coldplay 'fix you' analysis

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Coldpla y ‘Fix you

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Page 1: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

Coldplay

‘Fix you’

Page 2: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

Background information on artist and song

Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London.

Achievements

They achieved worldwide fame with the release of the single "Yellow" in 2000, followed by their debut album released in the same year, Parachutes, which was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The band's second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002), was released to critical acclaim and won multiple awards, including NME's Album of the Year. Their next release, X&Y, the best-selling album worldwide in 2005, was met with mostly positive reviews upon its release, though some critics felt that it was inferior to its predecessor. The band's fourth studio album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008), was produced by Brian Eno and released again to largely positive reviews, earning several Grammy nominations and wins at the 51st Grammy Awards. On 24 October 2011, they released their fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto, which received mixed to positive reviews, topped the charts in over 34 countries, and was the UK's best-selling rock album of 2011.

Page 3: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

The song reached number 18 in the United States Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks. Promo singles were released for the UK and US.

"Fix You" received positive reviews. It has been widely sampled, with different covers and sounds. The song, itself, was nominated for multiple awards in the categories of Best Song Musically and Lyrically and Anthem of the Summer. The music video was garnered as a tribute to the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The guitar solo of "Fix You" is currently used as the player introduction at all of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens' home gamesTaken from Wikipedia background - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fix_You

Song

Page 4: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

Sophie Muller is a London based director who has worked with various musicians to produce some amazing music videos as well as some spectacular film sequences. Sophie Muller attended St. Martin’s and the Royal College of art.

Muller’s career began in the 1980’s where she was an assistant director of the horror/ thriller company of wolves. She has also worked with Annie Lenox and Blur throughout the 1990’s.

Through Sophie Muller’s work I have noticed she likes each member of the band / or solo artist to have a small amount narrative in the music video if possible as she focuses on the band or artist performing live or in a set up room / studio.

Muller has directed loads of videos and has worked with artists such as Sophie Ellis-Baxter, The Killers, Pink, Maroon 5 and Coldplay. Muller’s style is to use the band in her videos and centre the whole video around them. She rarely puts the focus on actors with the exception of “Mr Brightside” (above) where there is narrative element however she still focuses it on the band throughout.

Background information about the director

Page 5: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

For any genre of any music videos there are always several characteristics used to fulfil the theme and the idea of the genre. In this music video ‘fix you’ follows the genre of the indie rock song as it displays many aspects of it that people can associate with a slow moving indie rock song. For example, the footage used that was filmed from one of their previous concerts can make the audience feel as if they were there with the band. Many artists use this in their music video’s as it is enjoyable to watch and entertaining.

Footage used from a previous concert can also promote the band as it makes people want to be part of that spectacular environment themselves. Although this song is a huge success the music video isn’t very memorable, instead the narrative of the video is quite basic and simple. The music video for ‘Fix you’ follows the same theme as the bands previous music videos and some characteristics seems to be repeated often. This makes the band an iconic figure as many people can associate their work with the meaning of the song.

Genre characteristics

Page 6: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

Relationship between lyrics and visuals

The relationship between the lyrics and visuals of this song has been thought through well as there isn’t much of a narrative. This has been done purposely to represent the meaning of the song to the audience and also so that the audience know how to feel when watching it. This is done by having Chris Martin as the main character throughout the video. In the first couple of minutes throughout the video it is slow moving and dull , this is to capture a connection with the audience as the message is being addressed through Chris’ actions.

Page 7: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

As the song and dramatic state of the video narrative peaks, and the tempo gets faster, the camera movements become faster

and more stimulating (such as the fast rotation movement in the part before Chris Martin starts running down the tunnel, the

drastic camera tilts during the fan concert scene) and the editing gets more exciting (because the duration between the cuts

between each shot), this again is to match the faster speed of the tempo within the track.

Page 8: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

As this music video does not follow a narrative the majority of the video involves a lot of solo

instrumentals and lyrics being illustrated by Chris Martin (this means the artist is facing the camera

and miming the lyrics). In two separate parts of the music video Chris Martin is singing tot the audience when he is facing us, and then in the second sings

to the fans in the crowd.

Page 9: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

Due to the fact that the track ‘Fix you’ changes tempo, the video pace follows this well. All the elements of the video such as the camera

movement, editing (cuts), dance routines and even lighting changes with the track (as the track gets faster the cuts and shots move along faster and consistently, the lighting get brighter and more complex as

well as the camera moments begin to get differ and superior).

“Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones and I will try to fix you” (Referring to the live performance in the video)

“And high up above or down below When you're too in love to let it go” (This refers to the beginning and ending of the music video, Chris

Martin shows this in the beginning when he is walking slowly in the dark dull tunnels, to where he is engaging with the crowd at stadium

arena)

Page 10: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

Relationship between music and visuals (Also linked to representation)

The video ‘fix you’ most definitely cuts to the beat of song towards the end, whereas before in the first few minutes it is all in slow motion for several shots. Towards the end of the music video more solo instrumental parts are played just as the music begins to build up tension. The three other band members are on stage waiting for Chris to arrive and sing, in this particular the band members are all seen playing their instruments in

front of thousands in Wembley stadium.

I think that Chris was the main character in this music video as he is the lead singer and would usually stand in the front when performing in front of people just like in the video when they’re all waiting for Chris to arrive and perform. Because Chris stands at the front it means his face is more recognizable to the people

who watch them. The public are more familiar with his face than the other band members.

