Analysing Music Videos - Ed Sheeran - The A Team

This is a music video by Ed Sheeran; this was one of his first major song releases. This is the artist which we are using for our music video, so I thought analysing one of his other songs and music videos would be beneficial to enable us to identify him as an artist and his genre of music. This song is similar to the song we are using because it is a Folk ballad. The song also is a narrative like our production, this song follows the struggles of a women’s life, and how she is a drug addict and will do anything for money. The woman is suffering in life and this video represents that, like our production it represents suffering. This song is similar to hits like Suzanne Vega's "Luka" (about child abuse), 10,000 Maniacs' "Like the Weather" (depression) and Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" (alcoholism)", these are all songs that shade their heavy topics under a melodic canopy. The lightening in this video is a contrast of black and white; this is similar to our production again because we will incorporate black and white to emphasize the past. Ed Sheeran’s songs often follow a narrative; this is good for us because it means we can portray this in our production. The video also shows slow clips to elongate the story; this is very affective because it enables the audience to understand the narrative. It also incorporates fast editing to show that people are going past her fast, but she is just sat as if her life is coming to a stop. Overall this video is great, because it portrays a understandable narrative, which consequently will allow the audience to keep watching and connect with the song and video.