Music Video Analysis

Ed Sheeran – A Team

• The music video I have chosen to analyse is Ed Sheeran's 'A Team'. The name of the song is reference to class A drugs that the protagonist uses, " she's in the class A Team" meaning that she is a class A drug user.

• The genre of the song is indie/folk and conforms to conventions of this genre as it is a narrative music video something songs of this genre do a lot as they try to tell stories through lyric and music video.

Character• The protagonist of the music video is a female who looks to be in her early

twenties. She is shown to be homeless at the start of the video as she wakes up on a park bench. Throughout the video her daily life is shown where she begs for money outside of shops, sells magazines to passersby, the at night prostitutes herself so that she can buy drugs. Towards the end of the video she takes the drugs and ultimately dies after doing so, at the end her face is shown in the sky connoting that she is the angel referenced in the lyrics. The character is shown wearing a hoodie and a sleeping bag at the start of the music video, the hoodie is stereotypical of youth and the sleeping bag is stereotypical of the homeless. She is shown to be a prostitute in the video showing that she is sexually promiscuous, creating a negative representation of young females, she is however doing this to gain money for drugs. The protagonist does show regret for her habit throughout the music video as she is shown on more than one occasion crying because of her situation.

Narrative• The music video for this song is a Narrative music video

that tells the story of a young female drug addict, what her daily life is like and shows the viewer the consequences of taking drugs. The story starts with the young female waking up on a park bench showing the audience that she is homeless. Throughout the day she is shown selling, magazines, begging for money, then ultimately selling herself in order to get enough money to afford to buy drugs, after taking the drugs she dies as a result.

Setting• The setting for the music video is in a busy city centre, this is because

places like this is where drug deals and drug taking is stereotypically more likely to happen as there are more places to hide as they're illegal.

Technical and Audio codes• The music video is in black and white, this is to show the effect that drugs

have on someone's life, they drain all the colour/happiness out of someone's life as all they become focused on is scoring their next hit and are willing to do anything to get it. There are lots of close ups showing facial expressions and important props, the close ups show the protagonist crying and show that she regrets her life style and does not want to do the things she is doing however her addiction is too strong and that overpowers her. The lyrics of the song reference drug taking, and the effect that they have on a life.