Page 11: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

The record label are looking to sell this track by presenting a different type of feel and theme to their previous music

videos. In this particular music video there is live footage taken from one of their concerts, this is one of the first music videos Coldplay themselves have done of this. I believe that

the record label are trying to sell the musical experience rather the song throughout the music video.

Through my research a lot of Coldplay's videos are quite

similar within camera and editing techniques. A lot of the video’s share the same amount of solo instrumental parts. I

have also noticed that in all of there others music video’s they all follow a strong narrative, compared to ‘fix you’ it is

very different in style.

Page 12: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

Camera work A lot of the camera work used in the ‘Fix you’ music video is mainly

slow motion right up until the last forty five seconds. Numerous shots were filmed on a dolly to create a tracking shot effect. This

causes an effect and makes the audience feel like they are walking and follow Chris Martin on his journey. Chris’ facial expressions

during the video portray sadness and hurt.

As the tempo of the song picks up as does the editing and different camera shots. Chris then starts to run as there is a build-up and the footage is no longer in slow motion. As the speed of the song is gradually increasing the camera shots change rapidly from Chris walking slow so the audience were looking directly at

him, to following him as he’s running ahead in front. Establishing shots are used to create the concert feel as Chris

makes his way to the stage. At this point extreme close ups are used on the crowd and instruments. Although these camera shots are basic a lot of editing techniques have been used as shots jump from one to another like a pan to make the video follow better and so also the viewers can capture the whole

experience of a Coldplay concert without actually being there. The camera zooms out at the end of the video to show and

exaggerate the amount of people who were there to witness their music.

Page 13: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

Narrative ‘Fix you’ does follow a narrative but isn’t seen as a story as such, it’s

more a reality. The video was filmed at the end of two concerts on 4 and 5 July 2005 at Wembley stadium in Bolton England. In the first half of the video the band's lead singer, Chris Martin, wanders the streets of London

starting at Toole Street under London bridge station , while the slogan “Make trade fair” is projected onto the Royal national theatre, using

the same color scheme on the cover of X&Y.

The tunnels that Martin is seen wandering within are located both in and around St. pancreas and king’s cross railway stations, and the

filming for the video took place during the time of the redevelopment and expansion of London St. Pancreas international. Martin is then

seen walking across Waterloo Bridge, which crosses the River Thames, connecting the Southbank with The Strand. As soon as the electric guitar kicks in, Martin's walk turns into a run as he darts through

streets until finally reaching the Reebok Stadium, where he joins the rest of the band for the song's finale. Here the audience can be clearly heard singing along, and at the end of the video Martin thanks them

for their support and wishes them goodnight.

Page 14: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

Video style / iconography

The style used in the ‘fix you’ music video is a narrative and as ‘live footage’. These two styles make the music video more interesting and enjoyable to

watch as a viewer. The ‘fix you’ video is captivating and memorable as there are two completely different scenes merged into one. As a band, Coldplay

help and do a lot of charity work in their free time. They work closely with Oxfam and have shown it through their video very briefly. In the images

below are screenshots found in the video. This is called Iconography.

Page 15: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

Mise en scene

Is a French term meaning ‘what is put into a scene or frame’ and what is seen. Moreover it can also be defined as the

arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the place where a film is enacted. The elements of Mise en scene are

pointers of what the genre would be and as an audience what we would expect to see in that genre

Page 16: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

1) Lighting and colour - The lighting and colour used in the music video makes it easy

to identify what kind of video it is going to be. Low key lighting is used to create a mysterious

or suspense like atmosphere. This is used in the beginning of the music video when Chris

Martin is running through the tunnels. Colour is also a key convention for mise en scene as

we associate emotions and thoughts with different colours, red can be associated with

love, rage and blood.

Page 17: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

2) Costumes and makeup / hair - In ‘Fix you’ no makeup is used as there is not a strong enough narrative to pretend or glamourize

someone for what they look like. It’s not what the song represents so the music video

shouldn’t be miss leading. h How the artist / bands presents themselves will be the way

the audience perceive them in real life.

Page 18: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

3) Setting and props - The setting can relate to location, where the scene is being taken place

or where the scene is set. This can be an outside location or inside. With the music video ‘fix you’ the typical conventions of

setting would be several musical instruments as well as glow sticks shown in the crowd.

Page 19: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

4) Facial expressions and body language - By the use of these elements we are able to see the emotion of Chris (the main character) in the music video. This includes the gestures, postures and facial expressions by which a person can make clear by various physical, mental, or emotional actions. With the non verbal communication with audience is able

to assume characteristics about the character and how they’re feeling by being directly told.

Page 20: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

5) Position of characters and objectives in a frame - The way characters are positioned within a frame can tell the audience a lot

about the character, levels of supremacy can be identified, how characters are centered and angled. In this particular video Chris is

seen walking slowly as if he has given up, to then running and being on stage performing to thousands being on top of the world and

happy.

Page 21: Coldplay 'Fix you' analysis

Intersexuality/Voyeurism

Coldplay are a well known appreciate British band how have millions of fans around the world. Their music is

adored by millions of different types of people and can be viewed in several ways. Coldplay are not like many other bands as they make sure there music videos are

still visible to anyone whereas some artist feel the need to expose themselves to grab attention from specific

female / male fans. Coldplay keep their music free from explicit language and imagery, which is why this music

video doesn’t consist of any intersexuality or voyeurism.