Codes and Conventions of Coldplay's 'Violet Hill' Music Video

Codes and Conventions of Coldplay's 'Violet Hill' Music Video

• The 'Violet Hill' music video is mainly a performance of the song, with the 'narrative' part being in the lyrics of the song.
• There is frequent usage of the black and white filter (which creates a dark, depressing mood/atmosphere).
• The shaky, handheld camera (instead of a rigid stationary camera) links to the fact that it is about a serious, dark, sad topic (war) which caused millions of people upset and harm across the world; holding the camera and filming in this way suggests emotional unstableness.
• The edits/cuts are very slow and minimal in 'Violet Hill', which further portrays the sad, depressing mood of the song.
• Lighting and costumes are normally important in music videos since it helps to express and portray the mood of the song further. However, Coldplay wear very basic, dark, bland clothes, with the lighting being dark; these two typical conventions of music videos aren't used to their full extent in 'Violet Hill' since the black and white filter does most of the work in terms of portraying and expressing the mood of the song.