Wednesday, 14 June 2017

Music Video Analysis - Ed Sheeran - 'The A Team'



This particular music video uses a narrative structure throughout the video. The narrative is told in a circular way, the video starts at the end. The story is told from another perspective, a person watching a girl’s life.

 

Within the video there are many close ups of the protagonist. This creates a feeling of sympathy from the audiences point of view towards the central character because the lyrics link to what we are seeing, a wasted life. The target audience for this video are that of the younger generation, between the ages of 15 through to 25 year olds, being similar to the artist’s age. The song is about drugs, this being a topic that young people get caught up in. The music video appeals to both genders because, although it is only a female in the video, it targets both because the song is about drugs which relates to both genders.

 

The music begins when it has been established that drugs have killed the girl lying in the room. The shot when the music does start is a long shot of a girl lying on a bench with a sleeping bag. This suggests that she is unfortunate and doesn’t have a place to live or sleep. This puts all focus on the protagonist as the audience want to know more about her, creating the enigma of why she is there and what had happened to her. Thus creating curiosity about her and her life. There is a close up of her wiping her face and pulling the sleeping bag in around her which shows the audience she is cold, also making the audience feel more sympathy for her.

 

The mise-en-scene also suggests that the girl is unfortunate because of the costume she is wearing. She is wearing ripped tights and also a mans coat which is too big for her. Along with this she has thick makeup on which suggests she has been trying anything for money. This is also shown later on in the video when there is a series of close ups of the girl putting makeup on in a dodgy flat and then the long shot oh her showing her legs to the car to stop. This signifies that the girl has turned to prostitution, making the audience sympathize yet again because she must be desperate for doing this. The lighting is natural all the way through the video which makes it realistic. However, there is key lighting on her face which shows her negative expression. The protagonist has no power in the video, she is a damsel in distress and the drugs are there to take her away from reality.

When the girl is walking up a hill on her own, nobody around her creates a sense of panic for the girl. This shows because she starts to look around to see if anyone is following her, also it can suggest that she knows she’s in trouble and trying to look out for danger. It soon changes when she looks up to the sky and smiles, then the shot changes to a mid-shot of her opening her arms. This fives the sense of freedom which contrasts with the rest of the video. The close ups in the video contrast with this shot because they are very closed in and we feel like the girl is trying to escape but can’t. This is the reason that she takes an overdose at the end of the video.

This video attracts it’s target audience because they are people who could be involved and trapped and it shows that it isn’t a way out. The circular structure intrigues the target audience causing them to be attracted to the video.


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