Textual Analysis – Ed Sheeran A team

Textual Analysis – Ed Sheeran A team

Media representaion

This video represent a young girl who is struggling and isn’t able to pay rent and is living on the streets and has now turned into prostitution to pay for the drug habit that she has got and recently she seems to be deteriorating and she used to have so much potential. IT does this by the lyrics of the song and also it shows her sleeping on a park bench in the video and her selling a big issues in the streets. It then shows her getting dressed up and getting into a car which is obviously prostitution as in the next scene you see her with a man and her taking money. She then goes and has a bag of white powder which is obviously the drugs. She is being represented in this way as this video shows how some people choose to live their lives and how an addiction can take over the person you are and not everyone lives a good life. I think that this can be an unfair representation as not all people who are taking drugs are like this and need to prostitute themselves for money although I think this can be a very realistic view of some people’s lives. I think that in this they may be a little self-representation by the subject but this would be from experiences he has had in his life and a self-reflection of the things he has witnessed and how he thinks life would be if he was in that situation.

Media Languages and Forms

The denotative meanings of this video are that the girl is homeless and is prostituting herself for drug money. The connotative meaning of this video is that everyone is in different situations in life and you shouldn’t judge people if you see them in the street as it might not be what they seem. It also could mean that everyone chooses their own direction in life and it is not always what is expected. This is significant as it gives the song a lot more meaning and makes people think about other people not only themselves. The facial expression of the girl is very sad and on edge until at the very end when she has got her drugs. Also the props used such as the sleeping back she has on, the big issue she is selling and also the clothes she is wearing all show that she is living on the streets and isn’t having a wash. The way in which the video is filmed it looks as though it has been filmed with a hand held camera as it isn’t very steady. I think this is done as an effect as it makes the young girls world look unsteady and unstable. At 54seconds through the film there is a low angle shot of the girl looking up into the sky with her arms out as if she had wings like and angel. The mise-en-scene at 1.32 minutes through the video shows how busy other people’s lives are and how life is passing her by as people are rushing around whilst she is concentrating on the flowers. The train station behind her is called ‘angel station.’ The connotation of this is that she is leading the wrong path of life and it is as if it’s the way to the angels- to heaven and she is so close to it. There is then a pan shot of a sign saying ‘improving the angel’ this is as if there is a sign to her that she needs to improve her way of living. She is always central focus of the video and even when the streets are very busy she has lighting on her to stand out almost like and angel.

Narrative

The narrative in this music video is linear structured as the beginning of the story starts with the girl being homeless and it shows you what happens through her days then finally what she has to do on the night time to get the drugs. The story is quite simple although very effective as it is a very meaningful storyline and very realistic to what some people’s lives are like. The audience are able to relate to this as something similar may have happened in their lives or they may be intrigued by the video as they haven’t experienced anything like this and don’t really understand how different people can live their lives and what extremes people will go to, to get drugs. There is only really one character in this video and she is seen in both perspectives. I think one side of her she looks harmless and people will sympathise for her as she is living on the streets and in every clip she is always shown alone. Also when she is sat on the floor in her sleeping bag the camera angle is above her showing her innocence. The other side can be very deceitful as you see her pinching money out of the man’s pocket and going to take her drugs what most people in society look down on. There are a lot of values within this video and I think the main ideology of this video is that everybody leads a different life and you never know what people are going through before you judge them.

Genre

This text links to a few genres Acoustic/folk/indie. I would say that the main genre of this song is acoustic. I think that this video has lot of conventions of an acoustic video as they usually have a lot of narrative built in with emotion and this video shows someone’s life and how she is on a spiral downwards. It is very meaning full and it seems real to the audience as it is a real life situation that some people are going through. I think the song writer Ed Sheeren may have some association with this in his life as he sings it as though it means something to him.

Media Institutions

Ed Sheeran is signed to Atlantic Records who are a, since 1967, a subsidiary of warner brothers. The purpose of this institution is to sell records. They are a commercial institution. Ed Sheeran began recording in 2005. When this song was released ed sheeran was not signed to anyone and started off playing at small venues and gigs. He then got spotted by Jamie Foxx and began to record properly. His fan base grew and he gained mainstream attention after collaboration with such people like Wiley and Devlin. At the beginning of April 2011 Ed was signed to Atlantic Records. Now that he is signed to them he is able to be promoted a lot more as they have a lot more money to spend on him and is able to get him bigger venues to play out. This piece of text has been broadcasted on the internet via YouTube and is on all the music channels. The song is also on his album.

Media Values and ideology

The values of this video is to show people how others may live and you shouldn’t judge people as you don’t know what they’re going through. She’s in the class ‘a-team’ things were expected for her but now she has turned to drugs and if she carries on the way she is going she could be with the angles as it killing  her. She is going through a rough time selling herself for money and it shows people the reality and world we live in.

Media Audiences

I think the audience for this piece of text is 16-35. I think it is targeted at such a wide audience because I think the older audience maybe able to relate to this song because of personal experiences. Also I think it is targeted at the younger end of the scale as they are the ones more likely to listen to the mainstream music and are more likely to download, and buy the cds. This is because they have more expenditure and are more into the music.