Narrative Case Study | Magic by Coldplay

“Coldplay's most unassuming lead single to date definitively establishes that contemplative mood. The gloomy refrain and pleas over restrained piano flourishes finally give way to the chiming riffs of the bridge, which soon dial back down to the chilliness of the intro.” – The Guardian

In Coldplay's video for Magic, Grammy-winning Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund (known for his distinctive storytelling and visually driven signature style) created a world centred around a travelling circus. The video stars Ziyi Zhang – from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - as Cecile, a stage magician who performs various magic acts with her assistant, Christophe, played by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. Cecile is married to Claude (also portrayed by Martin) a famous magician who is violent towards his wife. As Christophe continues to perform with Cecile, he starts to notice evidence of Claude's aggressive behaviour towards her, so formulates a plan to relieve her. He invites Cecile to see his new levitation skills, angering Claude who challenges him to a fight. Christophe, however, uses his new abilities to levitate Claude away, thus saving Cecile. The two continue with the show and show new magic tricks and stunts.

The narrative of the circus setting was translated by Åkerlund from a literal interpretation of the track, whose lyrics make allusions to various magic tricks and stunts. In an interview, he revealed that “when we started to talk about the idea, it was more about creating characters and a love story. However, slowly [Chris] became a magician as, of course, it’s called Magic, so we thought we’d do some magic.” He revealed that “the idea is a little bit on the nose, but sometimes that’s OK. Music videos can be very literal with the lyrics or the title.” Åkerlund also discussed how his idea developed. “We talked a lot about the story and decided the look should b e a little vintage. We have this designer called Greg Lauren who created vintage and kind of circus-y looks. Then I wanted them to live in tents and before you knew it we were doing this carnival with magicians and a love story within this look. It kind of grew from there.”

The homage to vintage film also incorporated elements of the modern day. Åkerlund revealed that he “came from a circus backgroundas I used to direct their shows, and always thought that, while the circus is an amazing world, it’s kind of stuck in time. I t always looks the same... I thought this is not supposed to be happening in the 40s or the 30s, it’s actually happening today. So we put a Rolls Royce car in there and had the modern day city behind it as a really cool backdrop.”

Reviews of the track and video were mostly positive. Carl Williott of American music website Idolator wrote that it was “…a quirky, entertaining video, specifically Martin playing a goofy-ass villain“, while Jason Scott of music blog Popdust described the video's imagery as "vivid" and “…a literal interpretation of what we've all come to expect from a 1920s side-show attraction.” As of December 2015, the music video has collected just over 92 million views on YouTube since its release in April, 2014.

Magic is a track recorded by British alternative rock band Coldplay. It was taken as the lead single from their sixth studio album, Ghost Stories, and was released on March 3rd, 2014. The track was written and produced by band members Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Chris Martin, and was nominated for best song at the 2014 World Music Awards.

Narrative Case Study | Conflict & Opposition

It is believed the “constant creation of conflict and opposition drive narrative” in music videos (Claude Levis Strauss), a theory that relies on the concept of binary oppositions. This could be visual (such as darkness vs light and movement vs stillness) or conceptual (for example, love vs hate and control vs panic. You could even argue flashbacks are used as visual opposition to real time.

In Magic, Åkerlund used both conceptual and visual binary oppositions, the most obvious being that of love vs hate. The music video is a homage to the early silent films, which were often epic dramas or romances, so the focus of the story is of a damsel in distress (Cecile, the magician) who is rescued from her abusive husband by the underdog of the story (Christophe, her assistant). The hateful relationship is highlighted through Claude (the husband) smashing bottles and shouting abuse at his wife, as well as bruising on her arms suggesting that he has also been physically assaulting her. Cecile never smiles around her husband, which strongly juxtaposes her scenes when she is with Christophe as she is regularly seen smiling and laughing: a clear binary opposition of love vs hate is therefore created. This is also emphasised by the use of close up shots of Cecile and Christophe’s faces, suggesting when they are together they cannot take their eyes of one another, connoting passion and love. However, in scenes with Claude, the shots are wider with little to no eye contact, suggesting Cecile feels trapped and uncomfortable in his presence.

