Group: Mainstream Video Shots

 

 

 

 

 

FA: Deconstructing A Digipak

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

 

 

 

Genre

·        The indie pop genre of the album and music is evident from the digipak. The front cover shows a traditional style painting. The album name, 'Viva La Vida' is written over the top of the painting in white paint. The dull colours and themes displayed on this digipak are quite common features of indie albums, so the audience relates these colours with the genre.

Media Language

 ·        The visual techniques used in this digipak are mainly colour and tone related. All three covers which include text have the text centralised rather than applying the rule of thirds. The splitscreen cover has the band members centralised in their individual pictures as well, so the rule of thirds does not apply to this digipak whatsoever.

 

·        The subtle tone and bland colours displayed on the digipak are trademarks of Coldplay, who are known for some of their slow relaxing music, which could be related to the traditional art and subtle tones which are evident on the digipak.

 

 ·        The mise-en-scene on the digipak is sparse, with only photographs being quite difficult to make out, with the only real subject being the artists face, and in one of the pictures, his guitar. The band members are all wearing bland white shirts with black waistcoats or dark coloured coats.

 

 ·        Viva La Vida literally translates to ‘live the life’ in Spanish. This has many positive connotations, which is showing that Coldplay’s music is generally upbeat, despite its slow nature that is often evident. This is the only linguistic device used, as due to the simplistic and subtle nature of the digipak, there is the minimum amount of text required, with track listing, band name, album name, and other necessary details in small print.

 

·        The only real reference to culture in the digipak is the painting, which could be from the civil war era; a symbol of more upper class, or arty audiences. This immediately rules out a large audience from choosing to buy this album, and this therefore means that Coldplay are aiming for a select target audience.

 

 

Representation

 

 ·        The band’s image is reinforced with this digipak, as Coldplay are widely described as being very arty and traditional, and this album is supporting this star image that they have created for themselves by making their digipak very simple and artistic. This does help to sell their products, as it makes their albums very recognisable as being theirs, so their target audience finds them easily in shops.

 

 ·        Coldplay are reinforcing Dyer’s theory of star images in this digipak, as they are both present and absent. Coldplay’s faces are being shown so are therefore present, but they are not the main focus on the main cover so are absent too.

 

Institution and Audience

 

 

 ·        This print text will mainly be consumed by a very focused audience, not ambient at all due to it being quite subtle, and if displayed amongst a group of other digipaks or CD cases, it will go unnoticed unless it is being looked for, and I believe that this subtle, artistic look is exactly what Coldplay intended to create.

MJ: Deconstructing An Advertisement

FA: Music Video Technical Analysis

Coldplay - Clocks

  

• over 90% of the shots used in this video are meat shots of the band, featuring the lead singer
• the cutting rate is very fast, but slows down when the song slows down, which is quite conventional of this genre
• the costumes the band wears fits in with the background of the studio - dark and dull
• the rule of thirds is always present
• the lead singer is sometimes positioned in the middle of the frame, breaking the fourth wall to connect the artist with the audience

Shot Number	Duration (seconds)	Camera	Mise en Scene
1	4	Low angle, medium close up, static.	Man walking past the camera, drum kit.
2	15	Worms eye view, zoom out, mid shot.	Same man on piano. Dark clothes.
3	1	Low angle, medium close up.	Backlit. Dark shadows
4	3	Mid Shot, static.	Band playing, dark clothes, flashing lights
5	2	Mid shot, pan up.	Man playing guitar, pan up to blue lighting
6	3	Low angle, static, mid  shot	Band playing with guitarist central. Dark clothing and shadows. Blue lighting
7	5	Mid shot, slow motion, handicam	More lighting on the artists. Dark clothes, blue lighting.
8	2	Medium long shot, low angle. Slow motion	Blue lighting, dark jacket. More front lighting
9	3	Close up, handicam	Left side of singers face lit up. Shadow on right side.
10	5	Over the shoulder shot to long shot. Handicam	Band playing. Blue lighting. Dark feel and clothing.
11	7	Mid shot, static. On the left hand third	Dark backdrop, microphone with lead singer.
12	6	Handicam, medium close up. Right hand rule of thirds, pull focus at end of shot	Bright light on singers face, contrasts dark background
13	3	Medium long shot, smooth handicam.	Blue lighting casting shadows, guitarist
14	4	Zoom out, Mid shot	Blue lighting, strobe, drummer
15	4	Static Medium close up Singer on right third.	Blue/ yellow lighting shadowing the face. Microphone, band in backdrop
16	2	Medium close up, singer on right third swaying, slow motion. Handicam	Blue neon lights, microphone, dark clothing.
17	2	Handicam, Mid shot	White lighting casting shadow’s and silhouettes of heads.
18	1	Hadicam, Medium close up.	Silhouettes cast by blue lighting strobe.
19	3	Mid shot, Low angle, static, singer on left third of the frame.	Blue lighting, dark clothing, lip syncing
20	3	Static, Close up. Singers head central in frame. Shallow focus.	Yellow, blue and orange lighting cast over the face and backdrop.
21	2	Mid shot, steady Handicam	Band playing, dark clothes, yellow/ white lighting strobe.
22	3	Mid shot, Static	Drummer, wide angle, blue strobing
23	2	Medium long shot, bassist on right hand third.	Bassist playing, drummer in background.
24	1	Medium long shot. Guitarist on left third. Static	Blue lighting flash, blue/black feel.
25	1	Mid shot, Slow motion smooth handicam	Blue lighting microphone
26	1	Medium long shot, handicam. Slow motion	Blue/ white strobing. Singer dancing
27	2	Long shot, static. High angle. Wide angle	White/ blue strobe
28	3	Handicam, pan left/right	Singer dancing, microphone. Strobing white and blue lights. Microphone.
29	3	Medium long shot, low angle at feet.	White/blue lighting band playing. Only lower halves shown.
30	4	Over shoulder shot. Shallow focus. static	White/ blue strobing, band playing, slow motion.
31	3	Shallow focus, static. Slow motion Medium long shot/close up	Close up of silhouetted head with singer in background out of focus. Blue/ white lighting
32	2	Close up, slow motion, singer on left hand third.	White/red lighting casting shadow over face. microphone
33	3	Pan right, mid shot. Handicam, slow motion.	Red strobing. Guitarists centred with drummer playing
34	1	Handicam, slow motion. Mid shot	Red/blue lighting in backdrop. Band playing singer central.
35	5	Track from right to left. Long shot. Slow motion	Red/ white strobing black clothing and shadows.
36	2	Handicam, close up.	Red lighting cast over backdrop and face. Microphone seen.
37	2	Mid shot, low camera angle.	Very red, high contrast man playing bass guitar.
38	2	Smooth handicam, close up.	Red lighting cast over backdrop and face. Microphone seen.
39	3	Ped up. Mid close up.	Light yellow/red light.
40	1	Handicam, mid shot. Slow motion, low angle	White light through flooring. Slow motion walking