Ed Sheeran - The A Team (Music Video)

Lyrics:
"The A Team"

White lips, pale face
Breathing in snowflakes
Burnt lungs, sour taste
Light's gone, day's end
Struggling to pay rent
Long nights, strange men

And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since 18
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
And they scream
The worst things in life come free to us
Cos we're just under the upperhand
And go mad for a couple grams
And she don't wanna go outside tonight
And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland
Or sells love to another man
It's too cold outside
For angels to fly
Angels to fly

Ripped gloves, raincoat
Tried to swim and stay afloat
Dry house, wet clothes
Loose change, bank notes
Weary-eyed, dry throat
Call girl, no phone

And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since 18
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
And they scream
The worst things in life come free to us
Cos we're just under the upperhand
And go mad for a couple grams
And she don't wanna go outside tonight
And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland
Or sells love to another man
It's too cold outside
For angels to fly
An angel will die
Covered in white
Closed eye
And hoping for a better life
This time, we'll fade out tonight
Straight down the line

And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since 18
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
They scream
The worst things in life come free to us
And we're all under the upperhand
Go mad for a couple grams
And we don't wanna go outside tonight
And in a pipe we fly to the Motherland
Or sell love to another man
It's too cold outside
For angels to fly
Angels to fly
To fly, fly
For Angles to fly to fly to fly
For Angels to die

The main thing to notice in the video is the fact that it's in black and white. The song begins with a girl who looks average as she is wearing clothes that are seen on a lot of girls between 16 and 25. The shot is of her crying and kneeling over another girl who looks as if she is either passed out or dead. There is also the sound of a bird in the background as this is before the non diagetic sound has begun so they use diagetic sound to create the mood of the song. When the song begins the background sound is muted. There is a cut to the girl on the floor and a close up of her face with a zoom out of her blank/lifeless face which goes out of focus.

As the song begins there is a cut to and establishing/long shot of the girl (lifeless one) laying on a park bench; we know it's a park as the background is of a few tress dotted around with the city in the landscape. We can assume she is homeless as they have made it very stereotypical with cthe scruffy clothes and sleep bag she carries with her.

There is then an over the shoulder shot of her sitting up oon the bench I think this is only used to set the scene. It then goes on to a long shot of her walking up the hill and there is also a slight camera shake which would have probably accidental as it looks homemade but this adds to the authenticity of they idea it has been made like that.

The lighting set up is high key but I think it is mainly created by natural light as the sky in the background is very over exposed and white which is an indication of this. There is the a 360 degree pan around of her looking up at the sky giving a sense of freedom as she is homeless the use of the brds flying gives this impression. There is then a reaction shot of her looking into the distance.

She then does a stereotypical pose of her stood with her arms out which is 'Jesus' like. There is a cut to a shot of her walking along a street but it is only of her feet but we can immeadiatly tell it's in the city due to the pavement. There is use of obscure camera angles to show that he life is dreamlike as it has no boundaries or routine. There is then a cut to her selling the Big Issue which re enforces the idea of her being homeless. There is also shots of the signs about which have the word 'angel' on them which is symoblic to the song due to the lyrics.

The video begins to become slightly over exposed which mayve due to them using natural light and also there is use of out of focus camera angles. They also show her cold breath to make the audoence feel some empathy.

There is use of different camera techniques such as an over the shoulder shot of her standing by a main road and the traffic passing really quickly whilset she is stood still which gives the impression that time passes quickly to her as she has no reason to keep it. They also use the same effect in the next scene of her sat on the pavement with people walking past her which gives the impression she isn't norticed.

The angle changes and then we have a close up of her face with a shot of her crying which creates empathy for the audience.

There is then a cut to a high angle shot of her staring into to a mirror. In this she is doing her hair and make up and her outfit has changed to something more revealing and her make up becomes more dramatic. There is then a close up of her which is slightly out of focus putting her lipstick on.

There is a long shot of a car park and her feet in the composition. A car draws up alongside her and she walks over. At this point we can guess why she dressed up as this is her means of money. There is a mid shot of her facial expression which looks as if it has been lighten with the car lights. There is then a cut to a point of view shot for the driver which has very low key light and lots of shadow and the shot is of her face and she is asking him whether she sould get in the car etc. Then it cuts to a wide shit of the car driving away.

She then ends up in a house which looks like a stately home with chandeliers and also sterotyping the buisness man just getting a qucick fix. They then cut to a bedroom which has low key lighting to make the audience assume what's going to happen. There is a shot of the camera moving up her leg with the pace of the mans hand moving up and then it quickly cuts to a reaction shot ofc her face and turning away as if it meant nothing to her but she is still hurt.

There is then a close up of her and someone elses hand exchanging a stereotypical drug packet due to the white crystals and a £20 note. There is a dark shadow of the dealer but there is a lot of light focused on the transaction.

There is then use of tracking of her going up the stairs and fumbling with keys to get into a flat which shows the desperation. There is a lot of build up to the moment with her lighting candles in an empty apartment and a shot of her slowly lifting the drugs up and staring at them which dramatises it.

There is a sidways angle of her falling back which is assumed to be the effects of the drugs which is supposed to link in with the beginning of the video.

There is then a shot of a bird singing in the background with a layered image of the girl and a view of rooftops changing from day to night.