The binary opposition of love vs hate allows the audience to identify with the protagonist of the video, driving the narrative as they want good to conquer evil, and for the underdog to win his damsel, by the end of the video. The conflict makes the narrative more exciting, as a dilemma must be overcome in order to conclude with happily ever after, a convention of silent films, which the video homages. This conceptual binary opposition of good vs evil is also emphasised through the visual opposition of the light vs t he dark. The film is filmed in black and white, which Åkerlund believed “made it look really classic and old”, but also emphasises the struggle between right and wrong, love and hate, etc. For example, when Cecile is being abused, she is seen to be wearing dark coloured clothing, connoting sadness and depression, but when she is happy, the colours become lighter, connoting happiness. This is evident with Christophe also, who always wears white, thus connoting purity, and Claude, who wears black which connotes evil.

Binary opposition: wide shots/avoiding gaze with Claude vs close up shots/eye contact with Christophe

Binary opposition: Cecile wears dark when abused but light when free; Christophe wears white & Claude black

Narrative Case Study | Conceptual Narrative

Narrative structures of music videos can be complex, but many are structured around match on action with a strong sense of st ory-telling which illustrate, amplify or even contradict the lyrics (Andrew Goodwin). In Magic, a conceptual narrative is used, with back amplifying the lyrics. As mentioned before, Åkerlund took the literal interpretation of the track title and incorporated it into the plotline - a beautiful magician in a travelling circus - thus structuring the video around match on action, both illustrating and amplifying the lyrics. For example, the lyrics “I wanna fall…” correspond with the image of Christophe levitating for the first time, experimenting with his new powers; the lyrics are illustrating the image that the audience see on screen. This is also the ca se for the lyrics “I don’t want anybody else but you…” from the chorus, when the camera continually cuts to Cecile for the word “you”. Thishighlights how she is the only person that Christophe wants to be with, thus amplifying the meaning of the lyrics. Christophe also hides behind the curtains for the lyrics “I disappear from view…”, suggesting he feels he is not good enough for her. Finally, the lyrics “cut me into two…” correspond with the image of Cecile’s bruises on her arm; both the lyrics and image connote pain and suffering, though ne is physical and the other mental, so the audience can understand the fact that both the characters are suffering.

I don’t want anybody else but you…I wanna fall… I disappear from view… Cut me into two…

In our music video for Gather and Run, we too used Goodwin’s theory that the lyrics should amplify and illustrate the lyrics of the track. For example, for the lyrics “to the forest we will gather and run…” we used a shot of the characters running through the forest, which also matches with the building guitar strums and drumbeat (another theory of Goodwin (there is a relationship between t he music and the visuals). Another example is for the lyrics “grab my heart…” here the characters grab one another’s hands, as well as “hanging on to the words you said…” where Olivia is seen to be reflecting on her relationship, desperately trying to remember the happier times in the relationship. However, Goodwin’s theory also suggests that the lyrics could contradict the lyrics, which we also incorporated into our production: “grab my heart…” is also sung over the visual of the couple standing far apart from one another, highlighting the distance in their relationship, thus highlighting the loneliness and desperation of the relationship.

To the forest we will gather and run… Grab my heart… Hanging on to the words you said…

Narrative Case Study | Performance & Intertextuality

As well as a conceptual narrative, towards the climax of the music video performance clips are used. Chris Martin (the frontman of Coldplay) who plays Christophe is seen lip-synching to the chorus: I want to fall, fall so hard, and I call it magic, and I call it true, I call it magic… By Martin performing the lyrics, the music video successfully promotes the band as the audience recognizes the artist, so this familiarity will encourage them to but the record, and potentially explore their work further. This also links to Goodwin’s theory that the demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist in order to promote them to the audience to increase track sales. Also, the fact that the performance clips begin when Christophe is building in confidence to be with Cecile suggests that he is breaking free of the ties which originally held him down; in this case, the video is created as a homage to silent movies, so he breaks free of having to stay silent and finally speaks aloud his true feelings. Performance clips are often us ed in music videos, particular in the pop and rock genre: for example, Nina Nesbitt’s Stay Out and Tom Odell’s Hold Me.

