Mise en scene:
Location
There are a variety of different locations found within Ed Sheeran's narrative video, all of which anchor the lyrics through its mise en scene helping to personify the message he is trying to convey to the audience. The locations vary between a park, a main road, outside a store and inside a hotel room giving a sense of variety within each of the different scenes. The more open sequences such as the park and the main road allowed the audience to fully soak in the changing environment that the character has been placed in creating a sense of loneliness is also portayed to the audience becuase since she's placed within the centre of these locations creating a clear social divide between her and the rest of society but also connoting a lack in positive progress throughout the entire video. When it came to much smaller locations such as the bedroom, it created a sense of intimacy between her and the audience. In addition it allows the audeince to empathize with her on an emotional level, allowing the lyrics to have as greater impact. However i fell as if the variation in locations helps to project her feeling at that moment within that moment, for example the park connotes a sense of freedom, the main road connotes loneliness and the hotel room connotes a sense of lust, liking back to the lyrics.
Lighting
When it comes to the video it solely relied on natural lighting that is evident within that immediate area. Lighting is not a key element within this video as its not a conceptual or performance video, which tend to be more glamourous and possess a lot more artificial lighting.
Costume
As the main focus of this video is the female character, she has two predominant costumes within the entire music video, both of which help show her progression throughout the entire narrative. You denote her costume as being a baggy tracksuit and a coat, all of which connote her being homeless; this is then proven further through the location she wakes up in. By having her wear those cloths causes the audience to begin asking questions about how she ended up in that position but also allow Sheeran's message be put across, by conveying her as being vulnerable, lonley and innocense. Furthermore the image remains in the audeinces minds if her costume is drastic from the norm. When it comes to her second costume, which connotes her as being a prostitue shows a development within the video from being this innocent, vulnerable person to someone who's doing anything in order to get by. By having such a drastic change helps not only convey the severity of her situtation but also once again causes the audience to connect with her on an emotional level.
Props
Various props were used within the video but the key ones were drugs, "Big Issue" magazine, flowers and a blanket due to the fact that they all have a significant link to either the lyrics or the narrative development. The flowers convey the characters sense of innocense within the video, and that despite her current situation as well as decision that she makes she's still able to see the beauty within everything. This in a way makes her character more relatable to the audeince as it shows that she's not any better or worse than we all are. The blanket denoted within the video connotes a sense of vulnerablity to the audience as she doesn't have a stable environment but also helps to leave a more dramatic visual image in the audiences minds. The use of drugs within the video shows the negatives of her lifestyle but also helps explains the video as a whole as it isn't a chronologically ordered video, and also becuase its such a graphic image its causes you to only be capable of imaging her situtation giving the story even greater depth. The uses of the magazine "Big Issue" is an intertexual reference to that magazine but also represents the people that tend to sell them, as she dreses and acts in a similar way.
Editing:
Editing proved to play a key role within this video as some of the editing techniques help make the narrative more dramatic and emotional. One of the inital effects that are used throughout the entire narrative is the black and white effect, which connotes a how simple her situation is to understand put creates a shock and awe effect during grahic parts of the video exentuating focal parts of the video. One of which include her laying dead right in the beginning of the video, and the black and white effect cause the audience to focus on her piercing lifeless eyes. Another editing technique used was non- continuity editing as the beginning of the video started off with future events, which raised questions as to what has happened. Another editing effect used was time increase and this is denoted when the entire area around her is speed up and she remians atationary. Connoting the passing of time but also suggest that whilst everyone else's lives are moving on she remians in the same depressing situation she's been in from the beginnig of the video.
Cinematograhpy
Shot types
One of the shots used within the video a lot were close ups and they were preodominanatly close ups of the main characters face. This can be denoted in the initial sequence when it starts up with a close up of her face and slowly begins to zoom away. This connotes a sense of horror in an instant as its the first image the audience see, and becuase its a strong image its doesn't fade away over the course of the video, giving it a sense of repeatabilty. Furthermore i believe that in makng this one of the first things seen within the video it causes the audeicne to want to know whats happened and why allowing them to take any morals they get from the narrative but also creates an emotional connection between us and the charatcer.
Another shot used are long shots, which not only establishies location but also helps to see the changing environment shes been placed in moving the narrative along. This is denoted when she standing outside angel station, near the flowers with a large group of people behind her. This helps to connotes that she is deviated from the rest of society and has no place in the world but as aformentioned in "location" it represents her character as being innocent, vulnerable and not in charge of her future.
Ed Sheeran's music video is an example of a narrative that use method of illustaration and amplify when it comes to linking the videos to the video. This is denoted through the build up of events that occur throughout the entire video and eventually reach an outcome. Furthermore there is clear character progression that moves in a negative direction as the events that occur gradually get worse.
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