Music Video AnalysisYellow by Coldplay

Amazon rose

00:00-00:10

An initial fade from black. The video starts off with a dimly lit scene of crashing waves on a flat beach. The colouring is very dark and mysterious, and the camera picks up little light in the night time setting. The camera then pans across at 00:07 to reveal a large wide angle shot of a sandy, flat, empty beach.

00:15-00:40

A dark figure is revealed from this pan, who begins to walk towards the camera along the beach. The figure is in the center of the frame and cannot be identified at this point. This dark and mysterious start doesn’t reveal much to the viewer and presents it as more of a concept based video than narrative.

00:35-1:30

As the figure approaches the viewer is able to identify them as the lead singer of the band. At this point the opening lyrics “look at the stars, see how they shine for you” is linked with the visuals as small stars are faintly apparent in the background. The lead singer then begins to address the camera, singing and walking along towards the camera as it tracks backwards along the beach. The singer is dressed very plainly in dark clothes, creating a very simplistic and stylistic effect.

02:04-02:20

At 2:00 the camera tracking up the beach leaves the artist behind while he pauses to look behind him out so sea. The chorus then kicks in and the artist turns to run after the camera and continue. This pan out gives a wider angle and allows the viewer to see the artists full profile. It also provides a change in pace and images in the video which is very similar all the way through.

03:00-04:20

Throughout the music video, from the very start where the sky is very dark and starry- the sky in the background lightens. The framing and the scene the viewer sees remains the same but the atmosphere, tone, mood and lighting gradually change. This shows the passing of time and introduces a narrative aspect to the video as the artist has appeared to have walked through the night.

04:30

The video ends as it started, with a pan- but this time in the reverse direction- back to the image of the waves crashing. However this time the scene is flooded with a sunrise, this looks to me like it has been digitally edited to fit with the lyrics and provide a suitable ending to a song named “yellow”.