Performance clip: Chris lip-synchs the lyrics Nina Nesbitt Stay Out and Tom Odell Hold On

Due to the fact that Magic is a homage to the silent film era, many intertextual references are made throughout. For example, the use of intertitles (or title cards), a backbone of silent films, as when they became of sufficient length and detail, titles were needed to necessitate dialogue and/or narration to make sense of the enacted events. Another intertextual reference is that of the 1928 silent film The Circus, which was written and directed by Charlie Chaplin; it tells the story of impoverished circus where Chaplin's Little Tramp is a clown, who falls in love with Merna, a horse rider who is treated badly by her ringmaster stepfather. With the circus thriving because of his clown skills, the Tramp is able to secure better treatment for Merna and defends her when the ringmaster begins to beat her. This is much like the narrative of the music video for Magic; a young, pretty woman is in need of rescuing and protecting (as was the norm in silent movies), an underdog who is hopelessly in love and a wicked ring-master. Also, in The Great Dictator (1940) Chaplin played two characters, the main antagonist Adenoid Hynkel and a Jewish barber, the protagonist, much like Chris Martin, who plays both Claude (the villain) and Christophe (the hero). According to Åkerlund, the director, Martin “took it really seriously. We shot first one character over the shoulder of a double, and then we shot the other way the day after. That’s hard for any actor.”

Intertitles: Magic and City Lights (1931) (L-R) Merna and her abusive step-father (ring master)

Narrative Case Study | Closed Text & Flashbacks

According to Barthe’s codes, you can have either open or closed texts, open being the audience can interpret the text themselves due to a sense of ambiguity, while closed texts has explicit meaning. Magic is a closed text due to its clear narrative; it is presented as a homage to the silent film era, so title cards narrate the story throughout for a clear and definitive narrative. The narrative has also been edited continuatively to establish a logical coherence between shots. However, while the video was edited continuatively for the majority, elements of flashback is also evident. A flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point of the narrative, and are often used to create suspense in a story, to develop a character or to add structure to the narration. In Magic, Åkerlund, the director, uses internal analepsis (a flashback to an earlier point in the narrative) as Christophe remembers all the ways that Claude has abused Cecile; it becomes a turning point for his character, and he finds the determination and drive to end the conflict there and then. The audience become effected by Chris tophe’s response, as the fast cutting between previous images are angry and bitter, so they, too, feel the pain and anger that Christophe feels. To alert the viewer that the actions shown are from the past – and avoid causing the viewer to be confused – photographs are used to show that Christophe is reminiscing on past experiences with Cecile; indeed, the angry, short cuts make way for longer held shots of the pair of them spending time together, so the audience are alerted to the fact that these memories are happier.

Christophe remembers the bad times… … but also the good times

In our music video production for Gather and Run, we also used flashbacks to evoke a response from the audience. To indicate that a flashback had occurred, we used fade-to-white dissolves to symbolise a change in location or time period. The present day shots were faded with low contrast lighting, connoting sadness and despair as the relationship had ended, while happier flashbacks were in vivid colour (connotes excitement and happiness) and sadder memories in stark and black and white (bleaker, faded memories). I paired similar shots together, such as the extreme close up of Olivia’s eyes and the pair holding hands, from both the happy and sad so when the shots dissolve into each other, binary opposition is created between the shots (happy vs sad) which has a larger impact on the audience as they feel the downfall of the relationship. This creates conflict and “drives the narrative” (Strauss).

Use of vivid colour for happy flashbacks Binary opposition: pair similar black and white and colour shots together for impact