Analysis of real music video

Ed Sheeran- the A team

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAWcs5H-qgQ

The A teamThis music video stuck out to me because it’s a very deep and meaningful song, It

narrates the story of a girl addicted to drugs, living on the streets of London, played by Selina MacDonald. She tried to sell magazines for money, but only managed to sell one to Ed Sheeran. The girl struggled so much that she resorted to selling her body to earn money. She may not have loved it, but it provided her with a general income. Later on, the pain became too much for her to bear and she just wanted to end it all. She traded in her "dirty" money for drugs, referencing the lyric "...and in a pipe she flies to the motherland." In the end, the girl succumbs to her drug abuse and sadly dies as a result.

Meaning behind the lyricsWhite lips, pale face Breathing in snowflakesBurnt lungs, sour taste

Lights gone, days endStruggling to pay rentLong nights, strange men

And they sayShe's in the class A teamStuck in her daydreamBeen this way since eighteenBut lately her face seemsSlowly sinking, wastingCrumbling like pastries

And they scream The worst things in life come free to us 'Cause we're just under the upper hand And go mad for a couple gramsAnd she don't want to go outside, tonightAnd in a pipe she flies to the motherlandOr sells love to another manIt's too cold outsideFor angels to fly, for angels to fly

Ripped gloves, raincoat Tried to swim and stay afloatDry house, wet clothes

Loose change, bank notesWeary-eyed, dry throatCall girl, no phone

And they scream The worst things in life come free to us 'Cause we're just under the upper hand And go mad for a couple gramsBut she don't want to go outside, tonightAnd in a pipe she flies to the motherlandOr sells love to another manIts too cold outsideFor angels to flyAn angel will dieCovered in white Closed eyeAnd hoping for a better lifeThis time, we'll fade out tonight Straight down the line

And they sayShe's in the class A teamStuck in her daydreamBeen this way since eighteen But lately her face seemsSlowly sinking, wastingCrumbling like pastries

They scream The worst things in life come free to us And we're under the upper hand And go mad for a couple gramsAnd we don't want to go outside, tonightAnd in the pipe fly to the motherlandOr sell love to another manIt's too cold outsideFor angels to fly, angels to fly To fly, flyFor angels to fly, to fly, to flyAngels to die

And they sayShe's in the class A teamStuck in her daydreamBeen this way since eighteen But lately her face seemsSlowly sinking, wastingCrumbling like pastries

Smoking cocaine

You often sleep all day after a long night only to wake up and repeat the process.

Due to the struggle with addiction you can't hold a steady job, so you do what you can to make the money you need for a place to stay and to feed your every growing addiction.

The "A Team" is a reference to people who are to far gone in their addiction to be saved.

Her face, her body, her life, its all going downhill. She may want it to end, and it will, just not the way she wants.

Her life is falling apart at the seams, and her whole world is just crashing down around her.

When she smokes it she feels like she is on top of the world and nothing can go wrong. She goes to the same place every time, and she is there so much, it feels like home.

Andrew Goodwin In his book Dancing in the Distraction Factory, Andrew Goodwin points out characteristics and features that can

be found in music videos. • Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.

(e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop). The typology that my music video lies under is narrative, as it tells the story of a homeless girl struggling to get by.

• There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). In this case their is indeed a relationship between the general tone of the music video and the visuals as well as the lyrics matching every scene e.g. Loose change, bank notesWeary-eyed, dry throat, we see her face and it just look warn out and tired.

• There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. This again is the case with this music video, the tone of I slow as well as the visuals, it just seems to drag on and on reflecting the young girls frustration of her life and the idea that it just goes on and on the same things happen everyday, repetitive and boring. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

• The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). With regards to this music video this isn't the case as we only see Ed once in the music video, this is because instead bringing attention to himself he is bringing light on the problems displayed in the music video characterising him as a humble person.

• There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. The female body is seen here, but for a whole other reason, not for pleasure of the audience but for sympathetic reasons, because the audience feel sorry for her as selling her body is the only way that she can make money.

• There are often intersexual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc).

The videoThe video in itself has a circular structure, in that it starts with the main

characters face, presumed to be dead, and we find how out how she got to that state.

The whole music video is in black and white, quite literally meaning that its black and white what is going on in the characters life, this has more to do with the lighting use to create high contrast images. Additionally the black and white concept highlights the way things are portrayed by the media as being either black and white. Which is a principle this music video challenges but also conforms to, by using only black and white footage. You could say it also draws more attention to the negative aspects of the young women’s life and makes you as an audience feel more sympathetic.

Levi-Strauss described narrative as created by constant conflict of binary opposites. The A Team has binary opposites such as: Life and Death- We see the struggle of the young women trying to live and make it through each day. The film started with death and moved onto life when the young women woke up on the bench to a new day with the ambient sounds of vehicles moving in the morning rush hour and then the music video ends with her death where it bean in the first place.

The video We are then shown a medium close up, from this scene the audience learn more about the character and Realise she is homeless as we are shown in this shot her sleeping on a bench with a blanket wrapped around her, not fully dressed suggesting she cant afford clothes. In the background of this scene we can see a large amount of dead trees. During the whole of the video low key lighting is used maybe again to convey her hard and colourless life

In the video we see the effect “stop motion” used several times. Here it is used to show how she is standing still and all the cars are moving fast, like life is passing her by and no one cares about her. This clip has been fast forward to show all the people walking past her without even looking at her while she sits still. This effect is used to show a lot of time has passed.

focused close up of her to show her facial expressions of horror, disgust, and guilt. This is used to make the viewers feel sympathy for the character, and what conditions this young girl has been led to live.