Music video analysis

Song: Ed Sheeran – The A Team

The genre of The A Team by Ed Sheeran is indie folk. I would say that it is targeted at an audience of the ages 15-25.

Characters- there is only one character which is focussed on throughout the video. The character that features in the video is a young female who appears to be of the age of about 25. The video is told from the perspective of another person, watching the girls’ life. There are many close up shots of the female character used throughout the video, this

has been done so that audiences feel sympathy for her as the lyrics link to what we are seeing on the screen. The female character looks very sad and depressed throughout this video; this suggests that something bad might have happened to her. Throughout the video, it is clear that the character was quite heavily made up although it is now the morning after. You can tell through

close up shots in the video that her makeup is messy and smeared across her face; this highlights the fact that she is having a tough time. The outfit that the character is wearing at the start of the video shows that she does not care what she looks like as she is just wearing a hoodie and pants. She is also wearing very dark clothes which add to the depressing atmosphere surrounding the video; black is also a colour which has connotations of sadness which is clearly how she is feeling.

Narrative events – the video has a non-linear structure as there are various flashbacks included. It tells the story of a young homeless female who is involved in prostitution to get by. The video begins showing a close up of the young woman being found dead in her room, once the music starts the video then begins to tell the story of how she ended up like that. There is then a shot of the girl waking up on a park bench, this suggests that she does not have anywhere to go and does not have

any money. She is then seen in the centre of town where she is trying to sell magazines to passers-by in order to make money, this is the only time that Ed Sheeran actually appears in the video when he gives her some money. The lyrics have a powerful message revolving around drugs; there is also a few occasions where drugs are shown in the video, this could suggest to audiences that she was killed due to an overdose.

There is a scene within the video when she is shown in the reflection of a mirror doing her makeup, she then waits on the side of the road for cars passing by in hopes that she might interest someone with her provocativeness. When the young woman stops the car and leans over the window, her eyes are on the main line of interest when concerning rule of thirds, this shows that she is vulnerable to the person in the car. She gets paid

Heather Wileman

for being a prostitute and then uses the money to buy drugs. There is no performance style filming in the video and Ed Sheeran is only actually seen on one occasion when he buys a magazine from the woman on the street. This is bringing Ed’s personality into the video slightly as it shows that he cares a lot about people who are struggling in life, this adds to his good reputation and makes audiences view him as a positive person.

Iconography- the use of drugs in this video is iconic as it shows a sense of struggle and difficulty. It represents that fact that she is going through something in her life and is resulting to that as a way of coping. The black and white effect that has been put onto the video is also important to the narrative as black and white have connotations of depressed and sad emotions. The black and white effect that

has been used also highlights the negative in the woman’s life and helps audiences sympathise with her.

The A team follows the generic convention of their being a relationship between the lyrics and the song. At the start of the video the woman is seen waking up on a park bench, surrounded by the ambient sounds of cars, this shows that this is set in the morning as she is just waking up and is perhaps capturing the morning rush. The fact that she is sat asleep on a bench surrounded by nothing but trees and the ambient sounds also highlights the fact that she is alone and isolated from the world.