Case Study - Ed Sheeran - The A Team

Priscilla Quarcoo

Ed Sheeran –The A Team

 

The music video The A team is about a girl who is trying to get money for drugs and as a last result she becomes a prostitute to get money. At the end of the music video she dies of an overdose.

The video is narrative based as the music video has a linear narrative, the narrative problem being that she sells her body for drugs.

Themes seen in the video are drug abuse and prostitution; these themes are shown in the video through the camera angles, mise en scene and editing techniques. The motif in this music video is “angel” as the girl is described as an angel in the song lyrics. The motif of the angel is seen across the music video. An example of this is when a low angle shot is used to show the girl standing underneath the halo. Other examples are when she was standing in front of angel station and a pan was used to show a sign saying “improving the angel”.  The music video is in black and white to reflect the sombre mood of the music video.

At the beginning of the music video a close up shot of the main character lying dead on the floor is shown. The camera moves upwards and the focus turns blurry this is used to signify a change in time and to also establish the main character in the music video.

A wide shot used to show the girl on the park bench when she wakes up. This shot is used to display her situation to the audience. With this shot the audience can see her wearing ripped tights, a long coat, a hoddie and shorts. The mise en scene helps to portray the representation of this character which is that she is vulnerable as she doesn’t seem to have any decent clothes and she was sleeping on a park bench.

A close up shot of the main characters face is used in the music video to help build the representation of the character as vulnerable as the shot shows her crying to show how upset she is about her situation. It is clear in this shot that she did not want to become a prostitute.  A wide shot is used when she is sitting on the pavement; everything around her is in fast motion. This editing technique is used to show time passing and also to symbolize how she is stuck in the same situation when everybody else is moving on in their lives. Blurred focus is used when the main character is putting on makeup to go and do prostitution. This is done to illustrate how the need for drugs has blurred her focus and what’s really important in life.  

This music video included no lip syncing from the main artist Ed Sheeran as he only appears once in the video to buy the Big Issue off the girl. Ed Sheeran is represented as a caring passer-by in this music video as he sits down to talk to the girl.

The target audience are people who listen to folk acoustic music. This music video would encourage the target audience to buy this song as the audience would feel empathy for the girl and her story, and so they would buy the song as they may relate to feelings of the girl in this music video.

The music video is narrative based and so includes no real acting from the main artist as the music video only focuses on the story of the girl. I wish to include that concept in my music video so that the main focus of the music video would be the narrative of the main character and not the artist.