Story/Synopsis: The song was written by Sheeran following a last minute performance at an event for the homeless and tells the story of a heroin-addicted prostitute. It narrates the story of a young woman (Selina MacDonald) living on the streets of London and how she has to sell herself to keep up her life, however in the video it seems like she believes her life isn't worth living and has a drug overdose.
Pre-song Material: The song doesn't start straight away but what can be heard is the sound of peaceful morning birds. The first shot is a close up of a woman looking down with her hand over her mouth, crying as we hear this indicating that she's looking at something upsetting then the shot cuts to a mid shot where we can see what the woman is looking at and it is a woman who is lying down lifeless whilst the woman that overlooks wipes away tears. The shot cuts to a close up of the lifeless womans face, where we can see she wasn't in the best state as her makeup around her eyes are smudged and her eyes look as if she was crying. This is the last shot before it fades to a blackout and the song begins. This pre-song material is the last few shots of the end of the video and this makes an audience questions such as 'What has happened to her and why?' and the video answers these.
Verse: The verse starts and theres a long shot of the woman that lies lifeless at the very beginning is wrapped up in a camping duvet as she sleeps on a park bench, she wakes up as the shot changes to a mid shot of the back of her wrapped in the duvet. The shot changes again to a mid close up of the front of her as she adjusts her eyes to the light and makes sure she is covered with the duvet. The next shots are varied as they follow this woman walking though the park that she has slept in the previous night; she looks up at the trees, uses the duvet to move the birds and walks up the hill that gives a view of the park. The last shot before the chorus is a low angle shot of the woman put her arms up horizontally facing the sky, looking like an angel. This first verse shows the location of the park and how she slept there signals her type of lifestyle.
Chorus 1: The chorus starts with the last shot of the verse and the shot cuts to a mid shot of the womans legs and feet as she walks on a highstreet, we see the duvet in the shot and the womans stocking are also ripped and torn. This shows that the woman is poor and perhaps can't afford to buy any clothes ans her still having her duvet perhaps shows that she doesnt have somewhere to go. The next few shots are high and low angle showing her standing under wooden circular sculpture on a shopping street, it looks like she is facinated by this the way she looks up. The next shots are her on the streets trying to sell issues of 'The Big Issue' which are normally sold by those who really need the money and don't have any other choice. This again is establishing who she is and why she could of ending up like she did. Everyone else walks past her and ignores, however the one person who stops and talks to her aswell as buys one is a character that is played by Ed Sheeran. The next shot is a mid shot of the woman looking at flowers and standing under the sign for 'Angel Station' then theres a shot where a sign with 'Improving the Angel' is seen.
Symbolism: The chorus lyrics of this song says 'It's too cold outside for angels to fly' and already there has been about 4 shots which include symbolism including the shot of her arms and head facing the sky, her standing under this sculpture which looks like a Halo and both the signs. This symbolism has been well used to link to story and lyrics to the video and for me, gained my attention and hooked me more to the story. This symbolism is evident throughout the video.
Verse 2: The mid and long shots in this part of the video shows the woman watching the world go by either standing watching traffic or sitting down on the pavement. These shots have been edited because as she stands still everything else such as traffic and people walking past are sped up. Perhaps showing that her life isn't going anywhere and her life has stood still and she is trapped in the life she has at the moment. The last shot is a mid close up of the woman just sitting and leaning against a wall still looking like she did that morning; in this shot we almost get a sense of what she is thinking and would make the audience feel sorry for her.
Chorus 2: The start of the second chorus shows the shot of the woman still sitting on the pavement however she is crying and most likely about the state of her own life. The shot switches to a high angle shot of the woman in front of a mirror putting make up on, not upset anymore and she is wearing a strappy top. Even though she is meant to be sleeping rough, the actor chosen has to be relatively pretty looking for the next part of the video as she sells her body to make money. This is not for certain but when there is a close up of her putting lipstick on and the lyrics say 'Sells love to another man' I as an audience member clicked that she must be dressing up for prostitution to get money. The last few shots we see hear waiting for a car, it pulls up and she provocitively walks up to the passenger window whilst taking her coat off. Theres no dialogue in video so these images are essential for the story to be understood and thats why the lyrics are matched throughout.
Instrutmental/Chrous 3: The instrutmental and chorus 3 starts with the woman getting into the car where the audience starts to wonder where she will be going. Then theres shot of her walking down a corridor of what looks like a hotel, do to the mise en scene of marble floors perhaps conveying the man whos paying the woman to be very rich. Lots of close up shots are used in this section, showing the woman taking money out of the mans shirt pocket and then a male hand stroking the womans legs where we can see the ripped stockings again. The males face is not shown in the video, to focus the video on the woman only and the song which is describing her sort of life. This hotel sequence ends with her turning over in bed where a close up shows her messed up face again, looks like shes crying. Maybe thinking why she had done that. The next shot is an extreme close up of two hands where the money that the woman has just got is exchange for a small packet of pills; this is just when the lyrics say 'Goes mad for a couple grams', this is obvious that the artist is now refering to drugs. The section ends with her rushing into her flat, shaking as she wants to take the drugs.
Bridge/Chorus 4/Ending: The ending to this sad video is a faster pace montage than the rest of the video of her preparing to take these drugs shes just bought. The fast pace changes the mood for the audience as it makes us not just feel sorry but want to tell her to stop. The mise en scene shows that she doesnt have alot of money for nice things and has the bare essentials. We can also tell by her face that she has given up because it looks like she has nothing to live for. Theres many close ups in this last section of her face, her hands and the drugs. She sits on her matress, shaking and starting to smoke the drugs, showing that she is vulnrable and just killing herself. She takes her last breath in and falls onto her back as she dies. This is nearly the same shot as the beginning where she looks lifeless and has died. As soon as it gets to taking the drugs, I knew as an audience member that the start and beginning connected in this way. The very last shot is a establishing shot of rooftops with the sun shining, with an image of her is placed in the sky. My way of analysing this is that this is the only shot that is in colour and the whole video was in black and white, perhaps showing that she is better this way. The image of her in the sky also links to the Angel symbolism. I also got from this end shot meant that because it shows the sun shining that it means that it's not too cold for angels to fly anymore, however I could be looking to into depth.
I love this video for it's meaning and originality, how theres so much meaning that you want to watch it over again. I am fasinated by the fact that it only cost £20 to make because it looks so professional. It makes me realise that I could possibly create a video to this quality if I put my mind to the meaning of the song I will choose and also if I look outside the box with my ideas.
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