Ed Sheeran - The A Team (Analysis)

  Ed Sheeran is a British singer/songwriter who is currently signed under record label Atlantic Records. Sheeran broke through commercially in June 2011, when his debut single "The A Team" debuted at number 3 on the UK chart. He is new to the commercial music video world, this is prominent with the music video for "The A Team" that looks like it is done by a small company. 

The music video for the song was uploaded toYouTube on 22 April 2010. It narrates the story of a young woman (Selina MacDonald) living on the streets of London and cost only £20 to make. Although, this video was cheaply produced with: shaky camera angles, unsteady footage, not many extras (taking advantage of the hustle and bustle of a busy London street) it gives a effective look. fitting the story that goes on within the video, the lyrics are also one big simile talking about drug usage and users "angel will fly" referring to the girl in the video, taking drugs and getting high. this is a type of video that would be easy for us to create and can be something for us to aim for.

the entire video is shot in black and white which could represent the past/death as the video is about a woman who got addicted to drugs and died ODing (over dosing). The lyrics are about deep things "its to cold outside, for angels to fly, angels to fly. Angels to die" accompanied with video of a woman drug abusing, and selling herself, makes the audience start to think about why she is doing it; the up beat melody makes the audience sympathise with the actress. It also uses Goodwin's theory of the relationship of lyrics and visual at point 3:51 - 3:56 in the video you see a drug exchange with a close up on two peoples hands exchanging the money the woman has only just "earned" for a bag of white pills. the lyrics that go with this and are resited over the clip are "and go mad for a couple grams" referring to grams of cocaine and how desperate she is this is reinforced by the close up angle on the trade; how desperate and important it is to her. The next scene is of her walking back to her flat shaking needing to get her fix, quickly opening her door and stuttering with the keys.