Yellow

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Music Video

The music video for "Yellow" was filmed at Studland Bay in the county of Dorset, South West England on 23 May 2000.[35] The video is minimalistic, featuring only Martin singing the song as he walks along the beach. He is seen wearing a set of waterproofs with his hair wet. The video is one continuous shot with no cuts. The entire sequence is in slow motion. Originally, it had been intended for the whole band to appear in the video. However, drummer Will Champion's mother's funeral was being held on the day of filming, so it was decided that only Martin would appear in the video, which was also the immediate explanation of his mood during this part.[14] The weather also opposed the original plan, with harsh winds and rain instead of the sunny day that had been envisioned. It had also been originally intended for there to be moving stars in the sky, as if in a time-lapse. The directors agreed that the moving stars would distract the focus of the video from Martin.[2] The plan of time advancing was kept. The video begins with the beach being somewhat dark until sunlight arrives nearly at the video's midway point. The video was directed by British directing duo James Frost & Alex Smith of The Artists Company.[2] It was shot at 50 frames per second, twice the regular speed. At the shoot, Chris Martin had to sing the song at double speed so that the audio and visual content would be in sync, a common yet difficult practice of music videos. The final product is slowed to 25 frames per second, giving the slow-motion effect of the video. The transition of the video from night to day was achieved during the telecine process. During the transfer from film to videotape, an operator manually adjusted from a monochromatic, grainy look at the start, to a warm, colourful and bright look at the end of the video. The look was inspired by the night swimming scenes in the movie Jaws.[citation needed] In 2022, Canadian indie pop duo Tegan and Sara paid homage to the music video for their new single, also called "Yellow", the pair walking in slow motion along a beach in rain clothes as the sun rises behind them.

Chart History (20 weeks)