote hostility, while those with the female protagonist feature brighter, more feminine red and white hues. The video contrasts these initially separate worlds before bringing the characters together in neutral-colored scenes at the end.
2. Already introduced
the name of the song
and the artists.
These are the first things we see in the music video.
Straight away we are introduced to a Chinese theme.
A strong
indication of a
Chinese theme
is beginning to
develop with the
colours and the
symbols on
these first two
pages.
3. This is the first actual
shot in the video,
showing rural Chinese
landscape with a man
walking through.
The mise-en-scene and props used give a very
authentic Chinese look and feel.
The second character
to be introduced is a
woman who looks
important laying on a
sofa.
4. In this shot you can see a building in the background, we assume that the
woman is in this building from the look of the outside and the previous shot
of the woman laying on the sofa.
The colours in this shot give a very bland and neutral look, whether this is
just for the mood of the song or trying to create an isolated feel to where the
character is.
5. In this shot the lyrics of the song begin, the man is singing to the lyrics
also.
The colours of this shot are very similar to the previous, I think the
same Ideas are trying to be conveyed to the audience
6. These two shots are in
keeping with the
Chinese theme, the
seem to show that
where this man is
heading is very tribal
and maybe hostile
grounds
This man standing guarding the walls of the building is
covered in what looks like tribal tattoos again backing
up the idea of hostility.
7. This scene shows a large door with oriental markings on it. The red is a strong
symbol of Chinese culture, also the lanterns hanging are stereotypically Chinese.
The dancers however seem to be more stereotypically Indian with the
hands moving behind each other but they fit in with the shot.
8. The first man in this shot is fighting another man with katanas’ the lighting is very
low with only a few spot lights on the two fighting, this ‘mood’ lighting sets the
seen to be tense and a dark feel to it.
This style of fighting is commonly associated with Chinese culture (marital
arts)
9. The door with oriental markings from the earlier shot opens up to reveal the
same woman that was lying on the sofa near the start.
In this shot the room is filled with Chinese cultural objects, lanterns, statues
and symbols. The lighting in the room seems to be very red, this is very
contrasting to the last scene of fighting.
10. In this scene the man and the women draw closer to each other. Showing
passion for each other maybe.
The man is dressed in black and the woman is dressing in white this could
represent good and evil, black is associated with bad things and white is
seen as pure or good.
11. In these scenes there are many different shots of the women dancing with
backing dancers behind her all in sync together.
The colours are interesting throughout, in most of the mans scenes the lighting
and colours are darker, shades of blue and black this could connote bad things
of evil. In the woman's scenes the colours are a lot brighter with shades of red
and white, this shows femininity .
12. The last few scenes
switch back and forth
from these to shots
showing the man and
the woman together
touching heads
In these scenes the colours are neutral showing
connoting that both sides are together, a big contrast
from the strong difference in colours in earlier scenes.
The music fades as
does the video to
black.
