Video Analysis According to Goodwins Theory

Emeli Sande - Heaven

The song 'Heaven' is based on 'religion and how to be good' - its about the world coming together and believing in something big. The artist is Emeli Sande and the single was released on the 12th of August 2011. I found out that Emeli Sande doesn't actually follow a religion but she does believe in God and Heaven. Virgin records created the music video for this song which was released on the 22nd July 2011 on YouTube. The music video is mainly directed on narrative as the shots involved and the performance link to the lyrics of the song. There are lots of shots of the artist and most of the people in the background are not actually actors and are just members of the public making the music video more realistic. The music video is very literal and fast paced, and it contains lots of lip-synching.

Narrative

A lot of the camera angles involved are low angles when it focuses is on the artist to include a lot of the sky in the background which links to the narrative of the song with looking up at heaven. The artist relates herself as just a person like anyone else quite a lot in this music video because the location is set in public places where any person could be. This shows that she is just one person in this world and the fact that there could be something bigger out there relating to heaven. Throughout the music video there are lots of references to angels which could connote towards her message in the song that everyone is an angel and that everyone deserves to go to heaven. Near the middle of the music video there is a message written on a window quoted ‘your fear is your only god’ which could imply that god doesn’t exist relating to the other side of people’s beliefs. At the end of the music video Emeli Sande is in a tunnel with another person but the narrative towards this is quite unclear making the music video quite mysterious because we don't find out who this person is.

Settings

Throughout this music video the artist is often located in the shadows and is hidden from the light in which light is referenced to god/heaven. This may be to represent that it is more powerful than her and she is hiding from it. The locations used in this music video are realistic making the music video seem more real and relatable. What I mean by this is that they are very urban and involve a lot of buildings and streets which is quite a popular sort of location that people will be in. Lots of the people in the background of this music video are just members of the public which adds to making it realistic. It makes you compare the artist to the people around her and shows that she is just a person like everyone else. The music video is quite gritty and grainy and it has been edited to appear like it’s been shot on film. By making the music video seem quite old and not perfect it makes it stand out from others because it’s not high quality and saying that she isn’t relating back to her being just a person like everyone else. I believe they have done this in post-production by adding light effects and overlays to the shots. There are a lot of blurred lights and light transitions used which connotes to heaven and stain glass windows because of the distorted and coloured lights. Near the end of the music video a person is stood with their arms out like the crucifixion and they had the light shining behind them so you couldn’t see the person. This again is a link towards heaven.

Representations

A lot of different ages and ethnicities are involved within this music video to show this song is for all people to listen to and that anyone can believe what they want to. This could also be to do with drawing in a wider audience to relate this song to everyone. The artist is represented as just an ordinary person and not as a huge pop star which could connote towards heaven being so big a powerful and that we are just people. Emeli Sande often looks up at the sky and the shots involve a lot of sky which represents the religion which is Christianity as she is looking up to heaven. She also doesn’t look at the camera in her music video and this takes away this aspect of a promotional idea of her.

Target Audience

I believe this music videos target audience is quite broad because the music video contains all different people from different ages to different ethnicities, and the song is suitable for anyone to listen to. Emeli Sandes general target audience is from teens to middle age adults which is still quite a wide range of people but I believe most people would listen to this song. If it was to a specific audience, I would say the song is aimed at people who believe in Christianity as that is the narrative behind the song. I don't think many other religions would watch the music video because it is specifically about Christianity but the actual song can be more relatable to other religions so they would more likely to listen to it.

Goodwins Theory

Goodwins theory states that each music video will contain at least 3 of his points. In this music video I have noticed there isn't actually much of his theory involved like as if specific points have actually been avoided for example, the emphasis on 'looking' theory which is about looking at the camera doesn't take place with the artist in the music video because she doesn't look at the camera at all. Points that have been used are;

- The relationship between the lyrics and visuals - The song is about heaven and there are constant shots of the sky and Emeli Sande looking up.

- Close ups - There are quite a few close ups of the artist in the clip as well as close ups on other people as well. This could relate to people being equal to the artist as she is just a person like everyone else and has no power over others.

- Technical, narrative and performance aspects - The whole music video contains narrative and performance and in terms of technical aspects, the shots are cut to the beat of the music, match the pace of it, and contain editing like time lapses, overlays and transitions. 

I believe these points were used specifically because they work well alongside the narrative which is an important aspect to this music video as well as also keeping the star image of the artist in mind.

By doing this task I have learnt more and have better understanding of Goodwin's theory as I have been able to look for his points in another music video. By analysing it I learnt more about the aspects of music videos and this research has helped me because it has given me more ideas and expanded my knowledge on what I need to consider when creating my own.