'A Team' Textual Analysis.

One of the videos I have chosen to look at for inspiration and ideas is A Team – Ed Sheeran. The genre of the music is not the style we have chosen to use, yet the initial concept of the video is something we do hope to use in our music video. I’m going to look at the Cinematography, Mise en Scene, Editing and Sound of the video.

The video starts with setting the scene and presenting the main character. The entire video is shot in black and white only using lighting effects to enhance or darken sections of the scenes. I personally really like the concept of this effect, using a modern setting such as the city of London.

The camera work in the very begging is extremely important as it gives a mixture of long shots, mid shots and close up shots to introduce the main character and also allows the audience to judge and take their first impressions. The main character is lying on a park bench wrapped in a blanket, looking rather rough with makeup down her face and ruffled hair. The costume she is wearing is quite revealing making it very suggestive.

Throughout the video the scenes go on to show the character walking around the streets of London. It gives a basic outline to the story of her life. This is attention to detail is appreciated by the audience as it allows them to make an initial judgment after their first impressions at the very start.

Close ups of her face draws attention to her emotions and struggles. Certain sections which stand out to me are the use of focus pulls. The effect of having the focus on only the main character and all other surrounds blurred is something I hope to use in our video. I think this is extremely effective as it allows the most important part of the scene to be focused on and not that of the dancers or extras in the background.

My favourite part of this music video is the scene where the main character has her back to the camera, shot at mid shot as she is stood by the railing cross road section watching the traffic go by. This has been edited to speed up the traffic and surrounding pedestrians, focusing on only the characters emotions. This shows how the world is going by and she is standing still and showing her invisibility to the rest of the community.

I really like the overall concept of this music video. The scruffy main character represented in 2 different ways and how only lighting and makeup has changed her overall appearance. There are no significant special effects which make this video easy to relate to which is important for the audience.