Coldplay - Violet Hill
The music video for this song matches the mood and tempo of the music and therefore creates an overall relaxed and atmospheric feeling to the video. The music video can be seen as perhaps a performance type video as there are many shots of the band performing and Chris Martin (Lead vocalist) singing throughout the video, however there is a narrative type feel also as the band are dressed in French Revolutionary military uniform which makes the video seem as though it is set during 18th century, the setting also shows this.
The music video for this song matches the mood and tempo of the music and therefore creates an overall relaxed and atmospheric feeling to the video. The music video can be seen as perhaps a performance type video as there are many shots of the band performing and Chris Martin (Lead vocalist) singing throughout the video, however there is a narrative type feel also as the band are dressed in French Revolutionary military uniform which makes the video seem as though it is set during 18th century, the setting also shows this.
There are 2 main sets used, the first seen is a mountain side/top and the second as old 18th century manor house with a foreign aspect to it rather than British due to the type of materials used to make the house and the arcitecture. Both are very rural looking, which makes the music video as a whole seem rough and gritty. This interesting idea of linking their song's video with the bands image for the album 'Viva La Vida' catogorizes and identifies them all with that album as Coldplay have released many albums now and therefore involving the same theme in all of the them is a clever way of not only marketing the album and promoting it, but also linking all of the songs to that particular albuma and generating interest.
As you can see through these three pictures the band always sticks with a French Revolutionary theme in their mise en scene 
for all of their videos on the 'Viva La Vida' album.
As you can see through these three pictures the band always sticks with a French Revolutionary theme in their mise en scene 
for all of their videos on the 'Viva La Vida' album.
The shots taken of the band while on the mountain are edited to make it look as though a 60’s type camera was used as the colouring has a slight purple, pink, yellowish tinge to it. Also The exposure isn’t very good as the figures seem quite dark when walking over the mountain, again creating the illusion it was filmed on an older piece of recording equipment. Throught the video a high contrast is used to which makes the darker colours darker and sharper because of this. This again links in with the gritty rough look of the video and how it makes the narrative seem darker and more forbidding.
There are some conceptual type parts in the video also especially when Chris Martin is singing through a magnifying glass, perhaps represents how he wants his voice to be heard and what he is saying to be realised. The director also uses the music to shape certain scenes in the video such as when the beat depicts when the various members of Colplay appear and then seem to disappear when their standing outside of the French house. Tis is effective as it is clever and interesting to watch. It is links in with the idea of war as one minute their there, the next, their not which could represent life and death. The song is quite emotional and seems to be singing about a lover, however she is never involved in the actual video which makes it seem more masculine and haunting.
Overall the music video is very effective in promoting the song as it uses interesting editing techniques such as re-colouring and shot takes and greyscale to shape it into a more masculine, haunting and gritty music video centered around the idea of the French Revolution.
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