Narrative Theory Case Study

Track - The A Team
Artist - Ed Sheeran
Release Date - 22nd April 2010

The music video for Ed Sheeran's 'The A Team' takes the audience on a journey through a girls daily life who struggles to make enough money to live efficiently, we see how she aids her attempt to survive through begging, selling big issues and even prostitution. 'The A Team' has a circular structure as it starts with the young woman being found dead and takes us through how she ended up dead as the music video embarks with the help of a guitar solo. It also has a non linear structure with the flashback to how the girl got to being found dead in her apartment.

Additionally the structure could be single strand, as the music video could be told from the narrative thread of a person watching the girl's life. This could be an indication to the significance to the repeated reference of 'angels' throughout the chorus. The images below show shots taken from the opening of the music video, showing the young girls body being found by another young female. The close up, high angled shot to the girls face brings about a strong emphasis on her eyes and connotes that the woman was vulnerable. This leads to the idea of the eyes being windows to the soul and that her story is told strictly through her eyes i.e her soul, this also builds on the idea of the significance of 'angels'. The music video has been made very effectively so that a narrative is built and displayed right from the very beginning of the music video, this is done through using the dead body of a young female, leaving the audience wondering what happened to her and wanting to watch on to find out. On one of the opening shots she is staring vacantly at the camera and in the background we can hear the feint chirp of a bird (the only digetic sound present). This is effective as it gives the audience a cold feel towards the music video and yet again they drawn to find out who this woman is and what happened to her.

 

 Within the video there are many close ups of the protagonist. This creates a feeling of sympathy from the audience towards the protagonist because the lyrics link to what we are seeing, a wasted life. The target audience for this video are the younger generation, between the ages 15 - 25, this is similar to the singers age. The song is about drugs and this is a topic that young people get caught up in. The music video appeals to both genders because, although it is only a female in the video. it targets both because the song is about drugs which relates to both genders.

The reason behind using illustration and creating a narrative for the audience to follow is that the consumer are able to relate to a story more in terms of the relationship between the music and visuals, rather than the music video revolving around Ed Sheeran doing a stage performance. This is influenced by the sub genre of the song which in this case in indie folk and soul. Also the lyrics have a powerful message revolving around drugs predominantly but also prostitution which is why using a narrative and illustration is a very effective concept in the way the audience will receive the song.

Another predominant generic convention is the voyeuristic treatment of the female body which is featured through the subject of prostitution but isn't the main motif of the song. As the image on the left shows the highlights of a car beaming bright (emphasized through the black and white footage), contrasts with the young females legs and draws attention to her body and bare legs. Additionally the fact that it is cold and yet she's barely covered denotes how desperate she is for money and how she purposely makes herself vulnerable because of it again drawing attention to the bleakness of her life.

In terms of rule of thirds you can see how the characters eyes are on the main line of interest and that shes framed by the car denoting her as vulnerable. Also by taking off her black coat, it's a sign of her trying to gain attention of the driver which links in with the dresscode of females in regards to voyeuristic treatment.

When the girl is walking up a hill on her own and there is nobody around her creates a sense of panic for the girl. This shows because she starts to look around as if anyone is following her. It soon changes when she looks up to the sky and smiles and then changes to a mid shot of her opening her arms. During this particular medium long shot we are able to see the surrounding trees which are bare and lifeless linking closely to the young woman's life in terms of her situation and emotions. The long black coat she wears throughout the video could also represent her life as dark with little light at the end of the never ending tunnel she is facing, the only way out for her seems to be suicide. This gives the sense of freedom which contrasts with the rest of the video. The close ups in the video contrast with this shot because they are very closed in and we feel like the girl is trying to escape but can't. This is the reason that she takes an overdose at the end of the video. 

Claude Levi-Strauss described narrative as created by constant conflict of binary opposites. The music video for 'The A Team' displays a number of different binary opposites. An example of one would be Life and Death, we see the struggle the young woman trying to live and make it through each day. The music video started with death and moved onto life when the young woman woke up to a new dawn on a dismal park bench with the ambient sounds of vehicles moving in the morning rush hour and then the music video ends with her death where it began in the first place. This presents the idea of life being incessant regardless of the loss of circumstance. Another binary opposite used throughout the music video for 'The A Team' is noir lighting. This lighting is used to create high contrast images but also in terms of costume such as the big black coat being worn by the main character which emphasized the black on white footage.Additionally the black and white, noir style concept highlights the way things are portrayed by the media as either black or white (positive or negative). The noir style music video also draws more attention to the negative aspects of the young women's life and makes the audience feel more sympathetic. 

In terms of Andrew Goodwin's generic conventions of a music video, A Team doesn't fall into the category of there being numerous close ups of the artist to emphasize the star image of Ed Sheeran though he does feature in several scenes as a passer by and as a member of the public which juxtaposes with the star image concept.