This music video tells the narrative story of a depressed female character who takes on the role of Cupid by shooting love arrows at strangers to make them fall in love. The video begins with the female appearing to have an arrow in her neck, surrounded by blood. It then shows her shooting arrows at people in the streets, causing them to desperately fall in love. Throughout the video, the dark cinematography and realistic portrayal of loneliness and depression break conventions of typical upbeat pop music videos. In the end, the female finds her own love by shooting an arrow at a police officer, restoring the equilibrium.

1. Ed Sheeran – Give Me Love (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOjdXSrtUxA)
This music video has elements of a narrative video. The most commonly used theme within narrative
videos is love. Give me love is based around love, hence the title. The music video shows a girl acting
as cupid, with love arrows, again representing this theme. The video also tells some sort of story, as
we see the girl throughout the video shooting arrows at strangers to make them fall in love, and we
get the impression that she is depressed, or trying to find love.
This video begins with a medium shot of a female who appears to have an arrow in her neck,
surrounded by blood, which is a connotation of death or injury. There are diegetic sounds of police
sirens over this shot, then carrying over to the next shot which is a medium shot of a police officer,
which suggests that a tragedy is going to happen, which relates to the meaning of the song and also
what happens at the end of the video. The story then goes backwards in time to how it all started, as
it shows the female character looking around a brick wall and the song begins to play. There is then a
cut to an extreme long shot of a man and a woman kissing, implying that the song is about love,
which is a very common theme within pop videos.
There is then a cut to a medium close up shot of the female looking quite upset and depressed. She
is wearing a white vest top and has bleach blonde hair, emphasising an idea of innocence and purity,
which is a stereotypical view of a young female character in a pop video. It then cuts to two
photographs on the wall, one of which has two people kissing on it, relating back to the theme of
love. Through the use of low key lighting, a gritty feel is created, and the positioning of the female
character within this long shot suggests she is very lonely and isolated from the world. This gives off
a sense of realism, and shows what it is like for some people in the world, which is not something a
pop video usually does, therefore breaking the conventions. There are then various shots of the
female character, showing her facial expressions which suggest she is very sad.

2. There are two shots in which show numerous tools that could be harmful, suggesting that some sort
of tragedy is going to happen. There is then a shot of two wooden models holding hands,
emphasising the theme of love in a very different way compared to other pop videos.
The video then cuts to a number of different medium close up shots of what looks like the female
trying the scratch or hurt herself. She then pulls a feather from inside her back and holds it up. The
feather is white, which implies this idea of innocence; however it is covered in blood, which relates
back to the idea of a tragedy or some sort of injury. However, it then cuts to a long shot of the girl
standing in a spotlight with a pair of wings. The low key lighting surrounding the spotlight on the
female makes this shot more contrasting and clear, informing the audience that she has wings. The
wings represent an angel and heaven, re-emphasising the innocence.
There is then a similar shot to this with the girl standing in the street,
and then a cut to her sat at a table alone in a cafe. It then cuts to a
medium long shot of Ed Sheeran, the actual artist of the song, sat at
a table in the same cafe as the female character.
There is then a medium shot of the girl carving arrows with the tools that were previously shown in
the video, and then a long shot of the girl about the fire one of the arrows at one of two women
passing by. At this point, the protagonist is representing cupid, as she still has wings and carries a
bow and arrow. This relates back to the narrative, as cupid is a connotation of the theme of love.
This is quite a conventional feature of a pop video, as love is usually the main theme or what the
song is based around, so this definitely meets the audience’s expectations. However, this shows a

3. darker side to love, as the low key lighting gives off a dull feel and the female’s facial expressions
seem to suggest that she is depressed, which is not usually shown within pop videos, so challenges
the conventions of the pop genre.
There are then a few shots of different people being shot by the arrows, and desperately wanting to
find love with whomever they see first, resembling the myth of cupid’s love arrows. There is then a
shot of the female standing at the side of a railway waiting for an oncoming train, and this cuts to a
shot of the female on the train, which has been done to make the audience aware that she is
travelling further away to do her job cupid.
There are then various close ups and medium shots of the people that have been struck by the
arrows kissing each other, showing the theme of love in a more obvious way as it is a connotation of
this theme, which is a convention of the pop genre. However, after those shots, there is a cut to a
low angle medium long shot of the female on top of a building, suggesting power and dominance.
Even though in this shot she appears to have wings and wearing innocent coloured clothing, the
darkness of the sky and the clouds really contrasts with this, supposed to be angelic, figure. It makes
her seem forceful and controlling, which in some ways could be considered a convention of the pop
genre of music, however, also not because these characteristics are usually presented in a more
light-hearted way. There are then similar shots of the female shooting arrows at different people on
the streets, and then various shots of them kissing, once again, representing this key theme of love.
As the songs begins to climax and the editing pace picks up, there are many close up shots of
different people, and then the protagonist beings to stab arrows into their backs, causing them to

4. fall in love with whoever they see first. There is a blue tint in the lighting in this sequence, giving off
a gritty feel, adding to the realism of the video. There are not many pop music videos that show
verisimilitude, so this breaks the conventions of the pop genre. There are then many close ups of the
female characters face and also various shots of people dancing and also being stabbed by the
arrows, leading them to kissing each other, which is also captured too. The editing in this sequence is
fast paced, which seems like time is being fast forwarded, creating a hectic vibe.
Once the climax has ended, and the music calms down again, there is a close up profile shot of the
female holding an arrow to her throat. It then cuts back to how the video begun, with police cars
and the same police officer as before. The next shot is the same as the opening shot, however she
opens her eyes quickly and the arrow disappears, followed by a blurred point of view shot of the
police officer, suggesting she has found her love, showing that the equilibrium has been restored.
This is mainly a narrative video; however it has features of a time disordered structure, as the
narrative goes back in time at the beginning, without sign posting this for the audience, which is an
unconventional feature of this genre.