The music video uses visual elements as a metaphor to tell the narrative of an elephant escaping from captivity to return to the wild, representing a girl realizing her life is not what she expected and wishing for paradise. Some key shots include the elephant trapped in a cage at the beginning, contrasting the song's message of freedom. Cinematic shots of the elephant flying to an island create a calming atmosphere of relief and happiness. By the end, the elephant is reunited with other elephants, implying being with Coldplay, and seems happy in his new paradise.

1. Coldplay – Paradise video analysis
The music video for Paradise is a narrative and conceptual video (Firth). It
uses visual elements to get across the meaning of the song. The video tells the
narrative of a elephant escaping captivity to go back to the wild, however the
song is about a girl realising her life isn't what she expected and wishing her
life was perfect, which would be paradise. The narrative is a metaphor for
what the song is really about.
The video starts with a mid shot of the elephant in a cage. The mid shot
allows the audience to see the elephant as well as the setting that it’s in.
Because the elephant is centre of the frame, the audience sees it and
develops a connection with it. the elephant mask has no expression on it, but
the audience gives it an emotion, even though they can’t tell what it is. This is
because of mis-en-scene. The audience can see enough to know that the
elephant is in a cage and because it is holding onto the bars, the audience
assumes that the elephant is trapped. Also, the first shot completely contrasts
the title of the song because the elephant isn't free in paradise, he is stuck in
the zoo. The first few seconds of the video are quite fast paced even though
the song is slow however, it cuts in time to the music and the narrative is able
to quickly begin so it still goes with the song. It also makes it look dramatic
and creates enigma as the audience wonders where the elephant is going and
what it will do when it gets there.
There is iconography to London in the video. Coldplay is well known for being
a British band and the video shows well known icons that are related to
London such as the telephone box and the underground. This both sets the
scene and associates the band with London.

2. Coldplay – Paradise video analysis
Some of the shots in the video are quite cinematic. For example, the cinematic
shots of the aeroplane and the island are shown during an instrumental of the
song. The shot combined with the music creates a calming atmosphere and
makes the audience feel relaxed after watching the elephant escape from the
zoo. The audience also feel relief that the elephant got away and has made it
to the island.
The mood that the atmosphere gives changes to a more positive feeling.
When the elephant is in the tube station with the flash cards asking for
money, he’s just standing with the lyrics in his hand however when he’s in the
new location, he’s asking for money by dancing and putting on a show for the
people showing how much happier he is.
The music builds up when the elephant is reunited with the rest of the
elephants which the audience can assume are the rest of the Coldplay band.
Showing the elephant running In slow motion emphasises that he’s in paradise
and achieved what he set out to do. When the chorus plays again, the
audience can see how the elephant has fit into the rest of the elephants and
how happy he is compared to how he was at the beginning of the video. They
are also conventions of the genre as there are close up shots of the
instruments the other elephants/band members are playing such as the guitar.
The video cuts to Coldplay performing live to an audience. This could be to
show audiences that they have a big fan base and to show that their concerts
are fun. There are lots of wide shots so the audience is able to look at all the
people that have come to see Coldplay perform. It also could show that
Coldplay’s idea of paradise is to be performing to lots of fans and being a
worldwide success

3. Coldplay – Paradise video analysis
There are intertextual references to film in the music video. The beginning of
the music video is set out like the opening credits of a movie. It states who the
film was made by, who’s in the video and the name of the song. There are also
cinematic shots in the video that aren't usually used in music videos but in
movies. There is a relationship between the text and the image in the opening
credits when the song title appears. The word “Paradise” is written in big,
bold writing so it stands out and the audiences can clearly see that that’s the
name of the song. The background is of a sunset and the animals are roaming
around freely, not in a zoo, which conforms to most people’s typical ideas of
paradise.
Todorov’s narrative theory can be applied to the narrative in the music video.
There’s an equilibrium where everything is balanced. The elephant is at the
zoo. Then there’s a disruption when the elephant decides to escape the zoo to
find it’s friends. The video then ends in a better equilibrium where the
elephant finds it’s friends and is free from the zoo.
There are also intertextual links to their own song. In the second verse, the
lyrics are “every tear a waterfall” which is referring to another one of their
singles, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.” “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall,” is
about finding something positive in a bad time or situation. When the lyrics
“every tear a waterfall” is sung, it shows the elephant stop at a bike shop. This
could be seen as something positive because it’s the bike that gets him to
paradise at the end.